Anthony Davis drops 12 points in limited return as Mavericks beat Nets

Anthony Davis is back.

The Dallas Mavericks center acquired in the Luka Dončić trade made his return to the lineup Monday in a 120-101 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Davis tallied 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block while limited to 27 minutes. Head coach Jason Kidd told reporters Monday afternoon that Davis would be restricted to a maximum of 28 minutes.

Davis shot 6 of 9 from the field as the Mavericks opened up a 32-17 first-quarter lead that they maintained until the final buzzer. Davis got on the board with a baseline dunk on a cut for the first bucket of the game on Dallas' opening possession.

Prior to Monday, Davis had played a total of 31 minutes for the Mavericks since arriving in the Feb. 1 trade that shocked the NBA. Davis was dealing with the injury when the trade was commenced and made his Mavericks debut a week later against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 8.

He thrived in his debut with 26 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks. But he was sidelined with an adductor strain late in the game and hadn't played since. Davis missed 18 games with the injury.

The Mavericks went 6-12 in those games, but remain in the hunt in the West's play-in race. With Monday's win, the Mavericks improved to 35-37 to remain tied with the Phoenix Suns for 10th place in the West. The 10th-place team will earn the final play-in berth in the conference, and the Suns own the tiebreaker between them.

Davis' return offers a significant boost to the Mavericks' hopes of making the postseason. The centerpiece of the return for Dallas in the Dončić deal, Davis was averaging 25.7 points, 12 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks in 43 games before Monday, 42 of which were played with the Los Angeles Lakers.

A 10-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection, Davis is producing All-NBA level numbers on a per-game basis. If healthy, he'll make a Mavericks lineup riddled with injury considerably better. It won't sooth the lingering anger in Dallas over the trade of Dončić to the rival Lakers. But Davis' return gives Dallas hope of competing to make the playoffs.