The Dallas Mavericks held on to defeat the New Orleans Pelicans 111-106 on Thursday night at the American Airlines Center.
The Mavericks came out on fire, with Luka Doncic scoring 21 of his 31 points in the first quarter. Dallas went 8 of 17 on three-pointers in the first half en route to a dominant 70-43 halftime lead.
The Mavericks’ lead was 84-57 with 6:47 remaining in the third quarter when Doncic was forced to leave the game with a right heel contusion.
Dallas went stagnant without their 23-year-old superstar as New Orleans furiously rallied to cut their deficit down to 108-104 with under a minute remaining.
The Mavericks’ lead was three points as they inbounded with 4.9 seconds left when the officials robbed the Pelicans of one last chance to tie the game. Brandon Ingram tipped the inbound pass and appeared to save it without stepping out of bounds.
New Orleans’ C.J. McCollum grabbed the loose ball, but the referees had blown the action dead, ruling that Ingram was out of bounds when he saved the ball. There was no review, and Dallas got the ball with 3.4 seconds to go.
Spencer Dinwiddie made two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to clinch the Mavericks’ win.
WHAT TO KNOW
— Postgame, Crew chief Kevin Scott said Ingram was incorrectly ruled out of bounds and that the clock should not have run at all, making the loss even more bitter for New Orleans. The Pelicans have now lost 10 in a row.
— Doncic’s injury happened on a hard fall as he elevated to attempt a one-handed dunk and had the ball knocked out of his hands by Ingram while being bumped by Jonas Valanciunas. He landed awkwardly on his right foot.
— Officials initially called Ingram for a foul on the play, but the Pelicans challenged, and the foul was overturned. Doncic returned after the review, but after one possession, he was taken out and limped off to the locker room in visible frustration.
— Dallas (28-25) moved up to fourth place in the Western Conference with the win and other results across the NBA on Thursday night.
— New Orleans (26-27) dropped below .500 for the first time this season. The Pelicans arrived in Dallas on the day of the game because the winter weather prevented them from flying in.
BY THE NUMBERS
— Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dinwiddie were far from efficient for the Mavericks, combining to go 7 of 37 from the field, including a combined 0 of 12 in the fourth quarter.
— Dinwiddie finished with 21 points on 4 of 19 shooting, while Hardaway scored 9 points on 3 of 18 shooting.
— Josh Green finished with 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting, with 7 of his points coming down the stretch in the fourth quarter. Dallas improved to 13-4 all-time when Green scores in double figures.
— Ingram led the Pelicans with 26 points, McCollum had 19 points, and Valanciunas had 16 points and 13 rebounds.
WHO SAID
— Mavericks coach Jason Kidd on Doncic’s injury: “Contusion to the heel. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and have a better update to give you … I think no matter what the score was, he wasn’t coming back.”
— Kidd on what allowed the Pelicans to come back: “The ball just didn’t go down for us. We had some great looks there, some wide-open 3s, and we didn’t convert some layups. You look at the defense, sometimes you can relax with a big lead, so just understanding the Pelicans are a good team, they’re fighting to break their losing streak. Give them credit — they kept playing.”
NEXT UP
Dallas begins a five-game road trip against the defending champion Golden State Warriors (26-26) on Saturday night.
