MAVERICKS 110, WARRIORS 101

Mavericks forward Josh Howard (5) defends as Warriors guard Monta Ellis (8) drives to the basket in the first half.

Photo: Tony Gutierrez / AP

Ellis' career best not enough

Rusty Simmons, Chronicle Staff Writer

With 8.5 seconds remaining in Wednesday's game, Monta Ellis stripped the medical tape from his fingers and tossed it on the floor.

At that point, there was nothing else the guard could have left on the American Airlines Center court.
Ellis scored a career-high 46 points on 17-of-23 shooting, but the one-man show wasn't enough as the Warriors allowed Dallas to sneak away with a 110-101 victory in front of its 340th consecutive sellout crowd.
"That was a remarkable performance by Monta," coach Don Nelson said. "He didn't have a great supporting cast, but he fought to keep us in the game and gave us a chance to win."
His layup with 5:11 remaining cut a one-time 18-point deficit to 95-92, but the Warriors again failed to execute in the waning minutes. After Ellis hit his career-high fourth three-pointer, he got only three touches in the final 3:08 while C.J. Watson committed two turnovers and Ronny Turiaf missed a long jumper.
One of Ellis' late touches came after his teammates fumbled around for most of the shot clock, making him force an errant three-point try. Another came when he rebounded and put back Turiaf's miss. The last was a 22-footer with 2.8 seconds left and the game already decided.
"Whatever comes, comes," Ellis said of his lack of late touches. "We run our offense, try to execute and just keep playing."
The Warriors (13-35) have lost seven straight and 11 of their past 13, partly because they don't know how to go to their best player in the clutch. The Mavericks (31-18) snapped a three-game skid, partly because they do.
After the Warriors closed to 95-92, Dallas pounded it to Dirk Nowitzki. He made a pair of free throws, a 16-foot fadeaway and a 17-foot jumper to push the lead to 101-95 in a two-minute span. Nowitzki had 20 points and seven rebounds on a quiet night that didn't include a second-half field goal until that stretch.
Devean George showed Nowitzki a variety of defensive looks, and the Mavericks tried the same thing against Ellis. Nothing worked. Ellis shot over Jason Terry and Rodrigue Beaubois and drove around Shawn Marion.
"He does it to everybody, and that's why I'm not discouraged," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "He has just turned into a great offensive player."
About the only things that slowed Ellis were offensive fouls. He was whistled for four fouls, including three charging calls during a 6 1/2-minute span in the third quarter.
"Three of those, come on. Give me a break," Nelson said. "I'm not saying he doesn't charge once in a while, but three in row? That's impossible for a star player, and he's a star player."
Ellis batted down an opportunity to complain about the calls. He also avoided self-hyping his performance.
"It doesn't mean anything to me that it was my career game," Ellis said. "I just want to win, and we've lost seven straight. I'm not even looking at my career high.
"I'm looking at what we can do to turn it around."
Maybe, feed him the ball when the game is on the line.

Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Kidd, left, strips the ball from Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, right, on a drive to the basket in the first half of Wednesday's game in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Photo: Tony Gutierrez / AP

Up next

Who: vs. Thunder (28-21)
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV/Radio: CSNBA/680
Of note: Oklahoma City has defeated the Warriors by an average of 12 points in two meetings, and Kevin Durant averaged 36.5 points per game.

Ellis not seeing stars

Looks like Warriors guard Monta Ellis can keep his All-Star break fishing plans, after all.
NBA Commissioner David Stern on Wednesday chose Denver's Chauncey Billups to replace injured Chris Paul for the Western Conference squad. Ellis leads Billups in nearly every statistical category, but Denver is second in the conference while the Warriors are third from last in the league.
"There are some great guards out there, and, yes, Monta Ellis has had a special season," Denver coach George Karl told the Denver Post. "But we have the second-best record, and (Billups), in the last six weeks, has played better than the guys actually on the All-Star team. In my mind, I think it's somewhat of a no-brainer."

Opening tip

After being peppered with a series of trade rumors circling the league, Warriors coach Don Nelson said, "People start all kinds of rumors at this time every year." Asked if he wanted to start one, Nelson played along, joking, "I heard that the Warriors were looking to trade me for Del Harris."

E-mail Rusty Simmons at rsimmons@sfchronicle.com.