LUKA TORMENTS LAKERS IN DOUBLE-OVERTIME WIN; CELTICS KEEP ROLLING
LOS ANGELES—Dallas star Luka Doncic posted a 35-point triple-double, twice forcing overtime with three-pointers as the Mavericks edged the Lakers, 119-115, in a bruising NBA clash on Thursday.
Doncic added 14 rebounds and 13 assists in his 10th triple-double of the season, with his step-back three-pointer with six seconds left in regulation— his only basket of the fourth quarter— knotting the score at 101 as Troy Brown missed at the buzzer for the first extension.
He hit an almost identical shot to tie it up at 108 with 47.8 seconds remaining in the first extra session, and after two misses by LeBron James and one by Dallas’ Tim Hardaway Jr., they went to a second OT.
“It was very physical,” said Doncic, who was sent sprawling by a hip check from Russell Westbrook. “Two overtimes, a lot of minutes, you had to stay focused. Energy was a little low after two overtimes, but we came through it.”
Christian Wood added 24 points, Hardaway had 22 and Spencer Dinwiddie scored six of his 17 points in the second overtime for Dallas.
Westbrook led the Lakers with 28 points off the bench. James, back in action after missing a game with a sore ankle, scored 24 and grabbed 16 rebounds but the Lakers dropped their second straight.
Boston still No. 1
In Portland, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points as the Cavaliers withstood a 50-point performance by Damian Lillard in a 119-113 come-from-behind victory over the Trail Blazers.
Mitchell’s jump shot with 4:40 to play put Cleveland up for the first time in the game and they held on for the victory.
The Boston Celtics, meanwhile, clawed out a 109-98 victory in Brooklyn that pushed their lead over the Nets atop the Eastern Conference to three games.
Celtics star Jayson Tatum endured a tough 7-for-22 shooting night on the way to 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon added 16 points apiece for the Celtics, who learned shortly before the contest that Jaylen Brown—coming off a 41-point performance in Boston’s win over New Orleans on Wednesday— would be sidelined with a right adductor muscle strain.
The Nets were playing their first game since superstar Kevin Durant limped out of a win over Miami with a sprained right knee ligament, which is expected to sideline him for several weeks.
Brooklyn, led by 24 points from Kyrie Irving, coped admirably through the first three quarters, leading the back-andforth battle by as many as nine points in the first half and by as many as five in the third quarter before Boston pulled away.
“We get out and run, it’s hard for people to stop it,” Smart said.