HOUSTON – The last time the Mavericks had a seven-game winning streak, Jason Kidd was the point guard and Luka Dončić was 12.

Now, Luka is the point guard and Kidd is, umm, considerably older than 12. But both are enjoying the serious roll the Mavericks are on, thanks to a hard-earned 111-106 win over the Houston Rockets Monday at Toyota Center.

The Mavericks overcame an 18-point third-quarter deficit to build on the longest win streak since the 2010-11 championship season, when they had separate streaks of eight, 10 and 12 wins.

This hasn’t happened in a long time here,” Kidd said. “I’ve been part of both (of the most-recent streaks). To win seven in this league, it’s not easy. It’s easy to lose. To win seven in a row is big.”

The Mavericks started 2023 kind of like everybody else. They needed some time to shake off the hangover from New Year’s Eve, even two days later. This game did not look good at all for three quarters.

But once they cleared out the cobwebs, they kept the good times rolling.

Spencer Dinwiddie canned a midrange jumper with 10.5 seconds to go to put the Mavericks up 109-106 in a game that was never fully in the Mavericks’ control. But the bottom line looked lovely.

Luka Dončić had 39 points and 12 rebounds to go along with eight assists, coming back nicely after a subpar first half as the Mavericks improved to 22-16.

Dončić has been gargantuan in the winning streak. He now has 292 points, 77 rebounds and 69 assists in the seven wins. He got his numbers on Monday mostly in the second half.

And it was a struggle all the way to the end.

“Winning is always great,” Dončić  said. “To win seven in a row is pretty good. I think today we played very bad. But great teams come back and win games.

“I was nowhere in the first half. I just wanted to be more aggressive and that’s what I did in the second half. In the first half I was really passive.”

Dončić finished with 22 free throws, making 18. When his three-point shot wasn’t working, he got more aggressive going to the basket and it paid off at the free-throw line.

After clawing back into the game late in the third quarter, the Mavericks still found themselves down 104-99 after two Alperen Sengun free throws.

But Christian Wood, who the fans here used to cheer last season, swished a three-pointer while being fouled and the four-point play cut it to one. Then Luka had a steal and hit two free throws to put the Mavericks up 105-104.  Tim Hardaway Jr. would score on a drive and the Mavericks made their free throws in the final seconds.

Hardaway and Wood both had 21 points. Wood also had five blocked shots.

“The fact that we stayed together (was big),” Wood said. “I don’t know how much we were down by. I think it was 18 points at one point. But we didn’t get down on each other. We knew we were bad defensively (in the first three quarters) and every single person wanted to pick it up and I think we did that.”

The Mavericks had plenty of contributors. Theo Pinson came off the bench with a big three-pointer. Dwight Powell had a crucial offensive rebound that set up Wood’s four-point play. Dinwiddie rebounded from an 0-for-6 first half to make four big buckets after halftime.

“Seven-game winning streaks, we haven’t had one since 2011,” Hardaway said. “It’s an amazing accomplishment. Hopefully we can continue to move forward but for the most part, we’re excited.

“During the streak, we learned a lot about ourselves, the composure, the character, the trust factor. It goes a long way.”

The Mavericks were struggling mightily in the first half and they trailed by as much as 69-51 early in the third quarter.

But they put together a methodical comeback. Dončić had just 10 points in the first half, which easily was one of the poorest of the season for the Mavericks.

But he poured in 19 third-quarter points and the Mavericks had it whittled down to 87-83 going into the fourth quarter.

It set up a frantic finish. And when the Mavericks kept Houston to just 19 fourth-quarter points, it paved the way for the seventh win in a row.

“We got off to a slow start,” Kidd said. “Normally that game would have gotten out of hand and we wouldn’t have been where we were, close, in the third quarter. And then in the fourth, to hold them to 19 points is something we’ve been talking about doing. A lot of guys participated and we did a lot of good things to help us get back in the game and get a big win.”

Twitter: @ESefko

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