Nowitzki leads Mavs to 7th straight win

DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki scored 36 points, Caron Butler had 19 in his return to the Dallas lineup and the Mavericks held on for a 108-100 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday night to extend their NBA-high winning streak to seven games.

The Hornets had cut what had been a 25-point deficit to 101-97 after Darren Collison's 3-pointer with 2:44 left capped the rookie's stretch of eight consecutive points. But New Orleans didn't get any closer and Collison, who had a season-high 35 points, had consecutive turnovers in the final minute that Dallas turned into baskets.

Nowitzki hit a 9-foot turnaround jumper after Collison's first turnover, and the first score for either team since Collison's 3-pointer that capped his stretch of eight consecutive points.

Butler then stole the ball from Collison near midcourt and drove to the basket, missing the layup that Brendan Haywood slammed home.

It was the third consecutive 30-point game for Nowitzki. Butler played in his sixth game for Dallas since being traded from Washington, but had missed the last two after having a bad reaction to some medication.

Dallas took control with a 31-6 run early and appeared to have the luxury of a lopsided game to start a stretch of two games inside a 24-hour span. Their game Monday night at Charlotte starts 21ˆ½ hours after Sunday's game tipped off.

But Collison, stepping up in the absence of All-Star guard Chris Paul (left knee injury), helped made it a tight game at the end.

New Orleans was within 86-77 after David West hit two free throws in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, closing the gap to under 10 for the first time since last in the first quarter.

That 19-3 run for New Orleans came during an 8-minute shooting slump for Dallas, who missed 12 consecutive field goals but where still shooting 55 percent for the game at that point. The Mavericks finished 52 percent from the field (45 of 87).

Jason Terry ended the Mavericks' shooting slump with an 18-footer, then after West traveled Terry passed to Nowitzki for his own 18-footer.

Two nights after scoring 40 points, West was held to 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting.

Marcus Thornton had 21 points for New Orleans while Peja Stojakovic had 16. Emeka Okafor had a season-high 17 rebounds.

Jason Kidd had 13 points and passed Maurice Cheeks for fourth on the NBA career list with his 2,311th steal. Kidd had 10 of his points in the first quarter.

After Stojakovic hit a 3-pointer that got New Orleans with 92-86 with just more than 7 minutes left, Nowitzki hit a 13-foot fadeaway shot from the baseline. Then after West got blocked on consecutive shots by Haywood before the shot clock expired, Nowitzki hit a 14-footer and then made the free throw after Hornets coach Jeff Bower got a technical foul.

Collison put the Hornets up 20-16 with a 7-foot running jumper with 5:22 left in the first quarter. Nowitzki then drove for a layup that ignited the 31-6 run over a nearly 8-minute span. Shawn Marion's layup made it 47-26 with 9:14 left in the first half.

NOTES: The last time Nowitzki had three consecutive 30-points games was February 2008. ... Dallas played the eighth of 14 games in a 23-day span out of the All-Star break. ... New Orleans is 6-8 without Paul. Bower said Paul is still out "indefinitely" but is making encouraging progress. ... The last seven-game winning streak for Dallas was two seasons ago.