DALLAS (AP) — Jayson Tatum had 38 points and 11 rebounds, Jaylen Brown scored 35 and the Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 119-110 on Monday night.
The NBA-leading Celtics were never in much trouble because their All-Star pair was more efficient on the second night of a back-to-back than the Dallas duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving after four days off.
Tatum and Brown combined to go 24 of 43 from the field while Doncic and Irving were 21 of 50, with Doncic not hitting his first 3-pointer until the fourth quarter and finishing 2 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Doncic had a triple-double with 33 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists. Irving scored 23 coming off an unexpected break when a game at Golden State was postponed following the death of Warriors assistant Dejan Milojević from a heart attack.
Jrue Holiday scored 17 points, while Tatum and Brown each had two blocks and Tatum added three steals as the Celtics finished 8-3 in a stretch of 11 games in 18 days. Boston now gets two days off.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 20 points for Dallas.
Kristaps Porzingis was out with right knee inflammation, a night after leading the Celtics with 32 points in a 116-107 victory at Houston. The absence means the 7-foot-2 Latvian will go more than two years, at least, without playing in Dallas after the Mavs traded him to Washington in a 2022 blockbuster.
Grant Williams faced the Celtics for the first time since an offseason trade from the team that drafted him in the first round in 2019.
Tatum treated his former teammate rudely at the first-quarter buzzer when he swatted an attempted 3 from Williams into the stands along the sideline. Williams scored just two points in 18 minutes.
The Mavericks were within seven with five minutes remaining after Doncic’s second 3, but Brown answered soon after when he was bumped by Hardaway as he swished a 3. The free throw put Boston up 109-98.
Holiday, Brown and others took turns keeping a body on Doncic all over the half-court, forcing the four-time All-Star to work for most of what he got on offense. The fatigue showed with two missed free throws when the Mavs were down 11 with three minutes to go.
UP NEXT
Celtics: At Miami on Thursday.
Mavericks: Phoenix at home Wednesday.
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