Dallas ? The Mavericks did exactly what they had to do Thursday night in what Dallas coach Don Nelson considered the most important game of the season.

The Mavs limited Tim Duncan and beat surging San Antonio, 95-87, to snap the Spurs’ nine-game winning streak that had gotten them within four games of Dallas for the Midwest Division lead and the NBA’s best record.

“It’s good to break that streak,” Mavs guard Nick Van Exel said. “Our defensive gameplan was unbelievable. The plan was to limit Duncan’s one-on-one catches, always have someone in front of him and somebody behind him.”

Duncan, with at least two defenders in his face every time he touched the ball, was held to 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting before leaving the game for good after being poked in the right eye.

“I’m not going to go into detail about what we did,” Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. “We were able to execute some things we were never able to execute before and switch into a zone and do a really good job in a couple of their favorite areas.

“It was a really good win for us, probably one of the best of the season.”

San Antonio set an NBA record with eight straight road wins on the same trip, including victories at Sacramento and Los Angeles, before returning home for a 101-76 victory Tuesday night against Denver.

Steve Nash had 29 points and 10 assists to lead the Mavericks.

Duncan left the game with 8:13 remaining after behind poked by Michael Finley on a hard foul. Duncan walked unaided to the locker room after staying down for a couple of minutes.

While Duncan’s eye was swollen and remained sore after the game, Spurs officials said there were no scratches or other damage to the eye. He will be checked Friday.

Once play resumed without Duncan, the Spurs responded with a 16-2 run.

Tony Parker hit a three-pointer. Malik Rose then scored eight of his 25 points in the run, including two free throws with 3:08 left to pull the Spurs within 84-82 — the closest they would get.

“I was really happy with our group for continuing to play. A lot of teams would have cashed it in,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Dallas played aggressive and went out and got a great victory.”

Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points while playing 37 minutes, a day after twisting his ankle in practice. Finley added 19 points for Dallas.

Nets 98, Pacers 91

East Rutherford, N.J. — Jason Kidd scored 18 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter while being defended by Ron Artest and New Jersey rallied past Indiana.

Kidd added 12 assists and nine rebounds in almost single-handedly rallying the Nets from a 15-point third-quarter deficit.

Kenyon Martin added 19 points — 15 in the first half — for the Nets, who limited Indiana to 12-for-39 shooting (31 percent) in the second half.

Reserve Al Harrington had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Pacers, who dropped their third straight game. Jermaine O’Neal and Brad Miller had 18 apiece and Reggie Miller added 14.

Kings 105, Celtics 83

Sacramento, Calif. — Doug Christie had 18 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, and Keon Clark had 18 points and nine rebounds for Sacramento.

Vlade Divac had 16 points as the Kings improved to 22-5 at home. The Celtics’ most successful West Coast road trip in 12 years ended with a thud.

Paul Pierce, a former Kansas University standout, had 22 points and 12 rebounds for Boston, which had won four of the first five games on the trip. But the Celtics shot less than 35 percent and were put away early by the Kings, whose five starters and reserve Hedo Turkoglu all scored in double figures.

Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic scored 12 points apiece for the Kings.