'He Can't Miss!': Seth Curry's Hot Shooting Night Lifts Mavs Over Hornets, 116-100
If there's one thing that's stayed consistent for the Dallas Mavericks (32-21) this season, through all of their unfortunate injury luck, it's that they refuse to lose more than two games in a row. That trend continued on Saturday night, as the Mavs got a much-needed win against the Charlotte Hornets (16-36) on the second night of a back-to-back, 116-100.
Dallas was short-handed in this one, with young stars Luka Doncic (ankle) and Kristaps Porzingis (injury management) having to sit out, but Charlotte-native Seth Curry had himself a near-perfect shooting night, finishing the game with 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from deep. Curry’s tremendous shooting put him front his older brother, Steph Curry, as the No. 1 active career three-point shooter in the league (by percentage) at 43.6-percent from beyond the arc.
“A lot of Curry buckets have been made in this city, so I wanted to add to it,” Curry told FSSW’s Mark Followill and Derek Harper after the big win.
Curry also grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists as well. After making all of his first 10 shots, Curry cooled off a little bit by missing his last four, but the damage had already been done.
Five other Mavericks scored in double-digits to help Curry out, with Willie Cauley-Stein being the most impressive. In 25 minutes, Cauley-Stein scored 15 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting night and grabbed 10 rebounds to go with two blocks. The energy and effort Cauley-Stein provided in this game was a key factor in the Mavs securing the win. If Cauley-Stein can perform like this on a nightly basis, don't be shocked to see him eventually enter the starting lineup alongside Porzingis.
The Mavs now have just two more games remaining until the NBA All-Star break. They'll take on the Utah Jazz on Monday and the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. According to head coach Rick Carlisle, the team expects Doncic, who has missed the last six games due to an ankle sprain, to play in at least one of those next two games. At 32 wins, the Mavs could potentially tie or even eclipse their 2018-2019 season win total before the All-Star break, depending on how these next two go.