HOUSTON -- Dirk Nowitzki scoffed at the notion that hes playing as well now as he did when he led the Dallas Mavericks to a titl

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HOUSTON -- Dirk Nowitzki scoffed at the notion that hes playing as well now as he did when he led the Dallas Mavericks to a title in 2011. Niles Paul Jersey . He will, however, concede that at age 35 hes having a pretty good season. Nowitzki scored 31 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Mavericks to a 111-104 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night. He joked that his big night was simply luck before getting serious and discussing the work he puts in off the court. "Hopefully I can light it up a couple of more years and then slowly fade away," he said, breaking into a huge smile. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isnt surprised at what Nowitzki, who is averaging 21.5 points a game, is doing for his team this season. "Hes the great Dirk Nowitzki," Carlisle said. "Hes one of the great players in the history of the game." Nowitzki missed the first 27 games of last season after knee surgery and the Mavericks missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. He feels like his game is good now and his injury is behind him, but he wants to do more. "The driving the ball is whats missing a little now," he said. "I do a lot of one or two dribble and then up, but I want to get back to driving some more to the basket and get to the foul line. I dont think Im in 11 shape, but compared to the last two years I feel a lot better. The right knee is great and I feel better." Nowitzkis performance on Monday night gave him 25,629 career points, which moved him past Alex English for 13th place in scoring in NBA history. Houston cut the lead to six after a 3-pointer by Aaron Brooks with about 3 1/2 minutes left, but Nowitzki knocked down consecutive baskets to push the Mavericks lead to 107-97. Houston coach Kevin McHale was frustrated that his team was unable to slow Nowitzki down. "We tried a bunch of different stuff," McHale said. "We tried showing and coming back. We tried staying on there. We tried running at him. Nothing seemed to work." Dwight Howard had 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who were playing their second straight game without leading scorer James Harden, who was out with a sprained left ankle. Dallas started the final period by using a 9-4 run powered by three 3-pointers, including two from Jae Crowder, to push the lead to 95-82. Jeremy Lin, who has been out since Dec. 13 because of back spasms, scored 20 and Chandler Parsons had 21 for Houston. Dallas outscored Houston 17-10 over the last five minutes of the third quarter to stretch a one-point lead into an 86-78 advantage entering the fourth quarter. Vince Carter scored seven points during that time and Crowder added five. Monta Ellis had 18 points for Dallas, Carter had 16 and Jose Calderon added 15 points with five assists. With the speedy Harden out, the Rockets relied on their inside game and outscored the Mavericks 60-32 in the paint. But the Mavericks had the advantage from 3-point range, where they made 11 to Houstons seven 3-pointers. "They hit a lot of tough shots tonight, especially in the second half," Howard said. "They shot great the whole game. When a team is shooting that good they are tough to beat." A 15-1 spurt by Dallas to open that second half erased a seven-point halftime deficit and gave the Mavericks a 65-58 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Nowitzki led the way in that stretch, making seven points including a 3-pointer. The Rockets came out flat to start the third, missing six shots and turning the ball over twice in the first few minutes of the quarter. The Rockets finally snapped out of their offensive slump after that, using a 10-4 run to get within 69-68 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Parsons made four quick points near the end of it before Howard put an exclamation point on the run with a nifty sideways alley-oop dunk. Houston led by one point about six minutes before halftime and used an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 52-42. Howard got things going in that span by scoring six straight points and capped the run with a free throw. The Rockets led 57-50 at halftime. NOTES: Houston announced during the game that guard Patrick Beverley had surgery on Monday to repair a fracture in his right hand and will be out 4-6 weeks. ... Calderon has scored more than 10 points in 18 of his last 20 games. ... Houston has scored at least 60 points in the paint in three of its last four games. Austin Seferian-Jenkins Jaguars Jersey . