Road Is Good for Mavericks

Michael Finley matched his season high with 33 points and Josh Howard had a career-high 30, helping the undermanned Dallas Mavericks rally from a 10-point halftime deficit for a 119-113 victory over the Suns on Thursday night at Phoenix.

The loss dropped the Suns to 41-13 and denied them an opportunity to finish with the best record in the NBA before the All-Star break, with the honor instead going to idle San Antonio (41-12).

Dallas (35-16) improved to 4-0 on a five-game trip that ends Wednesday at Utah. The Mavericks have beaten three of the league’s elite -- Phoenix, Sacramento and Seattle -- on the trip.

The Suns concentrated on stopping Dirk Nowitzki, the league’s third-leading scorer with a 27.1 average, and did a good job, holding him to 16.

Amare Stoudemire topped the Suns with 31 points and 12 rebounds. Steve Nash added 19 points and 11 assists against his old team.

The Mavericks were missing Erick Dampier (foot), Jerry Stackhouse (groin) and Marquis Daniels (appendectomy).

Minnesota 94, Cleveland 88 -- Minnesota’s backups were too much for Cleveland’s All-Stars.

Wally Szczerbiak had 26 points off the bench, and Kevin Garnett added 20 points, 18 rebounds and six assists at Minneapolis as the Timberwolves used an 11-2 run to overcome a two-point deficit with 4:30 remaining to improve to 2-1 under Coach Kevin McHale.

Led by Szczerbiak, the Timberwolves’ reserves outscored Cleveland’s backups, 55-6, which was enough to hold off Cleveland’s All-Star tandem of LeBron James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

James had 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds but was helped to the locker room early in the fourth quarter while battling exhaustion from being ill. After getting fluids in the locker room, James returned to the court with just over four minutes to play and had to drop to his knees in the huddle during a timeout.