Luka Doncic drained a 3-pointer to snap a tie with seven-tenths of a second remaining in the fourth quarter to lift the host Dallas Mavericks to a 110-107 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.
After initially making a go-ahead 3-pointer to stake Dallas to a 107-105 lead with 15.8 seconds left, Doncic provided the fireworks following Jaylen Brown’s tying layup. Doncic calmly sank a high-arching attempt from beyond the 3-point line for the eventual winning shot.
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Doncic collected 31 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Mavericks, who posted their sixth win in seven outings despite playing without Kristaps Porzingis and Maxi Kleber. Porzingis missed his second straight game with lower back tightness while Kleber sat out on Tuesday with a left ankle sprain.
Jalen Brunson scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and Josh Richardson added 16 points as the Mavericks handed Boston its second straight demoralizing defeat. The Celtics saw a 24-point lead go by the boards in a 120-115 overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.
Brown scored 29 points, fellow All-Star Game reserve Jayson Tatum added 28 and Kemba Walker had 21 for the Celtics, who have lost seven of their last 10 games.
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Brunson’s 3-pointer gave the Mavericks a 104-93 advantage with 3:12 left before the Celtics countered by scoring the next 12 points to take the lead. Brown appeared to provide the final salvo by sinking a pullup jumper from the elbow with 37.5 seconds remaining.
Boston took advantage of an ice-cold shooting performance by Dallas to secure a 65-60 lead in the third quarter. Tristan Thompson, Brown and Tatum exploited the interior to highlight the Celtics’ 7-0 run while the Mavericks were held scoreless for 5 1/2 minutes.
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Thompson secured an offensive rebound and putback to stake Boston to a 56-55 lead with 1:12 remaining in the second quarter. Neither team scored the rest of the way to allow the Celtics to claim a one-point advantage at intermission.
–Field Level Media