Blazers use balanced effort to sink Mavs, Kyrie Irving

Shaedon Sharpe had 23 points and Anfernee Simons added 22 points and eight assists to help the Portland Trail Blazers post a 126-122 victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.

Deandre Ayton contributed 21 points and 16 rebounds and Deni Avdija recorded 21 points, five assists and five rebounds as Portland won its second straight game. Scoot Henderson had 19 points, six assists and five steals off the bench and Jerami Grant had 14 points and eight boards for the Trail Blazers.

Kyrie Irving scored 20 of his season-high 46 points in the final quarter for Dallas, which played without star Luka Doncic for the second straight night and fell to 7-3 without his services this season. Doncic will miss at least one month due to a left calf strain sustained on Christmas Day.

Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 points and eight rebounds, Daniel Gafford added 15 points and nine boards and Quentin Grimes scored 15 points off the bench for the Mavericks. Klay Thompson scored 12 points and reserve Jaden Hardy had 11.

In addition to Doncic, the Mavericks played without Dereck Lively II (hip), P.J. Washington (suspension) and Naji Marshall (suspension).

Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups missed his second straight game due to his grandmother's death. Nate Bjorkgren served as acting coach for the second consecutive time.

Portland led 97-82 entering the fourth quarter, but Irving got hot and scored 13 points in the first 3:28 of the frame as the Mavericks pulled within 102-97.

Later in the quarter, Simons drove for a layup to give the Trail Blazers an eight-point lead with 1:30 to go.

Irving was called for an offensive foul on the other end with 1:21 remaining as Dallas tentatively lost momentum. But Dinwiddie's 3-pointer with 32 seconds left brought the Mavericks within 124-119.

Ayton split two free throws with 30.5 seconds to play to make it a six-point margin and then stole the ball from Thompson on the other end. Avdija was fouled with 16 seconds left and split two free throws to make it a three-possession game before Portland closed the contest out.

Portland shot 50 percent from the field, going 11 of 26 from 3-point range. The Trail Blazers owned a 50-40 rebounding advantage.

The Mavericks made 48.3 percent of their shots overall and were 15 of 38 from behind the arc.

Portland opened up a 34-16 lead on Henderson's basket with 2:11 left in the first quarter. The Trail Blazers led 36-25 entering the second quarter and 69-59 at halftime despite Irving's 24 first-half points.

Portland's lead topped out at 21 when Henderson's layup made it 93-72 with 2:35 left in the third period.

--Field Level Media