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Lawson, Faried power Nuggets past Mavs

Jan 15, 2015 - 5:05 AM Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Ty Lawson contributed 29 points and dished out 12 assists to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 114-107 win over the short- handed Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.

Kenneth Faried totaled 22 points with 14 rebounds for the Nuggets, while Wilson Chandler posted 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the win.

Denver has won a season high-tying five straight.

Dallas, playing in the second half of a back-to-back after nipping Sacramento in overtime on Tuesday, rested forwards Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler. Point guard Rajon Rondo also took the night off to rest a sore left Achilles.

"Our defense wasn't very good tonight, starting from the beginning of the game," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. "That's one thing I was worried about, with three of their starters out, our guys would relax a little bit."

J.J. Barea had a team-high 17 points off the bench for the Mavs, while regular starters Chandler Parsons and Monta Ellis combined to score 18 points on 7- of-24 shooting.

Ellis had just five points on 1-for-11 shooting as Dallas dropped the third game in its last four.

"All things considered we did a lot of good things tonight. But we had too many lapses and mistakes," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.

Richard Jefferson's 3-pointer closed Dallas' gap to 101-95 with 5:05 remaining in the fourth, then Devin Harris' layup less than a minute later cut the margin to four.

Lawson responded with a mid-range jumper, was fouled and hit the subsequent free throw to keep the Nuggets in front. Parsons then buried a jumper from just inside the arc, after he converted a layup, that made it a three-point game with over three minutes on the clock.

Faried came up with a big offensive rebound inside two minutes and knocked down two free throws. Lawson found Faried inside for a layup on the next Nuggets possession and they held on down the stretch.

"We were able to still get the win and we understand that we are going to have to play better," Shaw added.

Denver made half of its shots in the opening quarter and limited the Mavs to 1-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, taking a 28-24 lead into the second.

The Nuggets continued their hot shooting in the second quarter and again held Dallas to just 1-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. J.J. Hickson's three-point play gave the hosts a double-digit lead just before half and Denver held a 59-50 lead at the break.

Parsons' trey early in the third cut the Mavs deficit to 61-55, but Denver followed with 13 straight points. Dallas went 4:12 without a score during the run as the Nuggets gained comfortable control.

Barea then fueled a 12-1 run with seven points to help the Mavs work their way back to 79-71. Alonzo Gee's 3-pointer pushed the margin back to 15, but Charlie Villanueva canned a triple just before the buzzer to pull the visitors within 90-78 entering the fourth.

Game Notes

Both teams will meet again in Dallas on Friday ... Denver held a 51-39 rebounding edge ... Jefferson added 16 points in the loss ... Dwight Powell tied a career-high with eight points for Dallas ... Hickson had 13 points with eight rebounds and Arron Afflalo scored 12 points for Denver.