Detroit (USA), Apr 29 (EFE) .- The guard-forward Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 42 points, his best mark as a professional, and was the great figure of the Dallas Mavericks who overcame the base drop star, the Slovenian Luka Doncic, and beat the Detroit Pistons 105-115 at home.
Guard Trey Burke added 15 points for Dallas, which moved one game ahead of Portland for No. 6 in the Western Conference and solidified as the Southwest Division lead.
Doncic missed the game with a left elbow problem, and the Pistons were also without their leading scorer, power forward Jerami Grant.
The game was close until the last minute. Hardaway Jr. scored 17 points in a row during a stretch of the fourth quarter, captioning that run with a 3-pointer with 1:05 left that put the Mavericks up 105-109.
During that stretch, Detroit also fouled Hardaway Jr. twice while shooting a triple, and made all of his free throws.
Hardaway Jr.’s previous record was 39 points, set in 2018. He and Burke looked very comfortable in Detroit, not far from where they played college basketball in Michigan. Hardaway Jr.’s 23 field goal attempts were a season record.
Point guard Jalen Brunson scored 13 points as the second leading scorer for the Mavericks (35-27), who won the second straight game and the fifth in the last six played.
The Mavericks, in addition to the loss of Doncic, their leading scorer, power forward Dorian Finney-Smith (left leg) was also unable to play.
But Latvian center Kristaps Porzingis (left ankle) and shooting guard-forward Josh Richardson (right hamstring) could do it and finished the game with 11 and 10 points respectively.
Rookie center Isaiah Stewart with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, along with reserve guard Frank Johnson, who also scored 20 points, were the best of the Pistons (19-44) who have the worst record in the Eastern Conference. .
Another rookie, forward Saddiq Bey scored 18 points, caught eight balls under the hoops and gave three assists as the Pistons’ third-best scorer.
While the French forward Sekou Doumbouya reached 14 goals.
(c) EFE Agency