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Cleveland's LeBron James - Source: Reuters -
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The Dallas Mavericks shook off the absence of injured starter
Dirk Nowitzki to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-95 in a meeting
of division leaders on Monday.
Tim Thomas, who started for Nowitzki, scored 22 points and Jason
Terry had 19 for the Southwest Division-leading Mavericks, who
ended Cleveland's five-game winning streak.
"It is a huge win," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told reporters.
"Any time you can win without a guy like Dirk, it just says a lot
about the group of guys and the team."
LeBron James, who top scored for the Cavaliers with 25 points,
agreed.
"They have guys on that team that are All-Stars even without Dirk,"
James said. "Those guys stepped up."
Nowitzki was rested after sustaining a cut on his right elbow in
Friday's game against Houston.
"I was going to try to step up and actually try to go a little bit
and get a couple of jumpers up before the game, but I just couldn't
get my elbow up, couldn't extend my elbow out, couldn't really bend
it," Nowitzki said.
Thomas had seven points in the first four minutes of the third
period to help Dallas to a 12-point lead.
"We made some mistakes in the first half and we corrected them at
halftime," Thomas said. "LeBron was doing most of the scoring in
the first half, so we just wanted to make the other guys beat
us."
James scored 18 points in a rampant first half for the Central
Division-leading Cavaliers, but was checked late in the game and
had little support from guard Mo Williams, held to eight points,
and center Shaquille O'Neal, who managed just five.
NBA results on Monday (home team in CAPS).
TORONTO 98 New Orleans 92
MEMPHIS 102 Denver 96
BOSTON 122 Minnesota 104
LA Lakers 93 DETROIT 81
Portland 102 MIAMI 95
DALLAS 102 Cleveland 95
NY KNICKS 98 Charlotte 94
