LOS ANGELES — Justin Jackson scored 24 points to carry the host Dallas Mavericks past the Philadelphia 76ers 122-102 on Monday night.
Trey Burke added 16 points while Salah Mejri contributed 16 points to go along with a season-best 14 rebounds. Dwight Powell scored 14 points and rookie Jalen Brunson had 13 for the Mavericks, who won handily despite the fact that Luka Doncic wasn’t available because of a thigh injury.
The Mavericks have now won two straight for the first time since the first week of February.
JJ Redick led the Sixers with 26 points while Tobias Harris added 25. Ben Simmons scored 17.
The Sixers, who played without center Joel Embiid out (load management) and guard Jimmy Butler (back), had their brief two-game winning streak snapped. The Sixers are 7-8 without Embiid this season.
The Sixers went more than eight minutes without a field goal late in the second quarter and trailed 68-50 at halftime.
Dirk Nowitzki’s 3-pointer from the corner with 2.8 seconds left gave the Mavericks the 18-point lead at the break.
Brunson paced the Mavericks with 11 points in the first half.
Redick kept the Sixers close for a while with 21 first-half points though the Sixers missed their final 14 shots. The field goal drought actually lasted nearly two minutes into the third period, as well.
The Sixers closed within 11 early in the third before a late Dallas surge pushed its lead to 97-77 at the end of the quarter
Redick’s fourth 3-pointer cut the Mavericks’ advantage to 100-82 early in the fourth. But the Sixers fell behind by 18 thanks in large part to 18.2-percent 3-point shooting (6 of 33).
Dorian Finney-Smith drove in all alone and threw down a vicious one-handed dunk for a 109-87 Dallas lead with 5:41 remaining. Mejri even drained a deep trey with four minutes left to push the Mavericks’ lead to 115-91.
From there, Sixers head coach Brett Brown pulled his starters and essentially sealed the victory for the Mavericks.
HORFORD’S TRIPLE-DOUBLE CARRIES CELTICS OVER HEAT
Al Horford’s second career triple-double led the host Boston Celtics to a 110-105 win over the Miami Heat on Monday in the opener of a home-and-home.
Horford had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his first triple-double since 2015. Kyrie Irving added 25 points and eight rebounds, Jayson Tatum scored 19, and Marcus Smart had 16 points as the Celtics (46-32) maintained their grip on a share of the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Goran Dragic scored 30 to lead the Heat (38-39), who narrowly held onto the eighth and final playoff spot in the East as Orlando lost to Toronto. Bam Adebayo had 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Dwyane Wade chipped in 17 points in his last regular-season game in Boston.
Before the game, Celtics president Danny Ainge presented Wade with a piece of the TD Garden parquet floor from 2008.
Heat starting forward Derrick Jones Jr. sustained a right knee injury in the first half and did not return. The team announced he will be re-evaluated in Miami, where the two teams will meet again Wednesday.
Trailing by 14 at the half, the Heat got within 71-65 on an alley-oop finished by Adebayo with 6:28 left in the third. Miami would get no closer in the period, entering the fourth down 88-77.
The Heat once again threatened in the fourth, getting within three on a trio of Kelly Olynyk free throws with 6:44 to go. Tatum and Terry Rozier responded with 3s for the Celtics, and the Heat took a timeout down 101-92 with 5:16 to play.
A Wade basket got Miami within 103-100 with two minutes left, but a three-point play by Irving with 1:25 to go essentially iced the game.
The teams traded baskets to begin the contest before the Celtics went on a 15-0 run, Tatum scoring eight points. Tatum had 11 points as Boston led 36-17 after one.
The Celtics kept their foot on the gas in the second, taking their biggest lead of the half, 46-23, on a Gordon Hayward layup with 8:02 left. The Heat responded with a 10-0 stretch, but Irving hit back-to-back 3s as Boston led 52-33 with five to go.
Irving had 15 points at the break as the Celtics led 61-47.
Boston played without swingman Jaylen Brown, ruled out pregame with back spasms.
GREEN, RAPTORS HANDLE MAGIC, 121-109
Danny Green scored a season-best 29 points and added five rebounds to help the Toronto Raptors defeat the visiting Orlando Magic 121-109 on Monday night.
The Raptors (55-23), who are second in the Eastern Conference, gained a split in the four-game season series with the Magic (38-40), who are still trying to get into the playoffs. They remain a half-game back of the Miami Heat, who also lost Monday, for the final spot in the East.
The Magic had won seven of their eight previous games.
Kawhi Leonard added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Raptors. Serge Ibaka scored 15 points, Marc Gasol had 13 points, Kyle Lowry contributed 12 points, six rebounds and seven assists, and Fred VanVleet scored 10 points for Toronto.
Evan Fournier scored 21 points for the Magic, Nikola Vucevic had 13 points and 13 rebounds, Wesley Iwundu added 16 points and Khem Birch had 11.
Toronto led by 24 during the third quarter and had a 20-point advantage entering the fourth.
The Magic scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, but the Raptors responded with their own 6-0 surge.
Orlando came back again and closed the margin to eight with 1:12 to play as the Raptors went with reserves. — Reuters
