Cleveland's Drew Gooden, right, goes up for a shot against Dallas' Juwan Howard, top left, and Jason Terry, bottom left. The Cavaliers defeated the Mavericks, 88-81, on Thursday night in Dallas.

Cavaliers 88, Mavericks 81

Dallas – LeBron James had 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, helping Cleveland avenge a lopsided loss to Dallas in the season opener.

Despite the presence of James and reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki and this being a matchup of the last two NBA runners-up – enough sizzle to draw a national cable audience – the game was pretty brutal to watch.

Through three quarters, Cleveland shot only 36 percent, was 0-for-10 on three-pointers and had missed 10 free throws – yet led by six points.

The Mavericks came within one point early in the quarter and made it 81-79 with 4:43 left and James already with five fouls. But a bunch of missed threes by Dallas followed, then James pretty much ended it with a thunderous dunk in the lane with 1:10 to go.

Nowitzki had 19 points and 20 rebounds, his most in a regular-season game since April 2003. Josh Howard had 19 points, too, but no other starter cracked double digits. The Mavs shot 36.5 percent, hurt by Jason Terry going 3-for-12 one night after going 0-for-10.

Dallas lost its second straight after winning five in a row. The Mavs fell to 6-6 against the Eastern Conference and have lost 11 games overall, after dropping only 15 last season.

Cleveland won its second straight, snapping out of a win-lose cycle its previous six games.

James, who had 10 points in the 92-74 home loss to Dallas on Oct. 31, was 9-of-21 from the field.

Suns 108, Clippers 88

Los Angeles – Amare Stoudemire had 30 points and 15 rebounds and played stifling defense against Chris Kaman to lead Phoenix over Los Angeles

Stoudemire scored 20 points and had 11 rebounds in the first half as Phoenix opened a 59-40 lead, and the rout was on.

The Suns built the lead to as many as 36 points, the last time at 79-43 midway through the third quarter as they handed the outmanned Clippers their fifth consecutive loss.

Celtics 104, Sonics 96

Seattle – While most of the attention focused on Ray Allen’s return to Seattle, it was Paul Pierce who took over for Boston. Pierce scored 26 of his season-high 37 points in the second half, and the Celtics held off the SuperSonics.

With Kevin Garnett unable to match his strong first half and Allen never finding an offensive groove, it was Pierce who made shot after shot in the second half.