Mayo, Mavs light up Bobcats
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O.J. Mayo scored a game-high 30 points and Darren Collison finished with a double-double, as the Dallas Mavericks trounced the Charlotte Bobcats, 126-99, on Saturday.
Mayo shot 10-of-17 from the field and drained a career-high seven 3-pointers, while Collison totaled 18 points and 10 assists, as the Mavericks bounced back after a loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.
Vince Carter and Chris Kaman each made solid contributions of the bench for Dallas. Carter scored 18 points, shooting 7-of-12, and Kaman added 12 points in the victory.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ramon Sessions led Charlotte with 22 points off the bench. After a career-high scoring night in Friday's season opener, Kemba Walker scored just 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting for the Bobcats, who have never beaten the Mavericks in 16 tries.
Byron Mullens and Brendan Haywood each posted double-doubles for the Bobcats in the setback. Mullens finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Haywood, who played for Dallas the last two seasons, scored 14 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
"I was just trying to be active on the offensive boards," said Haywood. "I had a couple of post-ups early in the second half. My teammates did a good job of finding me."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The leading scorers for both teams each poured in 16 points in the first half.
Mayo had a strong first quarter, while Sessions did most of his damage in the second. With 3:21 to play in the first, Mayo hit a free throw to finish a three-point play after he was fouled driving to the basket, and then drained a 3-pointer on the Mavericks' next possession to build an 11-point lead for Dallas.
Trailing by 12 to start the second period, Sessions helped bring Charlotte back, scoring on a running jumper and then a layup just over two minutes in to cut the deficit to three. With 7:48 remaining in the quarter, he banked a jump shot to give the Bobcats a 36-35 advantage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Dallas reclaimed the lead late in the quarter, finishing on a 9-0 run highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers. Mayo drained the first one and Collison hit the latter as the second quarter clock expired, giving the Mavericks a 61-53 halftime lead.
Mayo powered the Mavericks in the third as well, with the help of Carter. They each drained 3-pointers around a Mullens shot from beyond the arc to give Dallas a 15-point advantage with just under seven minutes left in the third.
After Sessions hit a three to pull the Bobcats back to within single-digits, Collison set up Mayo for his third 3-pointer of the quarter to give Dallas a 12-point advantage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game and twice led by as many as 28 points in the final quarter.
"They did a great job of finding the open man against our defense," Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap said. "I think it was probably a hybrid combination of us getting a little fatigued in terms of what we were doing, and their excellence in execution."
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dallas is the only team with a perfect record against the Bobcats and is the only team to record 10 consecutive wins against them ... Dallas coach Rick Carlisle recorded the 200th win of his coaching career ... The Mavericks shot an incredible 64 percent from beyond the arc and converted 61.3 percent overall from the field ... After seven lead changes in the first half, Dallas never trailed in the third or fourth quarters.