MACAO — Zaccharie Risacher scored 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting Sunday, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Houston Rockets 132-115 at The Venetian Arena. Fourteen of his points came after halftime on 6-of-8 shooting.
Risacher went 2-of-6 from 3-point range and added 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block in 23:30. He finished plus-7 with 3 turnovers.
In Friday’s 135-117 loss to Houston, Risacher had 9 points and 8 rebounds. He started both games in Macao.
Dallas acquired Risacher from the Atlanta Hawks on July 19 in a three-team trade. The Mavericks sent Ryan Nembhard to Atlanta, and the Oklahoma City Thunder sent Luguentz Dort to the Hawks. Atlanta made Risacher the first overall pick in 2024, and he turned 21 in April.
Zaccharie Risacher Scores 14 Points After Halftime
Risacher was scoreless in the first quarter, missing both of his shots. His only basket of the first half was a layup off a Caleb Martin feed with 5:50 left in the second quarter, and he went to halftime with 2 points.
With 8:23 left in the third quarter, he tipped in a Kyrie Irving miss to tie the game at 66. His pull-up 3-pointer at 6:55 put Dallas ahead 74-72, and he set up a Cooper Flagg 3-pointer earlier in the period. He scored 5 points in the quarter.
Houston cut a 10-point deficit to 99-94 with 9:43 left in the fourth quarter, and Risacher scored the next three Dallas field goals. He hit a 3-pointer from Jett Howard at 9:31, tipped in a Howard miss at 8:43, and finished a reverse dunk from Sergio de Larrea at 8:12 for a 106-97 lead. His turnaround fadeaway off a Seth Lundy pass at 6:13 made it 111-103. He finished the quarter with 9 points on 4-of-4 shooting.
Risacher also blocked a Julian Phillips fadeaway at 7:27 of the fourth. Two of his three turnovers came in that quarter.
Dusty May Says Risacher Is Starting To ‘Play At Ease’
After Friday’s loss, Mavericks coach Dusty May challenged Risacher to rebound better. Both of Risacher’s offensive rebounds Sunday ended in tip dunks.
Risacher is still learning how to play off his teammates, May said, with Irving and P.J. Washington joining a group with several combinations that had never played together.
“We challenged Zacch to simply rebound better, and he got a couple offensive rebounds,” May said. “He’s got great instincts for the ball. So he’s really just learning how to play off of his teammates, and then you throw PJ in, you throw Kyrie in, and so these guys are all still learning themselves. There’s several combinations that have never played together, and we’re figuring it out on the fly.”
“But I thought in the second half of both games, he settled in and just looked like he was playing at ease,” May continued. “Looked like he was lost in the flow of the game, so he’ll continue to get more and more comfortable with our terminology, our schemes, as teammates, and we expect him to improve as we get going.”
Risacher is one of the young players May named when describing the second unit around Dwight Powell, alongside de Larrea and Max Christie.
“When you look at the age of, especially, our second unit, and you take Sergio and Max and Zacch and all these young guys, and it just gives us another pressure release outlet, and he generates great looks,” May explained. “He’s just a very, very smart veteran basketball player.”
Dallas returns home to host the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday at American Airlines Center, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. CT. The Mavericks close the preseason against Atlanta, Risacher’s former team, on Friday at 7 p.m. CT.
