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CLEVELAND -- The Dallas Mavericks spent most of Monday afternoon playing as if they had a point to prove. Supply NFL Jerseys . They spent the final minutes barely hanging on for a narrow victory. The Mavericks squandered nearly all of a 24-point lead before finally subduing the Cleveland Cavaliers for a 102-97 win. What appeared to be an easy day turned into a white-knuckler for Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, whose team bounced back from its worst performance of the season in a home loss to Portland on Saturday. "We did a good job of holding them off at the end," Carlisle said. "We got it done. Thats the bottom line." Monta Ellis scored 22 points, Shawn Marion added 18 and the Mavericks had six players in double figures, but the game was in doubt until the final seconds. Trailing 100-97 with 2.8 seconds remaining, the Cavaliers were called for a five-second violation when Jarrett Jack failed to get the ball inbounds. Ellis put the game away with two free throws with 1.1 seconds left. Carlisle called Saturdays loss, in which the Mavericks trailed by 38 points early in the fourth quarter, "beyond embarrassing." And while Mondays game had too much drama, Carlisle was happy to get out of town with a win. "Its the NBA," he said "Its supposed to get hairy." "This was a big bounce-back win from an embarrassing loss the other day," Ellis said. "Well be a great team if we continue to play like that with our back against the wall when we face adversity." Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 26 points. Luol Deng, acquired from Chicago on Jan. 7, scored 20 points in his first home game with the Cavaliers while Anderson Varejao had 18 points with 21 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki scored 17 points and DeJuan Blair added 13 for the Mavericks. Dallas built a 59-35 lead late in the second quarter and maintained a double-figure lead for most of the second half before the Cavaliers rallied. Cleveland cut the lead into single figures early in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers got the lead to 91-89 on Dengs 3-pointer, but Irving missed a jumper and a 3-point attempt on the same possession when Cleveland had a chance to tie or take the lead. A basket and two free throws by Ellis followed by Marions steal and score pushed the lead to 97-90 with 1:35 to play. Cleveland cut the lead to 98-95, but two free throws by Jose Calderon with 11.1 seconds remaining pushed the lead to five. Varejaos basket with 5.7 left made it 100-97. Ellis missed two free throws with 2.8 seconds left and gave Cleveland one last chance. The Cavaliers called timeout, but Carlisle put 6-foot-10 centre Brandan Wright on Jack, who couldnt get off the pass on a play that was designed to get Irving the ball. Cavaliers coach Mike Brown thought Irving was open in the far corner on the other side of the floor. "I dont know if weve ever been that wide open before at the end of games on a situation like that," he said. "Jack just couldnt see him." "It was going to be a tough pass," Irving said. "It was a crucial turnover. Whether I was open or not doesnt matter. We have to move on and get ready for our next game." The Cavaliers went 3-2 on a road trip to the west coast but struggled in the first game of five straight at home. Cleveland led briefly in the first quarter, but Dallas used a 9-0 run late in the first quarter to break a 21-all tie. Dallas shot 55 per cent from the field in the first half. Marion and Blair both made all five of their shots in the first half. Marion scored 14 points while Blair had 11. Marion made his first shot of the third quarter before finally missing a 3-point attempt from the corner. He scored three points and made only one of six shots against Portland. Blair missed his first shot attempt in the third quarter and was hit with a technical later in the period after being called for a foul while trying to grab a rebound. Irving scored 18 points in the second half. Deng, a two-time All-Star, will face the Bulls for the first time since the trade on Wednesday. Cleveland is 3-3 with Deng in the lineup. The Mavericks bench outscored Cleveland 33-8. Dion Waiters, who averages 14.8 points, was scoreless in 17 minutes for Cleveland. Mavericks centre Samuel Dalembert left the game early in the third quarter with a strained left shoulder. He was taken to the locker room and didnt return. NOTES: Cavaliers F Anthony Bennett, the No. 1 pick in the 2013 draft, didnt play for the fourth straight game. ... Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona watched the game seated next to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban behind Dallas bench. ... The Mavericks are 11-4 against Eastern Conference teams this season. Seven of their 11 games before the All-Star break are against the East, including the next three versus Toronto, Brooklyn and Detroit. ... G Devin Harris was scoreless in his second game of the season for Dallas. He made his season debut Saturday after missing the first 41 games because of surgery on his left foot. Wholesale Basketball Jerseys Authentic .J. -- While Martin Brodeur wasnt willing to say he stole one for the New Jersey Devils against the Columbus Blue Jackets, almost everyone else was. Cheap NBA Jerseys China . According to bodog.ca, Cleveland moved up to grab the best odds to win the Larry OBrian trophy at 4-1 on Friday. By comparison, the Miami Heats odds plummeted from 3-1 favourites before LeBron left, to 50-1. http://www.wholesalechinajerseys.net/ . Beanballs were the theme Friday night as the Red Sox and Rays had another AL East rumble, with Boston earning a 3-2 victory on A.TUKWILA, Wash. - When the collapse began last fall, the Seattle Sounders went from MLS favourites to a crumbling club that obviously needed change. Its the byproduct of having an unrivaled fan base and expectations that anything less than a league title is unacceptable for management. "To be honest it was time. Every couple of years a team is going to have to go through changes to grow and you get a certain amount of time with a certain group of players, and if you dont win you change it," Seattle midfielder Brad Evans said. "Most of the time its your star players you try and change and bring them in with other well-known players around the league and thats just the nature of the game and thats the business part of it. It kind of is what it is and we did lose some big names and some very good players but I think weve brought in some great players to fill in the shoes. And I think the group is a little bit stronger." Seattle will go into the 2014 season with the same belief that anything less than an MLS title is not success. But theyll do it with a completely overhauled roster, the result of the slide at the end of 2013. The question of whether changes were needed stretched from the bottom of the roster all the way up to coach Sigi Schmid. Eventually, general manager Adrian Hanauer and majority owner Joe Roth decided keeping Schmid and remodeling the team was the path Seattle would travel. It wasnt a complete overhaul. Evans is still around. So is Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins and rising homegrown star DeAndre Yedlin. Midfielder Osvaldo Alsonso was rewarded with a designated player contract and Seattle is about to get its first full season with Clint Dempsey on the roster. But the names that are gone are notable. U.S. national team striker Eddie Johnson is now with D.C. United. Defensive centre backs Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Patrick Ianni are gone. Midfielder Mauro Rosales is now with Chivas USA. Goalkeeper Michael Gspurning is back in Europe. Its a completely new look for Seattle and only success on the field wwill determine whether the right choices were made. Wholesale Jerseys From China. "Its not really up to me what changes we make on the roster but the new guys have been great and very positive," Yedlin said. "They are good players and Im excited to see what they can bring to the team." The additions made by Seattle arent on the same level as the move last summer to bring Dempsey back from Europe. But they could end up being more important. Up front, Seattle brought in veteran striker Kenny Cooper, along with Chad Barrett and Tristan Bowen. In the midfield, Seattle acquired Marco Pappa through allocation when he decided to return to MLS from Europe. Chad Marshall, who played for Schmid in Columbus, was acquired in a trade to anchor the middle of Seattles defence. And former Toronto goalkeeper Stefan Frei was brought in to compete with 41-year-old Marcus Hahnemann for the starting job. "It is pretty obvious the mentality they are going for," Neagle said. "They want to be more aggressive and a lot more pressure and I think the guys theyve brought in have that same mentality, so its nice. Its easy to get on the same page when you have similar guys on the field." While all the roster changes mean some sort of acclimation period, how Dempsey fits during his second season will be watched closely early in the year. His first few months with Seattle late last season were a disappointment as the American star recorded just one goal and one assist in his nine games. Getting fully entrenched as Seattles leader will be difficult this season as well with Dempsey likely getting called away for U.S. national team duties even before training camp for the World Cup in Brazil starts in May. Dempsey may not even be available for Saturdays opener after being called into national team duty for an exhibition match against Ukraine. "Were still getting to know each other. Were still getting to know what the tendencies are of each player, but I like the spirit of the team, I like their attitude," Schmid said. ' ' '