Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks win in style
LOS ANGELES: Jaylen Brown came off the bench to score 23 points as the Boston Celtics recorded the biggest margin of victory in franchise history with a 133-77 demolition of the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
The Celtics improved to 15-10 on the season and the 56-point win eclipsed a 51-point victory (153-102) over the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962.
Daniel Theis delivered a careerhigh 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics who went wire-to-wire Saturday to stretch their winning streak to five games.
The 56-point loss was the worst ever for the hapless Bulls, surpassing a 53-point (127-74) shellacking at Minnesota on November 2001.
Boston exploded for a 17- 0 start in the first six minutes of the game cruised to their second consecutive one- sided victory after beating New York 128-100 two days ago.
Jayson Tatum had 18 points and Terry Rozier added 15 for the Celtics, who have outscored opponents an average of 126.2 to 97.6 during their five- game streak.
Shaquille Harrison came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points for the Chicago, whose previous worst loss was 122- 83 to Toronto last month.
The Celtics led 35-17 after one quarter as it shot 60.9 percent, and led 64- 43 at the half thanks to 52.4percent shooting.
Chicago didn’t score its first field goal until the 5: 06 mark of the first quarter.
Elsewhere, Luka Doncic and Wesley Matthews scored 21 points apiece as the Dallas Mavericks overcame a 35-point night from James Harden to beat the Houston Rockets 107-104.
Slovenian rookie Doncic started slowly but caught fire late in the fourth, scoring 11 consecutive points to erase an eight-point Houston lead as the Mavericks recorded their ninth straight win at home.
Doncic, 19, made a floater to tie the contest 102-102 late in the fourth after Chris Paul had missed two free throws.
Harden then put up an air ball from beyond the arc and Doncic made the Rockets pay for their mistakes by draining a threepointer to give Dallas a three point lead, 105-102.
Eric Gordon then missed a potential tying three-pointer for Houston at the buzzer.
“It’s pretty clear that he’s got a flair for the moment,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said of Doncic. “He’s unafraid. You don’t see that every day. It’s a unique three or four minutes, whatever he put together there.”
Harden, who overcame early foul trouble, led all scorers while Paul finished with 23 points and eight assists. However, the Rockets couldn’t hold the lead less than two weeks after losing to Dallas by 20 points at home.
The Mavericks extended their longest home winning streak since winning nine straight in 2011, the year they won their only NBA championship.
Doncic finished seven of 17 from the field with seven rebounds. DeAndre Jordan finished with 12 points and 20 rebounds.
Also, LeBron James had 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, Kyle Kuzma added 20 points and nine rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Memphis Grizzlies 111- 88. — AFP