Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Jason Terry had 20 and Caron Butler 19 — but that’s expected. The surprise was the performance by the backup big men, both from France. They were forced into duty because starter Tyson Chandler was home with a stomach ailment and fill-in starter Brendan Haywood got in early foul trouble.
The Warriors lost their fourth straight and ninth in 10 games, but didn’t go down easily. They hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final half-minute to keep inching closer, forcing Dallas to seal it with free throws.
Stephen Curry scored 21 points, David Lee had 20, Monta Ellis 18 and Dorrell Wright 17 for Golden State.
Bobcats 100 Nuggets 98: In Charlotte, North Carolina, Stephen Jackson scored 23 points and the Bobcats held off Denver to deny Nuggets coach George Karl his 1,000th NBA win.
Returning to North Carolina where he played in college and going up against his longtime friend and fellow former Tar Heel Larry Brown, Karl had hoped to become the seventh coach of the 1,000-win club in Charlotte.
The Nuggets nearly rallied from eight points down with 90 seconds left, but Chauncey Billups missed a tying jumper in the corner as time expired.
Billups scored 25 points and Carmelo Anthony added 22 points and seven rebounds for the Nuggets, who had won seven straight.
Gerald Wallace had 20 points and nine boards for Charlotte. Tyrus Thomas scored 16 before leaving left late in the fourth quarter with a tight left quadriceps.
Lakers 115 Wizards 108: In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 32 points, Lamar Odom added 24 points and seven rebounds, and the Lakers beat Washington for the eighth straight time.
Pau Gasol had 21 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists for the Lakers in their final home game before a seven-game, two-week trip that includes a rematch with Washington on Dec. 14. Los Angeles struggled to put away the lively Wizards, but never trailed for the fourth time this season.
Nick Young hit a career-best six 3-pointers while scoring 30 points in his hometown for the Wizards, who closed the third quarter on a 16-1 run to make the two-time defending champions uncomfortable. John Wall backed Young with 22 points and 14 assists.
Washington dropped to 0-11 on the road this season. The Wizards and the Los Angeles Clippers are the NBA’s only remaining teams without a road victory.
Trail Blazers 106 Suns 99: In Portland, Oregon, Wesley Matthews scored 24 points, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 apiece and Portland snapped the Suns’ three-game winning streak.
Phoenix led by as many as nine points early in the fourth quarter but the Trail Blazers, known for late-game meltdowns of late, tied it at 89 on Nicolas Batum’s layup and went in front on Aldridge’s two free throws with 3:38 left. Matthews made two more foul shots to extend Portland’s lead.
Steve Nash had 24 points and 15 assists for Phoenix.
The Blazers made 32 of 33 free-throw attempts while playing without guard Andre Miller , who was serving a one-game suspension imposed by the league for making “excessive and unnecessary contact” with Blake Griffin in the fourth quarter of a 100-91 victory over the Clippers on Sunday.
The suspension snapped Miller’s consecutive games streak at 632, which had been the longest among active players in the NBA. Miller had not missed a game since Jan. 24, 2003.
Hawks 116 Nets 101: In Atlanta, Josh Smith scored a season-high 34 points to lead streaking Atlanta to another victory.
Smith, accurate with his outside jumper and inside game, made 14 of 16 shots from the field. When it was over, he blew kisses to the crowd.
The Hawks are 4-1 since losing top scorer Joe Johnson for four to six weeks to a right elbow injury and have won seven of eight overall.
Jamal Crawford had a season-high 26 points and Al Horford added 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Atlanta.
Brook Lopez led New Jersey with 24 points. Devin Harris had 18 points and 13 assists.
New Jersey has lost eight consecutive road games and five straight overall.
The Hawks shot 60 percent from the field.
Rockets 97 Pistons 83: In Houston, Luis Scola had 35 points and 12 rebounds, helping the Rockets spoil Tracy McGrady’s return to Houston.
McGrady hit a 3-pointer with about eight minutes left to get the Pistons within one, but Houston scored the next seven points to stretch the lead to 85-77 with six minutes remaining. Scola made the last basket of that run and added six of Houston’s next eight points as the Rockets built a 93-79 lead.
McGrady, who spent 5 1/2 seasons with the Rockets, finished with 11 points. Rodney Stuckey had 18 points and five assists for Detroit.
Kyle Lowry added 22 points and 12 assists for Houston, and Kevin Martin had 21 points.
76ers 117 Cavaliers 97: In Philadelphia, Thaddeus Young had a season-high 26 points and the 76ers picked up their fourth win in five games.
Lou Williams scored 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter for Philadelphia, which placed seven players in double figures in its highest scoring output of the season. Jodie Meeks and Jrue Holiday had 16 points apiece, Andre Iguodala scored 13 and Elton Brand finished with 12.
J.J. Hickson had 18 points for Cleveland, which has lost five consecutive games by an average of 22.2 points. Daniel Gibson scored 16 and Mo Williams added 15.
Young made 11 of 12 shots from the field and also had 11 rebounds as the Sixers bettered their previous scoring high set in a 123-116 loss to the Cavaliers on Nov. 3.
