The surging Dallas Mavericks keep winning in the NBA while the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers continue to lose games and players.
Monta Ellis scored 20 points on Sunday, German juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki added 15 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), who 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."
The LA Lakers beat Indiana Pacers 88-87 as Nick Young scored 22 points, Kobe Bryant added 20, including the game-winning jump hook in the lane with 12.4 seconds left, to lift the Lakers (11-23) past the visiting Pacers.
Indiana had a final shot at the win but Roy Hibbert's long straight-away desperation heave off a broken play hit the top of the backboard at the buzzer.
CJ Miles netted 19 for the Pacers (13-22), who led by 13 in the third quarter.
Chris Bosh scored 26 points, Dwayne Wade scored added 10 of his 25 points in the final 5.5 minutes, and the Miami Heat (15-20) clipped the visiting Nets 88-84 to snap a four-game slide.
Joe Johnson scored 19 for Brooklyn (16-17) who had won six of their previous seven outings.
In other games, Detroit Pistons beat Sacramento Kings 114-95, Milwaukee Bucks beat New York Knicks 95-82 and Phoenix Suns beat Toronto Raptors 125-109.
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