Spurs ride right past Mavericks

Tony Parker scored 25 points, Hedo Turkoglu added 21, and the Spurs put together two big first-half runs and then held off a fourth-quarter Dallas comeback for a 113-100 win over the Mavericks last night in San Antonio.

Dirk Nowitzki, held to 4 points in the first three periods, went 7 for 9 in the fourth for 17 points as the Mavericks slashed a 26-point deficit to 95-90 with three minutes remaining.

Rasho Nesterovic hit Malik Rose with a pass for a layup, then blocked Antawn Jamison's reverse layup. Manu Ginobili was fouled on the same play and made both free throws to extend San Antonio's lead to 103-92.

Dallas played the final 14 minutes without Michael Finley, who scored 13 of his 19 points in the third before he was ejected for a flagrant foul against Bruce Bowen. Mavericks coach Don Nelson was tossed out seconds later for arguing the call on Finley.

Rose added 18 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, which played its fourth straight game without top scorer and rebounder Tim Duncan. Duncan suffered a left knee joint injury when these teams last met Feb. 26 in Dallas.

Cavaliers 88, Hornets 85 -- LeBron James scored 19 points and Carlos Boozer had 18 to lead Cleveland at New Orleans. James hit a 3-pointer with 1:22 left to put Cleveland ahead, 84-83, and Boozer made a pair of free throws with 6 seconds remaining for the final margin.

Jamal Mashburn -- who made a late 3-pointer to force overtime in a Hornets' victory Wednesday night -- had a chance to do it again, but this time his long-range fade was off the mark.

Lakers 99, SuperSonics 91 -- Shaquille O'Neal took over after Kobe Bryant went out early with a shoulder injury, scoring 32 points to power Los Angeles past visiting Seattle.

Bryant hurt his right shoulder in a collision with Seattle's Reggie Evans in the first minute of the game and left the arena to have an MRI.

There was no immediate report on the severity of the injury, although team spokesman John Black said Bryant had jammed it.

O'Neal added eight rebounds and six assists as Los Angeles won for the ninth time in 11 games.

Pacers 96, Jazz 88 -- Ron Artest scored 8 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and Reggie Miller hit a 3-pointer with 24.9 seconds remaining to lift Indiana at Salt Lake City.

Jermaine O'Neal had 30 points and 10 rebounds and Fred Jones scored 10 for the Pacers, who blew a 15-point lead and needed to rally for their fourth straight win.

Andrei Kirilenko had 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 blocks for Utah.

Rockets 112, Timberwolves 109 -- Yao Ming scored 27 points and Steve Francis added 25 as Houston outlasted host Minnesota. Minnesota had a chance to tie the game with 3.4 seconds left, but Troy Hudson's 3-pointer hit the front of the rim.

The Timberwolves got a second chance with 3.1 seconds left after Adrian Griffin missed two free throws, but a straightaway 3-point attempt by Kevin Garnett was way off.

Nets 78, Warriors 74 -- Richard Jefferson scored 23 points and visiting New Jersey made a late rally for another victory without Jason Kidd, who has a bone bruise in his left knee.Lucious Harris's jumper with 1:58 left gave New Jersey a 75-74 lead -- its first of the second half.

Jefferson then drove for an acrobatic layup, and Golden State couldn't hit its next two shots.

Knicks 109, Raptors 103 -- Stephon Marbury had 35 points and Nazr Mohammed had a season-high 20 points and 18 rebounds to make New York coach Lenny Wilkens a winner in his return to Toronto.

Wilkens was in Toronto for the first time since being fired after last season. Fans booed his introduction.

Magic 101, Hawks 96 -- Tracy McGrady had 28 points and Tyronn Lue scored 8 consecutive points in the final 1:42 to lead host Orlando to its third victory over Atlanta this season.