Nowitzki scored a career-high 40 points, Nash added 29 and the Dallas Mavericks tied a team record with 18 3-pointers in a 116-107 victory over the defenseless Atlanta Hawks, who wasted 46 points by Terry.
Nowitzki and Nash, both candidates for the Western Conference All-Star team, had awful games in a loss at Orlando on Monday. Both scored just four points while combining to shoot 3-of-18 from the field.
But they bounced back in fine fashion. Nowitzki hit 12-of-22 shots, including 6-of-15 from 3-point range, and grabbed 11 rebounds. Nash was 10-of-13, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, and handed out 10 assists.
 Whether driving to the hole, or launching shots from deep, Steve Nash was feeling sultry in Hotlanta. Scott Cunningham /NBAE/Getty Images |
"(Monday) was just one of those nights where nothing was falling for us," Nash added. "Tonight, we made sure we got a win no matter how we did it, just to get that attitude back."
Mavericks coach Don Nelson thought the 26-point loss helped the team in this one.
"We got blown out last night," Nelson said. "Maybe it was a positive in disguise because I was able to rest some of my guys. As a result, we could gear up for this game and have some energy."
Tim Hardaway scored 18 points -- all on 3-pointers -- for the Mavericks, who tied a team mark for 3-pointers set on February 29, 1996 at Denver and tied five days later at New Jersey.
Dallas was one shy of the NBA record for 3-pointers set by the Hawks against the Mavs on December 17, 1996. Dallas tried a league-record 49 shots from beyond the arc in the 1996 game against New Jersey.
"It was an amazing game," Nelson said. "We faced a zone most of the game and as a result, we shot 40 three-shots and made a good percentage of them."
Terry established a career high as he made 15-of-23 shots and 13-of-17 free throws. But the Hawks, the only team allowing more than 100 points per game, had no answers for the league's highest-scoring team.
"We did a tremendous defensive job on Terry," Nelson cracked. "We held him to 46. I was pretty proud of my team for really rising up and holding him to 46. He had a whale of a game."
"It's frustrating just to lose as many games as we are right now, regardless of what the stats say," Terry said. "The only time I'm excited is if I go out winning. It's frustrating. I'm a competitor."
The Mavs have beaten the Hawks seven straight times since January 14, 1998. Overall, Atlanta has lost four in a row and 10 of 14.
Terry scored 30 points in the first half, helping the Hawks to a 57-55 edge. His 3-point play still had Atlanta in front, 64-62, with 9:35 left in the third quarter when Dallas rattled off 14 of the next 15 points.
Nash had six points and two assists and Nowitzki scored four during the run. A 3-pointer by Nash made it 76-65 with 6:16 remaining. Nash and Nowitzki added 3-pointers before the end of the period as the Mavs took a 94-83 bulge to the final period.
"There were a lot of opportunities for shooters because there were holes in that zone and we found them a lot," Nelson said.
Two free throws by Terry cut the deficit to 104-98 with 4:26 to go before Hardaway made his third and fourth 3-pointers of the period, rebuilding the lead to 110-100 less than a minute later. Atlanta got no closer than nine points thereafter.
"I was just making some threes," Hardaway said. "They kept me wide open. You keep me out there long enough, I'm going to make them. They passed me the ball, they were finding me. I was just making shots."
"It looked like we were going to make a run there for a second but they had Tim Hardaway," Terry said. "How would you know that he was going to come out and shoot the lights out in a two-minute span? He hit back-to-back 3-pointers and that ended us."
Juwan Howard scored 10 points and Adrian Griffin had nine, seven rebounds, six assists and seven steals for the Mavs, who shot 48 percent (39-of-82).
Nazr Mohammed had 21 points and 18 rebounds, Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 19 and eight and Mark Strickland 10 and 11 for the Hawks, who also made 39-of-82 shots but just 3-of-8 from beyond the arc.