HOUSTON -- OJ Mayo tied his career-high Saturday when he poured in 40 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 116-109 win over the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.
Mayo was hotter than a pistol, scoring 16 points and in the first quarter and adding another 16 points in the fourth quarter. In all, the fifth-year veteran was 15-of-26 from the field, including 6-of-9 from three-point range.
“An unbelievable performance,’’ coach Rick Carlisle said. “What he’s showing over the first 20 games is that he has the ability to carry a team at times, and it was real impressive tonight.
“He’s showing a strong-willed mentality, and he’s really hungry to win.’’
Mayo, who previously scored 40 points against Denver on Nov. 1, 2009, also picked up eight rebounds and two steals against Houston. Ironically, Mayo said he was mainly focused on playing defense against the Rockets than trying to fill up the basket.
“We were just focused on timely scoring,’’ Mayo said. “Trying to get to that .500 was very important to us right now, and we got there, so we just got to continue building off of it.’’
Thanks to the hot hand by Mayo, the Mavs will take a 10-10 record into Monday night's home game against the Sacramento Kings.
-- Dwain Price
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