After video showed the 7-foot-3 forward with a bloody forehead, the Mavericks said Sunday: “It is our understanding that Kristaps was jumped and assaulted outside of a club,” without providing further details.

Video of the aftermath of the incident obtained by TMZ showed an agitated Porzingis in a torn shirt, pushing someone out of the way and approaching a group of men before several people stopped him and urged him to calm down.

The 23-year-old Porzingis was acquired by Dallas in a blockbuster deal with the New York Knicks before the trading deadline but hasn’t played for the club. He missed the 2018-19 season after tearing a ligament in his left knee in what turned out to be his final game for the Knicks in February 2018.

Porzingis will be a restricted free agent July 1, and the Mavericks have said they intend to sign him to a long-term contract.

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Dallas Mavericks vs Miami Heat
When: 7:30 PM  ET, Thursday, January 19, 2017
Where: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), FSN Sun (Miami)
PREDICTION: Heat 96, Mavericks 93

Oddsmakers opened the Heat as -1.5-point favorites versus the Mavericks, while the game’s total opened at 189.5.

MIAMI — The Miami Heat are coming off their most impressive victory of the season, and the Dallas Mavericks are on their biggest win streak.

But make no mistake: When the Mavericks (14-27) visit the Heat (12-30) on Thursday night, the matchup is every bit as sad as their win-loss records indicate.

The two franchises have history, splitting two battles in the NBA Finals, with Miami winning in 2006 and Dallas prevailing in 2011.

But here’s the thing: The Mavericks haven’t won a single playoff series since defeating the Heat in ’11, and Miami’s franchise has hit rock bottom with the departure of their famed Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

So yes, the Mavericks are riding a three-game win streak, and Miami beat a very good Houston Rockets team on Tuesday, but that doesn’t change the reality of where they are in the standings.

“I know,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told The Dallas Morning News this week. “Half of our fans want us to go for a high draft pick (and tank the season), and half of our fans want us to go for the playoffs.”

Cuban said he feels conflicted, too.

“I wish I had a definitive answer for everybody,” he said. “I go back and forth every game. Some days, it’s like, “OK, maybe we can make run for the sixth or seventh seed. That gets us to the playoffs, but I don’t know if it gets us to where we need to be.”

Heat president Pat Riley surely sees the big picture just as much as Cuban.

The Heat has four players competing at a good level right now — point guard Goran Dragic, center Hassan Whiteside and reserves Tyler Johnson and James Johnson (no relation).

Dragic was pleased with Tuesday’s win over the Rockets, who have the No. 2 scoring offense in the NBA. But Dragic also emphasized how much the Heat needs to improve in the second half.

“We need to be calm and solid,” Dragic said. “We need to execute our plays.”

Realistically, though, the Heat are fairly hopeless for this season. They are just 2-10 in their past 12 games and 6-13 this season at home.

The Mavericks are just 6-16 on the road, making this a tossup-type matchup.

However, it is interesting to note that this Mavericks’ three-game win streak has coincided with the right hamstring injury to starting center Andrew Bogut. The last game he played, on Jan. 9, was the last game Dallas lost.

Since then, Dallas has won at the Phoenix Suns, defeated the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves and won at the Chicago Bulls.

The big difference with the Mavs this season is that 38-year-old future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki is finally slowing down. He led the team in scoring last season at 18.3 points, just like he has almost ever since arriving in Dallas.

This season, though, he is fourth on the team in scoring (13.3).

Forward Harrison Barnes, a newcomer to Dallas this season, leads the team in scoring (20.6). Guard Wesley Matthews (15.1 points) has earned praise for his all-around play, and “the other Curry”, Seth, is averaging 10.3 points.

Deron Williams is the other starter, and while he is no longer as good as he once was, he is averaging 13.9 points and a team-high 7.0 assists.

It’s not a great roster, but — as it is with the Heat — this is the current state of the franchise.

“The reality,” Cuban said, “is that we’re going to play every game to win. That is who we are, and any other way … I just wouldn’t do that to our guys.”

