(Basketball news) The Dallas Mavericks completely routed the San Antonio Spurs as they beat them 142-116. For the Mavericks, Doncic had 28 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds and Irving scored 23 points as Tim Hardaway Jr. went 6 of 11 from deep and scored 22 points after missing the last two games before the break with hamstring tightness while Justin Holiday made 5 of 6 from beyond the arc for 15 points in his debut. For the Spurs, Malaki Branham led the scoring with 23 points, and Keldon Johnson had 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. The Mavericks stopped a three-game losing streak in the return from the All-Star break, while the Spurs extended their franchise-record skid to 15 games with their 20th loss in 21 games.
”People say that Luka and Ky need the ball,” coach Jason Kidd said. ”Well, they also know how to use their teammates, and their teammates are delivering right now.”
”It’s definitely tough, two of the best iso guys in the league on the same team,” Branham said. ”Played them solid and made them kick out to other players. The other players made shots.”
”It was insane,” Doncic said. ”It was like three, four people and him and he still got an open layup. That’s why I was laughing.”
Los Angeles returned in top form after the all star break as they beat the defending Champions Golden State Warriors 124-111. For the Lakers, Malik Beasley scored 25 points and was one of eight players in double figures as he made seven 3-pointers on a night when they shot a season-best 53.3% from beyond the arc. Davis had 12 points and 12 rebounds as Austin Reeves had 17 points off the bench, including 13 in the third quarter. The Lakers got a season-best 68 points from their reserves, including five in double figures. For the Warriors, Klay Thompson led the scoring with 22 points and Ty Jerome added 20 points. The defending NBA champions are 29-30 and fell to 10th place in the Western Conference while Lakers are (28-32) 13th in the Western Conference but have won three of four since the trade deadline. As they are 1 1/2 games out of a spot in the play-in tournament.
”LeBron and AD didn’t get going as much as they wanted tonight, but we’re deep, and I think that’s the statement we want to make,” Beasley said. ”It can be any player on any given night.”
”We’re still figuring things out on the fly,” said Davis, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds. ”The past two games we’ve really looked good as a whole. I think we’ve got a complete team where we’re able to make a run.”
”Just overall a great team win. Everybody contributed, everybody had different moments and guys stayed aggressive,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. ”I feel great about what we’ve been able to do (since the trade deadline). It’s paying dividends right now and we’ve just got to continue to get more and more familiar with one another.”
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