Nowitzki leads Mavs’ upset of Thunder

DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki scored a seasonhigh 19 points, rookie Dennis Smith held his own against Russell Westbrook on the rookie Dallas guard’s 20th birthday, and the Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 on Saturday night.

A night after blowing a 15-point lead in the second half of a one-point loss to Detroit that followed a dominant win over Kevin Durant and Golden State, the Thunder fell behind for good in the first quarter of the best performance of the season from the suddenly surging Mavericks.

Smith finished with 15 points and four assists, while Westbrook had 28 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists as the Mavs won their third in the past four games after a 2-14 start.

BLAZERS 108, WIZARDS 105

C.J. McCollum scored 26 points, including seven straight during a 10-0 game-closing run, and visiting Portland overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Washington.

Washington was without John Wall, who is expected to miss at least two weeks with inflammation in his left knee after making knee-to-knee contact with another player during a Nov. 7 loss to Dallas.

CLIPPERS 97, KINGS 95

Blake Griffen scored a season-high 33 points, including the winning shot with 3.2 seconds left, as Los Angeles won at Sacramento.

JAZZ 120, BUCKS 106

Rookie Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points as Utah made a seasonhigh 18 3-pointers in a win over visiting Milwaukee.

WARRIORS 110, PELICANS 95

Stephen Curry scored 14 of his 27 points in the third, and Golden State held on to beat visiting New Orleans.

76ERS 130, MAGIC 111

J.J. Redick hit eight 3-pointers and scored 29 points as Philadelphia cruised to a win against visiting Orlando.

SPURS 106, HORNETS 86

LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol each had 17 points and seven rebounds as San Antonio eased by host Charlotte. RAPTORS 112, HAWKS 78 Norman Powell scored 17 points as Toronto blew past host Atlanta.