Mavericks 107, Pelicans 90: Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and Monta Ellis added 23 points and eight assists as visiting Dallas handed New Orleans its fourth straight loss.

Vince Carter added 14 points off the bench for the Mavericks, who have won five of their last six road games. Jae Crowder started in place of Shawn Marion (shoulder) and scored 12 points as Dallas earned its fifth straight win over the Pelicans.

Eric Gordon scored 27 points and Anthony Davis collected 21 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks for New Orleans, which will get a quick shot at revenge in the back half of the home-and-home set on Saturday. Austin Rivers chipped in 12 points off the bench.

The Mavericks scored the first five points and never trailed, stretching it to 20-10 on Carter’s 3-pointer midway through the first before settling for a 31-24 edge at the end of the period. The Pelicans used a 12-1 run to pull within 41-40 with 5:31 left in the half but Dallas scored 13 of the final 15 points to spread the gap to 62-49 at the break.

Nowitzki and Jose Calderon each buried a 3-pointer during a 12-2 run beginning the third quarter that gave the Mavericks their biggest lead at 74-51. New Orleans trailed by 19 points at the beginning of the fourth and could not get it to single digits as Dallas put it away.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Pelicans were without PG Jrue Holiday, who was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right tibia and is out indefinitely. … New Orleans fell to 0-4 without F Ryan Anderson (herniated disc), who joined the team on the bench for the game. … Nowitzki went 10-of-19 from the field after putting up a season-low eight points on 3-of-14 at San Antonio on Wednesday.