Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki is starting to get tired of carrying the team in clutch situations.

"It just feels like at home I've got to make every shot down the stretch to win," said Nowitzki. "That's how it feels. If I don't make it, like that pull-up left, we're losing. I don't know; we've got to figure something out."

Dallas has lost five games at home, one more than they have on the road this season.

"For some reason, our energy level here at home is nowhere like we should be," said Mavericks forward Shawn Marion. "I don't know if we're getting lulled to sleep out there or what. We've got to get this energy like we should at home. We should be unbelievable here at home."

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki could miss Tuesday's game against the Trail Blazers with an elbow injury.

Nowitzki missed Sunday's game after injuring his elbow in a collision with Houston's Carl Landry on Friday night.

"The doctor has, [what seemed] like, his whole hand in my elbow trying to take out stuff," Nowitzki said when explaining the injury.

"It wasn't pretty. We washed it out for like an hour. The worst thing you can get is an infection in your elbow and have surgery. We definitely didn't want that. Washed it out and closed it up, took the X-ray, saw some more stuff. Went back in there, opened it up, washed it out some more, and then finally closed it up after a couple hours."

The All-Star added that he's on "every pill there is and I'd love to play, but if not Tuesday, then definitely on the 26th."

Danilo Gallinari's block in the final seconds allowed the Knicks to come out on top over the Bobcats on Sunday night.

- Toronto 98, New Orleans 92

Team FIC Differential: Raptors +18.3, Hornets -18.3

The Toronto Raptors (13-17) used a balanced effort to defeat the New Orleans Hornets (12-14) at the Air Canada Centre. Chris Bosh led with 25 points and 11 rebounds, Andrea Bargnani posted 13 points and 11 boards and Jarrett Jack added 15 points, seven assist and five rebounds. Toronto held New Orleans to 38% shooting and won the rebounding battle by two. David West had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Emeka Okafor tallied 16 points and 11 boards and Chris Paul contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Game FIC Scores

Jarrett Jack, Toronto ? 17.9

Chris Bosh, Toronto ? 16.0

David West, New Orleans ? 14.6

Chris Paul, New Orleans ? 13.4

- Memphis 102, Denver 96

Team FIC Differential: Grizzlies +13.3, Nuggets -13.3

The Memphis Grizzlies (12-15) withstood a late charge by the Denver Nuggets (19-9) at FedEx Field. Zach Randolph exploded with 32 points and 24 rebounds, Marc Gasol tallied 14 points and 13 boards and Rudy Gay scored 19 points on 9-for-16 shooting. Memphis outrebounded Denver by 18, including 22 offensive rebounds. Carmelo Anthony had 41 points, six rebounds and five assists, Nene posted 19 points and seven boards and Chris Andersen put up six points and 14 rebounds.

Game FIC Scores

Zach Randolph, Memphis ? 36.1

Carmelo Anthony, Denver ? 17.9

Nene, Denver ? 16.6

Marc Gasol, Memphis ? 13.0

- Boston 122, Minnesota 104

Team FIC Differential: Celtics +38.5, Timberwolves -38.5

The Boston Celtics (21-5) jumped out an early lead and never looked back against the Minnesota Timberwolves (5-23) on Sunday evening. Paul Pierce had 29 points and seven rebounds, Kendrick Perkins posted 14 points and 11 boards and Rajon Rondo chipped in 13 points and 15 assists. Boston shot 51%, including 9-for-18 from three-point land. Jonny Flynn scored 21 points, Al Jefferson tallied 20 points and 11 rebounds and Kevin Love totaled 15 points, 11 boards and five assists in the loss.

Game FIC Scores

Paul Pierce, Boston ? 21.9

Kevin Love, Minnesota ? 20.0

Damien Wilkins, Minnesota ? 19.4

Rajon Rondo, Boston ? 19.0

- L.A. Lakers 93, Detroit 81

Team FIC Differential: Lakers +27.3, Pistons -27.3

The Los Angeles Lakers (22-4) scored just 10 points in the fourth quarter, but held on to beat the Detroit Pistons (11-16) at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Kobe Bryant led with 28 points, Pau Gasol tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds and Ron Artest added 14 points, nine assists and five boards. Both teams shot 41% from the field, but Detroit turned the ball over 22 times. Rodney Stuckey scored 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting, Jones Jerebko posted 15 points and six rebounds and Ben Wallace grabbed 10 boards.

Game FIC Scores

Ron Artest, Los Angeles ? 20.2

Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles ? 17.4

Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles ? 16.2

Kwame Brown, Detroit ? 10.4

- Portland 102, Miami 95

Team FIC Differential: Blazers +9.2, Heat -9.2

The Portland Trail Blazers (17-12) narrowly defeated the Miami Heat (13-12). Brandon Roy starred with 28 points and eight assists, LaMarcus Aldridge posted 23 points and eight rebounds and Joel Przybilla contributed eight points and 12 boards. Portland hit 51% of their shots, while Miami turned the ball over just seven times. Dwyane Wade had 28 points and 10 assists, Michael Beasley tallied 17 points and eight rebounds and Quentin Richardson scored 22 points on 7-for-7 shooting.

Game FIC Scores

Brandon Roy, Portland ? 25.1

Quentin Richardson, Miami ? 21.0

Michael Beasley, Miami ? 15.2

Martell Webster, Portland ? 13.0

- Dallas 102, Cleveland 95

Team FIC Differential: Mavericks +16.4, Cavaliers -16.4

Even without Dirk Nowitzki, the Dallas Mavericks (20-8) were able to knock off the Cleveland Cavaliers (20-8). Tim Thomas led with 22 points and six rebounds, Shawn Marion tallied 12 points and eight boards and Jason Kidd put up 10 points and nine assists. Dallas went 19-for-20 from the foul line and committed just five turnovers. LeBron James had 23 points and six assists, Delonte West posted 18 points and seven rebounds and Anthony Parker scored 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting in defeat.

