Mavericks roll past Thunder, 127-106

OKLAHOMA CITY — Luka Doncic scored 25 points to help the Dallas Mavericks roll past the Oklahoma City Thunder 127-106 on Monday night.

Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 19 points for the Mavericks. Dallas shot 53% from the field and never trailed in snapping a two-game losing skid.

Doncic missed Dallas’ previous two games. He sat out Friday’s loss to Indiana with back soreness and Saturday’s loss to New Orleans with a non-COVID-19 illness.

Aleksej Pokusevski led Oklahoma City with 21 points. Svi Mykhailiuk added 16 points in his first start for the Thunder since being traded from Detroit. Theo Maledon added 14 for the

Thunder, who lost their third straight.

Oklahoma City was down three starters — Shai GilgeousAlexander (plantar fasciitis, right foot), Darius Bazley (left shoulder contusion) and Lu Dort (concussion).

Pelicans 115, Boston 109

BOSTON — Zion Williamson scored 28 points and the New Orleans Pelicans held on after blowing most of a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead to beat Boston in the Celtics’ first game in front of their home fans since before the pandemic.

A masked crowd of 2,298 — officially a sellout at the state-mandated limit of 12% of the TD Garden capacity — cheered (and booed) the Celtics, waved signs and shouted profane taunts at the referees. A video was played welcoming the fans back; at other times they were lectured on social distancing and told not to touch the basketball if it came to them.

Grizzlies 120, Rockets 1110

HOUSTON — Jonas Valanciunas scored a season-high 30 points, including eight down the stretch, to help the Memphis Grizzlies outlast the Houston Rockets.

It was a much different game than Houston’s last meeting with Memphis, when the Grizzlies routed the Rockets 133-84, but the outcome was the same. Houston led by as many as 12 points in this one and was up by a point entering the fourth. But, the Rockets couldn’t hold on late and lost for the third time in four games.