Mavs enjoyed Hardy time during victory over Pelicans

With Jaden Hardy, patience has indeed been a virtue.

All season long, the Dallas Mavericks’ rookie guard has been waiting patiently for his opportunity to show the team what he can do when given ample playing time. That time came Thursday when Hardy scored a career-high tying 15 points in 15 minutes against the Boston Celtics.

But certainly not one to rest on his laurels, Hardy followed his show-stopping performance against the Celtics with a career-high tying 15 points in 21 minutes during Saturday’s 127-117 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. In other words, the more Hardy plays, the more he appears to impress his coaches and teammates.

“(Hardy) was great,” coach Jason Kidd said. “You look at the carryover from the Celtics game, what he did (Saturday) was really, really good.

“We’ve just got to keep stacking that positivity and keep him on the floor (and) give him more minutes.”

Hardy was 7-of-9 from the field against the Pelicans after going 5-of-8 from the floor – and 3-of-3 from three-point range – against the Celtics.

“It was amazing,” Doncic said, referring to Hardy’s performance. “He gave us the pace.

“It was just downhill all the time. They couldn’t stop him. He is a great player, and you can see it.”

A fearless player, Hardy stayed in attack mode all game long. On one sequence when Hardy was driving to the hole, Herbert Jones tried his best to wrestle the ball out of his hands. But a persistent Hardy won that battle and continued to the rim and scored, and the players on the Mavs’ bench hopped up and cheered.

After the game a confident Hardy said: “That’s just me staying true to my work and the hours I put in the gym and just sticking to it and doing the same thing I do in my workouts and not being scared of anybody. I’m just hooping. I’ve been doing this my whole life.

“I feel like I can help the team just by bringing energy. Me being a young guy lifting everybody up and just staying ready whenever my name is called.”

Here are the takeaways from the Mavs’ 10-point win over the Pelicans.

HARDY TIME: In addition to scoring 15 points for the third time this season, Jaden Hardy also stepped up his game on the defensive end of the court when he ended up with a season-high and team-high tying two steals against the Pelicans. Hardy used his exceptional speed to zip past defenders on his way to easy opportunity baskets at the rim. It was as if the Pelicans couldn’t keep up with him and he kept blowing by them whenever he wanted to.

DONCIC’S TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Luka Doncic notched his ninth triple-double of the season, which is just one behind league leader Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. Doncic also record his eighth triple-double this season when he’s scored at least 30 points. Doncic, who finished the game with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, now has 29 career triple-doubles where he scored at least 30 points. That ranks fifth all-time in the NBA. Plus, his 55 career triple-doubles is fifth among active players.

WOOD FIGHTS BACK: Saturday’s game started very well for Christian Wood as he scored nine of the Mavs’ first 16 points. However, Wood had to go the bench a short time later after picking up his second foul less than five minutes into the game. But that didn’t deter the eighth-year veteran as he bounced back and finished the game with 28 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Wood was 9-of-14 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc. It also was the 10^th time in the last 12 games that Wood blocked at least two shots in a game.

Twitter: @DwainPrice