DALLAS (AP) -- Michael Finley just couldn't miss from long range

for the Dallas Mavericks, no matter how much Cleveland tried to

stop him.

"I put two hands up, blew on his face," LeBron James said.

"But he was in a groove. When a guy's shooting like that, there's

not much you can do."

Except stand back and admire.

Finley scored 26 points, making all eight of his 3-pointers, and

the Mavericks beat Cleveland 117-86 Saturday night for their

largest margin of victory this season.

"We had a hand in Finley's face, and he still made them,"

Cleveland coach Brendan Malone said.

Finley is finding out he can still be a shooter and a scorer in

the defensive-oriented system of new Mavericks coach Avery Johnson.

A week earlier in Johnson's debut, Finley was 1-for-10 shooting

and then had a 2-for-11 game Wednesday night against Golden State.

But when going 4-for-10 in his last game, he made 3-of-4 3-pointers

-- missing the last one in a loss at Sacramento.

"I'm fine. A lot of people make a big deal out of my offensive

game, and it deserves that," Finley said. "As I go, sometimes the

team goes. The team needs me to be offensively aggressive. I take

it upon myself to do that, and tonight was one of those times."

Finley was just 1-of-6 inside the arc, but already had his fifth

3-pointer midway through the second quarter when he scored to put

the Mavs up 51-38. That was part of a 22-9 spurt that broke the

last tie.

In the first quarter before the game got out of hand, James had

the ball at the top of the key and stared at Finley defending him.

The preps-to-pro prodigy in his second season looked at Finley

again, then swished a shot to get the Cavs to 20-17.

Finley responded with a 3-pointer on the next shot. That drew a

glance of admiration from James they went back down the court.

Finley didn't play the last 8 minutes with the game out of reach

and finished two short of the team record for 3-pointers. George

McCloud had 10 in December 1995, and has four of the other five

games in which a Dallas player had eight 3-pointers -- Nowitzki had

the other.

"He had it going," guard Jason Terry said. "He caught the

ball in rhythm and didn't hesitate."

As a team, the Mavericks hit a season-high 14-of-18 3-pointers.

Johnson certainly inherited a team with better overall talent

than Malone did. The likely playoff teams met for the first time

this season, within a week after both changed coaches.

Keith Van Horn added 23 points and Terry had 14 as six Mavericks

reached double figures. While Dirk Nowitzki had an offnight

shooting (3-for-12 for 11 points), he had 14 rebounds and blocked

five shots.

The Mavs are 4-1 since Johnson was promoted from assistant to

replace Don Nelson after the second-winningest coach in NBA history

resigned. Dallas was 9-4 in other games that Johnson coached before

that this season when Nelson was absent.

Malone is 1-2 since Paul Silas was fired Monday. The win was in

Malone's debut at home before the two road losses to extend

Cleveland's road losing streak to 11 since Jan. 22 at Golden State.

James had 19 points and six assists in 36 minutes. Drew Gooden

had 16 points, Anderson Varejao 14 and Zydrunas Illgauskas 13.

Just three minutes into the game, James rolled his left ankle,

falling to the floor and grimacing in pain after stepping on Shawn

Bradley after a missed shot. He went to the bench, but was back in

the game the next timeout.

"It's a little sore, but I have two days (before playing Monday

at New Orleans)," James said. "Our chances of winning are very

slim with me off the court, so I tried to play through it."

Van Horn put Dallas ahead to stay when he hit a floater in the

opening minute of the second quarter to start the game-turning run.

Terry made a 3-pointer for a 66-50 halftime lead, and the Cavaliers

never got closer than 15 after that.

James' short runner tied the game at 29 at the end of the first

quarter. But the Mavericks are used to not having the lead at that

point.

The Mavericks have outscored their opponents in the first

quarter just once the last 16 games. And this was just the second

time in that stretch they were tied after the first 12 minutes.Game notes
The Mavs record for consecutive 3-pointers is 10 by Brad

Davis in 1988. ... Dallas plays eight of its last 13 games on the

road, including the next four. ... Cleveland has lost 11 of 15

overall but is still sixth in the Eastern Conference. ... Devin

Harris had 12 points for Dallas on 5-of-7 shooting, and Josh Howard

had 11 points.