Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Klay Thompson’s scorching start carried the Dallas Mavericks to a 127-120 victory over the NBA champion Boston Celtics, the new-look Mavs turning the tables in the NBA Finals rematch. Luka Doncic, who led the Mavericks to the championship series last season, was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for star big man Anthony Davis on Saturday in a deal that rocked the NBA. Davis’s Dallas debut was delayed again as he continues to recover from an abdominal strain.
But Thompson, acquired in the offseason, provided plenty of firepower, scoring 23 of his team-high 25 points in the first half to put the Mavericks on the road to victory in their first return to Boston since they fell in game five of last season’s Finals. Kyrie Irving added 19 points and Daniel Gafford, starting at center as Davis waits in the wings, had eight points and 15 rebounds for the Mavericks. The Dallas bench, led by 22 points from Spencer Dinwiddie, out-scored the Celtics reserves 57-45 to help make up for the absences of P.J. Washington and Dereck Lively II.
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“Klay’s very comfortable in this building,” Irving said of the former Golden State star’s polished performance. “You can tell he has a confidence about him when he walked in and he got us focused at shoot around and had everybody kind of settling their nerves.” The Mavericks had pushed their lead to 27 points early in the fourth quarter when Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters. Jaylen Brown led Boston’s scoring with 25 points and Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis added 17 apiece. Payton Pritchard scored 21 off the bench as Boston’s reserves sliced the deficit to single digits in the waning seconds to make for a more flattering scoreline.
Elsewhere, Minnesota star Anthony Edwards scored 41 points to propel the Timberwolves to a 127-114 victory over the Houston Rockets. One day after his 49-point outburst led the T’Wolves to victory over Chicago, Edwards set the franchise record for most 40-point games with 14, surpassing Karl-Anthony Towns. The 23-year-old made five three-pointers and became the youngest NBA player to reach 1,000 career treys, surpassing Doncic who did it when he was 24 years, 286 days old.
NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic produced his 24th triple-double of the season, piling up 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists before sitting out the fourth quarter of the Denver Nuggets’ 112-90 rout of the Orlando Magic. Jokic extended his league-best tally of triple-doubles and Denver notched their fifth straight win.
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