DALLAS, TX – The Dallas Mavericks (45-28) beat the Houston Rockets (18-55) 110-91 in American Airlines Center on Wednesday night.
Spencer Dinwiddie started tonight for the Mavs to fill in for Luka Doncic. Doncic sat out tonight due to an ankle injury, according to Yahoo News it’s nothing major and not something to be too worried about.
Dinwiddie wasted no time heating it up, he racked up 19 points midway through the second quarter and shot 3-of-3 from the three-point line.
Besides Dinwiddie, Dallas was pretty quiet in the first half. They were playing down to their opponent as Houston has won only 18 total games this year. We have seen a Dallas team that can beat just about every NBA team this year, but yet they were down one at the half to the Rockets.
Jalen Brunson carried a little weight adding 12 points to Dinwiddies 19 but other than those two there wasn’t much offensive production in the first half for Dallas.
Houston had a better shooting percentage in the first half and out rebounded Dallas 24-18 which is what helped them take the one point lead at the half.
The biggest difference in the first half that led Dallas to a deficit was the fast break points by Houston. The Mavs were not getting back on defense, giving up 13 fast break points to the Rockets in the first half. Dallas is known for being a good defensive team but like I said before, Dallas was playing down to their opponent and that’s just simply lazy defense.
Brunson took control of things in the second half as Dinwiddie got quiet. Brunson racked up another 11 points and led Dallas to a seven point lead with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Both teams struggled to perform from beyond the arc, both teams had just eight three’s between the two of them by the end of the third quarter.
Brunson added another five points leading Dallas into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead over Houston.
Mavs go on a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter, creating a 15-point lead. That forces Houston to take a timeout and regroup. The timeout must have not gone well because Dallas proceeded to go on another 7-2 run taking a 20-point lead with eight minutes left in regulation, forcing yet again… another Houston timeout.
Dallas finished out the fourth quarter strong on defense. They allowed Houston to score just three points in the first seven minutes of play. Their fourth quarter performance led them to a 110-91 win over Houston.
The Mavs will hit the road and head to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves for the second time this week. Tip off is set for 6:30 PM.
TOP PLAYERS :
Jalen Brunson had 28 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Spencer Dinwiddie had 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists.
