Nuggets 102, Mavericks 100
DENVER -- Forward Kenneth Faried had 18 points and 14 rebounds, including a key board on Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki's miss with 14 seconds left, and the Denver Nuggets held on to beat the Mavericks 102-100 on Saturday night.
Guard Ty Lawson had 20 points for the Nuggets, who blew a 16-point lead but recovered in the final minute.
Nowitzki finished with a game-high 27 and guard Monta Ellis scored 25 for the Mavericks, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Denver led 96-91 but Dallas fought back and took a 100-98 lead on Nowitzki's jumper with 2:02 left.
Guard Randy Foye hit a 3-pointer to give Denver a 101-100 lead -- the Nuggets' only one of the fourth quarter -- and Ellis and Nowitzki both missed jumpers.
Faried got the rebound and hit a free throw.
Ellis missed a short jumper with 7.1 seconds left and Dallas got the ball back, but Nowitzki's jumper at the buzzer was off.
Denver led by 13 early in the third quarter, but Dallas chipped away, in large part because of forward Vince Carter.
Carter missed six of his seven shots from the field in the first half but found his rhythm after intermission. He hit all four of his 3-pointers and scored 14 of his 16 points to pull the Mavericks within 86-85 early in the fourth quarter.
Ellis' jumper from the top of the key gave the Mavericks an 89-88 lead, their first since the first quarter.
The Nuggets grabbed the lead with a 14-4 run to end the first quarter.
The Mavericks started fast in the second quarter to cut the lead to 37-32, but a dunk by Chandler and a 3-pointer from guard Nate Robinson sparked a 12-1 run that gave Denver a 16-point lead midway through the quarter.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle didn't stick around after that. He was upset when the refs didn't award Nowitzki two free throws on a foul by Chandler, and moments later became angry when Nuggets guard Randy Foye put a hard foul on Ellis.
After heatedly voicing his displeasure to official Tony Brothers, Carlisle was given two technicals and ejected.
Assistant Monte Mathis took over the head coaching duties for Dallas.
NOTES: The Nuggets entered Saturday shooting just 69.7 percent from the foul line, which ranked 29th in the league. ... Dallas F Dirk Nowitzki was the last player to record a triple-double against Denver. He had 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in Dallas on March 29, 2010. ... G Andre Miller's alley-oop pass to F Wilson Chandler's in the second quarter moved him into sole possession of ninth place on the NBA all-time assist list. He was tied with Rod Strickland and is nearly 1,000 assists shy of Gary Payton for eighth. ... Entering Saturday, the Mavericks split their first four back-to-back games this season. They were 3-1 in the second game of the back-to-backs.
