SEATTLE, Feb. 12 (Ticker) -- Steve Nash scored 28 points and had eight assists as the Dallas Mavericks won a franchise-record eighth straight road game, 112-106, over the Seattle SuperSonics.

Dirk Nowitzki and Juwan Howard added 21 points apiece for the Mavericks, who improved to 3-0 on their season-high six-game road trip.

After Desmond Mason scored on a driving layup with 1:46 left to cut Dallas' lead to 104-102, Howard nailed a jumper from the left baseline with 1:23 to go.

Following a defensive stop and a timeout with 53 seconds left, Howard gathered an offensive rebound and hit a jump hook to give the Mavs a six-point cushion -- but the clock had not started. The officials took just six seconds off the clock, even though the play took at least 15 seconds.

NBA TV highlights from Mavericks-Sonics: 56k | 300k Juwan Howard was one of three Mavericks to score 21 points or more.

But it did not matter, as Seattle got no closer than four points thereafter.

"We have the same approach at home as we do on the road," Nash said. "We are confident and we don't do anything that makes us feel like we can't win on the road. I'm not sure why we are so confident on the road, we just are. We feel really good about our chances and we feel as if we can get a win."

Nash finished 9-of-15 from the field, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range. He also was 5-of-5 from the line and made four in the final 30 seconds to ice the game.

"He's the 'X' factor," Seattle coach Nate McMillan said of Nash. "He creates his own shot, he creates shots for his teammates and he keeps the pressure on you with pushing the ball up in transition. He's like a waterbug, tough to defend because he can score, and he's a very unselfish player.

Michael Finley added 16 points and seven assists for Dallas, which took an 86-84 edge into the fourth quarter. The Mavs briefly lost the lead but regained it for good on Nowitzki's 3-pointer with 3:58 left that made it 100-98.

"We just come ready to play every night," Nowitzki said. "On the road we don't get nervous down the stretch. We just come up with big plays. Overall, we play well on the road. The pressure is off of us and it's on the home team. It's just fun to play on the road."

Dallas, which shot 52 percent (43-of-82) overall, improved to 30-1 this season when leading after three quarters.

"It was one heck of a basketball game," Mavs coach Don Nelson said. "It was a fun game to play in, I'm sure. The game itself had a lot of things going for it. The team that probably was the luckiest got the most shots (and) won the game, and that was us."

Rashard Lewis led five Sonics in double figures with 25 points. All-Star Gary Payton had 17 points and 10 assists but shot just 8-of-20.

"During the All-Star Game we had a practice and I knew we were gonna play Seattle so I had Gary demonstrate taking a charge," said Nelson, who coached the Western Conference team. "I had the other 11 players and the four assistant coaches grab a medicine ball, run the length of the floor and he took 15 straight charges. I wanted to wear him out when we came in here."

"They shot the ball well and then we couldn't make a shot and make a basket at the end," Payton said. "They shot the ball extremely well. They're a good team. We had all the effort and all the energy here, it's just that we fell short."

In an up-and-down first half that ended with Seattle ahead, 63-61, the Sonics shot 53 percent (25-of-47) while the Mavs were even more accurate, sinking 61 percent (25-of-41).

The Mavs led, 39-35, after 12 minutes of play behind Nash's 15 points, including 4-of-4 shooting from the arc. Dallas shot 73 percent (16-of-22) in the first quarter.