Denied! Christian Wood's 5 Blocks Help Mavs Secure Road Win Over Rockets
Heading into Monday night's matchup with the Houston Rockets, the Dallas Mavericks were riding a season-high six-game win streak with a chance to push it to seven games for the first time since 2011.
Despite falling down by as many as 18 points in the third quarter, the Mavs rallied late and shut down the Rockets down the stretch with a 12-2 run. Dallas beat Houston by the final of 111-106 and succeeded in pushing their win streak to seven games for the first time in 12 years. The Mavs improved to 22-16 while the Rockets fell to 10-27.
After scoring just 10 points in the first half, Luka Doncic had a much better second half as he finished with 39 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and one steal in 42 minutes.
Doncic struggled shooting the ball after shooting at nearly a 60-percent clip over his last five games. He shot 10-26 from the field, including 1-9 from deep. However, he did shoot 18-22 from the free-throw line.
“Winning is always great,” said Doncic. “To win seven in a row is pretty good. I think today we played very bad. But great teams come back and win games."
The 18-point comeback was the largest of the season so far for Dallas.
Christian Wood, who battled foul trouble in his last matchup against his former team, didn't get the benefit of the whistle once again in the first half. He had a strong performance with 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one steal and a season-high five blocks in 29 minutes of action.
Wood, who has stepped up in a big way as a rim protector since Maxi Kleber when down with a hamstring injury, completely dominated down the stretch, shutting down anything Houston tried to get going at the rim.
"I think I had a slow start defensively [this season],” said Wood. “I just had to learn the defensive concepts, earn my team's trust defensively — earn my coaches' trust defensively. I'm doing that as of late.
“I'm starting to take pride in my defense a little bit. That's one thing I'm looking at."
Tim Hardaway Jr. also joined the party on Monday night by pouring in 21 points himself on 5-11 shooting from 3-point range. He was a team-high +11 on the night.
Next up, the Mavs return home to American Airlines Center for two tough matchups against the best teams in each conference. Dallas takes on the Boston Celtics on Thursday and the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. Zion Williamson strained his hamstring on Monday, so if we had to guess, he likely won't be suiting up against Dallas on Saturday.
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