DALLAS — Kristaps Porzingis returned. So did Jason Kidd. So for that matter did longtime Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley, as head coach of Orlando.
As reunions go, it couldn’t have gone any better — for Dallas, that is. In his return from COVID-19, Porzingis scored 19 points and pulled down seven rebounds and the Mavericks won with ease, 108-92, in American Airlines Center for the eighth win in the last nine games.
Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson added 23 and 19 points, respectively, and the Mavericks never trailed, just 24 hours after a big comeback win at Memphis.
The win also marked the eighth time in 10 games that Dallas allowed fewer than 100 points, and it’s the second time this season that the Mavericks (24-19) have been five games over .500. The other time was when they were 9-4.
“I think as a whole our defense is at a very high level,” said Kidd, who had missed the previous four games while in the NBA’s health and safety protocols. “Things that we talked about when the season started. I think everyone is on the same page.
Playing his first game in 15 days, Porzingis showed little rust. He started and played two short stretches of the first quarter, the opening 4:55 and the closing 2:20.
Porzingis made his first three shots and missed only one of his five first-quarter attempts. And with the seconds ticking down, he took a Josh Green pass in the right corner, had the wherewithal to know he had time to pump-fake, and sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Dallas 32, Orlando 23 — and for Porzingis quite a first quarter back: 12 points, one rebound, one steal.
The Magic, who like Dallas played and won on the road the previous night, at Charlotte, stayed within 12 points at halftime despite 15 points from Porzingis and 13 from Doncic.
Kidd said before the game that the plan was to play Porzingis no more than 30 minutes, and sure enough, Porzingis played 28.
This was his first game since Dallas’ New Year’s Eve victory at Sacramento.
On Jan. 2 he sat out of the Mavericks’ game in Oklahoma City, with a plan of being rested for the following night’s home game against Denver, but he tested positive for COVID-19.
For Orlando coach Mosley, this was his first game back in Dallas as a head coach, after seven seasons as an assistant under Rick Carlisle.
“Seven years here with such a great organization and the people here, the relationships that I’ve built and my family built, it’s just great to see some of the wonderful people that have been here,” Mosley said.
Mosley was the Mavericks’ defensive coordinator, and he’s seen a major improvement in this season’s Mavericks under Kidd and defensive coordinator Sean Sweeney.
“They’ve been phenomenal defensively,” Mosley said. “Just obviously creating turnovers, getting into the ball, their pick and roll coverages has been spot on. You know, they do a great job of forcing you to tough shots.”
