"He got it going and hit three or four, which were big," Carlisle said of his leader. "That was a big stretch."

Shawn Marion scored 15 points for the Mavericks.

The Timberwolves also shot just 16 for 27 (59 percent) from the free-throw line.

Both teams were playing unexpectedly without key starters. The Mavericks announced that swingman Josh Howard will be out indefinitely while he continues to rehab his surgically repaired left ankle. Howard played in the previous three games, but experienced soreness after a loss to the Spurs on Wednesday.

The Timberwolves have been without starting forward Kevin Love all season because of a broken hand and were further hindered when Al Jefferson had to leave the team to fly to Florida to be with his grandmother, who died at the age of 83 on Thursday afternoon.

Jefferson missed Friday's game and also will not play on Saturday in Memphis.

Notes: Dallas F Kris Humphries, a former prep star at the Minneapolis suburb of Hopkins and at the University of Minnesota, had nine points and nine rebounds. ... Mavs rookie Rodrigue Beaubois got the start for Howard and scored the first seven points for Dallas. He finished with nine points. ... Nowitzki missed a free throw in the second quarter, ending a string of 26 straight makes.