Vince Carter poured in 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 98-90 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center.

Dirk Nowitzki also finished with 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds and O.J. Mayo added 17 for the Mavericks, who had dropped three straight entering the contest.

"We were solid enough to beat one of the better teams in the East so that's a good sign," said Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle. "It's hard to play a perfect 48 minutes in this league, I'll admit that. But we took advantage of our runs and we were able to stave them off a few times."

Deron Williams poured in a game-high 24 points and Brook Lopez added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Nets, who have dropped three of their last four.

Joe Johnson, who had missed three straight games with a foot injury, scored 11 points and dished out six assists in the setback.

Dallas went into the third quarter trailing 49-48, but took charge with an 11-5 run to go up 59-53. Nowitzki led the surge with five points, while Mayo, Chris Kaman and Darren Collison added two points apiece on the run.

Brooklyn managed to cut its deficit to four points, 63-59, moments later, but the Mavs went 6-for-8 from the field over the final 4 1/2 minutes of the frame to take a 77-63 lead into the final frame.

"That group brought a lot of energy," said Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo on Dallas' effort. "We were playing like we were running in sand."

Dallas' edge ballooned to 20 points after Nowitzki knocked down a free throw stemming from the Nets' technical for delay of game, but Brooklyn caught fire and pulled within 90-81 following a 15-4 swing.

Mayo temporarily stopped the bleeding with a triple at the 3:21 mark, but Lopez led a 9-1 rally to make it 94-90 with 37.4 ticks showing.

The Mavs, though, managed to hold Brooklyn scoreless the rest of the way to lock up the win.

Dallas led 22-21 after the first 12 minutes, but it was outscored 28-26 in the second to go into the break trailing 49-48.

Game Notes