HOUSTON (AP) – Luka Doncic had 39 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists as Dallas rallied from an 18-point second half deficit to beat the Houston Rockets 111-106 on yesterday for the Mavericks’ seventh straight win.
Doncic scored 29 of his points in the second half to lead the comeback. He finished 10 of 26 from the field, including one of nine on three-pointers and hit 18 of 22 from the free throw line.
“I was not worried in the first half, I just needed to be more aggressive,” Doncic said.
“That’s what I did in the second half. In the first half, I was passive, and it didn’t work well for us.” Doncic has scored at least 32 points in each of the last six games, including three 50-point games during that span.
“Winning is always great,” Doncic said. “The energy in the locker room is amazing, so to win seven in a row is pretty good, but we want more. I think today we played very bad, but great teams come back and win games.”
Christian Wood added 21 points, and Tim Hardaway Jr scored 21 points for Dallas, which has their longest winning streak since the 2010-11 season.
“To win seven (straight) in this league, it’s not easy to win in this league, it’s easy to lose in this league, but it’s hard to win,” said Dallas coach Jason Kidd, who was a player on the 2010-11 team.
Trailing 100-93 midway through the fourth, Dallas answered with 14-4 run to take a three-point lead on a jumper by Hardaway with 2:55 remaining. Houston cut the lead to one on a layup by Porter with two minutes left, but after trading missed shots, Spencer Dinwiddie hit a jumper with 10 seconds left to up the lead to 109-106.
Sengun missed two free throws, and Doncic grabbed the rebound. Doncic was fouled and made two free throws to ice the game.
