MAVERICKS’ LUKA GOES FOR 42, KYRIE 40
Luka Doncic scored 42 points, Kyrie Irving added 40 and the new All-Star pairing sparkled throughout the Dallas Mavericks’ 133-126 home victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night.
Doncic won a matchup of the NBA’s top two scorers as Joel Embiid finished with 35 points for the 76ers, who were playing a night after a win in Miami without their All-Star center.
Irving and Doncic (12 assists) became the first Dallas teammates to score at least 40 in the same game.
They each had a 20-point first half while combining for 45, then combined to score 10 points in the first 102 seconds of the third quarter to start a 20-4 run for a 91-71 Dallas lead.
Tyrese Maxey scored 29 points for Philadelphia, and James Harden, who made his first 11 shots, finished with 27 points and 13 assists.
Warriors 115, Clippers 91: Jordan Poole scored 34 points, Klay Thompson had 19 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, and host Golden State used another big second-half surge to rally past Los Angeles for its fourth straight victory.
Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points and hit from deep to beat the buzzer that ended the second quarter, putting the cold-shooting Clippers ahead 56-45 at halftime.
But Los Angeles finished just 9 of 43 on 3-pointers — missing 18 of 19 to begin the second half.
Then the Warriors came charging back with a 42point third quarter while holding the Clippers to 16 points in the period to lead 87-72 heading into the final 12 minutes, similar to what they did in a comeback win against Portland on Tuesday night.
Mason Plumlee had a season-best 20 rebounds and his 14 in the initial two
quarters were the most of his career in any half.
Wizards 119, Raptors 108: Kyle Kuzma scored the game’s first 10 points and finished with 30, Kristaps Porzingis added 25 points, and Washington beat visiting Toronto in the opener of a two-game set between Eastern Conference playoff
contenders.
O.G. Anunoby scored 26 points and Jakob Poeltl had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Raptors, who had won five of their previous six games.
Spurs 110, Pacers 99: Jeremy Sochan had 22 points and 13 rebounds for his first career double-double and host San Antonio defeated Indiana with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich out because of an illness.
Devin Vassell scored 18 points for the Spurs in his return after missing 25 games following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
Popovich and lead assistant Brett Brown were both out with non-COVID illnesses. Popovich is expected to return for Saturday’s home game against the Rockets.
Spurs assistant Mitch Johnson collected his first victory.
Buddy Hield had 27 points to lead the Pacers and Chris Duarte had 18.
Wednesday’s late result Pelicans 121, Trail Blazers 110:
Brandon Ingram had a season-high 40 points and visiting New Orleans beat Portland in the first showdown between Damian Lillard and former Trail Blazers teammate CJ McCollum.
McCollum added 24 points to help the Pelicans snap a four-game losing streak. Lillard scored 41 points for the Trail Blazers.
LeBron out 10 games
LeBron James is expected to miss most of March with an injured tendon in his right foot, the Lakers said on Thursday.
If that timetable holds, the Lakers will have to find a way to stay in the playoff race without the league’s alltime scoring leader.
The Lakers did not disclose the full extent of the injury, saying it was a tendon issue and that he will be “reevaluated in approximately three weeks.”
If James misses three more weeks, starting with Thursday, that would keep him out for at least 10 of the Lakers’ final 19 games.
James was hurt in the Lakers’ win at Dallas on Sunday. He already has missed two games with the injury, with the Lakers splitting those contests.