Luka Doncic had an outstanding performance with 47 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists, while Kyrie Irving contributed 24 points and seven assists, leading the Dallas Mavericks to their seventh consecutive victory and ending the Houston Rockets’ 11-game winning streak with a 125-107 win on Sunday night.
Doncic was on fire in the first half, scoring 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting, including 6-of-10 from beyond the arc, as the Mavs led 66-45. He scored 22 points in the first quarter alone and finished the game 18-of-30 from the field, hitting 9-of-16 on 3-pointers, tying his career high for 3-pointers made in a game.
“When you talk about the best player in the world, understanding the time and where we are in the schedule and this road trip, he came out and showed why he’s one of the best in the world,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “He set the tone offensively. …
He put the ball in the basket, was able to read and play the defense we saw tonight. It’s up to him to do his job, and he did it at a high level tonight.”
Luka Doncic (Via NBA)
Doncic had a memorable highlight when he made an underhand lob from inside the 3-point line as the shot clock was expiring early in the third quarter.
Since 1997-98, only James Harden has more 30-point first halves than Luka Doncic.
“To see him do that, I feel a lot of people got excited, but I think at the same time, that’s Luka,” Kidd said.
“He’s always able to make tough shots. He’s Picasso. Give him the paintbrush, he’s going to do something special. That shot was pretty special.”
Dante Exum added 13 points and P.J. Washington scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Mavericks. Dallas shot 52% from the field and made 24-of-47 3-pointers.
“We were aggressive,” Doncic said. “They switched, so I think me and [Kyrie] went to work. Everybody else was open, so we were able to knock those shots down.”
Dallas Mavericks (Via NBA)
With this win, Dallas tied idle New Orleans for fifth place in the Western Conference standings, with both teams having eight games remaining.
Jabari Smith Jr. scored 28 points, and Aaron Holiday added 16, but Jalen Green was held to just 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting as Houston’s bid for a play-in spot took a hit. The Rockets fell two games behind 10th place Golden State for the final play-in spot in the West.
“We didn’t play our best tonight,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “Doncic was too comfortable. Not to diminish what we did, but let’s get it back going. … It’s one game. One guy played really well for them. A few others made shots, but we didn’t particularly play great.”
Houston shot 42% from the field and made 13-of-38 3-pointers.
Dallas used a 23-7 run in the first quarter to build a 30-17 lead on Doncic’s 3-pointer with three minutes left.
After Houston closed the gap to 47-37 with 5:43 left in the second quarter, the Mavericks responded by outscoring Houston 19-8 to end the half, capped by Doncic’s three-point play.
