Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson scored 22 points in his Dallas debut on Thursday, giving a lift to Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic in a 120-109 NBA victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Slovenian star Doncic scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mavs, who fell to the Boston Celtics in last season’s NBA Finals and acquired Thompson in a free-agent deal in the off-season with the hope of going even further this season.
Thompson, who won four titles in 13 seasons with the Golden State Warriors, was delighted with his first outing for the Mavs. “Blue is my favorite color,” he told broadcaster TNT. “And Mavs blue looks good on me.” Kyrie Irving scored 15 points for Dallas, and the Mavericks harried the Spurs defensively. San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama, aiming to build on last season’s Rookie of the Year campaign, connected on just five of 18 shots from the field on the way to 17 points, and the Spurs coughed up 19 turnovers leading to 17 Mavericks points.
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Chris Paul, an 11-time All-Star point guard brought in to lend veteran experience to the young San Antonio squad trying to get the Spurs back in the playoffs after a five-season absence, scored all of his points on a lone three-pointer, finishing one-of-six from the field with eight assists. “Couldn’t ask for a better start,” Thompson said. “Just sharing the flow with (Irving), Luka, and the rest of the guys — very special after a hard month of really good work.” But it’s just a small step for where we want to go,” Thompson added.
The reigning champion Boston Celtics, coming off a season-opening rout of the New York Knicks, got off to a slow start against last season’s second-worst team Washington, who led by as many as eight points in the early going. It was tied at 51-51 with five minutes left in the second quarter, but Boston closed the first half on a 13-3 run and dominated the second half on the way to a 122-102 victory.
Jaylen Brown celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring 27 points, and Jayson Tatum added 25 with 11 rebounds for Boston, who had 19 points from Derrick White. “We just had to carry over from the first game,” Brown said. “This was our first road game …we started off a little slow but we stayed the course and we were able to get the win.”
Jordan Poole led the Wizards’ scoring with 26 points — 20 in the first half as he kept Washington in touch early. But the Celtics out-scored the Wizards 34-19 in the third quarter, and the rout was on. With the game in hand, Tatum sat out the entire fourth quarter while Brown departed with just over eight minutes to play.
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