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Nowitzki leads Dallas past T-Wolves

Feb 11, 2012 - 5:07 AM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Dirk Nowitzki scored 33 points as the Dallas Mavericks downed the Minnesota Timberwolves, 104-97, on Friday.

Jason Terry added 16 points, Vince Carter had 12 and Jason Kidd returned from a six-game absence to hand out 10 assists. Dallas has won two straight on the heels of a three-game slide.

Kevin Love also returned to the court. He had missed the past two games due to suspension after kicking Houston's Luis Scola in the face/chest. The Western Conference All-Star finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds but could not prevent the Timberwolves' second straight loss.

"They definitely wanted this one tonight," said Love. "We waited too long to go on our run. That hurt us.'

The Mavericks had lost their previous two meetings with Minnesota this season, but won convincingly on Friday behind a resurgent Nowitzki. The 33-year-old, who was named to his 11th consecutive All-Star game on Thursday, is averaging 28.0 points over his last four games.

He scored six points in the first, as did Delonte West, and the Mavericks jumped out to a 29-16 lead. They were up 56-45 at the half and 73-56 late in the third before the Timberwolves reeled off a 19-5 run to pull within three.

Michael Beasley, who finished with 20 points, hit back-to-back treys to start the burst and Nikola Pekovic opened the fourth with a layup to make it 78-75.

But Kidd, who had been out with a calf injury, checked into the game and promptly knocked down a three-pointer. Terry then scored six straight around a pair of Love free throws to push the advantage back to 10. Dallas wasn't threatened the rest of the way.

"It was a huge shot," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said of Kidd's three off the bench. "He got us going. It's great to have him back. This is an important win for us."

Game Notes

Dallas improved to 8-1 this season when scoring 100-plus points...Nowitzki has 23,212 career points and needs 123 to pass Boston legend Robert Parish (23,334) for 20th on the NBA's all-time scoring list...Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio had 10 points and eight assists.