Third-year guard Dwight Buycks’ 20 points spearheaded a strong shooting afternoon for the Dallas Mavericks, who notched an 86-76 come-from-behind victory over the Orlando Magic in an Orlando Summer League matchup Monday at Amway Center.
The Mavericks (2-0) remained perfect in Summer League play with a solid all-around effort, one that saw two other players in addition to Buycks score in double digits and seven players (with a minimum of two shot attempts) log at least a 50 percent success rate from the field. Things didn’t start out very well for Dallas, however, as the Magic (1-2) jumped out to a dominating 28-15 first-quarter lead. That advantage had completely evaporated at halftime, as both teams went into intermission deadlocked at 39. The Mavs then exerted their will in the third quarter while outscoring Orlando by a 28-17 margin, which set the stage for the eventual victory. The Magic never got closer than 67-60 early into the fourth quarter, as Dallas outpaced them by a 19-16 margin the rest of the way.
Buycks, who last played in the NBA in the 2014-15 season with the Lakers, added four rebounds, two assists and two steals to his team-high scoring haul. Shooting guard Brandon Paul followed with 18 points, five rebounds and a steal. Third-year big man Christian Wood, who saw action in 13 games with the Hornets last season, provided 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. Brandon Ashley poured in nine points and added eight boards and two steals in 24 minutes, while Cat Barber supplied eight points, two assists, a rebound and two steals.
Marcus Georges-Hunt led the way for Orlando with 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Jonathan Isaac was a distant second with nine points, three rebounds and a steal, and Hassan Martin matched his scoring total while adding six boards and a block. Derrick Walton, Jr. and Wesley Iwundu turned in matching eight-point efforts, with the former supplementing his scoring with five assists, two rebounds and a steal and the latter also registering five boards, an assist and a steal. Center Matt Costello generated his own eight-point tally and rounded it out with a full line of nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal.
The Mavericks next take the court against the Indiana Pacers for a July 4th tilt, while the Magic return to action against the New York Knicks on Wednesday afternoon.
