"Growing weary of his out-of-shape inconsistency while battling conditioning and a troublesome right knee, the Dallas Mavericks ruled forward Dirk Nowitzki out for the team's next four games, beginning Saturday night against the New Orleans Hornets. New Orleans could not take advantage of Nowitzki's absence, though.

Dallas scored the first 12 points of the third quarter after the score was tied at halftime, and despite overcoming that sluggish start with a 28-point fourth quarter, the Hornets fell short, losing their seventh consecutive game, 83-81 Saturday night in the New Orleans Arena.

It was the first win by the Mavs in New Orleans since Dec. 2006, a stretch of 11 games, including three in the postseason."