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Dallas Mavericks vs Phoenix Suns
When: 10:00 PM ET, Thursday, January 12, 2017
Where: Mexico City Arena, Mexico City

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), FSN Arizona (Phoenix)
PREDICTION: Suns 115, Mavericks 110

The NBA returns to Mexico City for the third consecutive year Thursday night when the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns duel for the second time in eight days.

The game will represent the 25th anniversary of NBA games in Mexico City, with the Mavericks having teamed with the Houston Rockets to play the first, a preseason game in 1992.

Since then, one game (San Antonio vs. Minnesota) was cancelled due to smoke in the Mexico City Arena, but the action picked up again on Nov. 12, 2014, when the Rockets returned to defeat the Timberwolves 113-103 in a regular-season game.

Last season, the Boston Celtics beat the Sacramento Kings 114-97 south of the border.

This year, the NBA has scheduled two games for Mexico City. The Suns will play “host” to them both, with the Spurs facing Phoenix on Saturday night.

“We’re very much looking forward to this experience,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said at practice Wednesday. “The people are delightful; the arena is beautiful. I think this will be a close game.”

One of the great unknowns is the effect of the altitude in the Mexican capital, which stands at 7,200 feet above sea level. Denver, at 5,200 feet, has the highest altitude on the regular NBA trail.

The Suns prevailed at sea level last Thursday thanks to better 3-point shooting. Phoenix connected on 7 of 17 (41.2 percent) in the 102-95 win, while Dallas struggled through a 9-for-29 night (31 percent).

The fact that the game was decided from beyond the arc was no surprise. The Mavericks (40.3 percent) and Suns (38.2 percent) rank last and second to last, respectively, in the league in defending the 3-pointer.

Suns center Tyson Chandler, whose international experience includes winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics, hopes the clubs can put on a show and maybe make some new fans.

“You never know who’s watching; you never know what kid is going to have a spark in his brain that’s going to push him to try and make it to our league one day,” Chandler said Wednesday, according to the Arizona Republic. “I feel like that’s why the Dirk (Nowitzkis) and Tony Parkers and Pau Gasols and Marc Gasols and all the other foreign players we have, I think it all came from the Barcelona trip back in the (1992) Olympics. A lot of kids watched that, and all of a sudden, years later we had a flood of Europeans.

“It’s an opportunity for us to showcase.”

The NBA will be showcasing the teams with the two worst records in the Western Conference, the 12-26 Suns and the 11-27 Mavericks. However, the records didn’t stop the clubs from playing an exciting contest last week, a game that wasn’t decided until Suns guard Eric Bledsoe scored seven of his 26 points in the final two minutes to help Phoenix gain an edge.

The Mavericks had won four in a row in the rivalry before last week’s defeat.

A matchup with the Mavericks means a bit of a reunion for Suns coach Earl Watson, 37. In a 13-year NBA career that ended in 2014, Watson was teammates with three current Dallas players — starting guards Deron Williams (one season with the Mavericks) and Wesley Matthews (one season with the Portland Trail Blazers), and backup Devin Harris (two seasons with the Mavericks).

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Atlanta Hawks vs. Dallas Mavericks
When: 8:30 PM ET, Saturday, January 7, 2017
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
PREDICTION: Mavericks 103, Hawks 101

Oddsmakers currently have the Hawks listed as 3.5-point favorites versus the Mavericks, while the game’s total is sitting at 197.

The Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks are each in a state of flux going into Saturday night’s clash at American Airlines Center.

The Hawks have begun what appears to be a roster overhaul by trading popular shooter Kyle Korver to the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. More deals could be made before the Feb. 23 trade deadline, with Paul Millsap and Thabo Sefolosha likely on the block.

Millsap and Sefolosha, like Korver, are on expiring contracts.

The Hawks (20-16) began Friday in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and with a five-game winning streak. But just two seasons ago, Atlanta went 60-22 to claim the top seed in the East before slumping to 48-34 last year.

