(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The surging Dallas Mavericks keep winning while the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers continue to lose games and players.
Monta Ellis scored 20 points, German juggenaut Dirk Nowitzki added 15 Sunday, and the visiting Mavericks cruised past the short-handed Cavs 109-90 for their fifth consecutive win.
Already without centre Anderson Varejao to a season-ending Achilles tendon tear, as well as superstar LeBron James for a fourth straight game and the next two weeks because of lower knee and back spasms, the Cavs lost All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving in the third quarter with lower back spasms.
"They're down bodies," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "They're without the best player in the world and lost one of the best point guards in the league in the second half, so we had to take advantage of it. But they battled us all night long."
Both James and Irving will not make the trip for Monday's game at Philadelphia.
Chandler Parsons and Tyson Chandler scored 14 points apiece for Dallas (25-10), which moved into a virtual tie with idle Memphis (24-9) atop the Southwest Division following the wire-to-wire win.
Ahead by three after the opening quarter, the Mavs extended the lead to 15 before taking a 57-47 halftime advantage. The gap grew to 89-71 heading into the final frame before cruising home with the easy win.
Kevin Love had 30 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland (19-15), losers for the fourth time in the last five games.
"The other night we played great defensively," said Cavs first-year coach David Blatt, referring to Friday's 91-87 road win at Charlotte. "Today we did not play good enough defence to beat any team, certainly not Dallas."
Prior to the contest, Cavaliers general manager David Griffin told reporters that speculation about Blatt's job status was "ridiculous" and no change would be made.
"Coach Blatt is our coach. He's going to remain our coach," Griffin said. "Do not write that as a vote of confidence. He's never needed one. It was never a question. So don't write it that way."
Elsewhere, Dwyane Wade scored 10 of Miami's last 12 points as the Heat snapped a four-game losing streak, holding off the Brooklyn Nets 88-84.
Wade had 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Heat forward Chris Bosh scored a game-high 26 points.
The Heat (15-20) were coming off their worst loss in five year, falling by 36 points at Houston on Saturday night. But, on short rest, they improved to 7-12 at home.
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