Nowitzki leads Mavs to 11th straight 50-win season

DALLAS (AP):

With the game slipping away against one of the NBA's worst teams, the Dallas Mavericks turned to their reliable fourth-quarter duo of Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry.

Nowitzki had 30 points and 11 rebounds, Terry contributed 18 points and the Mavericks rallied down the stretch for a 104-96 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, giving Dallas 50 wins for the 11th straight season.

Nowitzki and Terry combined for 19 points in the final quarter, both going four-for-seven from the field, to help the Mavs win for the third time in four games.

"Dirk said during a timeout, 'We can't lose this one'," Terry said.

On just about every fourth-quarter possession, coach Rick Carlisle called for the pick-and-roll with Nowitzki and Terry. Dallas finished with an 11-2 run over the final 2:38.

"It's the key to our success late in games, it's no secret, if it's a close game late in the fourth quarter, Coach is going to ring up our numbers and we need to answer," Terry said. "We work extremely hard on (the pick-and-roll) in practice and during these types of games our team needs us and that's what clutch players do by coming up big when the team needs them most."

Shawn Marion added 17 points, Peja Stojakovic had 16 and Tyson Chandler came up with nine points and 10 rebounds for Dallas.

Anthony Randolph had a career-high 31 points with 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who've lost their last five games and are without injured All-Star forward Kevin Love.

Three-team trade

Randolph made his first start of the season in place of Love. Randolph, acquired from the Knicks in a three-team trade on February 22, had a 23-point first half, 17 in the second quarter.

"We're missing a huge part of our team without Kevin being here," said Randolph. "I think if he was here, we definitely would have won the game."

Dallas were in front by as many as eight in the third quarter, but the Timberwolves came back to grab a 95-93 lead with 3:17 to play on Wayne Ellington's(notes) 22-footer.

Chandler's three-point play with 2:38 left put Dallas back in front for good, 96-95.

Jonny Flynn hit a lay-up with 1:17 remaining to pull Minnesota to 98-96, but Terry's three-pointer with 55.6 seconds left gave Dallas some breathing room at 101-96.

"Give Minnesota credit, they really made us work, made some shots down the stretch and made us reach deep, but it was a good win and we'll move on," Nowitzki said.

Hornets 121, Jazz 117, OT

AT SALT LAKE CITY: Emeka Okafor banked in a 20-footer at the regulation buzzer to force overtime and reserve Aaron Gray scored six points in the extra period to lead New Orleans Hornets to a 121 117 overtime win over Utah Jazz.

David West scored 29 points for the Hornets before being taken off in a wheelchair holding his head and grimacing in pain after going down hard after a dunk that tied the game at 103.

Paul Millsap hit two free throws to put the Jazz ahead 105-103 with 1.3 seconds to go, but Okafor, who had subbed back in when West was injured, managed to get off the game-tying shot.

Millsap had 33 points to lead the Jazz, who have dropped four straight.

Chris Paul scored five of his 24 points in overtime for the Hornets.