Mavericks, Celtics into conference finals

PHOENIX: Luka Doncic scored 35 points and Spencer Dinwiddie added 30 as the Dallas Mavericks stunned the topseeded Phoenix Suns yesterday with a 12390 game seven blowout to advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2011.

Dallas broke through on the road after the home team won the first six games of the series.

Yesterday was an embarrassing noshow for the playofftested Suns who advanced to the NBA finals last season with a very similar roster.

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

‘‘They were right.’’

The fourthseeded Mavericks travel to face Golden State in game one on Thursday.

Doncic earned the Mavs an early lead, making his first three shots, including two threepointers. That helped Dallas push to a 2717 advantage in the first quarter and a whopping 5727 cushion at the halftime break.

‘‘Amazing,’’ Doncic said.

‘‘I don’t know what to say.’’ The series might have been close but the individual games usually were not. Three of the first six were decided by at least 20 points and none of the games came down to the final possession.

Doncic was in stunning form, making shots from all over the floor and finishing 12 of 19 from the field, including six of 11 threes. He got help from Dinwiddie in the first half with 21 points on 7of10 shooting, including four of five from outside.

Phoenix’s AllStar backcourt of Devin Booker (11 points) and 37yearold Chris Paul (10 points, four assists) was never a factor.

‘‘You could see some of the pressure was on them early,’’ Kidd said of the Suns who won an NBAbest 64 games during the regular season.

‘‘They missed some shots they normally make.’’

In Boston, Grant Williams scored a careerhigh 27 points and hit seven three pointers while Jayson Tatum added 23 as the Celtics set a game seven record with 22 threes to eliminate the NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks 10981.

‘‘I believe in myself, I believe in this team. I expected to play the way I did and for us to respond the way we did,’’ Tatum said, referring to losing game five at home and going down 32 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Boston will face topseeded Miami beginning tomorrow in a rematch of the 2020 Eastern finals, which the Heat won in six games.

The Celtics trailed early at TD Garden but outscored the Bucks 6138 in the second half to cruise to victory.

‘‘This is what we played for, why we played the season out, to have homecourt advantage in a game seven,’’ Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. — AP