Apparently, road trips agree with the Dallas Mavericks these days; they made the journey to Indianapolis to take on the Indiana Pacers, who would welcome the return of Mike Dunleavy, who had been out for some time with a right knee injury. Unfortunately for the Pacers, even Dunleavy at 100% was not enough as the Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points, allowing Dallas to easily dispose of Indiana 113-92 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Nowitzki was hot early on for Dallas as he scored 11 points in the first quarter, giving Dallas a 26-20 lead with 3:01 left in the period; they would increase their lead to nine at 35-26 on a three-pointer at the buzzer by Jose Juan Barea. The Mavericks would increase their cushion to 16 on a 3-point play by Kris Humphries with 7:26 left in the half; their lead reached 21 on a Nowitzki jumper with 6:03 remaining in the quarter. The Pacers would chip away, getting their deficit down to nine at 63-54 on a Dunleavy trey; however, Dallas went into halftime with a 12-point lead at 66-54.

The Mavericks went on a 10-4 run, capped by a trio of free throws by Nowitzki, putting them up 78-59; the Mavericks would gradually increase their lead, being up by as much as 26, courtesy of a 11-0 run which would put Dallas ahead 95-69 going into the final quarter. Jason Terry would score the first 4 points of the period for the Mavericks and the Pacers would never recover.

Nowitzki led all Mavericks scorers with 31 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 2 blocks while Terry added 17 with 3 assists and 2 steals; Humphries secured a double-double, scoring 12 with 11 rebounds, an assist and a block. Indiana was led by Danny Granger with 20 points, a rebound, 2 assists, 3 steals and a block while Dunleavy added 13 with 2 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.

Dallas (12-4) plays again on Saturday when they fly to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers while Indiana (6-8) travels to Oakland to take on the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.