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Mavericks eye bounce-back effort vs. Pelicans

Dec 10, 2014 - 2:47 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Dallas Mavericks are sputtering a bit, but they'll try to get back on track Wednesday night when the New Orleans Pelicans visit American Airlines Center.

The Mavs have lost two of three since a five-game winning streak. The first loss came at home to the Phoenix Suns, but on Tuesday, Dallas blew a 10-point lead en route to a 114-105 road loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Mavericks converted 18 3-pointers in the loss and were down in by a disastrous third quarter. The Grizzlies outscored the Mavs, 36-17, and never looked back.

"The third quarter was obviously our downfall in the game," head coach Rick Carlisle acknowledged. "We did a poor job and it cost us. I like the way we hung in. We kept fighting. We actually had a shot to take the lead in the fourth, but losing the third quarter by 19 points was a killer."

Chandler Parsons shot 6-of-10 from behind the arc and matched Memphis' Marc Gasol with 30 points. Jameer Nelson finished with 18 points for Dallas, while J.J. Barea netted 17 off the bench.

Dallas' usually productive duo of Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis combined to shoot 5-of-28 from the field (17.9 percent) for 13 points. Ellis played through an elbow injury and made only one of his 11 attempts in a two-point effort.

"We've got to see how he's doing tomorrow," Carlisle said of Ellis Tuesday night. "It's just a very tough situation for him, so hopefully it's more of a day-to-day thing and hopefully he's feeling a lot better tomorrow. But we'll have to wait and see."

The Pelicans have taken two straight to get back to .500.

On Sunday, New Orleans toppled the Los Angeles Lakers by 17 at the Staples Center, then came back home and secured a 104-93 victory over the New York Knicks at the Smoothie King Center on Tuesday.

Tyreke Evans poured in 27 points and the Pelicans put together a strong fourth quarter to come away with the win over the Knicks.

Evans netted eight points and Omer Asik had seven during a final period in which the Pelicans outscored New York by a 27-20 count to pull away and sent the Knicks to a ninth consecutive loss and 10th in a row on the road.

"Evans was really good at attacking the basket," Pelicans head coach Monty Williams said.

Asik finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Anthony Davis put up 18 points and eight boards in the win. Jrue Holiday added 13 in the win, which saw the Pelicans shoot 50 percent from the field.

The Mavericks have beaten the Pelicans eight straight times, including a five- point win in New Orleans on Nov. 1. Dallas is 9-1 in its last 10 as the host in this series.