Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics responded to a perplexing defeat with a resounding victory, as the local star delivered his second career triple-double and led the way in a blowout win over Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.
Tatum had 29 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Celtics ended Dallas' seven-game winning streak with a 124-95 victory on Thursday night.
Jaylen Brown scored 19 points for the NBA-leading Celtics, who bounced back from a 150-117 loss in Oklahoma City when the Thunder were missing 30-point scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
"They showed me they can do it one time. They have to do it over and over again,” said interim coach Joe Mazzulla.
Luka Doncic scored 23 points after averaging 44.5 points in the previous five games. The Mavs superstar did not play in the fourth quarter, which started with Boston leading by 24.
Doncic hit buzzer-beating 3-pointers for the win in Boston's previous two Dallas visits. There was never a chance for a third, or for the Mavs to extend the longest winning streak since their lone championship season in 2010-11.
Doncic missed all six shots from long range as the Mavericks finished 7 of 32. Doncic was 7 of 23 overall and Dallas finished at 38% two nights after Oklahoma City shot 59% against the Celtics.
"When we're at our best, we play really good basketball on both ends of the floor with high effort for a long period of time. And then we go through a couple of games where we lose that. What I love about tonight was we did bounce back,” said Mazzulla.
Tatum was not much better than Doncic, going 8 of 22 from the field, but his teammates were. Boston shot 16 of 43 from 3, with eight players hitting at least one.
The sixth-year pro’s other triple-double came on April 19, 2021, when he had 14 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a 102-96 loss to Chicago.
Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon each scored 15 points, with Smart going 4 of 9 from deep while Brogdon was 3 of 5.
The Celtics never trailed after the middle of the first quarter, and Dallas did not get closer than 13 after halftime. The Mavs were swept in the two-game season series after trailing big at half-time in a 125-112 loss at Boston.
"It was kind of like what happened in Boston. We just couldn’t score. We had some great looks there early. The ball just didn’t fall for us,” said Mavs coach Jason Kidd.
Grant Williams scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half, when the Boston bench outscored Dallas’ 27-2. Tatum and Brown took over from there, combining for 33 points after the break.
Doncic had nine rebounds but was limited to three assists as the Mavs tied their season low in assists with 15. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 18 but was just 6 of 15 as the Dallas starters shot 32%.
