DALLAS – Shawn Marion scored a season-high 20 points, Dirk Nowitzki added 17 and the Dallas Mavericks won consecutive games for the first time in a month with a 104-83 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night.
All five starters scored in double figures for Dallas, with Chris Kaman scoring eight straight points in the third quarter and finishing with 14. O.J. Mayo had 11 and Darren Collison 10.
The Grizzlies were ragged a night after a big overtime win against Southwest Division-leading San Antonio. Memphis shot 38 percent and Rudy Gay was the only starter in double figures. He led the Grizzlies with 12.
Nowitzki had another solid night after Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said earlier he wasn't trading his star forward despite the team's struggles. Dallas hadn't won consecutive games since winning three straight from Dec. 6-10.
Marion had 12 points in the first half and Nowitzki added 11 while the Mavericks built a 15-point lead behind 53-percent shooting, including 6 of 8 from 3-point range. Marion was 2 of 2 from long distance. Marion and Nowitzki combined to make 14 of 21 shots.
Darren Collison put the Mavericks ahead for good with a first-quarter layup that started a 17-4 run for a 30-18 lead with 9:40 left in the second quarter. The Mavericks, who have lost eight games by 20 points and fell 10 games under .500 for the first time in 13 years, led by double digits the rest of the game and had their first 30-point lead of the season.
Nowitzki's second 3-pointer early in the second half was followed by Kaman's streak of eight straight points, capped by a reverse layup that put Dallas ahead 65-45 with 8:12 left in the third. Elton Brand hit the bucket that put Dallas up 30 late in the third and finished with 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The Grizzlies came in with the second-best scoring defense in the league at 89 points per game, and the Mavericks surpassed that with the first basket of the fourth quarter.
With Dallas leading by 26 to start the fourth quarter, Gay, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol were all on the bench in the worst loss of the season for Memphis. The Grizzlies were beaten by 25 at Houston.
Randolph, who entered the game leading the NBA with 24 double-doubles, had just six points and four rebounds.
NOTES: Memphis coach Lionel Hollins reiterated comments from a day earlier that he'd like to keep the Grizzlies together with Gay's name consistently turning up in trade rumors. The trade deadline is Feb. 21. Hollins says the Grizzlies are "legitimate contenders." ''That's usually when you're trying to get there, you win a lot of games but you don't do well against the contenders. You might win one or two. But we've been able to compete with every last one of them," Hollins said. Memphis beat division-leading San Antonio in overtime on Friday. ... The Mavericks snapped an NBA record-tying 10-game losing streak in overtime games with Friday's 117-112 win at Sacramento. ... The Grizzlies entered Saturday night's game with an NBA-best streak of forcing at least 10 turnovers in 138 straight games.
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