That slide, coupled with the uncertain futures of several veterans, had the front office looking for more change. Since last season, the Hawks have also lost starters Al Horford and Jeff Teague.

Millsap, the only starter left from the 60-win team in 2014-15, declined to offer an opinion the franchise’s direction.

“Not my place,” he told reporters. “My job is to get out there and play basketball. I’m going to miss Kyle but other than that, life goes on, the season goes on. You just have to be ready for whatever happens. Right now, we have to win basketball games.”

The Mavericks (11-25) are coming off a demoralizing home loss Thursday night to Phoenix. Not only did the 102-95 setback drop Dallas back into the Western Conference cellar, it likely signaled roster changes to come.

Backup center Andrew Bogut doesn’t necessarily want to leave Dallas, but acknowledged why a trade would make sense. For a team likely headed to the lottery, a big man of Bogut’s value could fetch draft picks and/or young talent needed to rebuild.

Though the Mavericks continue to insist that the playoffs this season remain their goal, losing on their floor to lottery-bound Phoenix was a big blow. Dallas is 4 1/2 games out of eighth in the West.

Dirk Nowitzki has been starting at center with Bogut’s move to the bench. Nowitzki has been working his way back into game shape after missing four weeks with Achilles soreness.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isn’t ready to pronounce Nowitzki close to 100 percent. Nowitzki has averaged 11.5 points on 39.1-percent shooting in his six games since coming back.

He scored 13 on 5-of-14 shooting in the loss to the Suns.

“I think it’s too early to judge any of that stuff,” Carlisle said. “Last year there was all that talk about (Chandler) Parsons struggling and I said, ‘Hey, don’t judge it until after the All-Star break’, and that may be what we’re looking at with him.

“This has been a long road, so the good thing is he’s moving better. He’s obviously feeling good, or else we wouldn’t have him out there and we’re a team that’s still trying to put things together, so I don’t know if pinning it on him is the way to go. I don’t think it is.”

Atlanta owns a five-game winning streak against the Mavs, including the last two in meetings in Dallas.

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Denver Nuggets vs. Dallas Mavericks
When: 8:30 PM ET, Monday, December 12, 2016
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
PREDICTION: Nuggets 104, Mavericks 100

Oddsmakers currently have the Nuggets listed as 1-point favorites versus the Mavericks, while the game’s total is sitting at 202.

DALLAS — When the Denver Nuggets visit the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night, they will try do something they’ve done just once this season — win two games in a row.

That came nearly four weeks ago. Since the Nuggets’ longest win streak of the season — if streak even applies for just two consecutive wins — they’ve gone 3-7.

But after Saturday’s 121-113 win at Orlando, Denver (9-15) is looking at the prospect of going on a mini-hot streak with this game against Dallas followed by a three-game homestand against the Portland Trail Blazers, New York Knicks and the Mavs again.

Denver also comes to Dallas (5-18) with point guard Emmanuel Mudiay having returned to the lineup on Saturday at Orlando. He played 22 minutes after missing one game with a right ankle sprain.

If the Nuggets took away a lesson from their win at Orlando, it might be how to remain calm in the fourth quarter and not let adversity get the best of them. Denver has been a poor fourth-quarter team this season, but this time managed to withstand a charge and hold on.

“I think the key to the game was — yes, we lost the lead — we didn’t lose our heads,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone told reporters after the game. “We were poised, we were composed and we executed and got stops. The fact of the matter is if you want to win games on the road, that’s what you need to do.”

Denver can also take a lesson from several teams that recently came to Dallas believing they could continue momentum against a struggling team. But the Chicago Bulls got blown out the night after beating Cleveland, and the Indiana Pacers were left flat-footed in the second half of a loss at Dallas on Friday night.

Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari turned in one of his best games of the season with 21 points, including going 2 of 3 from beyond the arc and getting to the free throw line 10 times for nine points.

