Streak Ends in Washington

If you were looking at the Mavericks record last night, one of the league leaders at 12-4, you would never have guessed that they started the seasno by dropping their first 4 games, but that’s exaclty what happened. The Mavericks have been on an unbelievable 12 game winning streak stretching back to November 9th. Tonight however the streak came to a stop in Washington where Gilbert Arenas and the Wizard led a balanced offensive to rout the Mavs 106-97. Don’t let the score fool you, Dallas made it very close at the end, because the Wizards were leading the Mavs 76-45 halfway through the third period.

Gilbert Arenas and the Wizards ended the Dallas Mavericks’ 12-game winning streak, determined to begin a streak of their own.

“It feels great,” Arenas said after scoring 38 points with eight assists during the Wizards’ 106-97 victory on Monday night. “It shows what we’re capable of doing if we come out and play hard. But we have to get a streak of our own pretty soon here if we want to be in that race.”

All of Washington’s starters scored in double figures in the first three quarters. Only once had the team accomplished that in a full game this season.

Antawn Jamison had 20 points and 12 rebounds. Caron Butler added 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Wizards, who built leads of 20 points in the first half and 31 in the third quarter.

Dirk Nowitzki, who led Dallas with 27 points, capped a 19-6 run with a 3-pointer that pulled the Mavericks to within 102-95 with 1:07 remaining. Devin Harris scored nine points during the spree and finished with 14. Jerry Stackhouse and Devean George also scored 14 points for Dallas. #