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Dallas makes it ten straight

The Dallas Mavericks needs Dirk Nowitzki to put the winning basket with 1.3 seconds remaining to beat the Phoenix suns Saturday night. Although Jason Terry had 35 points in the game, compared to Nowitzki`s 27, Coach Avery Johnson said "Dirk was the only option. We didn`t have a plan B. We were trying to get him the ball. Just jokingly, we told Jason to try." Playing without Nowitzki, out with a sinus infection, on Sunday night against the Denver Nuggets, Dallas proved otherwise.

Winning for the 10th straight game, Dallas beat the Nuggets 89-85 behind Josh Howard`s 28 points and 17 rebounds. Terry added 21 points. Their 22-7 record is the best in the NBA. Amazingly enough, Dallas is 7-0 in the second of back-to-back games.

Allen Iverson had 28 points and eight assists for Denver who was ahead after three quarters, and up 82-81 with 2:32 remaining, but was outscored 26-16 in the final period. His backcourt team-mate Earl Boykins added 20 points. "This one was hard to take," Iverson said. Denver is 3-3 since the brawl in New York, and has nine more games to play without the suspended Carmelo Anthony.