MEMPHIS — If the Dallas Mavericks achieve nothing else this season, though mounting evidence suggests they’re not anywhere close to done, they can at least be anointed as streak busters.
Five days after ending Chicago’s NBA-high nine-game winning streak, the Mavericks on Friday night halted Memphis’ 11-game streak with a comeback 112-85 victory in FedEx Forum.
Luka Doncic overcame a sluggish first half by dominating the Grizzlies and young star point guard counterpart Ja Morant, finishing with 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
It’s the 40th triple-double in Doncic’s career, making him the 11th NBA player to reach that milestone. And in case anyone’s forgotten, he’s 22.
The Mavericks (23-19) overtook away the Grizzlies (30-15) with a 40-13 blitzkrieg from the 10:18 mark of the third quarter to the 9:58 of the fourth period. That run erased a nine-point deficit and gave Dallas a 91-73 lead.
The Grizzlies and Morant (19 points, 8 assists) have served notice that they not only are a top-four Western Conference team this season, but perhaps a force for seasons to come, but on this night Dallas beat Memphis for the seventh time in the teams’ last 10 meetings.
According to Elias, Memphis is the youngest team (24.2 years), when weighted by playing time to achieve an 11-game winning streak since the NBA began keeping track of minutes in 1951-52, but on this night Dallas avoided falling further behind in the Southwest Division and pulled within 4.5 games of Memphis.
The Mavericks also took a 2-1 lead in the season series, with the finale between the teams looming on Jan. 23 in Dallas.
Dallas trailed by as much as 60-51 early in the third quarter, but Dallas rallied behind Doncic and Finney-Smith, who at one point scored three straight baskets to give the Mavericks a 71-64 lead.
Ultimately Dallas outscored Memphis 34-18 in the third quarter — finishing with an 11-3 run -- with Doncic contributing scoring 10 points, grabbing four rebounds and dealing three assists.
The game was a matchup of clashing pace-of-play teams. The Grizzlies brought in the NBA’s No. 3 scoring offense (112.3 per game) and Dallas had the NBA’s third-best scoring defense (103.4).
It didn’t seem to be a good omen for when Memphis raced on a 7-0 in a 48-second span to take a 25-16 lead. Or when Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 2-of-15 on 3-pointers for the season, sank two treys in a 54-second span.
Or when Doncic committed four first-quarter turnovers and Dallas was outscored by seven points when he was on the court.
Still, Dallas was within 29-25 after one quarter, and within 55-50 at halftime despite Doncic’s turnover total rising to five — along with nine points, six assists and five rebounds.
In fairness, it should be noted that Morant had four turnovers by halftime — along with 15 points, four assists and three rebounds.
