The Dallas Mavericks (45 - 27) picked up a huge victory Tuesday with a 101 - 94 win over the San Antonio Spurs (44 - 26) at the American Airlines Center. San Antonio got off to a hot start and took a 29 - 17 lead to end the first quarter, but Dallas battled back. The Mavericks, led by Monta Ellis' 38 points, shot 48 percent from the field as a team and outscored the Spurs 52 - 38 in the paint. Dallas leads the season series 2 - 1, but San Antonio will have a chance to even it on Friday when these teams meet at the AT & T Center. These teams are in a race for the sixth seed in the Western Conference as the Spurs are just percentage points ahead of the Mavericks. The Spurs had their three - game winning streak come to an end Tuesday just days after routing the East's top team, the Hawks, on Sunday. Manu Ginobili returned to action in this game after missing four games with an ankle injury. Ginobili finished with seven points in just 16 minutes as Gregg Popovich is working him back into the rotation. The Spurs have a big matchup with the Thunder on Wednesday before Friday's rematch with the Mavericks. Dallas had lost two straight coming into Tuesday's contest, but got back on track with a very important victory. Monta Ellis' 38 point outing was important to the shooter's psyche after he was a frigid 4 - for - 22 on Sunday against Phoenix. Richard Jefferson was forced from the game with back spasms and did not return to the floor. The Mavericks will look to win the tiebreaker over the Spurs on Friday when they square off in San Antonio.
["PlayerStat(G,'Manu Ginobili') has 4 Defensive rebounds ,has 16 Minutes played ,has 7 Points ,has 4 Total rebounds ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Monta Ellis') has 38 Defensive rebounds ."]