PHOENIX – It was bombs away from downtown for the Phoenix Suns, who hit 16 3-pointers on their way to a 117-104 win over the Dallas Mavericks at U.S. Airways Center.

Tim Thomas, in the starting lineup for the second straight game, led the flurry with 6-of-7 from 3-point range en route to 22 points. Shawn Marion added 29 points on 12-of-16 from the field.

The Dallas Mavericks, meanwhile, played “”a very, very little stretch of decent basketball,”” according to Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson. The Mavericks dropped their second straight game in as many days and all but cemented themselves in the No. 4 slot in the Western Conference Playoffs.

The Suns jumped out to a 36-25 lead after the first quarter and led throughout after the first 61 seconds. Dallas would cut the lead to 102-96 with 4:57 left to play, but Raja Bell and Thomas each hit 3-pointers to push the lead back to 12.

“”We feel a little more confident now,”” said Steve Nash, who dished out 13 assists. “”We feel like we got a little bit of our swagger back.””

Nowitzki led all scorers with 36 points and 11 rebounds, including 13 points in the final quarter. Arizona graduate and Maverick point guard Jason Terry scored 18 points with Lute Olson in attendance and Josh Howard added 18 points as well.

The Suns shot 66.7 percent from beyond the arc, and made 16 3-pointers for the fifth time this season, all at home.

“”A lot of the ways we talked about combating their 3-point shooting, we didn’t do it,”” Johnson said.

Since Steve Nash became a Sun, Phoenix is 4-3 against Nash’s former team.

There is no love lost between the Suns and the Mavericks, as the teams combined for four flagrant fouls and a technical foul picked up by Nowitzki, who was unhappy after a Thomas flagrant foul. Nowitzki pushed away Bell’s arm as Bell tried to intervene, drawing the ire of the home crowd.