Mayo has 40, Mavs win in McHale's return

Chris Kaman scored half as many points as O.J. Mayo for the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.

Considering the way Kaman's left ankle looked, those 20 points were just as impressive to coach Rick Carlisle.

Mayo tied a career high with 40 points, including 10 in the last three minutes, to lift the Mavericks to a 116-109 victory over the Rockets in coach Kevin McHale's return to the Houston bench.

Kaman left the Mavericks' game on Thursday night with a sprained left ankle. He started on Saturday night and played more than 18 minutes despite the left side of his ankle being almost completely covered by a deep purple bruise.

"Kaman showed a lot of guts even being out there," Carlisle said. "He went out there and gave us everything he had. He's obviously struggling laterally, but to put up the scoring numbers that he did is phenomenal. It proves a lot to the team."

Kaman also had seven rebounds for Dallas, and Vince Carter and Darren Collison had 12 points apiece.

"With guys down ... and hurting a little bit, guys came and battled tonight," Kaman said.

"O.J. played an unbelievable game for us. We got stops at the end on (James) Harden when we had to."

Harden had 30 points at halftime, but the Mavericks slowed him down in the second half. He scored just nine points in the second half.

McHale rejoined the team on Saturday after almost a month away, and two weeks after the death of his daughter.

"It meant a lot to have him in the locker room ... and it showed how much he wanted to be here because he's been through a lot and he's here with us working," Houston's Carlos Delfino said.

McHale said he was excited to be back and hoped it was the right time to return. He said after the game that he has a lot of work to do.

"It was different being out there again," McHale said. "I had been away for a long time and we had put in some stuff. I've got to get caught up, so these next few days will be good for us."

A three-point play by Harden cut the Dallas lead to two points before a jump shot by Mayo made it 109-104.

A 3-pointer by Toney Douglas seconds later put Houston back within two with about a minute to go, but Mayo's 3 seconds later extended the lead and the Mavericks held on for the win.

(China Daily 12/10/2012 page24)