Nowitzki Scores 53, Outduels McGrady

Tracy McGrady stood at midcourt, exhausted from an overtime shootout that seemed more like him against Dirk Nowitzki than the Houston Rockets vs. the Dallas Mavericks.

Nowitzki walked to him and they slapped hands and hugged. McGrady said something, and Nowitzki cracked a sly smile.

The winner always gets the last laugh, right?

The Mavericks won the duel, 113-106, Thursday night at Dallas behind the best game of Nowitzki’s career. His 53 points were the most by a Dallas player and tops in the NBA this season, which McGrady also surpassed with 48 points. LeBron James had the previous high with 43.

“It was a great showdown,” Nowitzki said. “We winked at each other a couple of times.”

While McGrady also had nine rebounds and nine assists, Nowitzki was more impressive. He had season highs in rebounds (16) and blocked shots (four), and had three steals.

Nowitzki opened the overtime with his own 10-0 run. In between, Nowitzki also stripped Jim Jackson on a drive when it was 97-93 and knocked the ball from McGrady on Houston’s next possession.

“That was exciting, it was fun,” said McGrady, who was 19 of 36 from the field, including six of 13 on three-point shots. “I think that was good basketball right there, two guys going at it at a high level.”

Nowitzki, who topped his season high of 32 and career high of 42, finished 15 of 32 from the field and was 21 of 22 from the line.

Cleveland 92, Denver 73 -- LeBron James had 17 points, eight rebounds and nine assists to help the Cavaliers embarrass Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets in front of a booing crowd at Denver.

Anthony missed seven of his first eight shots en route to a 14-point night, in which most of the points came after the Nuggets trailed by 20. He shot six of 20 with five turnovers.