“That’s what I need to do every game,” Gallinari said. “The more I’m aggressive, the more I can make things happen for everybody else.”

The Mavs are coming off a shellacking at Houston on Saturday and are 2-5 in their last seven games with five losses coming by an average margin of 15.6 points. They got off to another slow start against James Harden and the Rockets and could never recover.

“You know, it’s real tough when you have a night like (Friday) night and you put things together and you can propel,” Barnes told reporters after the 109-87 loss at Houston. “And then 24 hours later, it’s another slow start. For three quarters, we played decent basketball. But when you start off that way, it’s hard to get one.”

Dallas has had issues with slow starts all season. The Mavs gave up 36 points in the first quarter at Houston, forcing them to play from behind throughout.

“It’s tough giving up 36 points,” Matthews told reporters after the game. “We fought, we fought back, but we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Dallas will again be without starters forward Dirk Nowitzki (right Achilles strain) and center Andrew Bogut (right knee), plus reserve guard J.J. Barea (left calf strain).

Dallas is getting the bulk of its offense from shooting guard Wesley Matthews and forward Harrison Barnes. Matthews has made at least four 3-pointers in each of the last eight games, including 25 in the last five games, and Barnes leads the team in scoring at 20.6 points per game.

The Mavs are desperate to get wins at home with seven of their next 11 games coming on the road.

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Charlotte Hornets vs Dallas Mavericks
When: 8:30 PM ET, Monday, December 5, 2016
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Charlotte), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
PREDICTION: Hornets 98, Mavericks 90

“(Saturday) was especially disappointing,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford told reporters. “The reality is we’re going to become a more physical group or we’re not. But we’re not winning like this, not every night.” Dallas stands last in the Western Conference, but has won two of its last four after Saturday’s surprising 107-82 rout of Chicago at home with 26 points from Wesley Matthews. “Through this rough patch, injuries and everything, everybody had to mold together,” Matthews told reporters. “It’s almost like we had to restructure ourselves. I think everybody has embraced that.” However, the Mavericks did drop a 97-87 decision at Charlotte on Dec. 1 while shooting just 37.2 percent from the floor and the teams have split their last eight meetings.

ABOUT THE HORNETS (11-9): Charlotte starts a stretch in which it plays six of eight on the road, where the Hornets are 5-3, and must improve on the defensive end after allowing an average of 112.4 points in nine losses. Point guard Kemba Walker leads the offense, posting 23.8 points and 5.1 assists per contest while draining 42 percent of his 3-point attempts in the early going. Backcourt mate Nicolas Batum leads the team in assists (5.6) after dishing out a season-high 12 against Minnesota, and chips in with 13.4 points per game.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (4-15): With future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki (Achilles) out indefinitely after playing only five games this season, everyone will have to provide more offense if Dallas is going to stay competitive. Matthews has stepped up the last four games while posting 21.8 points per game after draining 7-of-11 from 3-point range in the victory over Chicago. Harrison Barnes leads the team in scoring (20.4) and produced at least 20 in nine of the past 14 games, but was held to 17 on 8-of-20 from the field against Charlotte last week.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Dallas G Deron Williams is 18-of-53 from the field in five games since returning from a calf injury.

2. Clifford told reporters he does not expect F Marvin Williams (knee) to be available until at least Wednesday against Detroit.

3. Dallas C Andrew Bogut scored a season-high eight points on 4-of-4 from the field Saturday and grabbed 11 rebounds.

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San Antonio Spurs vs Dallas Mavericks
When: 8:30 PM ET, Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

Two old rivals going in opposite directions meet for the second time in 10 days Wednesday night in Dallas.

The San Antonio Spurs (14-4) are off to the second-best start in team history and are undefeated (10-0) on the road. San Antonio had a nine-game winning streak snapped in a 95-83 loss to Orlando at home Tuesday night.

The Dallas Mavericks (3-13) are off to the worst start in Mark Cuban’s ownership tenure. Dallas recently ended an eight-game slide, the longest since Cuban bought the club in 2000.

