by EDDIE SEFKO, Staff Writer esefko@dallasnews.com , THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

As many mistakes as the Mavericks made, they rallied for a 109-106 victory over the Indiana Pacers at American Airlines Center.

It was an inexplicable victory. The Pacers crushed the Mavericks on the boards for three quarters, held Dirk Nowitzki down much of the night and watched the Mavericks fire away from 3-point range with no success.

Until it mattered.

Jason Terry slopped in a triple, then Jason Kidd swished one to bring the Mavericks within 99-97 with just over two minutes left.

The Mavericks had been 2-of-16 from 3-point range before those buckets. Kidd hit another one moments later to put them ahead, 102-99, with 1:20 remaining. Moments later, Terry hit another three, and his running jumper in the paint put the Mavericks up, 106-101, to clinch it.

Their record is finally back to .500 at 7-7.

If the Mavericks ever questioned the value of rebounding, it was pounded into their brains by the Pacers through the first three quarters.

The visitors were up, 42-31, on the boards, and they had been up on the scoreboard virtually the whole way, too. This against the Mavericks, who had won the board war in 10 consecutive games before Tuesday.

So when they finally remembered how to retrieve a missed shot, they actually made up some ground against the Pacers.

The Mavericks outrebounded the Pacers, 6-2, in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter and suddenly crawled level with Indiana at 85-85. Just as quickly, the Pacers hit three buckets in a row, and once again, the Mavericks were looking for a rebound - figuratively and literally.

Earlier, the Mavericks were in a 56-49 hole at halftime largely because of some bad luck at the end of the second quarter.

They were down by just four, but Troy Murphy pumped-faked Nowitzki into the air, and he was whistled for a foul with 0.5 seconds left. The three-point play put the Mavericks in a tougher spot going into the third period. But it wasn't any reason to worry, based on the Pacers' past.

They had taken a 12-point lead into the second half Saturday at Miami but were run down quickly and ended up losing by nine.

Clearly, the Mavericks didn't take advantage of any such opportunity, at least, not initially. Murphy continued to pepper away from the perimeter, and after his 3-pointer made it 64-51, Nowitzki turned to the bench for some help about what was going wrong defensively. After a timeout, the Mavericks continued to play like they were content to work from 10 points behind the rest of the way.

Not until the latter portion of the third period did they make any inroads. And even then, it was a slow process. They got within four points once, but the Pacers scored the next six and finally went into the fourth quarter up 83-76.

Injury update: Josh Howard sat out Tuesday and said that, while his injured left ankle is improving, he still has trouble cutting. He's hoping to wait until he's closer to full strength before hitting the court.

"I'm still day to day," he said. "It's a lot better, but still day to day. I've just got to get my foot together first and make sure I come back full strength."

Asked what the ankle limits him doing, he said: "Cutting. An athletic guy like myself, I want to be able to play the game the way I can, and as soon as I get that range of motion back, I'll be good."

Briefly: Rick Carlisle went with James Singleton and Antoine Wright in the starting lineup. ... Jason Terry's brother, Curtis, has taken the first step of his pro career, making the roster of the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBDL. Curtis Terry is a 6-5 guard out of Nevada-Las Vegas. ... Former Maverick Sam Perkins was in the crowd, as was Cowboys defensive back Adam Jones.

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