Anthony Davis scored 26 points, Max Christie shot 10-of-13 from the floor en route to 24 points and the Dallas Mavericks capitalized on Alperen Sengun’s injury to top the visiting Houston Rockets 110-104 on Saturday night.
Sengun sustained an ankle injury just one minute into the contest, sending the star center, who averages 22.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, to the locker room. Davis controlled the paint in Sengun’s absence, grabbing 12 rebounds and notching five blocked shots.
Davis delivered one of his swats at a critical juncture, denying Tari Eason at the rim. Davis came up with the deflection and dribbled down court before firing an assist to Klay Thompson for a transition 3-pointer that gave the Mavericks an 11-point lead with 2:52 remaining.
Behind Kevin Durant’s game-high 34 points and seven assists, Houston fought back to pull to within five with 67 seconds remaining, but Christie put an exclamation point on his crucial offensive production with a dunk to give Dallas a cushion for the final minute.
Christie’s contribution included knocking down 4-of-6 shots from 3-point distance, the last of which came on a corner shot set up by a crosscourt Ryan Nembhard skip pass. The triple opened up a fourth-quarter lead of 14 points.
Nembhard finished with five points and three assists off the bench, but came up big in crucial late-game spots. Dallas also got 15 points and seven rebounds from reserve Brandon Williams, playing 24 minutes with P.J. Washington suffering a sprained right ankle in the first half.
Eason and Amen Thompson both recorded double-doubles, with Eason finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Thompson going for 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Jabari Smith Jr., Houston’s fourth-highest scorer, struggled through a 2-of-13 shooting performance to finish with seven points. His 1-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc underscored a rough night from deep for the Rockets, who hit just 10 of 41 attempts.
Dallas went 8 of 21 from outside, but leveraged a 66-54 advantage in points in the paint and 41-24 edge in bench points to end Houston’s four-game winning streak and snap a four-game skid.
