Star duos lead Celtics, Mavs to NBA playoff victories

Dallas Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, right, celebrate the team’s win in Game 3 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder Saturday in Dallas. (AP)
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Updated 12 May 2024
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Star duos lead Celtics, Mavs to NBA playoff victories

  • Tatum scored 33 points and Brown 28 as top seeds Boston, stunned by the Cavaliers on their home court in Game 2, beat the Cavs 106-93 in Cleveland to take a 2-1 lead
  • Irving scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half and Doncic scored 22 points and had 15 rebounds as the Mavericks rallied for a 105-101 victory

LOS ANGELES: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined to score 61 points to fire the Boston Celtics to a bounce-back NBA playoff win over Cleveland on Saturday as Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic led Dallas over Oklahoma City.

Tatum scored 33 points and Brown 28 as top seeds Boston, stunned by the Cavaliers on their home court in Game 2, beat the Cavs 106-93 in Cleveland to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.

For Dallas, Irving scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half and Doncic scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Mavericks rallied for a 105-101 victory that put them up 2-1 against Western Conference top seeds Oklahoma City.

The Celtics emerged from a nip-and-tuck first quarter with a two-point lead and never trailed again.

“We just wanted to bounce back,” Tatum said after they pushed their advantage to 23 points by opening the third quarter on a 14-0 scoring run.

“Essentially our back was against the wall, so it was a good test for us to see how we respond,” Tatum said. “We were up for the challenge.”

Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points for the Cavaliers, but appeared to tweak his troublesome left knee in the fourth quarter.

Cleveland halted Boston’s third-quarter spurt with a 9-0 run of their own.

But the Celtics had an answer for every Cleveland surge and the Cavs could not get any closer than nine points behind in the final period.

In Dallas, the Mavericks dug deep in the face of another bruising defensive effort from the Thunder.

Irving’s second-half star turn included a floater that pushed the Dallas lead to five points with 39.3 seconds remaining.

Slovenian star Doncic took another pounding, including a hard fall flat on his back after a mid-air collision with Luguentz Dort, and said he tweaked his sprained right knee as the game ended.

“We got the win, that’s all that matters,” said Doncic, who when asked what was hurting the most — his knee, his back or his sore ankle — said “everything.”

“I think I’m battling,” he said. A day without travel before the Mavs host Game 4 on Monday was welcome, he added.

P.J. Washington led the Mavs with 27 points and Dereck Lively added 12 off the bench to help Dallas withstand a 31-point performance from Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Both teams struggled to get their offenses firing in the first quarter, which ended with Dallas up by three.

Oklahoma City connected on 60 percent of their shots in the second quarter to take a 52-51 half-time lead and pushed their advantage to 65-55 with an 11-0 scoring burst in the third.

The Mavs responded with a 16-0 run that featured a huge dunk by Washington and was capped by his three-pointer that pushed their lead to 71-65.

The run energized the American Airlines Center crowd, but Oklahoma City quickly cut the lead to one before the Mavs responded again.

Irving connected on a pair of three-pointers and fed Daniel Gafford for a dunk before Tim Hardaway Jr. closed the third quarter with a three-pointer that put Dallas up 82-78.

Irving, who handed out seven assists as he focused early on getting his teammates involved, said one Dallas coach told him he’d left it a bit late to make a scoring push.

But Doncic said his contribution was “amazing.”

“He’s doing it all on both ends of the floor,” Doncic said.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said his young team — with an average age of just over 23 — got a little sloppy in the third quarter to squander a golden chance to grab a win in Dallas.

“There’s a lot of things we can learn from,” he said.


Man City fight back to end Anfield hoodoo and reel in Arsenal

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Man City fight back to end Anfield hoodoo and reel in Arsenal

  • Victory was City’s first away to Liverpool in front of a crowd since 2003 and reapplies some pressure to Arsenal’s quest for a first title in 22 years

LIVERPOOL: Erling Haaland’s stoppage-time penalty earned Manchester City a dramatic 2-1 win at Liverpool on Sunday to reduce Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League back to six points.
City were heading for defeat at Anfield with six minutes to go before Bernardo Silva canceled out Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning free-kick to spark an incredible finale.
Haaland put City in front from the spot before the visitors had another goal ruled out and Szoboszlai was sent off in the same incident after a VAR review.
Victory was City’s first away to Liverpool in front of a crowd since 2003 and reapplies some pressure to Arsenal’s quest for a first title in 22 years.
Defeat delivered another blow to Liverpool’s hopes of Champions League football next season.
The defending champions remain down in sixth and four points adrift of the top five.
These two clubs have combined to win the last eight Premier League titles, but both showed the flaws which have opened the door for Arsenal to potentially end their long wait to be crowned champions of England once again.
Haaland has scored just once from open play in his last 13 games and an uncharacteristic lack of confidence from the Norwegian showed with the best chance of the first half inside the opening two minutes.
Silva’s clever pass split the Liverpool defense, but Haaland’s shot lacked conviction under pressure from Milos Kerkez, and Alisson Becker was able to save low to his left.
Haaland hooked another effort straight at Alisson among 10 first half City attempts without a breakthrough.

Guehi booed

Second half slumps have been a consistent feature of City’s season and the visitors again faded in the second period until a late flurry saved their title challenge.
Hugo Ekitike should have opened the scoring when he completely miscued his header just before the hour mark after a lightning fast Liverpool break.
Marc Guehi was relentlessly booed after his proposed move to Liverpool from Crystal Palace broke down on transfer deadline day in September.
City took advantage to swoop in last month when they lost two key center-backs to injury.
Guehi was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card when he dragged down Mo Salah just outside the box.
But it was City who were left fuming at the award of the free-kick which led to the opener when Ryan Gravenberch went down under minimal contact.
Szoboszlai scored the only goal with an outrageous free-kick when Arsenal visited Anfield in August and produced another stunning strike which clipped the inside of the post before finding the net.
However, the Hungarian went from hero to villain when City levelled six minutes from time.
Szoboszlai played Silva onside as he slid in to volley home Haaland’s header for City’s first second half goal in the Premier League this year.
Alisson then wiped out Matheus Nunes to concede a penalty and Haaland kept his cool from the spot to put City in front.
Pep Guardiola’s men still needed a stunning save from Gianluigi Donnarumma to tip behind Alexis Mac Allister’s deflected shot.
With Alisson remaining forward from the resulting corner, the Liverpool goal was open when Rayan Cherki took aim from the halfway line to roll the ball into an empty net.
However, Haaland and Szoboszlai’s grappling as the ball trickled toward the goal saw the strike ruled out, with a free-kick awarded to City instead, and the Liverpool player given his marching orders.