DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets were both preparing for the second of a back-to-back on Saturday night. Dallas was fresh off a 132-111 Friday night loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City, while Houston defeated the Phoenix Suns at home on Friday 117-98. The Rockets had the momentum, but that did not concern the Mavs on Saturday night. Anthony Davis — who scored just two points on Friday — bounced back and out-dueled Kevin Durant en route to a 122-109 Mavericks win over the Rockets.
The Thunder contained AD without question on Friday. He found his rhythm and led Dallas on Saturday, scoring 29 on 14-19 shooting from the field. Davis added eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block.
“Great bounce-back game,” Jason Kidd said of Davis' performance. “It happens, we've all had bad games, and it's on to the next. Just shows how important he is to our team.”
Durant also played well, recording 27 points while shooting 11-20 from the field and 1-3 from beyond the arc. In the end, Davis and the Mavs found a way to get the job done. It was an impressive individual performance, and while AD had help from his teammates, he certainly set the tone for his squad.
Davis was in command on both ends of the floor. Rockets drivers thought twice about attacking the basket with AD waiting in the paint. On the offensive side of the ball, Davis was aggressive, as his NUMBER field goal attempts led the Mavericks. One has to imagine the team did not mind his high amount of shot attempts.
With the win, the Mavs improved to 9-16. The Rockets now hold a 15-6 overall record.
The Mavericks' next game is scheduled for Friday night at home against the Brooklyn Nets. Tip-off for that contest is scheduled for 8:30 PM EST.
