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Nowitzki, Mavs move past Lakers

Apr 5, 2014 - 5:56 AM Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points with nine rebounds and five assists to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 107-95 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Brandan Wright posted a season-high 23 points off the bench on 10-for-10 shooting for the Mavericks and Shawn Marion tallied 15 points and grabbed eight boards.

"No one wants to miss shots," Wright said. "My teammates made some great passes to me. I always feel good on back-to-backs. We had a sense of urgency in the fourth quarter and pulled away."

Dallas remained one-half game ahead of Memphis and Phoenix for seventh place in the Western Conference. The Mavericks have five games remaining on their schedule, while the Grizzlies and Suns each have six games left.

Jodie Meeks led LA with 25 points, while Jordan Hill registered 14 points with 10 rebounds in the setback, the Lakers' third in a row and fifth in their last six games.

"I thought we played well for most of the game," said Mike D'Antoni. "We needed a couple more guys to have bigger games and we just didn't quite get it. We have to give them credit because they played like they were a playoff team. They played pretty well."

Nowitzki followed a Devin Harris 3-pointer with a jumper and the Mavericks led 82-78 after three quarters.

Nowitzki then opened the fourth with a jumper and Wright scored seven straight as Dallas used a 9-0 run to open the frame to take a 91-78 lead.

The Mavs led by as many as 15 after a Wright slam made it a 99-84 game midway through the fourth. LA couldn't trim the lead to single digits in the closing minutes as Dallas cruised.

Earlier, the Mavs led 27-23 after 12 minutes, but the Lakers brought a 54-52 lead into the halftime break.

Game Notes

Dallas shot 44-for-92 from the floor ... The Mavs had a 64-44 edge in the paint ... There were 12 lead changes and 11 ties ... Pau Gasol (vertigo) and Chris Kaman (strained calf) each missed the contest for LA.