What the Mavericks said about the hot shooting of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke

It might be cold outside, but it was certainly hot inside the confines of the American Airlines Center last night. Both Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke absolutely caught fire in the Dallas Mavericks’ 112-98 win over the Orlando Magic. The former Michigan Wolverines backcourt combined to shoot 15-21 from behind the 3-point line, giving Dallas the boost it needed to come away with a victory.

Hardaway finished the game with 36 points, a season-high, fueled by a 16-point outburst in the third quarter that helped the Mavericks avoid a letdown as the Magic made a push. Burke started the game feeling it. He had 16 points at halftime on 4-4 shooting from downtown. He finished with 29 points, making seven of his eight 3-point attempts.

Here’s how they and the team reacted to their performances:

Rick Carlisle

“[Trey Burke] a weapon. He’s a dangerous scorer. One reason that I think he plays well for us is that he knows we have great confidence in him. He’s a guy that can just get white-hot out there. We had some luck with the mid-pick-and-roll with him. He did a lot of other good things off of movement. He’s a shot-maker. If you’re going to lose a guy like Seth Curry in a trade, being able to pick up a guy like Trey Burke is really important. Again, I can’t stress enough how important Burke was. And Hardaway, too, had a spectacular game; he had the shot-making from the outside but he also had some good rim attacks and some good finishes.”

Luka Doncic

“It was great. They were hot players the whole game. It was like make a pass; you know you’re going to get an assist — it was easy. They both have an amazing game and they’re a big part of our wins every game.”

Tim Hardaway Jr.

“Yeah, we turned back a little bit. That’s how normally it used to be back in those days. I am happy for him. TB [Trey Burke] came in there and kept a level head. We needed him being three guys short. He stepped in and was always next man up mentality.”

Trey Burke

“As far as my contribution, I just let the game come to me. Obviously, I had been out for 48 hours and you know that initially being out just one day you can feel that in your wind out there. I was really focused a lot on how I felt wind wise. The ball found me right when I got in and it was a wide-open shot so I just locked in, focused on my breathing, hit the shot and I think once I hit that first one, I just relaxed.

“I think teammates did a great job feeding hot hands tonight. Not just me, but Tim [Hardaway Jr.] had a great game. He had the best game tonight. We are just going to have to keep building off of games like this.”