Brunson scores 41 as Mavericks even series with Jazz
DALLAS — Jalen Brunson scored a careerhigh 41 points, Maxi Kleber had 25 with eight of Dallas’ playoff-record 22 made 3-pointers and the Mavericks, without superstar Luka Doncic, evened their first-round series with a 110-104 win over the Utah Jazz in Game 2 on Monday night.
The Mavericks, in danger of dropping the first two games after opening the playoffs with home-court advantage for the first time since their NBA title 11 years ago, overcame a 10-point deficit after halftime.
Brunson, the starting point guard with Doncic out, became the fifth Dallas player to score 40 points in a playoff game.
Donovan Mitchell had 34 points for Utah, while Bojan Bogdanovic had 25.
Curry, Warriors rout Nuggets
Stephen Curry came off the bench for a second straight game and showed he’s healthy at last, scoring 34 points to lead the Golden State Warriors past the Denver Nuggets 126-106 at San Francisco on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series.
Nikola Jokic had 26 points and 11 rebounds before being ejected with 7 minutes left following a second technical and was held back from a referee, after his first technical came with 2:31 to go in the third.
Jordan Poole started for Curry again and contributed 29 points
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Embid, 76ers take 2-0 series lead
Joel Embiid took his lumps and powered his way to 31 points and 11 rebounds, Tyrese Maxey showed he was no onegame postseason wonder and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Toronto Raptors 112-97 at Philadelphia on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in the firstround series.
Maxey had 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Tobias Harris had 20 points and 10 rebounds. James Harden scored 14.
Boston’s Smart is defensive POY
Boston’s Marcus Smart is the first guard in over a quarter-century to win the NBA defensive player of the year award.
NBA officials announced the award Monday. The last guard to win the honor was Seattle’s Gary Payton in 1995-96.
Smart received 257 total points and earned 37 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Phoenix Suns forward Mikal Bridges finished second.