After taking it on the chin from the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night, the Dallas Mavericks regrouped and used a stout defensive surge in the second half to knock out the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night, 115-98, at the Barclays Center.

Luka Doncic scored 27 points, Kristaps Porzingis returned following a three-game absence and was a major factor at both ends of the court, and the Mavs held Brooklyn to just 34 points in the second half to snap the Nets’ eight-game winning streak. After squaring their record at 16-16, the Mavs will conclude this three-game trip Monday in Orlando before ending the first half of the season with a Wednesday night home game against Oklahoma City.

Porzingis had missed the previous three contests with lower back tightness and hadn’t played since Feb. 14 against Portland. But he scored 10 of his 18 points in the third quarter, and also added three blocked shots in 26 minutes while being a huge presence.

“I thought KP was terrific,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “He had good bounce, he had surprisingly good rhythm for a guy that hadn’t played in 10 days.

“I thought his rim protection and defense was the best that it’s been all year. It just shows the amount of work that he’s been putting in over the last 10 or 11 days.”

Porzingis was 7-of-13 from the floor, grabbed four rebounds and made life difficult for the Nets around the basket.

“Defensively, he was all over the place,” Carlisle said. “Officially, they have him for three blocked shots. It felt to me like he had five or six, because he was changing a lot of the shots.

“And if you watched the game closely and if you’ve been watching our previous games closely, he was in much more of a pronounced defensive stance tonight.”

On this night, that was true for all of the Mavs.

After scoring 64 points on 22-of-46 shots in the first half, the Nets were only 13-of-40 from the field and scored just 18 points in the third quarter and only 16 more in the fourth. And they also were just 4-of-21 from downtown in the second half after converting 19-of-23 three-pointers in the first half.

“Guys decided at halftime that we needed to get together and really concentrate defensively,” Carlisle said. “And they did a great job. (Assistant coach) Jamahl Mosley, who runs our defense, did a great job communicating with the team and keeping those guys all tied together.”

That “tied together” defense was magnified by the fact that the Mavs held All-Star guard James Harden to just four points on 1-of-6 shooting in the second half after he piled up 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting in the first half.

“I would say it was great team defense also followed by great coaching by Mose,” said Dorian Finney-Smith, who Carlisle named as the Mavs’ Defensive Player of the Game. “He put us in the right positions, he stayed on us, telling us what to do and kept us ready on all their plays.

“I just tried to make it hard for (Harden). I felt like I got hit with a screen every possession, but I felt like everybody on the team did a good job of rotating and making it tough for him.”

Forward Tim Hardaway Jr. paid homage to Finney-Smith, who finished the game with 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

“We know that he’s going to bring it every single day, whether it’s practice or in a game,” said Hardaway, who poured in 13 points. “He definitely deserved (the Defensive Player of the Game honor) going against a prolific player, a future Hall of Famer  (in Harden).

“All you can do is do the best you can to contain him and just try to be as aggressive as you can without fouling him, and he did that tonight.”

Brooklyn (22-13) played without All-Stars Kevin Durant (hamstring) and Kyrie Irving (shoulder), and their absence was apparent as the Nets entered the game averaging 122 points during their eight-game winning streak, but fell 24 points shy of that on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Mavs were only up, 68-64, at the half, thanks to 19 points and six assists from Doncic. Then, Porzingis tallied 10 of the Mavs’ first 17 points of the third quarter as they bolted ahead, 85-74.

And by the time Jalen Brunson (14 points), Doncic and Finney-Smith took over the offensive chores, the Mavs found themselves with a commanding 106-84 lead with 7:37 remaining in the game.

“Luka was terrific and I thought Brunson made timely plays all night long,” Carlisle said. “But the key to the game obviously was our second-half defense.

“Look, I know they’re down a couple of superstars. But to hold them to 18 (points in the third quarter) and 16 (points in the fourth quarter) is pretty damn good.”

The Mavs turned the ball over just eight times after committing a season-high 22 turnovers during Thursday’s 14-point loss in Philadelphia. Also, behind 15 points from Doncic, the Mavs busted out to a 38-26 lead after the first period and are now a perfect 14-0 – tops in the NBA – when they’re holding a lead after the first quarter.

“We just played like a team,” said Doncic, who added six rebounds and seven assists and turns 22 years old on Sunday. “Everybody involved everybody.”

And Porzingis was especially involved.

“We love KP,” Carlisle said. “He’s just a very unique player. I’ve never seen a 7-3 guy does what he does, and tonight it was all on display and it’s great to see.

“When he’s feeling good out there, there’s a joy in how he moves, in how he moves the ball and how he finds his teammates and how he cuts and just plays the game, and that was great to see. And his teammates went a long way towards enabling that tonight. That was terrific.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice

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