Los Angeles - German juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki dominated through three quarters, before JJ Barea took over in the fourth. Nowitzki erupted for 39 points, and Barea added 18 - both season- highs - as the Dallas Mavericks scorched the slumping Phoenix Suns, with a resounding 112-97 wire-to wire home-court victory on Thursday night.
The league MVP two seasons ago, Nowitzki put on a vintage performance, hitting 17-of-25 floor shots, including a pair of 3- pointers, to go along with nine rebounds in just 38 minutes.
"I felt like I hadn't been shooting the ball well," said Nowitzki, averaging a league seventh-best 24.2 points per game, "But my shot felt good tonight, I found my rhythm early, and I got some good looks."
Jason Terry had 19 points off the bench for the Mavericks (10-8) who have won eight of their last nine games following a 2-7 start under new coach Rick Carlisle.
"I thought from start to finish the energy level was good," Carlisle said. "We were following the game plan and just playing very aggressively. Even when we hit lulls, we kept attacking. It was a good win against a quality team. We just have to keep building on it."
Nowitzki had 24 points by halftime and the Mavericks built a 23- point cushion before taking a 64-46 advantage into the locker room.
The versatile seven-footer added 13 more points, giving him 37 and the lead again swelled to 23, before the Suns sliced it to 88-74 after three.
Phoenix drew within 10 until Barea stepped up. The 5-foot-11 spark plug, making his first start of the season, scored nine points, including a 3-pointer to cap a game-sealing 17-4 surge as the Mavericks opened up a 105-82 cushion with 4:11 remaining.
"(Barea) was key tonight," Carlisle said. "When we hit the lull in fourth, he made a couple of big plays and got the wheels back on the wagon. He played a very important part of the game."
Foul-plagued Amare Stoudemire scored 28 points, while Steve Nash added 20 with 10 assists against his former club as the Suns (11-9) suffered their first four-game losing streak since November 2006.
"When Dirk gets shots like that," Stoudemire said, "it's tough to turn him off."
Nash, however, was more concerned about the poor effort the Suns turned in.
"Our effort wasn't good enough," he said. "We didn't play hard enough or with enough discipline defensively. We let them feel good about themselves and they just kept making shots.
"We have got to really take more pride in what we are doing individually and collectively and give a better effort."
Elsewhere: San Antonio Spurs 108, Denver Nuggets 91 Frenchman Tony Parker had 22 points with eight assists, while Tim Duncan collected 21 points with 12 rebounds and the visiting Spurs rocked the Nuggets to snap a modest two-game slide.
Argentine Manu Ginobili also scored 21 points and Matt Bonner contributed 14 for San Antonio (10-8) which blew the game open by outscoring its hosts, 31-15 in the second quarter.
Carmelo Anthony netted 16 points and JR Smith added 15 with 10 rebounds off the bench for Denver (13-7) off to its best start in franchise history before having its three-game winning streak stopped.
With the Spurs up by one, reserve George Hill scored seven of his 11 points, including a 3-pointer to highlight a 15-2 run. Ginobili and Roger Mason also drilled triples in the burst, opening up a 47-33 advantage that grew to 61-41 at the break.
After trailing by as many as 23 in the third quarter, the Nuggets drew to within 88-74 on a 3-pointer by Chauncey Billups with 9:56 left in the game.
However, Duncan hit two free throws and a layup to ignite a 9-0 run. Hill added a pair from the line, Mason drained a 3-pointer and the lead was back to 23 with seven minutes remaining.
