Luka Dončić clearly was fed up.

Losing five times in the last six games put him in a foul mood Wednesday night, and the New Orleans Pelicans were the recipients of his ire.

The Mavericks took charge early and hammered the Pelicans 139-107 at Smoothie King Center on a historic shooting night for a team that had been struggling to put the ball in the basket for the past several games.

But with Dončić revving his own motor, then jump-starting everybody else, the Mavericks blew open a big early lead and took the drama out of this game before halftime.

“I think Luka was phenomenal tonight,” said Kristaps Porzingis. “He started off the game hot himself and then sharing the ball, starting off right for the team.

“Our energy was great from the beginning because it was a chain reaction starting from him.”

The result was 68.7 percent shooting, a franchise record, eclipsing the 67.7 percent that they shot in 1983 against the Clippers.

That would be the San Diego Clippers. That’s how long ago it was.

It was the ninth-best shooting percentage for a game since the NBA-ABA merger.

Dončić had 22 points and 10 assists. And then the second half started.

He would finish with 28 points, 14 assists and he hit 11-of-16 shots from the field as the Mavericks ripped ahead by 23 points in the second quarter and, eventually, by 38 points during a lengthy chunk of garbage time.

“That’s pretty cool,” coach Jason Kidd said of the outrageous shooting night. “To break a record like that with so many great offensive teams that the Dallas Mavs have had just shows the carryover, the response from the last two outings, being able to move the ball. I thought everybody touched it. We got wide-open looks that we’ve been getting and they started to go down for us.”

The Mavericks may have also got a nudge from Kidd’s lineup change. He swapped Reggie Bullock for Tim Hardaway Jr. and the results were good for both players and the team as a whole. Hardaway had 16 points and hit 4-of-7 3-pointers. Bullock only shot three times, but made two of them, both from long range.

Kidd said nothing is etched in stone with lineups, but after five losses in six games, it was time to try to shake things up a bit.

And it didn’t hurt that the opponent was New Orleans. The 6-18 Pelicans usually are just what the doctor orders whenever something is ailing the Mavericks.

They got well on Wednesday and now have won eight of the last nine meetings with New Orleans. They’ll try to make it nine of 10 in the rematch Friday at American Airlines Center.

While Kidd loves a diverse, balanced attack, sometimes, it’s good to know that his superstar can still dominate to the point where he wills the Mavericks to a win. That’s what happened in a first half that was all-Luka, all the time.

“Luka was just playing free, playing within his game,” Hardaway said. “Every shot he was taking was going in. It’s great to have a superstar on your team that can get himself going but also get his teammates going as well.

“He did both tonight very, very, very well.”

Said Dončić: “Today was a great game. We came out with a lot of energy and we moved the ball pretty good. The shots were open, so we knocked them down.”

That hasn’t always been the case recently, but the Mavericks figured the law of averages would tilt their direction eventually. It was a huge turnaround on Wednesday.

The Mavericks had shot under 31 percent from 3-point range in four of their previous five games. On Wednesday, they made a season-best 52.9 percent from beyond the arc.

So what was the difference?

“No difference at all,” Hardaway said. “The difference is the shots were going in. The looks we’ve been getting the last couple games have been open. We just haven’t been able to connect and knock them down.”

And so, the Mavericks got back on a winning track to improve to 11-9 at the 20-game mark.

Dončić was amazing from the start. He had 18 first-quarter points, along with six assists. It was the second time in his career he’s had 18 points and six helpers in a quarter.

That’s as many 18-6 quarters as the rest of the NBA combined since Dončić came into the league. James Harden and Trae Young each have done it once.

Twitter: @ESefko

 

DEAD-EYE MARKSMEN

Here’s the best shooting performances by a team since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976.

 

Percentage                    Team                    Date            Opponent

.707                       San Antonio          4/16/83            at Dallas

.705                         Chicago                12/2/81            at Golden State

.699                        Chicago                 1/22/80           vs. Detroit

.697                        Portland                2/1/86              vs. LA Clippers

.696                        Phoenix                 3/12/80            at Golden State

.693                       LA Clippers           3/13/98            vs. Toronto

.691                        Phoenix                 1/17/87              vs. LA Clippers

.691                        Detroit                   1/28/79             vs. San Diego

.687                        Dallas                    12/1/21               at New Orleans

 

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