The Mavericks will be without Dirk Nowitzki, who’s out for at least the next two games recovering from a right Achilles tendon injury. Nowitzki already missed 11 games this season.

“He’s making gradual progress, but not enough to play him right now,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said.

The Mavericks picked up a win Sunday, beating New Orleans 91-81 and winning for only the second time at American Airlines Center this season. The victory was much needed.

“It helps a lot,” Carlisle said. “We have been close in a lot of games. The Cleveland game (128-90 loss on Friday) was a bad one, but we have been doing a lot of good things and have just been a little shorthanded.”

The win over the Pelicans began a stretch of eight of out 10 games at home.

“It doesn’t matter in this league,” Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews said. “You have to give everything you have and be prepared every single night no matter where you are. We’ve dropped home games and we’ve dropped road games, but it does feel good to get a win in front of these fans.”

Harrison Barnes, averaging a career-high 20.8 points, picked up the scoring load with Nowitzki’s continued absences. Barnes scored at least 20 points nine times in 16 games after doing so on only six occasions last season with Golden State.

The Spurs are the fifth team in NBA history to start at least 10-0 on the road, which is also a franchise-best winning streak away from home. The Warriors own the best road start, opening 14-0 last season.

San Antonio is 4-4 at home after losing just twice at the AT&T Center a season ago.

“It’s hard to explain even for us, as players who are on the floor competing,” Spurs center Pau Gasol said. “It’s not like we’re trying to lose games at home and then go on the road and get all of them. We understand the importance of each and every game, but it’s going to have to translate into better play at home, especially.”

The Spurs had a season-high 19 turnovers and a season low in points against the Magic.

“Energy could have been a little better at the beginning,” Gasol said. “I think we fought back and had pretty good intensity, but they were just disrupting our offense.”

Dallas visited San Antonio on Nov. 21, though the contest hardly resembled what fans have grown accustomed to when the Spurs and Mavericks hook up. Even with their current rosters, San Antonio’s 96-91 victory was a mashup of player combinations and rotations.

The Spurs rested Tony Parker and LaMarcus Aldridge, while Dallas was without Nowitzki and Deron Williams. Kawhi Leonard scored 24 to lead San Antonio.

The Spurs own the series in recent years against their longtime in-state rivals. San Antonio won six straight and 20 of the last 24 regular-season meetings with the Mavericks.

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Dallas Mavericks vs. Boston Celtics
When: 7:30 PM ET, Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Where: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), CSN New England (Boston)
PREDICTION: Celtics 100, Mavericks 90

Odds aren’t yet posted for this game, so check back later for the opening line and total.

DALLAS vs BOSTON
When: 11/16/2016 7:35 PM

BOSTON — Isaiah Thomas tied his career high with 37 points for the Boston Celtics at New Orleans on Monday night.

In New York, Harrison Barnes registered his fourth straight 20-point game for the Dallas Mavericks.

The individual efforts, however, didn’t lead to victories and the teams meet at TD Garden on Wednesday night.

“I think we’re at a time where as a team each person has to look at individually what they can do,” Barnes, who won a ring with the Golden State Warriors last season, said after the Mavs, again playing without Dirk Nowitzki, lost 93-77 to the Knicks.

Thomas, the Celtics’ little giant, put on a one-man show in the fourth quarter in New Orleans, only to have the Pelicans emerge with just their second win in 11 games.

“I don’t feel like we played as well as we should have,” Avery Bradley said after his team fell to 5-5. “Even myself — I don’t feel like I came out and made shots in the second half and it hurt our team. It can’t just be Isaiah; it has to be other guys that are out there making plays for each other and making shots.”

Nowitzki has missed the last four games for the Mavs (2-7) with an Achilles injury, joining teammates Deron Williams and Devin Harris on the sideline. He went through an extensive working in New York pre-game but just wasn’t ready. It didn’t sound like Wednesday would be any different.

