DALLAS (Ticker) -- The Dallas Mavericks regained their shooting touch in the third quarter to remain unbeaten at home.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 points to lift the Mavericks to a 95-92 triumph over the San Antonio Spurs, their second this season against the defending NBA champions.
Antoine Walker contributed a season-high 22 points and 11 rebounds and Michael Finley scored 17 points, helping the Mavericks improve to 6-0 at home. They set a team record last season by winning their first 12 games at the American Airlines Center.
"It was a big test for us," Walker said. "Obviously, they beat us in the Western Conference finals last year. We wanted to see how we matched up against them."
"This is the first time that I've played them, but they are a bit of a different team," said Spurs forward Tim Duncan, who missed the first meeting with an ankle injury. "They are still doing the things they do. They score the ball, they spread the floor."
Dallas shot just 39 percent (16-of-41) in the first half as the Spurs built a 47-46 lead. But the Mavericks opened the third quarter with a 14-4 run, grabbing a 60-51 lead with 6:45 left in the period.
After shooting 44 percent (8-of-18) in the period, Dallas had a 73-64 advantage behind nine points from Finley.
"Our shots were a little off," Nowitzki said. "But it's good to know that we can win one that way. The shot wasn't going, but the break was there in the second half, and that's our game."
Duncan battled foul trouble for much of the second half but finished with 30 points, 17 rebounds and five assists. Rasho Nesterovic added a season-high 18 points and Manu Ginobili had 12.
Mavericks forward Antawn Jamison had two points and eight rebounds before leaving in the fourth quarter with a strained right hamstring.
Dallas' poor shooting continued in the fourth quarter and nearly cost it the game. The Mavericks shot just 20 percent (5-of-25) in the final period and finished at 37 percent (31-of-84), their worst figure in a win this season.
San Antonio capitalized and went on 17-6 spurt to pull within 92-88 with 22 seconds to play.
"It wasn't pretty," Nowitzki said. "Even down the stretch I think we made it a lot harder on ourselves. We should have coasted home with that one. We never really seemed to find a rhythm offensively."
Close games between the teams are nothing new. Of the previous 12 meetings, seven were decided by three points or fewer.
San Antonio outscored Dallas in the paint, 48-38, but struggled with its outside shooting against the Mavericks' zone defense. The Spurs hit just 2-of-14 3-pointers.
"I don't look at it as a struggle from three," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I thought we had to throw some stuff up there at the end."
San Antonio seemed to miss the shooting of Steve Kerr, who sat courtside at as television analyst. Kerr hit four 3-pointers in the Spurs' previous trip to Dallas in Game Six of the conference finals.
