Mavericks win 4th consecutive game

CHAROLETTE, N.C.- After Monday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans was postponed due to COVID-related issues, the Dallas Mavericks were back in action Wednesday, with a road game against the Charolette Hornets. The two teams faced each other Dec. 30 when the Hornets won in a dominating 118- 99 performance.

After missing the start of the season recovering from injury, Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis made his season debut and took little time getting back in the groove of things. Less than two minutes into the game Porzingis knocked down his first 3-pointer of the night and followed it with another just a few minutes later to put Dallas ahead 16-10.

Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic followed this by scoring on three consecutive possessions, and Dallas quickly built a double-digit lead. Backup center Boban Marjanovic joined in on the scoring, posting eight points in the opening frame, helping the Mavericks build a 32- 16 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Porzingis came back in the game to open the second quarter and started scoring immediately, making a pair of layups in the opening minutes of the frame. Dallas kept their big lead for the rest of the half, and a Doncic 3-pointer with just 13.5 seconds left gave the Mavericks a 60-43 lead at the half.

A very sloppy start to the third quarter saw the Dallas lead cut to nine points, but the Mavericks were able to find their rhythm again and pushed their lead back to 87-73 entering the fourth quarter.

Dallas had their lowest scoring quarter of the night in the fourth quarter, only adding 17 points in the frame, but it was more than enough for them to cruise to a 104-93 win.

Doncic led the way finishing just one assist shy of his 25th career triple-double. Doncic had 34 points on 14-25 shooting, 13 rebounds and nine assists.

Porzingis looked good in his debut, scoring 16 points in just 21 minutes of action. Despite shooting 6-16 from the field, Porzingis made four of his nine 3-point attempts.

Other notables for Dallas were Tim Hardaway Jr. who continued his impressive run of late, finishing with 18 points. Starting center Willy Cauley-Stein had just four points, but was able to grab a gamehigh 14 rebounds.

The win makes the fourth consecutive for Dallas. They will return to action Sunday to host the Chicago Bulls at 2 p.m.