Dallas Keeps Rolling Along

Already off to a great start, the Dallas Mavericks showed they can finish pretty well too.

Dallas extended the league’s best record, improving to 8-0 by rallying in the second half to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 103-99, Wednesday night at Cleveland.

“Teams that are championship caliber win the ugly ones,” guard Avery Johnson said. “We found a way.”

Dirk Nowitzki scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter for the Mavericks, who trailed by 13 points in the third quarter.

Michael Finley scored a season-high 26 points for Dallas, which had to overcome a career-high 34 points by Zydrunas Ilgauskas and a dunk by 6-foot-7 guard Ricky Davis on which he jumped over Steve Nash.

Davis, who was kept out of the starting lineup while being disciplined by Coach John Lucas, took off in the middle of the lane and soared over the 6-3 Nash’s head before slamming the ball in to give the Cavaliers a 91-89 lead.

“I should have blocked it,” Nash joked.

Dallas went eight for eight from the free-throw line in the last 55 seconds.

Davis didn’t start for the first time this season as punishment for an on-court squabble with teammate Bimbo Coles and Lucas during Tuesday night’s game at Indiana.

Boston 91, Philadelphia 81 -- Antoine Walker scored 20 points at Boston and the Celtics won their sixth consecutive game.

Paul Pierce, who missed 16 of 20 shots, made a three-point basket to start a 13-0 run by the Celtics that turned a six-point third-quarter deficit into a 72-65 fourth-quarter lead.

Allen Iverson had 25 points and Eric Snow had 13 assists for the 76ers, who are 0-3 on the road.

New Jersey 91, San Antonio 82 -- Lucious Harris broke open a close game by making his first three shots of the fourth quarter, Richard Jefferson scored a career-high 27 points and the Nets improved to 5-0 at home.

Tim Duncan had 21 points, Stephen Jackson had a season-high 20 points and David Robinson had 14 rebounds for the Spurs.

Harris, a backup shooting guard, scored 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Milwaukee 108, Chicago 101 -- Michael Redd scored a season-high 24 points and the Bucks blew a 25-point lead before rallying in the fourth quarter at Milwaukee.

Ray Allen had 19 points and Kevin Ollie had a season-high 14 points to give Milwaukee its ninth consecutive victory over the Bulls at the Bradley Center.

Jalen Rose scored 24 points for Chicago and rookie Jay Williams had 20.

New Orleans 102, Minnesota 98 -- Courtney Alexander scored 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and the Hornets improved to 5-0 at home.

Alexander made his 10 free throws, eight of them in the fourth quarter. He made a three-pointer from the corner to tie the score, 94-94, with just over two minutes to play.

Jamal Mashburn had 25 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans, and Baron Davis scored 15 points.

Phoenix 75, Denver 72 -- Stephon Marbury scored 19 points, including 10 in the pivotal third quarter when the Suns outscored the Nuggets, 29-11, to erase a nine-point halftime deficit at Denver.

Juwan Howard led Denver with 19 points.

Sacramento 104, Golden State 93 -- Chris Webber had 33 points, seven rebounds and two technical fouls without getting ejected at Oakland, and the Kings beat the Warriors for the 11th consecutive time.

Webber got two technical fouls in the second half -- the second for hanging on the rim after a ferocious dunk. He didn’t get thrown out because of a new rule that says certain types of technicals don’t mandate ejections.