oked that his big night was simply luck before getting serious and discussing the work he puts in off the court. "Hopefull

HOUSTON -- Dirk Nowitzki scoffed at the notion that hes playing as well now as he did when he led the Dallas Mavericks to a title in 2011. He will, however, concede that at age 35 hes having a pretty good season. Nowitzki scored 31 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Mavericks to a 111-104 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night. He joked that his big night was simply luck before getting serious and discussing the work he puts in off the court. "Hopefully I can light it up a couple of more years and then slowly fade away," he said, breaking into a huge smile. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isnt surprised at what Nowitzki, who is averaging 21.5 points a game, is doing for his team this season. "Hes the great Dirk Nowitzki," Carlisle said. "Hes one of the great players in the history of the game." Nowitzki missed the first 27 games of last season after knee surgery and the Mavericks missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. He feels like his game is good now and his injury is behind him, but he wants to do more. "The driving the ball is whats missing a little now," he said. "I do a lot of one or two dribble and then up, but I want to get back to driving some more to the basket and get to the foul line. I dont think Im in 11 shape, but compared to the last two years I feel a lot better. The right knee is great and I feel better." Nowitzkis performance on Monday night gave him 25,629 career points, which moved him past Alex English for 13th place in scoring in NBA history. Houston cut the lead to six after a 3-pointer by Aaron Brooks with about 3 1/2 minutes left, but Nowitzki knocked down consecutive baskets to push the Mavericks lead to 107-97. Houston coach Kevin McHale was frustrated that his team was unable to slow Nowitzki down. "We tried a bunch of different stuff," McHale said. "We tried showing and coming back. We tried staying on there. We tried running at him. Nothing seemed to work." Dwight Howard had 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who were playing their second straight game without leading scorer James Harden, who was out with a sprained left ankle. Dallas started the final period by using a 9-4 run powered by three 3-pointers, including two from Jae Crowder, to push the lead to 95-82. Jeremy Lin, who has been out since Dec. 13 because of back spasms, scored 20 and Chandler Parsons had 21 for Houston. Dallas outscored Houston 17-10 over the last five minutes of the third quarter to stretch a one-point lead into an 86-78 advantage entering the fourth quarter. Vince Carter scored seven points during that time and Crowder added five. Monta Ellis had 18 points for Dallas, Carter had 16 and Jose Calderon added 15 points with five assists. With the speedy Harden out, the Rockets relied on their inside game and outscored the Mavericks 60-32 in the paint. But the Mavericks had the advantage from 3-point range, where they made 11 to Houstons seven 3-pointers. "They hit a lot of tough shots tonight, especially in the second half," Howard said. "They shot great the whole game. When a team is shooting that good they are tough to beat." A 15-1 spurt by Dallas to open that second half erased a seven-point halftime deficit and gave the Mavericks a 65-58 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Nowitzki led the way in that stretch, making seven points including a 3-pointer. The Rockets came out flat to start the third, missing six shots and turning the ball over twice in the first few minutes of the quarter. The Rockets finally snapped out of their offensive slump after that, using a 10-4 run to get within 69-68 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Parsons made four quick points near the end of it before Howard put an exclamation point on the run with a nifty sideways alley-oop dunk. Houston led by one point about six minutes before halftime and used an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 52-42. Howard got things going in that span by scoring six straight points and capped the run with a free throw. The Rockets led 57-50 at halftime. NOTES: Houston announced during the game that guard Patrick Beverley had surgery on Monday to repair a fracture in his right hand and will be out 4-6 weeks. ... Calderon has scored more than 10 points in 18 of his last 20 games. ... Houston has scored at least 60 points in the paint in three of its last four games. Cheap Minnesota Vikings Jerseys . - Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard has signed with WME-IMG, saying the sports management powerhouse will help maximize the value of my brand. Cheap Vikings Jerseys . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. http://www.cheapvikingsjerseyselite.com/ . Players suspended during the season for a performance-enhancing drug violation will not be eligible for that years post-season. In addition, discipline will increase from 50 games to 80 for a first testing violation and from 100 games to a season-long 162 for a second. A third violation remains a lifetime ban. Cheap Vikings Jerseys Authentic . That still leaves a big hole.You dont replace the leadership, defensive co-ordinator Billy Davis said. You just dont. Leadership is something that is earned over time. Cheap Vikings Jerseys China . Bayern led second-place Leverkusen by 10 points with a game in hand, while Dortmund was another four points off the pace. Freiburg midfielder Felix Klaus scored in the last minute as his side twice came from behind to climb provisionally out of the relegation zone.SHERBROOKE, Que. - Brandon Gignac had the only goal in the shootout as the Shawinigan Cataractes edged the Sherbrooke Phoenix 4-3 on Wednesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Gignac also scored in regulation time for Shawinigan (19-38-9), as did Alex Pawelczyk and Sebastien Gauthier. Daniel Audette, Mathieu Laverdure and Jean-Christophe Laflamme supplied the offence for Sherbrooke (16-41-9). Marvin Cupper made 43 saves and turned aside three skaters in the shootout for the win. Francis Desrosiers stopped 24 shots in regulation and overtime before stopping one shootout attempt. --- SCREAMING EAGLES 2 SEA DOGS 1 SYDNEY, N.S. — Kyle Farrells short-handed goal in the second period stood as the winner as Cape Breton held off Saint John. Raphael Corriveau also scored in the second for the Screaming Eagles (36-26-4), while Zachary Fortin made 22 saves. Oliver Cooper gave the Sea Dogs (19-42-5) a 1-0 lead in the first. Sebastien Auger stopped 44 shots in net. --- OCEANIC 2 SAGUENEENS 1 CHICOUTIMI, Que.dddddddddddd — Loic Leduc scored the winner with 6:49 left in the third period as Rimouski edged the Sagueneens. Jimmy Oligny had a power-play goal for the Oceanic (44-15-7) and Olivier Tremblay made 25 saves for the win. Scott Carrier was the lone scorer for Chicoutimi (27-38-1), while Julio Billia turned aside 34 shots. --- TIGRES 6 REMPARTS 3 QUEBEC CITY — Jean-Francois Plante scored his 52nd goal of the season and set up three others as Victoriaville toppled the Remparts. Angelo Miceli had a goal and two assists for the Tigres (33-25-8), while Yan Pavel Laplante, Jonathan Diaby, Samuel Blais and Carl Marois chipped in as well. Francois Tremblay made 37 saves for the win. Nick Sorensen scored and added two assists Quebec (38-17-11), while Francis Lambert-Lemay and Montreal Canadiens prospect Mikhail Grigorenko had goals as well. 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