Luka Doncic paired a game-high 27 points with seven assists and seven rebounds, helping lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 132-108 rout of the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.
Daniel Gafford added 23 points off the bench on 7-for-7 shooting while Kyrie Irving scored 20 for Dallas, which won its second straight game. Klay Thompson had 13, followed by P.J. Washington’s 12.
Reserve Deni Avdija led the Trail Blazers with 19 points while Deandre Ayton chipped in 16 points and nine boards. Scoot Henderson had 14 points, followed by Jabari Walker and Shaedon Sharpe, who scored 13 apiece. Anfernee Simons scored 10 and Toumani Camara tallied five points and a team-leading 12 rebounds, as Portland dropped its eighth in nine tries.
With the Mavericks holding a nine-point halftime lead, Doncic and Dereck Lively II opened the third quarter with consecutive layups, starting an 8-3 run. After Simons and Sharpe’s buckets, the Mavericks pulled away as Irving scored four points in Dallas’ 7-0 run and the advantage grew to 77-60 with 7:32 left in the third quarter.
Avdija’s 3-pointer cut Dallas’ advantage to 12, but Gafford’s ensuing layup began a 14-2 run, extending the Mavericks’ lead to 93-69 at the 2:52 mark of the third. With 11 seconds left, Gafford’s layup gave Dallas a 102-76 advantage entering the final quarter.
Portland outscored Dallas 32-30 in the fourth.
After Avdija’s layup knotted the score at 18 with 4:59 left in the first quarter, Quentin Grimes’ jumper started a 6-0 Dallas spurt. Gafford’s basket put the Mavericks ahead 28-24 at the 1:11 mark, before Henderson’s triple beat the first-quarter buzzer and stamped a 7-0 Portland entering the second.
Following Avdija’s game-tying layup with 8:27 left in the second quarter, Grimes’ jumper stamped a 7-0 Dallas run to give the Mavericks a 45-38 advantage.
Ayton’s back-to-back baskets trimmed the Trail Blazers’ deficit to 57-51 before Doncic’s pullup jumper followed by Thompson’s triple pushed Dallas’ lead to 11. Simons’ layup at the end of the half pulled Portland within nine entering the third quarter.
