DALLAS – Jason Terry hit several key baskets late in the fourth quarter and Jerry Stackhouse made a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left, giving the Dallas Mavericks the surge they needed to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 93-87 last night.

The Mavericks won for the 21st time in 24 games, but after losing two of their previous three games to San Antonio and Phoenix, this wasn’t much of a confidence booster.

WASHINGTON – Paul Pierce knew he was going to take the last shot.

Once again the Celtics’ forward delivered, hitting a fade-away 22-footer at the buzzer in overtime to give the Celtics a 116-115 win over the Washington Wizards last night.

MINNEAPOLIS – With Yao Ming emerging as an offensive force, the Houston Rockets didn’t need Tracy McGrady last night.

Yao topped 20 points for the eighth straight game, scoring 30 points and grabbing 13 rebounds to lead the Rockets to a 93-87 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

INDIANAPOLIS – It was a sweet homecoming for Jalen Rose.

Rose, who played six seasons for Indiana, scored 21 points last night in his first game back as a member of the New York Knicks. Jamal Crawford added 16 points as the Knicks beat the Pacers 107-92.

“”Obviously you want to come back and play well,”” said Rose, enjoying the Knicks’ first two-game winning streak since he joined the team last month. “”Guys that say they don’t like playing against their former teams are definitely lying. So many guys on that bench did so much for my career.””

The Pacers sent Rose to Chicago as part of the 2002 trade that brought Ron Artest to Indiana. Rose later played in Toronto and went to New York in a trade for Antonio Davis last month. Still, Indiana’s almost like home for him, and he received a warm welcome from the Indiana fans.

The feeling was mutual.

“”This is one of the only gyms I get a chance to run up and down the court where I contributed some blood and some sweat to the banners that are hanging up. So it does feel good to get back here,”” Rose said.

CLEVELAND – LeBron James wasn’t doing all it by himself for a change. He had help – on the floor, and in the boxscore.

James failed to lead Cleveland in scoring for the first time in 24 games as Flip Murray had 24 points to pace the Cavaliers to their third straight win, a 106-99 struggle over the Toronto Raptors last night.

James, looking tired during stretches while favoring a sore knee and ankle, had 17 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in 44 minutes. He was only 5-for-17 from the field, but his teammates were there for him.

“”When he has an off night like that, he has to have confidence that we can pick him up,”” said Murray, who has given the Cavs a spark since coming over in a Feb. 23 trade from Seattle. “”That’s what we did.””

ATLANTA – Joe Johnson received his Team USA jersey before the game, then went out and showed he was deserving of the honor.

Johnson scored a career-high 42 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks past Jason Richardson and the Golden State Warriors 113-106 last night.

Richardson also scored 42, equaling the best performance of his career, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Golden State from its seventh loss in eight games.

Johnson was clearly inspired by a ceremony before the game, when Hawks coach Mike Woodson presented his player with an “”O6″” Team USA jersey. He was one of 23 players selected to the national program, giving him a shot to represent the United States at this summer’s world championships and the 2008 Olympics.

“”That definitely was an energy boost for me,”” Johnson said. “”I wanted to have a great performance to show I was worthy. I had a lot of fun tonight.””

MINNEAPOLIS – With Yao Ming emerging as an offensive force, the Houston Rockets didn’t need Tracy McGrady last night.

Yao topped 20 points for the eighth straight game, scoring 30 points and grabbing 13 rebounds to lead the Rockets to a 93-87 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

With McGrady on the bench again with back problems, Yao dominated the paint and Stromile Swift added 11 points and nine boards off the bench for Houston, which used a 12-0 run to start the fourth quarter to get their third straight victory.

“”Without McGrady our record is pretty poor,”” Yao said of the Rockets’ 2-13 mark without their star forward. “”Before today we only had one. I really feel a lot of pressure because my teammates look to me and my opponent focuses on me, double team a lot, but we’re here, there’s no way back. We can only go forward and we came out with the victory.””

CHICAGO – Andres Nocioni provided Chicago with more than just energy off the bench.

Nocioni scored a career-high 24 points and Kirk Hinrich added 22 points and nine assists to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 95-87 victory over the New Jersey Nets last night.

Nocioni, who is normally used to give the Bulls a defensive presence and help with rebounding, handled the scoring duties last night by scoring 16 points in the second half.

“”(Nocioni) brings a lot to our group in general. His style sometimes can be detriment to the way he plays. Sometimes he gets so uptight, nervous and anxious but tonight he was much more relaxed,”” said Bulls coach Scott Skiles. “”I could tell on his first couple of shots, that he was much more relaxed in the way he caught the ball and shot. He is very valuable to us all the time, especially when he plays like that.””

New Jersey has lost five of its last six, including a 25-point loss at home on Monday night to Sacramento.

DALLAS – Jason Terry hit several key baskets late in the fourth quarter and Jerry Stackhouse made a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left, giving the Dallas Mavericks the surge they needed to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 93-87 last night.

The Mavericks won for the 21st time in 24 games, but after losing two of their previous three games to San Antonio and Phoenix, this wasn’t much of a confidence booster.

Dallas trailed by 13 before making a basket and didn’t draw even until the third quarter. They finally took the lead on a pair of free throws by Stackhouse with 6:19 left but still had to scrap the rest of the way in beating Portland for the ninth straight time.

Terry appeared to break things open with a 3-pointer, a jumper and two foul shots on consecutive possessions, putting Dallas up by 75-71.