Los Angeles  - J. J. Barea's big second half gave the Dallas Mavericks a victory. His teammates almost gave it back.

Barea scored 20 of his 22 points after halftime Saturday night and the host Mavericks survived a furious late surge by the Atlanta Hawks for a 100-98 victory, their ninth win in
10 games.

German juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and Jason Terry added 19 for Dallas, which nearly blew a 17-point lead in the last

five minutes. Nevertheless, the Mavs have won four in a row overall and five straight at home.

"We got another win," Terry said. "We're disappointed with the way we finished. But we're excited about the way we played for 45 minutes."

Los Angeles - German juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki dominated through three quarters, before JJ Barea took over in the fourth.

Los Angeles - Rajon Rondo recorded his first career triple-double, and the Boston Celtics extracted a measure of revenge.

Rondo had 16 points, 13 rebounds and a personal-best 17 assists, as the Celtics rolled to their 10th consecutive victory, 114-96 over the visiting Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.

"It's not easy to do," Rondo said. "I've been so close a lot of games, and to finally get one, I'm excited about it. And most important, we got the win."

Los Angeles - Unhappy with their slow start, the Toronto Raptors fired coach Sam Mitchell on Wednesday, replacing him with assistant Jay Triano on an interim basis.

"This is a difficult but necessary step the franchise must take," Raptors President and general manager Bryan Colangelo said in a statement on the team's website. "We appreciate all that Sam has done for the organization. We applaud him for his successes and wish him nothing but the best with his future in basketball."

Mitchell's dismissal comes after the Raptors suffered an embarrassing, 132-93 road loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.

SOUTH BEND, Ind., Dec. 2 - Ryan Ayers and Kyle McAlarney hit 16-of-27 three-pointers and combined for 62 points Tuesday in No. 7 Notre Dame's 102-76 win over South Dakota.

HOUSTON, Dec. 1 - The Houston Comets, who won the WNBA's first four championships (1997-2000), will close down this week.

The Comets had been owned by the WNBA since the middle of last season, but because a buyer couldn't be found the league made the decision to put the team out of business.

The Comets were originally owned by Leslie Alexander, owner of the Houston Rockets. He sold the team to a group headed by businessman Hilton Koch last year, but the league then took over the franchise.