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Mavericks fall to Blazers, 107-93

On the night they debuted their new “City” jerseys (black featuring neon green and blue accents representing Dallas’ skyline), Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum spoiled the event for Dallas as Portland extended the Mavericks’ losing ways with a 107-93 win.

The Mavericks (16-33) opened the game strong by limiting Portland to just 17 points in the opening frame. McCollum had 11 points in the frame, but went just 8-of-21 from the field while Dallas opened 11-of-44 and 3-of-5 from deep.

Portland responded with a 35-17 effort in the second quarter, turning a double-digit deficit into a 52-44 lead for the Mavericks.

Dennis Smith Jr. was excellent even in defeat, exploding in the third quarter for transition 3s, strong drives to the basket and he had several assists to help keep the Mavericks in range. He finished with 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds.

In the fourth, Portland’s lead ballooned to 95-74 as Lillard continued to stay hot. Ed Davis also turned in a solid game for the Blazers with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Lillard finished with 29 points on 9-of-18 shooting including 3-of-8 from deep.

Harrison Barnes was the top scorer for Dallas with 21 points on 6-of-15 shooting. He also snagged seven boards and went 7-of-7 from the foul line.

Dallas plays at Denver tomorrow night at 8 p.m. before returning home on Monday to face the Heat. After that, the Mavericks are on the road for four straight against the Suns, Kings, Clippers and Warriors before returning home to play Lakers on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Dallas then has a road matchup with Houston the very next day before completing their pre-All Star break schedule with a home game against the Kings on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

I'm Zack Cunningham, a broadcast journalism major from Abilene Christian University's class of 2008. I've lived in Texas for 28 of my 31 years on this Earth and I've followed the Mavericks since 1998. My first memory of them was the 2001 playoffs and being extremely happy when they beat the Jazz, but sad when they lost to the Spurs in five games in the conference semifinals. However, seeing Dirk drop 42 stands out to me, punctuated by his dunk in garbage time. I covered high school sports for the Cleburne Times-Review from 2008-12 before moving into the tech industry. Most recently, in 2015 covered the Mavericks for the Fanatic briefly before moving to work with Mike Fisher at DallasBasketball.com. I am married to my beautiful wife, Jessica, and have been for just over five years now. We live in Carrollton with our dog, Zara, and cat, Drake. I'm looking forward to covering them again this season with the Fanatic!

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