Terry scores 12 of 25 in third as Mavs bounce back

DALLAS (AP) -- Jason Terry passed up some open first-half shots for the Dallas Mavericks, and he heard about it at halftime from Avery Johnson.

Terry heeded his coach's advice, scoring 12 of his 25 points during Dallas' big third-quarter run, and the Mavericks rallied to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 99-84 on Tuesday night.

"He passed up three shots early in the game," Johnson said. "I had to remind him he's the Microwave, not the Toaster."

Terry went 8-for-13 from the floor in the second half, 3-for-6 from 3-point range, to help the Mavericks remain unbeaten at home this season (3-0).

"I know my job, but [Johnson] reminded me," said Terry, who came off the bench in the first half but started the third quarter. "He told me specifically to be more aggressive."

Dirk Nowitzki added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Mavericks, who bounced back from Saturday night's 91-82 road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Nowitzki also matched a career high with eight assists, passing out of double-teams to open teammates.

Nowitzki was looking for his first career triple-double, and he kiddingly blamed Terry after the game for missing a few open shots that would have been assists for the German star.

"It's not Playstation, it's not going to be that easy," Nowitzki said. "But we did a good job sharing the ball and moving it around to the open guy."

Dallas shot 35 percent from the field and got a season-low 11 points from Nowitzki on Saturday night against Portland. The Mavericks upped it to 45 percent shooting against Philadelphia, with Nowitzki going 7-for-14 from the floor.

Josh Howard added 18 points for Dallas.

Andre Iguodala had 15 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for Philadelphia, which has lost three straight. Samuel Dalembert finished with a season-high 18 points and Willie Green added a season-best 16.

The Sixers led 50-43 at halftime after outrebounding Dallas 28-23 in the first half. But Philadelphia couldn't sustain its energy level as Dallas came out strong in the second half.

"I thought we played well the first 40 minutes but Dallas capitalized on all our mistakes," Green said. "Their big players stepped up and hit big shots and we fell apart at the end."

The Mavericks got 11 of their first 16 third-quarter points off fast breaks and Terry made a pair of 3s during a 23-11 run that put Dallas in front 66-61.

"It was all energy," said Nowitzki, who also had three blocked shots and two steals. "It started defensively. We wanted to make their shots hard. We wanted to speed the game up."

The Mavericks scored the first seven points of the third to tie it at 50, the last two baskets by Terry. Dallas also clamped down on the defensive end during early run with blocked shots from Nowitzki and DeSagana Diop on consecutive possessions.

"We knew [the Mavericks] were going to come out and push the ball in the second half," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said.

Terry's 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter capped an 8-2 run, putting the Mavericks in front 84-70, and the 76ers were unable to get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

Game notes
Dallas C Erick Dampier played for the first time this season after missing the first six games while completing his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery. Dampier finished with seven points and seven rebounds. ... G Devin Harris returned to the Dallas lineup after missing Saturday night's game at Portland because of a death in the family. Harris also sat out the Mavericks' first two home games due to a bruised left thigh. ... G Eddie Jones was back in Dallas' starting lineup after missing the previous two games with a sore right leg. ... Johnson said F Devean George should be cleared for full practice sometime next week. George has been out all season with a stress fracture in his left foot. ... The Sixers have lost the last four meetings with the Mavericks. ... Iguodala had seven turnovers.