Mavs lose by four

Published Dec. 22, 2009 at 11:10 p.m.

It was supposed to be a storyline straight out of the movies. Or maybe out of a Cowboys game.
Dirk Nowitzki sucks it up after having his right elbow invaded by another man's teeth just a few days earlier, the same way DeMarcus Ware did for the Cowboys after an admittedly more dangerous neck injury. And both teams get willed to victory.
Some stories just don't have happy endings.
Nowitzki returned after missing just one game and had his usual big night. But the Mavericks couldn't contain Brandon Roy down the stretch as the Portland Trail Blazers overtook the Mavericks in the fourth quarter for a 85-81 victory Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.
The Mavericks ended up losing two of three at home to close out the pre-Christmas part of the schedule.
Roy and Seagoville product LaMarcus Aldridge guided the Blazers. Roy had 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter.
Nowitzki was playing with an apple-sized bandage on his right elbow, which had been injured when he crashed into Houston's Carl Landry on Friday. Several of Landry's teeth, or fragments thereof, lodged in Nowitzki's elbow.
He skipped one game to recover, but was back in all his glory against the Blazers.
But after Nowitzki and J.J. Barea, the Mavericks just had nothing to offer offensively.
They were down most of the way, although they did hit 12 of their first 16 shots in the third quarter to go from 11 points down to up 65-58 going into the fourth.
The Blazers erased that with a 10-0 blitz to go up 74-70 and the Mavericks were fighting from behind the rest of the way.
They got it within 83-81 with 1:16 to go on Nowitzki's 3-pointer and forced a Blazers miss with 53.1 showing.
But Nowitzki's 18-footer went halfway down before rattling out with 38 seconds left.
Both sides missed chances before Portland's Andre Miller was fouled with 6.5 ticks on the clock. His first free throw rubbed all the orange off the rim, ringing around it before falling through. He then made the second shot to clinch it.
It wasted Nowitzki's courageous night, which eneded with 27 points and nine rebounds.
Tough sledding: Jason Terry has been streaking in the wrong direction with his shooting of late and it got no better on Tuesday.
Terry was 2-for-13 from the field and is shooting 43 percent for the season.
"It kind of goes with the territory of an NBA season,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "Last season, if he had an off-shooting night, it was one in eight games. This year, our team has had a lot more tough shooting nights. We really haven't shot the ball like we did last year.''
Briefly: Blazers' coach Nate McMillan was on crutches, and will be for about three more weeks, after ripping his Achilles in a practice early this month. The injury bug has been so bad McMillan was filling in at a practice when the injury happened...Things got worse for the Blazers when center Joel Pryzbilla, who is starting because Greg Oden is out for the season, suffered a ruptured patella tendon in his right knee and a dislocated kneecap in the first quarter.

--Eddie Sefko

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