The Dallas Mavericks' offense barely had a pulse for most of three quarters. Then Dirk Nowitzki decided to take control.

Nowitzki scored a club-record 29 of his 40 points during a frantic fourth-quarter comeback and the Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz 96-85 on Tuesday night.

Nowitzki broke the franchise record of 24 points in any quarter set by Mark Aguirre against Denver on March 24, 1984.

"It was an ugly game," Nowitzki said. "We couldn't get anything going for three quarters. We were slow. We were looking for a spark offensively and I was able to do that tonight."

Dallas was down 72-56 after Utah's Wes Matthews hit a layup with 9:51 left. The Mavericks later trailed by 13 before Nowitzki's three-point play triggered a 19-6 run capped by his layup with 2:41 remaining to tie it at 83.

Nowitzki's short jumper on Dallas' next possession put the Mavericks in front for good, 85-83 with 2:05 left.

Carlos Boozer's basket with 3:49 to play had given the Jazz an 83-78 edge, but Utah wouldn't score again until Boozer's dunk with 35 seconds remaining.

Nowitzki left to a standing ovation with 28 seconds to play.

After three quarters, the Mavericks managed 52 points and were shooting 32 percent from the floor.

But in the final quarter, Nowitzki took an aggressive approach, driving to the basket on almost every possession. He went 7-for-8 from the field, hit all 14 free throws and pulled down five rebounds.

"We just kept feeding him," Dallas' Shawn Marion said. "He had it going. He was unstoppable."

The NBA record for points in a fourth quarter is Wilt Chamberlain's 31 for Philadelphia on March 2, 1962 against the New York Knicks. The mark for points in any quarter is 33 shared by San Antonio's George Gervin (April 9, 1978) and Denver's Carmelo Anthony (Dec. 10, 2008).