“The biggest issue is just the running. I’m not a big runner at this stage of my career, but I can’t really go up and down yet,” Nowitzki said Monday. “I haven’t really done a full practice, so I’m just not quite there yet. But the good thing is it’s getting better.

“Since sitting out last week, obviously, I’m doing more and more. We’ve increased the load, so I’m getting closer. But unfortunately, we just couldn’t pull it off tonight.”

Owner Mark Cuban told the Dallas Morning News: “You play the hand you’re dealt. I think he’s really close. He’s feeling better. We just don’t want to rush anything. There’s no reason to. We’ll wait until they’re healthy.”

While Dallas has been missing its aging star and two others, the Celtics have been without Al Horford (concussion, seven games) and former Mav Jae Crowder (ankle, six games). Both were close, but Crowder is out Wednesday and Horford is a possibility to return.

“We’re trying to be as smart as we can about this,” Horford said. “I just want to make sure that when I’m ready to go I’m good to go.”

Thomas scored 37 Monday despite a sore middle finger on his left hand. He also had seven assists while going 13-for-29 from the floor.

“I just don’t have the same feel I have when it’s not swollen, so a lot of my layups and (shots) come off my hand wrong,” he said. “I’m just trying to slowly figure it out and adjust. It’s tough, but there’s no excuses, so I’ll figure it out.”

Said coach Brad Stevens: “Isaiah’s super tough. He always has nicks and bruises because of the way he plays, but he’s a tough guy.”

Thomas, who has had at least 20 points in all 10 Boston games, is eighth in the NBA with a 26.9 scoring average and is 10th with 6.6 assists. He is averaging the same number of rebounds and turnovers — 2.8.

Barnes, who signed a $94 million contract with the Mavericks, was shaky in the preseason. But he has been coming on. He has raised his scoring average to 22.3 points per game, to go along with 5.9 rebounds.

The Mavericks swept the two-game season series with the Celtics for the third straight year in 2015-16 and bring a seven-game series winning streak into this game.

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Dallas At Houston
When: 9:30 PM ET, Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Where: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, TNT, TXA 21 (Dallas), ROOT (Houston)
PREDICTION: Mavericks 109, Rockets 107
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Oddsmakers currently have the Rockets listed as 5½-point favorites versus the Mavericks, while the game’s total is sitting at 215.

The Mavericks were a 118-108 loser in their most recent outing on the road against the Rockets. They failed to cover the +9.5-point spread as underdogs, while the total score (226) made winners of OVER bettors.

Howard spent the final few weeks of the regular season slowly working his way back from a knee injury and only managed 17 minutes in Game 1 while dealing with foul trouble. “It was a little frustrating, but my biggest thing was, when I’m out there on the floor, just play as hard as I can despite the fouls and not allow that to take me out of the game,” Howard told reporters. “I’m going to get called for some fouls sometimes. I just got to play through it, continue to block shots, continue to run the floor and continue to control the paint.” Howard made the most of his limited time with 11 points, five rebounds and five blocks.

Team record: 57-26 SU,49-34 ATS
Current Streak: won 4 straight games.
Houston is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
Houston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Houston’s last 7 games
Houston is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games at home

Dallas fell behind 32-19 after the first quarter and spent too much energy playing catchup. “We’ve got to come out and be the aggressor,” Mavericks center Tyson Chandler told reporters. “I mean, we’ve got to pick up fullcourt and deny the wings, making things more difficult for them. I think they were way too comfortable bringing the ball up the floor and way too comfortable getting into their offense.” Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting in Game 1 but also committed six turnovers.

Team record: 50-33 SU,35-45-3 ATS
Dallas is 6-15 ATS in its last 21 games
Dallas is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Dallas’s last 5 games
Dallas is 3-10 ATS in its last 13 games on the road

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Kobe meant no offense to Shaq, his longtime teammate and former rival. He’s just busy doing everything and playing nearly every minute to keep the Lakers in the playoff race.

Bryant had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in his 19th career triple-double, and the Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 101-81 on Tuesday night in a key game for two teams struggling to get into the Western Conference postseason picture.

