76ers finish six-game road trip 1-5

DALLAS (AP) -- Dirk Nowitzki continued his almost-perfect play and Shawn Bradley had another double-double for the Dallas Mavericks.

	Bradley

Road-weary Philadelphia never had a chance.

Nowitzki had 29 points and just one turnover -- he has just four in 304 minutes the last six games -- and Bradley had 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots to lead Dallas to a 102-83 victory, the Mavericks' largest winning margin against the 76ers.

"Shawn was sensational. He has gone from being one of our worst players to one of our best this year," Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. "Dirk's had big games."

Nowitzki, Dallas' leading scorer and a top vote-getter in the All-Star balloting, hit a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter to make it 34-24. The Mavericks maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game, and led by as many as 25 in the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks improved to 26-0 over the last three seasons when Bradley has a double-double, including eight this season. About the only thing the 7-foot-6 center didn't do after an impressive 21-minute effort against his former team was talk to the media.

So his teammates spoke for him.

"He's been a force in the middle and when playoff time comes around, we're going to need someone to clog up the middle," Nowitzki said.

"He came into the season in shape and with confidence," Michael Finley said. "We need him to play well and be a presence in the middle."

The 76ers finished their six-game road trip with just one win, and seemed lifeless pretty much from the start of the early afternoon game.

Philadelphia's only lead came 41 seconds in when Keith Van Horn hit a free throw for the game's first point. Nowitzki's 14-foot jumper, after Steve Nash's steal, put the Mavericks ahead to stay 17 seconds later.

Dallas hadn't won at home against Philadelphia since Dec. 6, 1996, a stretch of just four games because the teams didn't play each other during the 1998-99 season. The Mavericks twice had 18-point wins in the series.

"Let's not get too full of ourselves and let's understand that they were tired," Nelson said. "I was expecting a tough game and it turned out not to be."

Finley had 18 points for the Mavericks, while Nash had 16 points and eight assists.

Allen Iverson led Philadelphia with 25 points and his best shooting game on the trip. After shooting just 31 percent (32-of-102) the previous five games, Iverson made 11 of 19. Former Maverick Greg Buckner added 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting in a reserve role.

Nowitzki started the second quarter with five straight points. He hit a 16-foot jumper, then after a steal by Nash, moved through traffic, making a continuation basket and adding the free throw for a 15-point lead.

"Defensively, we have no chemistry. Guys are worrying about stopping their own guy and they're not helping the other guys," Iverson said.

"We can't guard anybody. It's perplexing," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "It's a brutal problem when you can't guard and you can't score."

The Mavericks led 58-42 at halftime, getting the last basket when Raja Bell chased down the rebound after a failed alley-oop to Nowitzki. Bell knocked the ball off Derrick Coleman out of bounds, and then drove for the half-ending layup.

Philadelphia never got closer than 13 after halftime, and trailed 73-53 when Finley made a 19-footer with 5:24 left in the third. The 76ers never scored more than five straight points in the second half.

"I was surprised we didn't get a run," Iverson said. "Something's got to give. I'm still confident that we can get it done, but it's frustrating."

Bell was in the starting lineup to guard Iverson, who he used to go against in practice while with the 76ers. Because of the three-guard lineup, Bradley started in place of Raef LaFrentz.

Game notes
Iverson has scored in double figures in 154 straight games, the NBA's longest active streak. ... Dallas, 16-2 at home, played its fourth of five straight home games. ... The Mavericks are 116-6 over the last three seasons when taking a lead into the fourth. ... Midway through the first, Brown went to the arena announcer, upset that a technical foul called on Iverson was announced to the crowd before and after a timeout. ... The Mavs were just 3-of-10 on 3-pointers, but that was an improvement from a franchise-worst 1-of-11 against the Clippers on Thursday.