Mavericks 102, Cavaliers 97: Monta Ellis had 22 points and eight assists as Dallas fended off a second-half charge from host Cleveland.

Shawn Marion added 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting for the Mavericks, who nearly squandered a 22-point halftime lead en route to their fifth win in the past seven games. Dirk Nowitzki had 17 points and 10 rebounds while DeJuan Blair added 13 points off the bench.

Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 26 points and added nine assists for the Cavaliers, who had a chance to tie but earned a five-second violation on the inbounds play with two seconds remaining and Dallas ahead by three. Luol Deng added 20 points while Anderson Varejao had 18 points and 21 rebounds in defeat.

Dallas broke open a tie game with a 9-2 run to close out the opening quarter, and carried that momentum into the second. Blair poured in six of the Mavericks' eight straight points to open the quarter, a Calderon 3-pointer extended the advantage to 21 and Dallas cruised to a 59-37 advantage at the break.

Cleveland whittled away at the deficit throughout the third quarter, getting a 3-pointer from Irving and a three-point play from Deng to highlight a mini-spurt that drew it within 79-66 entering the fourth. A Jarrett Jack 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock cut the gap to single digits with 7:54 remaining, and Irving knocked down a mid-range jumper in the lane to make it 87-84 just over three minutes later.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Cavaliers PF Tristan Thompson added 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 20th double-double of the season. Only Detroit's Andre Drummond (30) has more among Eastern Conference players. ... Nowitzki missed all five of his 3-point attempts and is just 3-for-16 from beyond the arc over his last three games. ... Deng has reached the 20-point plateau three times in six games since being acquired from the Chicago Bulls earlier this month.