Game FIC Scores

Jason Kidd, Dallas ? 17.2

Delonte West, Cleveland ? 14.5

Tim Thomas, Dallas ? 14.4

LeBron James, Cleveland ? 13.9

- New York 98, Charlotte 94

Team FIC Differential: Knicks +13.3, Bobcats -13.3

The New York Knicks (10-17) made their free throws in the final seconds to ice a victory over the Charlotte Bobcats (10-16) at Madison Square Garden. Wilson Chandler led with 26 points and four rebounds, David Lee posted 13 points, 14 boards and six assists and Danilo Gallinari scored 23 points on 7-for-15 shooting. New York attempted 13 more foul shots than Charlotte, but the Bobcats won the rebounding battle by thirteen. Raymond Felton starred with 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Tyson Chandler tallied 13 points and 14 boards and Derrick Brown chipped in 10 points and six rebounds.

Game FIC Scores

Raymond Felton, Charlotte ? 22.0

David Lee, New York ? 17.1

Wilson Chandler, New York ? 15.8

Tyson Chandler, Charlotte ? 13.4

? RealGM calculates the Floor Impact Counter using the following formula: (Points + .75 Defensive Rebounds + Offensive Rebounds + Steals + Assists + Blocks - .75 Field Goal Attempts - .375 Free Throw Attempts - Turnovers - .5 Personal Fouls)

( )'s indicate a negative FIC score.

It is also used to rank players and to determine their ?Reina Value.? Click here to view the player rankings with the Reina Value for the current season

The Mavericks have formally filed a protest in the wake of their overtime loss to the Rockets on Friday night.

Dallas contends that center Erick Dampier was inappropriately assessed a second technical foul, which led to his ejection.

Referees called the technical on Dampier during an eight-minute review of a flagrant foul assessed to Houston's Aaron Brooks. The play occurred with 1:01 remaining in overtime and the Rockets leading by six points.

"What the rule says is, when you review it, the reason it's reviewable is because you want to see if anybody else is involved and make sure that the appropriate penalties are assessed," said Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. "So you look at the review, and just like a Flagrant 2 can be downgraded to a personal foul or can be downgraded to no foul, when you look at that video, you should assess the appropriate penalty, which in this case is none.

"Because there's no question that not only was that not an elbow above the neck, not only was that not an elbow with an intention to harm, there wasn't even an elbow. There wasn't even an elbow. There wasn't even an elbow thrown. By any reasonable standard, that change should have been made, and I'm sure the refs didn't know you could make that change, so that's a misapplication of the rules."

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki is expected to miss Sunday's game against the Cavaliers.

After suffering nasty cut on his elbow Friday night against the Rockets, Nowitzki was excused from practice on Saturday as a precaution.

"Everybody's going to have to be ready to step up and take up the slack," coach Rick Carlisle said. "We obviously hope for the best. But we don't know what the timetable's going to be. We've got to have other guys ready. We've had a lot of guys play well this year and I expect them to continue to do that in his absence."

Nowitzki is averaging 26.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is hoping to have more than 100,000 people at Cowboys Stadium for the NBA All-Star Game in February.

The NBA is less optimistic, but is still expecting to shatter their attendance record of 62,046.

"I know we'll be over 80," NBA executive vice president Ski Austin said Saturday.

The world record for a basketball game is 78,129 for a college game between Michigan State and Kentucky in December 2003.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban plans to file a protest with the NBA after his team's overtime loss to the Rockets on Friday night.

"We will definitely protest," Cuban said, "because we felt there were multiple misapplications of the rules."

The Mavericks contend referees didn't have the license to review a flagrant foul on Houston's Aaron Brooks in overtime that led to a technical foul on Mavericks' Erick Dampier.

It marked Dampier's second technical, so he was ejected with 1:01 left in overtime.

Dallas has 48 hours to formally file the protest, which costs $10,000. Cuban said that the Mavs will formally send in the protest paperwork Sunday.

A collision between Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki and Rockets forward Carl Landry left both bloody on Friday night.

Nowitzki's elbow caught Landry in the mouth in overtime, resulting in a gash on Dirk's elbow and Landry with five cracked or knocked out teeth.

Landry was called for fouling Nowitzki as he drove hard to the basket.

The Houston forward was taken to the emergency board for treatment.

The Mavericks found pieces of two teeth in Nowitzki's elbow and had to spend 30 minutes cleaning the cut before administering X-rays, which were found to be negative.

Jason Terry is getting more attention since he became the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year.

"I haven't seen any looks where I've been buck-naked, wide-open," Terry said.

Terry has averaged 16.7 points on 43.4 percent shooting this season. He's hitting 33.8 percent from 3-point range.  These numbers represent a dip from last season.

"They're double-teaming, both on pick-and-rolls and on pin-downs," coach Rick Carlisle said. "When that happens, he's got to be a facilitator for us and he has to have a level of patience. He's got to stay aggressive to score when the opportunities are there. But when people commit two to him, he's got to drag those guys, and then make the pass leading to a bucket."

Mavericks forward Josh Howard will be limited until well into the New Year.

Howard was inactive on Saturday night as coach Rick Carlisle wants to integrate the forward back into the lineup slowly.

He missed 18 of the team's first 21 games while rehabilitating from left ankle surgery.

"We feel it's the right thing to do from a managing situation, and we don't have another back-to-back until late in the month," Carlisle said. "The hope is that by that time, he'll be able to do back-to-backs, but we'll have to wait and see."

Howard is averaging 12.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game this season.