Tim Hardaway Jr. scored a season-high 31 points off the bench and Luka Doncic added 26 points and 10 assists to help the visiting Dallas Mavericks breeze to a 130-117 victory over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
Hardaway scored 21 points over the first two quarters, accounting for his highest-scoring half of the season. He finished the game having made 11 of 20 shots from the floor and 7 of 11 from 3-point range.
Doncic converted four times from beyond the arc and added seven rebounds as the Mavericks coasted to victory despite playing without star guard Kyrie Irving.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd said prior to the contest that Irving’s sprained left foot is “bothering him” and that the club didn’t wish to take any chances on the second night of a back-to-back set. The Mavericks dropped a 131-110 decision to the host New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.
Dallas’ Derrick Jones scored 20 points and rookie Dereck Lively II collected a career-high 17 points to go along with nine rebounds. The pair combined to make 15 of 19 shots from the floor for the Mavericks, who shot a robust 52.2 percent from the field (48 of 92) and 40.5 percent from 3-point range (17 of 42).
Kyle Kuzma scored 22 points, Jordan Poole added 16 and Deni Avdija had 15 for the Wizards, who have lost four in a row and eight of their last nine games.
Avdija drained a 3-pointer to stake Washington to an early 9-7 lead before Doncic and Hardaway each converted twice from beyond the arc to highlight Dallas’ surge to a 32-17 lead.
Hardaway heated up in the second quarter, making three 3-pointers in a stretch of 99 seconds to push the Mavericks’ lead to 71-46 with 1:56 to play before halftime. Poole converted from beyond the arc and Kuzma added a layup prior to the break.
Dallas led 71-51 at halftime.
The Wizards essentially stayed even in the third quarter before Kuzma scored the first five points of the fourth to pull Washington within 16. Seth Curry converted a four-point play and added a 3-pointer as the Mavericks responded by scoring 15 of the next 19 points to build a 119-92 lead.
The outcome was not in doubt the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media
