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Back in form, Duncan leads Spurs against Mavericks

Mar 4, 2009 - 11:20 AM San Antonio (40-19) at Dallas (36-24) 9:00 p.m. EST

DALLAS (Ticker) -- Tim Duncan has shaken off the rust of a three-game absence. That's bad news for the Dallas Mavericks.

Duncan tries to lift the San Antonio Spurs to their second straight win on Wednesday when they visit the cross-state rival Mavericks.

Duncan returned to the lineup Sunday after missing three straight games with a sore right knee but failed to find his rhythm, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting. He added four rebounds in 26 minutes as the Spurs suffered a second straight loss, 102-84, to the Portland Trail Blazers.

He was much better on Monday, hitting 7-of-11 shots while grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing out six assists in just under 28 minutes as San Antonio snapped its slide with a 106-78 victory over the lowly Los Angeles Clippers.

Dallas suffered an embarrassing loss on Monday, dropping a 96-87 decision to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were without leading-scorer Kevin Durant as well as Jeff Green.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points and Jason Terry added 20 for Dallas, which watched its three-game winning streak come to an end.