Mavs lose to Nuggets

The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Denver Nuggets 104-96 Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center.

Shawn Marion led Dallas with a team-high 21 points (10-14 FGs, 1-2 FTs) on the night.  It marked his third straight game leading the team in scoring (20.3 ppg over the last three games).  He added 10 boards in 31 minutes, giving him his 10th double-double of the season (390th career).

With the win, the Nuggets took the season series, 3-1, and have now won nine of the last 12 regular season meetings with the Mavericks. Dallas recorded its fourth straight loss and fell to 53-25 on the year (third place in the West).

J.J. Barea recorded his third double-double of the season (fourth career and second in the last three games) with 12 points and 10 assists. He’s now scored in double figures in five consecutive games, matching his longest streak of the season (also scored in double figures in five straight games from 2/9/11-2/16/11).

Brendan Haywood made his second straight start (8th of the season) in place of Tyson Chandler (sore lower back) and pulled down a season-high 19 boards vs. Denver on Wednesday (previous 17 vs. Philadelphia on 11/12/11). It was his second straight game with 10-plus rebounds (11 at Portland on 4/3/11), and the eighth time he’s snatched 10-plus boards on the year.

Corey Brewer appeared in his ninth game for Dallas (65th of the season) on Wednesday, and tallied nine first-half points in 10 minutes. He finished with 13 points in 20 minutes off the bench. The most points he scored with the Mavericks prior to Wednesday’s game was seven vs. New York on March 10.

Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd rested against Denver on Wednesday. He started all 77 games prior to Wednesday’s contest. Jason Terry is now the only player to appear in all 78 games for Dallas this season.