With former coach Phil Jackson in attendance for O’Neal’s honors, Bryant put on a virtuoso performance while playing more than 47 minutes. Bryant has rested for just 79 seconds in the past two games, but he’s keeping the Lakers afloat during the latest round of injuries and setbacks in their roller-coaster season.

“I wish I could (have seen it), but this is a huge game for us,” Bryant said of the ceremony for O’Neal, his teammate on three championship teams. “I had to stay back here and get ready for the second half. We talked when I came in at halftime. We stopped and chopped it up for a couple of minutes.”

O’Neal liked what he saw from his courtside seat next to his mother. With the win, Los Angeles moved back into an eighth-place tie in the West with the Utah Jazz (39-36), who hold the tiebreaker edge on the Lakers.

Dwight Howard had 24 points and 12 rebounds while hitting seven fourth-quarter free throws for the Lakers (39-36), who had lost four of six before jumping to a big early lead on Dallas and hanging on to it throughout the second half.

“I’m just happy we played the right way tonight, especially on the defensive end,” Howard said.

Bryant did much of the heavy lifting, but the rest of the Lakers also played well without injured starters Steve Nash and Metta World Peace. Pau Gasol had 14 points and 10 rebounds while guarding Dirk Nowitzki, and Earl Clark contributed 17 points and 12 rebounds while blocking a career-high five shots in a stellar defensive game off the bench.

“We’re desperate, and the players know it,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I didn’t think we had a great game offensively. We missed a lot of easy shots, didn’t get hot, but we were playing so well defensively that we won it that way.”

Dallas (36-38) still has a game in hand on the Lakers and Jazz, but the Mavs’ task just got tougher. Chris Kaman scored 14 points and Nowitzki had just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting for the Mavericks, who had won four of five.

“I thought overall we didn’t play well enough,” Nowitzki said. “They used their length on our scorers. Coming into this building, I think the only way we beat them is if we shoot well from the floor. I didn’t think we were shooting the ball well enough to steal one here.”

After trailing for most of the night, Dallas was down by just seven points when the Mavs began intentionally fouling Howard. Hack-a-Dwight backfired miserably, with Howard going a respectable 7-for-12 while the Lakers made a decisive 16-1 run, holding the Mavericks to just one field goal in the final 4 1/2 minutes.

“It is a hit. It is a game we needed,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “I think everyone is frustrated. I mean, Dirk understands what this stage is about. We have some inexperienced guys that haven’t been here, so this is a valuable learning experience for them, but it has a price.”

Although the Lakers aren’t at full strength, at least they can get some rest at home. After a road-heavy March schedule, the Lakers must leave Los Angeles just once more in the regular season while playing six of their last eight on their home court.

The Lakers retired O’Neal’s No. 34 jersey at halftime, with Lakers luminaries including Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Jamaal Wilkes assembling for the ceremony. The Staples Center crowd loved Shaq, but the fans adored former Jackson, who attended what was likely his first game since walking away from the team in 2011.

Jackson was serenaded with multiple chants of “We want Phil!” during his brief remarks to the crowd, echoing the same chants that filled Staples Center late last year when the Lakers flirted with bringing back the 11-time NBA champion coach before unexpectedly hiring D’Antoni to replace Mike Brown.

The Lakers made an 18-6 run for a 16-point lead late in the first half led by Bryant, who put on a show. After banking in a tremendously difficult 16-footer while getting fouled, he spun and appeared to look directly at Jackson, whose smile didn’t change.

Los Angeles’ 15-point halftime lead dwindled to five before Clark led another rally, and Bryant kept the Lakers ahead in the fourth quarter before Dallas resorted to purposely fouling Howard.

Game notes

Nash is hopeful he’ll return Friday after a bit more rest for his injured hip, while World Peace won’t be back any time soon from surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee. … Nowitzki got a technical foul for arguing with 4:04 to play while Dallas trailed by seven points.

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