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.


Neto treble fires Chelsea’s FA Cup rout of Hull

Updated 14 February 2026
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Neto treble fires Chelsea’s FA Cup rout of Hull

  • It was an emotional evening for Blues boss Rosenior

KINGSTON UPON HULL: Chelsea eased into the FA Cup fifth round as Pedro Neto’s hat-trick inspired a 4-0 win at Hull on Liam Rosenior’s return to the club that sacked him two years ago.
Rosenior’s side took the lead through Neto’s superb first-half strike before the Portugal forward netted again after the break.
Estevao Willian scored Chelsea’s third and Neto completed his treble to wrap up the fourth round rout at the MKM Stadium.
It was an emotional evening for Blues boss Rosenior as he faced the club that ruthlessly severed their long relationship with him in 2024.
Rosenior supported Hull as a child alongside his season-ticket holding grandmother, played for the club across five years and managed them for two seasons.
He was sacked after narrowly failing to reach the Championship play-offs amid criticism of his team’s conservative tactics.
Despite the painful end to his time at Hull, the 41-year-old said it was an “amazing thing” to return to Humberside and he took full advantage of the chance to show his old club what they had missed out on.
“This club means a lot not just to me but also my family for many reasons,” Rosenior said.
“I do hope they make the Premier League this year, but because of our attitude and application, that is what gave us the platform to win tonight.”
Rosenior has made an impressive start at Chelsea since arriving from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca in January, winning eight out of his first 11 matches in all competitions.
He made seven changes, with Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro among those to miss out, but Chelsea were still too strong for the Championship promotion chasers.
“Pedro Neto has been outstanding, he works so hard and has so much quality. I’m delighted to see him get the goals,” Rosenior said.
“The most pleasing aspect was the mentality. It was a really strong performance in terms of the mental application you need to be successful. Everyone worked really hard for each other.”
Chelsea dominated possession to such an extent that it was little surprise when they finally made the breakthrough in the 40th minute.
Liam Delap teed up Neto and he whipped a superb finish into the corner from 20 yards.
Andrey Santos’ towering header was pushed over by Dillon Phillips after the interval and, from the resulting corner, Chelsea doubled their lead in the 51st minute.
Neto’s inswinger caught Phillips flat-footed at the near post, bouncing through his legs without a touch from either team.
Chelsea had blown a two-goal advantage in their 2-2 draw with Leeds in the Premier League on Tuesday.
But there was no chance of a repeat and Estevao grabbed their third with a composed finish from 12 yards in the 59th minute.
Neto made it four in the 71st minute, caressing a low finish past Phillips from Delap’s lay-off.
Wrexham beat fellow Championship side Ipswich 1-0 in Friday’s other fourth round tie.
The Welsh club, owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, are into the last 16 for the first time since 1996-97.