BOSTON — — Jayson Tatum made five 3-pointers and scored 32 points and the Boston Celtics overcame Luka Doncic’s second straight triple-double to beat the Dallas Mavericks 138-110 on Friday night and extend their best winning streak of the season at 10 games.
Jaylen Brown added 25 points and seven rebounds as the Celtics made 21 3s in their second win of the season against the Mavericks to improve their NBA record 47-12. Kristaps Porzingis finished with 24 points as seven Celtics reached double figures.
Tatum had just two points in the first quarter, but finished with his 22nd game this season scoring at least 30 points.
“We’ve progressed, we understand that every night is going to be different,” Tatum said. “If that requires me to pass the ball eight times in a row, because that’s the right read, then you have to trust that that’s what’s going to help us win the game.”
Doncic recorded his 12th triple-double of the season with 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He is just the eighth player to record a 30-point triple-double in Boston, and the first since Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook accomplished the feat on Dec. 23, 2016.
Kyrie Irving added 19 points for Dallas, but shot just 9 of 23 from the field. Irving, who had a tumultuous two-year stint in Boston, was also bombarded with a constant stream of boos every time he touched the ball.
It also didn’t help that the Mavericks couldn’t keep up with Boston’s shooting, going just 9 of 34 from 3-point range.
“We know if we play the game the right way, there are a lot of options,” Brown said. “We have confidence in the game plan and we have confidence in our ability to read the game. And we’ve done that almost all year.”
Brown said this is the time of year “where we start to take it to the next level.”
This was demonstrated when Dallas found itself trailing 81-79 midway through the third quarter and Boston finished the period on a 21-11 run. The Celtics then followed up by beating the Mavericks 36-20 in the fourth.
“You can’t have empty goods against them. And then you can’t have breakdowns defensively against them,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “They’re going to make you pay at the 3-point line, and that’s what they did.”
Mavericks guard Dante Exum, who is dealing with a knee injury, saw his first action since Jan. 26. He scored four points in 15 minutes.
Porzingis scored 10 of the Celtics’ first 15 points and made four of their 10 3s in the first 24 minutes to help them build a lead of as many as 12 in the first 24 minutes.
Yet Dallas trailed by just seven points at halftime, punctuated by Doncic’s 23 points.
Tatum didn’t score until he made two free throws with 18 seconds left in the first quarter. But Boston led 38-32 at the end of the first quarter, connecting on seven 3-pointers.
FOLLOWING
Mavericks: Visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.
Celtics: Host the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.
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