NBA: Dallas 88, San Antonio 67

DALLAS, April 23 (UPI) -- Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 20 points Thursday and the Dallas Mavericks slowed down Tony Parker to produce a surprisingly easy 88-67 win over San Antonio.

The Mavericks scored the game's first eight points and ran away to a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven playoff series. San Antonio made only 25 field goals, shot 32 percent and hit just 2-of-17 attempts from 3-point range.

The Mavericks opened as much as a 33-point lead in the third quarter, during which the Spurs managed a mere 12 points.

The 67 points were the fewest Dallas had ever allowed in a playoff game and the second fewest San Antonio had ever scored in the post-season. The Spurs had just 64 points last year in a playoff game against Utah.

Nowitzki made 8-of-12 shots from the field and was able to rest through most of the fourth period. Josh Howard added 17 points and J.J. Barea had 13.

Parker scored 38 points in San Antonio's win Monday that evened the series. He hit 16-of-22 in that contest, but he was good on only 5-of-14 Thursday and scored 12 points -- which was still the highest point total on the Spurs' roster.

San Antonio trailed by just nine early in the second period, but Dallas went on a 12-0 run that blew open the game. The Spurs went without a point for 5:14.

Dallas will host the fourth game of the series Saturday.