Mavericks slay Magic in wire-to-wire win
(Field Level Media) The Dallas Mavericks made it 10 wins in a row in front of the home fans Monday night by making a mockery of the Orlando Magic with a wire-to-wire 101-76 victory.
While the Mavs needed a little lategame magic from their stellar rookie Luka Doncic to sneak past the Houston Rockets on Saturday and keep the streak alive, Orlando — losers of three straight and seven of 10 — provided little suspense in this one.
Dallas, in moving a season-best three games over .500, notched its Western Conference-leading 12th home win in 14 games. It was also the Mavs’ seventh consecutive home victory against the Magic.
Dallas led 24-19 after the first quarter and 52-40 at the half. If the Magic had any notion of climbing back in the second half, Dallas stamped that out quickly as Wesley Matthews, Harrison Barnes and then Jalen Brunson buried 3-pointers for a 61-44 lead. Five minutes later it was 7048 and as the Magic and their offense put on a disappearing act.
Barnes led Dallas with 19 points that included 15 on 3-pointers. The rookie Brunson, starting again in place of the injured Dennis Smith Jr., contributed a career-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, plus four assists and a steal in 32 minutes. Dwight Powell led Dallas’ bench effort with 16 points.
Doncic, the leading rookie-of-the-year candidate, nearly recorded his first career triple-double, although a somewhat ugly one, with career highs of 11 rebounds and nine assists to go with just seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.