HOUSTON – Luka Doncic jogged off the Toyota Center court and through the tunnel with 41 points and to chants of “MVP! MVP!”

The Mavericks, after a 137-123 victory over Houston on Sunday afternoon that was a team win in every sense, left the court with their first five-game winning streak since late in the 2015-16 season – and with an 11-5 record and the Southwest Division lead.

Was this a statement game? Several Mavericks players insisted “no,” but the circumstances and result clearly stated otherwise.

“The team is growing,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “This was a big win, there’s no question about that. You come in here, this is a big-time place to play and you’re playing against great players. So our guys deserve credit. But look, this is a process.”

Two weeks ago the process wasn’t yielding results, at least not the good kind. A pair of losses to the Knicks and the season’s first losing streak left the Mavericks with a 6-5 record.

Now? It’s not hyperbole to call Dallas an offensive juggernaut, one that has lit up its last three opponents with scoring totals of 142, 143 and 137 points.

Obliterating woeful Golden State and Cleveland by a combined 90 points was one thing: Beating the Rockets (11-6) and limiting James Harden to 2-of-15 3-point shooting and six points below his 38-point scoring average was, yes, a statement.

Easily the loudest statement this franchise has made since it last made the playoffs, in 2015-16.

The Mavericks started this Sunday matinee by storming to a 45-29 first-quarter lead. Dallas got a season-high 31 points from Tim Hardaway Jr., 23 points and 13 rebounds from Kristaps Porzingis and stout defense from Dorian Finney-Smith (on Harden) and Hardaway (on Russell Westbrook).

And did we mention this was a total team win? It included Dallas’ bench outscoring Houston’s, 28-11, and a defensive coaching staff that put together what Carlisle described as a “complex game plan that our players stuck with, through thick and thin.”

Entering last season the Rockets had beaten the Mavericks eight straight times, but the teams split four meetings in 2018-19 and Dallas limited Harden to 27.8 points per game, well below his 36.1 average. Maybe it wasn’t a fluke. Maybe the Mavericks have a defensive formula that could pay off say, for instance, these teams meet in the playoffs.

“I think we like playing with each other,” said Porzingis, who registered his fifth double-double in the past six games. “We hold each other accountable. We trust the coaching staff with the game plan and we follow it.

“And we’re trying to have fun and play with intensity. It’s slowly coming all together and that’s why we’re winning games.”

Not just winning: During this winning streak Dallas’ margins of victory are 8, 7, 48, 42 and 13.

This was Hardaway’s third straight start and it looks like he’s not letting go of the job. In these three games he shot 22 of 33 from the field, including 13 of 20 from 3-point range, averaged 4.6 assists and 22.3 points. Mavericks fans have been clamoring for a “third wheel” scorer to complement Doncic and Porzingis. Perhaps Hardaway is that player.

“One of the goals is to maintain and continue to take the pressure off of the big fella and Luka,” Hardaway said. “Whatever I have to do, I’m going to continue to do it.”

The Mavericks entered the game with an offensive rating of 117.49 per 100 possessions and were coming off consecutive blowout wins in which they scored 142 and 143 points.

For context, the offensive rating formula was created in 1977 and the record high for a full season is Golden State’s 115.9, set last season. Hardaway smiled when asked if the Mavericks unstoppable.

“It’s kind of tough” he said. “Right now Luka’s got it going and K.P.’s got it going. We’re just going to continue to spend cash, continue to play well, the rest of us three who starts and the bench. All we can do is control what we can control and play Mavs basketball.”

This game spotlighted MVP candidates Harden and Doncic, the NBA’s No. 1 and No. 4 scorers.

Doncic outscored Harden by nine points and at times made it look effortless, much like Dallas’ offense as of late.

“It’s not easy, I can tell you that,” Doncic said. And what did he think of the MVP chants, some of them coming from fans wearing Rockets colors?

“It was nice, very nice,” he said. “I never imagined being called like that. It’s just something that’s very special.”

He probably will hear it a lot more, especially at home. Meanwhile, his teammates just want to continue this roll. Even when Houston pulled to within five points in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks didn’t blink.

“We’re getting a little bit of that killer instinct, maybe, where we’re finally finishing games strong,” Porzingis said. “They made their run towards the end, but we knew we weren’t going to give this game away.

“We played hard to the end.”