It’s officially a winning streak in Dallas.
A win is a win in the NBA — even the ones that don’t make you jump for joy.
The Dallas Mavericks (8-7) got their third win in a row on Tuesday, 132-91 over the New Orleans Pelicans (4-11), who came into the American Airlines Center missing six of their top-eight players in their rotation due to injury. Sorry, Pelicans, not sorry — Dallas needs to pile up wins as the schedule starts to take a favorable turn.
The Mavericks held the Pels to just 40 points in the second half on the way to the easy win. Luka Dončić led the way for the Mavs with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists in the win, while Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving combined to hit 9-of-14 from 3-point range and combine for 38 more against New Orleans.
Here are six more key stats from one of the more ridiculous games of the year, but first, here’s another bonus for you: The Mavs have only won with a bigger point differential than Tuesday night’s 41 points 13 times in franchise history, most recently the team’s 50-point win over Utah last December.
44: First-quarter points for Dallas
The first quarter against an enfeebled New Orleans bunch was the Mavericks’ first 40-point quarter of the year. Last year, the Mavs exploded for 40-plus points in a quarter 21 different times. But hey, we’ll take a little offensive rhythm however we can get it this year. It’s never not good to see the ball go in.
Thompson and Irving both went 2-for-3 from 3-point range in the opening quarter. Quentin Grimes came in off the bench and banged in his first two attempts from distance. It was good to see Dončić set the tone, and do it with a little defense on the game’s first two possessions. He stole the ball from Brandon Ingram twice and converted both times against a less-than-enthusiastic Pelican transition defense to force an early timeout from New Orleans head coach Willie Green.
Dončić had three steals on the night.
Grimes’ second 3-pointer rattled home at the first-quarter buzzer to give the Mavs a 44-29 lead after one. How that Pels team scored 29 in any quarter against a Mavericks team that was supposed to hang its hat on that end of the court, I’ll never know, but now’s not the time to make a big issue out of that, I suppose.
19: Second-quarter points for Dallas
I thought that was the case, but then Dallas continued to play with its food in the second quarter. The short-handed Pelicans outscored the Mavericks 19-8 to end the first half, and Dallas put up one of its worst offensive quarters of the young season right after one of its best. They managed just 19 points on 8-of-23 shooting in the second quarter.
The Mavs built a lead as big as 23, when Dončić hit his first and only 3-pointer of the first half, a step-back from the left wing with 7:49 left in the second. Dallas was up 55-32 at the time, but the Mavs hit just two of their next 10 field goal attempts over the next five-plus minutes, including a few in the lane. New Orleans went to a zone look in the second, which seemed to confuse the Mavs on offense for a few minutes.
Still, the Mavs took a 63-51 lead into the break. No harm, no foul. Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III led all scorers with 14 at the half, while Irving and Dončić each had 12 for the Mavs. Murphy would score just five more in the second half.
6-of-19: Pelicans’ third-quarter shooting
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Then the Pelicans just fell apart in the third quarter. They shot just 6-of-19 from the field, including just 2-of-7 from 3-point territory, and turned the ball over six times in the frame.
The Mavericks extended their lead in a hurry, and Thompson and Irving had everything to do with it. Thompson went 3-for-6 from 3-point land in the third, and Irving connected on both his 3-point attempts. Those came on back-to-back possessions with under three minutes to play in the third to put the Mavs up 87-65 at the time.
5-of-9: Klay Thompson 3-point shooting
Thompson used the blowout win as a little bit of target practice after combining to shoot 2-of-11 in the last two games. Captain Splash drained 5-of-9 from deep, then said in postgame interviews that he was still frustrated about “the one I missed in the corner, and the other one on the right wing” after the 41-pint win.
Thompson ended the night with 19 points in 24 minutes with four rebounds and two steals.
24, 28, 30: Minutes played by Thompson, Irving and Dončić
In a game like this, all you want to do is ensure the win and get to the locker room without any injuries, and hopefully with a little additional rest. Oh, yea, and if you’re into the NBA Cup stuff, this was a good opportunity to pump up the scoring margin, as that is a thing that counts for group-play tiebreaker purposes. The Mavs got it all done without having to run Dončić, who has been bothered with the odd knee and groin this season, or the old guard of Irving and Thompson for excess minutes.
No Mavs starter had to play more than Dončić’s 30 minutes on Tuesday — the home team settled in for a rather cozy win against the unfortunates from New Orleans as the last six minutes turned into garbage time. The Dallas bench contributed 56 points in the blowout win.
7: Mavericks in double-figure scoring
Seven Mavericks scored in double figures for the second consecutive game. According to the Mavs’ broadcast team, that was the first time the Mavs have done that in back-to-back games since 2019.
No matter how depleted the teams in front of them may have been, it’s good to see the roster starting to find some rhythm and see shots start to fall. There are more positives than negatives at the very least, at the moment, not the least of which is Jaden Hardy. Tuesday was his third straight game in double-figure scoring off the bench. He scored 11 points and had three assists in the win over New Orleans. Grimes chipped in 12 points and eight boards as well.