The NBA resumed play on Thursday after the All-Star break, with the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks continuing where they left off.
The Mavericks defeated the Phoenix Suns 123-113 at home, led by 41 points from Luka Doncic and 29 from Kyrie Irving, as both teams won their seventh straight game.
With 28 points from Derrick White and 25 from Jayson Tatum, the Celtics defeated the Chicago Bulls 129–112.
The Los Angeles Lakers were defeated 128-110 by the Golden State Warriors in the meantime.
league-top After trailing by three points at the half, Boston took charge in the third quarter and went on to win 44–12 overall.
The Mavericks were behind by three points at the half as well, but they surged ahead 16-0 to start the third quarter and never looked back.
Dallas is currently tied with Phoenix (35 points from Devin Booker and 23 from Kevin Durant) at 33-23.
Doncic said to broadcaster TNT, “It’s always tough to come back from All-Star, the first game’s always tough.”
“This was a huge game. Although we were up against a fantastic team, we performed well. We must prepare for the upcoming game and proceed in that manner.”
Just three players have ever recorded at least one triple-double against every team they have faced in the NBA, and Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets did so in Denver.
Denver, which entered the All-Star break on a three-game losing run, defeated the Washington Wizards 130-110 at home thanks to the performance of Jokic, who joined LeBron James and Russell Westbrook as the team’s reigning champs.
With LeBron James out due to an ankle injury, the Warriors defeated the Lakers with 32 points from Stephen Curry, who made six three-pointers en route to his total.
In the regular season, Curry—a two-time MVP—added eight more assists to become the first player from Golden State to exceed 6,000 career assists.
After the Lakers’ three-game winning streak came to an end, Anthony Davis scored 27 points.
The Thunder defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 129-107 in Oklahoma City behind 31 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, bringing them to within one victory of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who lead the Western Conference (39-16).
After Jacque Vaughn was fired, Kevin Ollie took over as interim coach for the Brooklyn Nets, but the team’s first game under Ollie’s leadership ended in a 121-93 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
