Luka Doncic and Christian Wood are the top two scorers for the Dallas Mavericks, and those two helped the Mavs rout the Blazers 130-110 at American Airlines Center on Friday night.
Dallas led 62-53 at halftime and busted things wide open in the third as they took their largest lead of the game of 27 points in that quarter.
Doncic led the Mavericks with 33 points, six rebounds, and nine assists, and Wood scored a season-high 32 points to go with 12 rebounds off the bench. Wood became only the 30th player in the shot clock era to record 32-plus points and 12-plus rebounds off the bench.
Mavs head coach Jason Kidd was happy with the efforts of Wood on both ends of the court.
“I thought C-Wood (Christian Wood) was great offensively and defensively,” Kidd said. “He did a great job. Being able to play through him in the second quarter was huge for us. Again, the time he was on the floor – on both ends – he gave us a lift tonight.”
Wood gave the Mavs a big boost in the first half, scoring 20 points in the half, including 15 points in the second quarter.
According to Wood, he was looking to be aggressive on the offensive end.
“I was trying to be aggressive; the team knew I had it going. If you watch the film, we kept running the same play over and over because, frankly, they couldn’t stop it,” he said. “They kept finding me and getting me the ball; my teammates trust me to score. That’s what I am here for is to score, and to help these guys off the bench, and I feel like I did a great job today.”
Doncic added on Wood’s play in the first half: “I think he did amazing on offense, obviously. I think on the defensive end; he was really, really paying attention today. Really just focusing, and that’s what helped us a lot. He’s big down there, so he helps us a lot. So today, he was really focused on both ends.”
The night’s highlight was Doncic making another poster when he dunked on Drew Eubanks in the third quarter; Doncic and Kidd reacted to the dunk after the game.
“I probably have the most bounce on the team,” Doncic said about the dunk. “You know, [Christian Wood], I was telling him he is only length, and he’s got no bounce. So I had to show him.”
Kidd was impressed.
“It was pretty impressive,” Kidd said. “He can get off the ground. It’s impressive, the load that he carries and the things that he can do, and he can still surprise you with something. That was big time.”
Dallas heads on the road to battle the Cavs on Saturday night. On Wednesday night, the Mavs were defeated by Cleveland 105-90, so they will have an opportunity for revenge.
