Kyrie Irving poured 25 points while he ran Dallas Mavericks past the visiting Charlotte Hornets 103-96 on Thursday.
Irving, who counted 19 points during the second half, tied his season best with nine returns.
Moses Brown thanked the season’s best at 20 points and 11 returns, and Kyy Thompson logged 18 points when Mavericks finished a two-game skid.
Mark Williams (26 points, 16 returns) and Miles Bridges (20 points, 12 returns) both took up double doubles for Hornets, which absorbed their fifth loss in a row.
Dallas led by nine early in the fourth quarter before Charlotte twice drew level, the second time on a Williams Floater which made it 85-85 with 6:06 to go.
Mavericks was up with two before Irving took the control with for five minutes left. He met two middle-class baskets and finished a three-point game on the other to give Mavericks a 94-87 advantage with 4:09 to go.
A couple of arrangements by Bridges led Charlotte within three points of three minutes to go, but Thompson drilled a 3-pointer, Irving hit a short float and Brun Dunked created a 10-point gap with 53.4 seconds left.
After a slow start where Hornets fell as far as 11 points behind, they closed the first quarter on an 8-0 driving to get within 25-24.
Early in the second quarter, KJ Simpson and Nick Smith Jr. Back-to-back 3 points to give Hornets a 30-25 lead.
Brown had a couple of baskets before Thompson dropped a ten with 6:07 left in the other to regain the lead for Mavericks at 40-39. Dallas was up 50-49 at half time.
Irving received nine straight points for Mavericks in the middle of the third quarter, including Back-to-Back arrangements 20 seconds from each other to give Dallas a lead of 66-63.
The management changed hand six times in the third. A arrangement from Brown from an Irving Assist gave Dallas a 73-67 edge that entered the final period.
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