Anthony Davis scored 26 points, Max Christie shot 10-of-13 from the floor en route to 24 points and the Dallas Mavericks capitalised on Alperen Sengun's injury to top the visiting Houston Rockets 110-104 on Saturday night.
Sengun sustained an ankle injury just one minute into the contest, sending the star centre, who averages 22.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, to the locker room. Davis controlled the paint in Sengun's absence, grabbing 12 rebounds and notching five blocked shots.
Davis delivered one of his swats at a critical juncture, denying Tari Eason at the rim. Davis came up with the deflection and dribbled down court before firing an assist to Klay Thompson for a transition 3-pointer that gave the Mavericks an 11-point lead with 2:52 remaining.
Behind Kevin Durant's game-high 34 points and seven assists, Houston fought back to pull to within five with 67 seconds remaining, but Christie put an exclamation point on his crucial offensive production with a dunk to give Dallas a cushion for the final minute.
Christie's contribution included knocking down 4-of-6 shots from 3-point distance, the last of which came on a corner shot set up by a cross-court Ryan Nembhard skip pass. The triple opened up a fourth-quarter lead of 14 points.