Los Angeles: The Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks picked up where they left off when the NBA resumed after the All-Star break on Thursday, both posting their seventh straight NBA victories.
Luka Doncic scored 41 points with nine rebounds and 11 assists, and Kyrie Irving added 29 points for the Mavs in a 123-113 home victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Derrick White scored 28 points and Jayson Tatum scored 25 to lead the Celtics, who used a big third quarter to take control en route to a 129-112 victory over the Bulls in Chicago.
When he took a 16-point lead in the first quarter, it was business as usual for league-leading Boston. But the Bulls outscored them 39-28 in the second period and led by three at halftime before the Celtics righted the ship.
White and Tatum each made five threes as the Celtics combined for 23 from beyond the arc.
Nikola Vucevic led Chicago with 22 points and 14 rebounds, but the Bulls had no answer as Boston clamped down defensively in the second half.
In Dallas, the Mavericks also found themselves down by three at halftime. However, they opened the third quarter with a 16-0 run to take a double-digit lead and didn’t let up again.
“It’s always tough coming back from an All-Star game, the first game is always tough,” Doncic told TNT. “We played against an amazing team, but we showed up.
Devin Booker scored 35 points to pace Phoenix and Kevin Durant added 23.
But the Suns couldn’t turn the Mavs back late, with Irving pushing Dallas’ lead back to double digits early in the fourth quarter with a coast-to-coast thriller that dribbled behind his back before spinning to the rim.
With the win, the Mavs evened Phoenix’s record at 33-23 and earned a tiebreaker over the Suns.
“I think it was a very big game,” Doncic said after the Mavs climbed into the playoffs to sixth in the West, but added, “We’ve got to get ready for the next game and keep going like this.”
In Denver, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic made another piece of NBA history when he became just the third player to record at least one triple-double against every team he faced in the league in a 130-110 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Jokic was a perfect 10-for-10 from the floor on his way to 21 points, 19 rebounds and 15 assists.
“When I retire, it’s going to be like a legacy,” he said after joining LeBron James and Russell Westbrook as players with triple-doubles against every team they’ve faced.
More importantly, the defending champion Nuggets snapped a three-game losing streak that took them into the All-Star break.
“We needed this win,” added Jokic, whose 16th triple-double of the season ranks him second on the season list behind Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, who posted his 19th with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the 127 win :122 over the San Antonio Spurs.
Golden State star Stephen Curry made six 3-pointers en route to 32 points to lead the Warriors to a 128-110 victory over a Los Angeles Lakers team that was missing LeBron James — who sat out with an ankle injury.
Curry set the tone early, making six of eight shots, including four 3-pointers, en route to 16 first-quarter points. Curry added eight assists to become the first Warrior with 6,000 in the regular season.
Anthony Davis had 27 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Lakers, whose three-game winning streak ended.
In Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points to lead the Thunder to a 129-107 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in a clash with the Western Conference contenders.
Lu Dort added 19 points as all five starters scored in double figures for the Thunder, who moved within one game of leading Western Minnesota.
Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points and Norman Powell added 19 off the bench for the third-ranked Clippers.
The Brooklyn coaching change didn’t bring any quick turnaround as the Nets lost to the Raptors 121-93 in Toronto in their first game since Kevin Ollie took over as interim coach after Jacque Vaughn was fired.