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Taven Bryan Jaguars Jersey . Join World Soccer Pickem 2014 for your chance to win $5,500 in cash prizes by picking the winner of each game all the way through to the tournament final. Will you ride a favourite such as Spain or Germany, or cast your lot with an underdog like Ivory Coast or Mexico? Perhaps key victories from Netherlands or the United States will be your key to victory. http://www.jaguarsfansclub.com/Black-Ronnie-Harrison-Jaguars-Jersey.html?cat=987 . The Maple Leafs may not have had a pick until the third round, but they have made the biggest move of the second day of the Draft, dealing defenceman Carl Gunnarsson and a fourth-round pick in the draft to the St.CHESTER, Pa. -- It was Marco Di Vaios return that ended Montreal Impacts poor start to the season and a three-game losing streak. The squads leading goal scorer a year ago, Di Vaio was playing his first match of the season following a three-game carryover suspension from the 2013 playoffs. The Italian veteran scored a beauty in the second half on Saturday, salvaging a 1-1 draw for the 10-man Impact against the Philadelphia Union. "Were walking away from a difficult place to play with a point," said manager Frank Klopas. "The way we had to come back and fight, we were short-handed for a long period of time and I think its a very positive result. Its something we can build on." It was a cold, rainy, and windy day in Pennsylvania and Klopas made three changes to the squad that lost 2-0 to Seattle at home last week. Heath Pearce replaced Jeb Brovsky at left back while Andres Romero was preferred to Patrice Bernier in the midfield. Klopas stayed with the 4-2-3-1 formation but swapped Di Vaio for Andrew Wenger in the lone striker role. The Impact dodged a bullet in the 10th minute after Union midfielder Vincent Nogueira beat Hernan Bernardello on the touchline. The Frenchmans shot went just inches wide after a 50-yard run at goal from the right flank. But Nogueira would make up for that miss on the 35th minute. Taking a feed from striker Jack McInerney, he beat the Impact backline into the right channel and fired from the same angle, this time hitting the target and giving Philadelphia a 1-0 lead. "I thought we started the game strong, but we made a few errors that put us on the back foot in the first half," said Pearce, who was starting his first game for the Impact. "We didnt keep the ball as well as we could have in the first half and we obviously gave up a bad goal." The Immpact had a great chance to level in the 68th minute, when Di Vaio found space on a counter attack. D.J. Hayden Jersey. With an eye-opening and age-defying 70-yard run, he beat the Union defence but could only fire over the crossbar from inside the box. It looked to fall apart in the 76th minute when substitute Wenger was sent off with a straight red card. Referee Edvin Jurisevic wasted no time in making the decision after the striker was judged to have gone studs-first into a tackle on the goal scorer Nogueira. With ten minutes to play and a fourth consecutive loss looming, Di Vaio showed why he is so important. Down a man and playing on the counter, he found space on the left and inched toward goal with the Philadelphia defence stretched. Stepping to his right, he ripped a curling shot that beat Zac MacMath at the far-post and levelled the game at one. "When you have players like that, its just that one moment," Klopas said. "Those are guys that you never take off the field. They have some chances, and they might miss. But you saw him, he gets the ball and its one special play that he can pull off. Thats why there are guys that you dont take out, because they have one magic moment in them." The draw is Montreals first result of the season and moves the Impact to a 0-3-1 record ahead of next weeks home match against New York. "For us, its a big point," said Bernier, who entered in the second half. "After four games we have to come away with something. It shows great character to get the result after the red card, but we still have to look at the idea that were not right when were going eleven versus eleven. Over the last few minutes we showed character, we (defended) together, we got the goal, and we got a result away from home. Right now that point is big for us." Cheap Chargers Jerseys Cheap Rams Jersey Cheap Dolphins Jerseys Cheap Vikings Jerseys Cheap Patriots Jersey Cheap Saints Jerseys Cheap New York Giants Jerseys Cheap Jets Jerseys Cheap Raiders Jerseys Cheap Eagles Jerseys Cheap Steelers Jerseys Cheap 49ers Jerseys Cheap Seahawks Jerseys Cheap Buccaneers Jerseys Cheap Titans Jerseys Cheap Redskins Jerseys ' ' '