Dallas’ Road Worries End Against Phoenix

After four consecutive road defeats, Michael Finley made certain that slump came to an end.

Finley matched his season high with 38 points and the Dallas Mavericks handed the Phoenix Suns their fourth consecutive loss, 113-90, Saturday night in Phoenix.

The victory moved the Mavericks a half-game ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies, who lost to the Houston Rockets.

Antoine Walker had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Antawn Jamison had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Dirk Nowitzki added 12 rebounds. The Mavericks outrebounded Phoenix, 64-43.

“We haven’t had a lot of success on the road,” Finley said. “We wanted to come out with tremendous energy, and we did. The games we lost we had come out slow.

“We needed this. We haven’t had a road win in a long time.”

With the victory, the Mavericks improved to 12-20 on the road. They have the NBA’s best home record at 29-4.

Amare Stoudemire led Phoenix in scoring for the 13th time in 14 games with 25 points. It also was the 13th time in 14 games he had surpassed 20. The only time he missed was Monday night when he scored 19 at Dallas.

Joe Johnson scored 20 points for the Suns, Shawn Marion had 19, including four three-pointers, and Zarko Cabarkapa had 12.

“Road games have not been easy for us this year, so any road kill is a good win for us,” Dallas Coach Don Nelson said. “We have to start winning games on the road, and hopefully, this is a start.”

The game was in sharp contrast to the teams’ last meeting at Phoenix in November, when the Suns blitzed Dallas, 121-90. This time, the Mavericks were in complete control.

Finley was unstoppable in the first quarter, shooting seven for eight and hitting from all angles as the Mavericks bolted to a 38-21 lead.

In the second period, Dallas took a 70-42 halftime lead. Finley added eight points, including two three-pointers.

The Mavericks began the game averaging 103.6 points per game, second in the league to Sacramento’s 104.4.

Walker also was a big contributor for Dallas in the half. He had 14 points and five rebounds.

“We’re searching for some road confidence,” he said. “We’ve been killing ourselves in the first quarter. This was the first time we maintained the lead all the way.”

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Seattle 115, Orlando 101 -- Brent Barry went six for six from three-point range and scored a season-high 25 points with 10 assists for the SuperSonics, who ended a six-game losing streak, overcoming 40 points from Tracy McGrady in Orlando.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Vladimir Radmanovic and Ray Allen and a three-point play by Radmanovic allowed Seattle to withstand a fourth-quarter rally and win for the fourth time since the All-Star break.

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Boston 111, Washington 102 -- Paul Pierce scored 26 of his 37 points in the second half in Washington, and the Celtics broke a two-game losing streak.

Pierce scored 13 of Boston’s last 25 points, including a jumper, a steal and layup and a free throw in a solo 5-0 run that tied the score, 102-102, with 1:48 left.

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New Orleans 102, Golden State 84 -- Baron Davis had 24 points and 11 assists in New Orleans, and the Hornets extended the Warriors’ losing streak to nine games.