Cavaliers 91, Mavericks 88
Rookie Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers held off the visiting Dallas Mavericks 91-88 on Saturday night.
Antawn Jamison added 19 points and nine rebounds and Anderson Varejao had his third straight double-double with 17 points and 17 boards as the Cavaliers sent Dallas to its third straight loss.
Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points in the loss to surpass Elgin Baylor (23,149) for 22nd place on the career scoring list.
The Cavaliers, who trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, held Dallas without a field goal for the final 4:13.
Cleveland used a 13-0 third-quarter spurt to to take a 66-59 lead and carry a 70-64 advantage into the final 12 minutes.
The Mavericks scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter and went ahead 85-81 on Jason Terry's 3-pointer with 4:13 to play, but the Cavaliers scored the next eight points en route to snapping a three-game losing streak to Dallas.