DALLAS -- Monta Ellis figures the Dallas Mavericks are better off mentally than the last time they played a Western Conference contender. New York Yankees Store . Armed with three straight wins against losing teams and their best record in almost two years, the Mavericks have to get ready for three games against playoff-worthy foes in the West. Ellis scored 21 points, Dirk Nowitzki added 15 and the Mavericks beat Orlando 107-88 Monday night, extending the Magics longest skid of the season to eight games. The Mavericks bounced back from a blowout loss to defending West champion San Antonio and now get set for a trip to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, less than two weeks after blowing a late lead after Chris Paul left with a shoulder injury that still has him sidelined. "I think our mindset is different heading into this game on a three-game winning streak," said Ellis, who scored 14 in the first half to help build an 18-point lead that withstood a few challenges after halftime. "Hopefully we continue with it." Jameer Nelson scored 21 and Glen Davis added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Magic, who got swept on a swing through five Western Conference cities and lost by an average of 20 points. "Im disappointed that it didnt go the way we felt it should have went or could have went, but at the same time we get the opportunity to go home, see our families, sleep in our bed," Nelson said. "You get to play in front of your home fans." The Mavericks (23-16) moved seven games over .500 for the first time since the end of the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season -- the year after they won the franchises first championship. Nowitzki did most of his damage in the first half with 10 points, two nights after scoring 20 in the third quarter on his way to a season-high 40 against New Orleans. Vince Carter, who had 17 points, was 3 of 4 from 3-point range and had consecutive 2-point baskets in an 8-0 run that finally put Orlando away in the fourth quarter. The spurt included a long pass from Jae Crowder to Brandan Wright for a dunk that put Dallas up 97-82. Orlando was playing its second straight game without leading scorer Arron Afflalo (strained right foot) and starting centre Nik Vucevic, who was back in Florida after sustaining a concussion at the Clippers in the opener of the long road trip. "This is a team that is depleted because of injuries and stuff, but theyre an NBA team," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "They made a couple of runs at us. We did a good job of getting the lead back up in the game." Jose Calderon scored 13, including a 3 at the shot-clock buzzer that gave the Mavericks their biggest lead of the first half at 58-36. The shot came after Ellis missed badly on a wild layup, but Wayne Ellington grabbed one of his season-high seven rebounds and found Calderon beyond the arc. Nelson played despite injuring a finger in a loss at Denver two nights earlier and had seven assists The veteran guards supporting cast tried to keep the game close early in the second half, with Davis scoring the first six Orlando points after halftime as part of a 21-5 run that got the Magic to 63-57. Davis scored 12 during the run. "I was being more aggressive," Davis said. "I had nothing to lose. I ended up making a nice run and kind of getting the game under control a little bit. They just came back and made another run." Calderon hit another 3-pointer to get the Dallas lead back to 13, and Ellis pulled up from long range with the shot clock running down to finish a 12-0 spurt that put the Mavericks up 75-57. Ellington had a season-high 12 points. NOTES: Mavericks F Shawn Marion sat out again with shoulder and rib injuries, and rookie point guard Shane Larkin was sidelined with a right ankle injury sustained Saturday against the Pelicans. ... Magic F Maurice Harkless played despite a sore right knee and had 13 points and seven rebounds. ... Nowitzki became the 24th player in NBA history with 1,400 3-pointers on a shot that put Dallas up 84-64 late in the third quarter. Johnny Damon Yankees Jersey . The ongoing funk on penalty kill and an unusually quiet night on home ice for the power play divided the Leafs from the Bruins at the ACC in a rare Sunday night affair. Casey Stengel Jersey . - A pitch clock will be used this season during minor league games at Triple-A and Double-A, but it has been ruled out for the major leagues this year. https://www.cheapyankees.com/991g-joe-girardi-jersey-yankees.html . Hernandez (3-0) struck out 11 and shut down Oakland for the second time in a week, becoming the first Mariners pitcher to win three times in the first nine games of a season. With the usual "Kings Court" for Hernandez home starts expanded to a "Supreme Court" encompassing the entire stadium with yellow shirts and "K" cards, Hernandez gave up four hits in the 28th double-digit strikeout game of his career.In mid-December, a U.S. federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by more than 1,000 former NFL players who sued the league, saying its teams haphazardly gave players addictive painkillers. The judge in that case said the collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players was the appropriate way to resolve the dispute. Days later, the NHL is hoping to rely on that NFL victory. In court papers filed in Minnesota court and obtained by TSN, the NHL has argued that a lawsuit filed by its own players should be dismissed for similar reasons as was the NFL case. In the NFL case, former players such as Hall of Fame defensive end Richard Dent said the NFL and its teams, doctors and trainers had withheld information about injuries and issued prescription painkillers without considering the long-term effects. But a judge dismissed the case, although it might still be appealed, saying players should go to arbitration as their CBA dictates. Cash awards in arbitration cases are typically much lower than court judgments. The NHL hopes to convince a judge overseeing its own case that its CBA with the players details the proper protocol that should be followed. Just last week, the court in Dent vs NFL dismissed the claims of retired players that the NFL had negligently allowed them to be over-treated with painkillers, the NHL said in its court filing. In evaluating any possible negligence by the NFL…, it would be necessary to take into account what the NFL has affirmatively done to address the problem, not just what it has not done. The court noted the many steps the NFL had taken to address the issue of player medical care by imposing on clubs detailed provisions in numerous collective bargaining agreements, the NHL said. Although there was no CBA provision that specifically call(ed) out the prescribing of drugs and painkillers, provisions related to player health and safety generally were critical to the analysis because the proper administration of drugs can reasonably be deemed to fall under these more general protections. The NHLs collectively bargained agreements address player safety and health through provisions governing medical treatment for injured plaayers, return-to-play determinations, workers compensation coverage and end-of-season physicals, the NHL wrote. Giancarlo Stanton Jersey. . Moreover, unlike in Dent and the other NFL cases, the NHL has had (since 1997) a detailed collectively-bargained framework covering the subject matter underlying the negligence-based claims - the evaluation and management of concussions. In the initial lawsuit filed in November 2013, players contended that the NHL did not do enough to protect them from head injuries before creating a committee to study head trauma in 1997. Even after that, the players charge the committees findings were not adequately shared with the players. The 40-some NHL players - the most prominent of whom include former Red Wings star Joe Murphy, one-time Toronto Maple Leaf Gary Leeman and former Los Angeles Kings star Bernie Nicholls - filed the suit after a group of nearly 4,500 former NFL players reached a settlement with the NFL over similar concussion-related complaints. The NHL players claims have not been proven in court. The league earlier said that players who were forced to retire early because of concussions and other head injuries ought to have been able to put two and two together, thanks to a number of newspaper and magazine stories and other news reports. The NHL has reiterated the claim that former players have waited too long to file for damages and have long been represented by a sophisticated players union charged by federal law to advance their welfare. When a plaintiff is aware of an injury and its cause, he is charged with knowing publicly available information that could be revealed through a reasonable search, particularly where the issue has been discussed in the press and medical studies are accessible through Internet searches, the NHL said. Plaintiffs contend that they had no burden to investigate because they relied on the NHLs allegedly superior ability to interpret medical studies, the NHL said. But courts have squarely rejected arguments, like this one, based on a plaintiffs alleged educational disadvantage relative to the defendant - even in cases involving a trust relationship between the parties (which is absent here.) ' ' '