Celtics, Mavericks move into conference finals

Serbian Luka Doncic scored 35 points, Spencer Dinwiddie added 30 off the bench and the Dallas Mavericks stunned top-seeded Phoenix Suns with a 123-90 win in a game 7 blowout, advancing to the Western Conference NBA finals for the first time since 2011.

It was no surprise when Doncic looked ready for game 7, calmly draining his first three shots to give the Dallas Mavericks an early lead. The stunner came over the next two hours: The top-seeded Phoenix Suns had no response.

‘‘A lot of people said it would be a blowout,’’ Mavs coach Jason Kidd said with a grin. ‘‘They were right.’’

Of course, it wasn’t Dallas that was supposed to win yesterday in Phoenix. The home team had won all the playoff matches in its own stadium, but the Mavs broke through, dominating in a hostile environment from start to finish. Conversely, it was an embarrassing no-show for the playoff-tested Suns — who advanced to the NBA Finals last season with a very similar roster.

‘‘We played all season to be in this situation,’’ Suns guard Chris Paul said. ‘‘It didn’t work out for us.’’

The fourth-seeded Mavericks travel to face Golden State in game 1 on Thursday.

Meanwhile Grant Williams scored a career-high 27 points and hit seven 3-pointers, Jayson Tatum added 23 and the Boston Celtics set a game 7 record with 22 three-pointers to eliminate the NBA champions Milwaukee Bucks 109-81 yesterday in the Eastern Conference semifinals in Boston.

Boston will face top-seeded Miami beginning tomorrow in a rematch of the 2020 East finals. The Heat beat the Celtics in six games in that series.

The Celtics trailed early but outscored the Bucks 61-38 in the second half to cruise to the victory.

Boston used a whopping 54-point advantage from behind the arc to improve to 25-9 in decisive seventh games.