Even without their head coach by their side, the Dallas Mavericks made very sure their string of wins would continue.
Tim Hardaway Jr. led a balanced attack and the Mavs tickled the twine so often Friday night that they scored a whopping 80 points in the half on their way to a relatively easy, 130-106, victory over the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.
In racking up their fifth straight win, the Mavs increased their record to 21-18 going into Sunday night’s home game against the Chicago Bulls. And the Mavs will go into the game against the red-hot Bulls on a coattails of yet another impressive performance.
The Mavs shot 54.4 percent from the field, converted 17-of-38 baskets from three-point range, and had the ball hopping so frequently against the Rockets that they were able to distribute 34 assists on their 49 field goals. And it all came after head coach Jason Kidd had to sit out this game after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
Assistant coach Sean Sweeney stepped in and served as the Mavs’ acting head coach, and once this game was history the players promptly doused him with several bottles of water in the locker room.
“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” Sweeney said, referring to the water dousing. “But I’m a little colder now than I was 10 minutes ago.”
Guard Jalen Brunson confirmed the water dousing, and added that it’s been a long time coming for Sweeney, who said this was the first time he’s served as an acting head coach in an NBA game.
“It’s a big moment him,” said Brunson, who had 15 points and 10 assists. “He’s going to downplay it. That’s how Sean is, but we’re really excited for him.
“The opportunity that he had, he made sure we were ready and he did his job. We just kind of congratulated him for it and he deserved it.”
On this night, the Mavs were not just without Kidd. Their top two players were also sidelined.
Luka Doncic missed the game with a right ankle sprain, and Kristaps Porzingis sat out while in the health and safety protocols.
But the Mavs took the bull by the horn and blew the Rockets clean out of their own arena.
Reggie Bullock drained four of his season-high five three-pointers less than six minutes into the game, staking the Mavs to a 19-8 lead. The Mavs kept mashing on the gas pedal until their lead mushroomed to 43-23 after the first quarter, 80-60 at the half, and 107-76 late in the third quarter when Hardaway buried a three-point field goal.
In other words, the Mavs stared adversity squarely in the eyes and didn’t blink.
“Our team alone has caught the worst of it, I would say, more-so than a lot of teams in the league,” said Hardaway, who scored a team-high 19 points. “But coach Kidd always says, ‘Next man up.’
“Coach Sweeney came in, had a great game plan and the coaching staff had a great game plan coming into tonight. We stuck with it, knocked down our shots, moved the ball, got stops and it resulted into a win.”
Despite leading the way in what he calls “the big chair,” Sweeney credited Kidd for setting the table for a successful night.
“I thought we did a great job in terms of executing and playing unselfishly offensively,” Sweeney said. “Coach Kidd has been preaching that and emphasizing that for the whole season, and we have picked it up over the last 10 to 15 games as of late.
“Nobody on the team took over 11 shots, so that means guys are all playing together and playing the right way. And that’s basically to me the one thing I like to point out is how coach has been hammering that home here and making that a point of emphasis, and those guys did a great job of it tonight.”
The Mavs accumulated 21 assists in the first half. And those 43 points they totaled in the first quarter were a season high for any quarter.
Also, the 80 first-half points are the most the Mavs have scored in the first half this season and marks just the sixth time in franchise
history that they’ve scored at least 80 points in the first half of a game.
And as if a best-case scenario had unfolded, 40 of the first-half points came from the Mavs’ starters, and the other 40 came from their reserve players.
“The biggest thing for me was just the way the guys played,” Sweeney said. “They were prepared going into it and coach Kidd prepared us as a staff going into the game.
“It was coaching by committee. We were all prepared, and it was just our job to try to make sure we did a good job executing.”
Things were flowing so freely for the Mavs that second-year forward Josh Green already had his career-high scoring total – 11 points – in the first half. Green finished with 17 points as he continued a trend where he’s made himself a very important and effective part of the rotation in recent games.
In analyzing the secret sauce to his growth, Green said: “I think just being able to see minutes and be able to develop and be able to learn from my mistakes and having the older guys be able to help me, and to navigate around my mistakes and make sure that I come back the 
next game and just do as well as I can and just work as hard as I can.”
After spanking the team with the best record in the NBA at the time – the Golden State Warriors – by 17 points on Wednesday, the Mavs came back the very next game and showed absolutely no signs of a letdown against a Rockets team that’s 11-29. And with all the injuries and health and safety protocols issues they’ve been saddled with this season, this lopsided victory spoke volumes about where the Mavs are at this stage of the season.
“I think it starts with the head coach, Jason Kidd,” Hardaway said. “He’s been preaching to us to play the right way, and preaching to us to share the ball, move the ball, get stops, run, play with energy and go out there and compete on both ends of the floor.
“We always talk about diligence and accountability and making sure we go out there and have fun. So we just wanted to make sure that coming in tonight, we wanted to step up and go out there and play hard.”
Bullock set the tone with those four early rapid-fire three-pointers that buckled the Rockets’ knees. And Dwight Powell (15 points, five rebounds) and Dorian Finney-Smith (10 points) also got in on the fun.
“No matter who’s out there – coaching or playing – we kind of created this chemistry to play a certain way,” Brunson said. “Sean did a great job of stepping up tonight.
“It’s next man up mentality, and that’s from the players and coaches. You’ve got to keep that mentality up. We obviously want everybody back and healed, but we’re just going to keep going.”
And like the energizer bunny, the Mavs kept going and going Friday night and the Rockets didn’t have any meaningful ways to slow them down.
“The result was great and I’m obviously thrilled for the guys,” Sweeney said. “I’m happy I didn’t screw it up with coach not being here.
“More than anything, I’m just happy that we did what we set out to accomplish and now (we can) get ready to go tomorrow and then get ready for Chicago.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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