DALLAS • The Boston Celtics have been comeback specialists during their winning run and their magic continued on Monday night.
They needed another fourth-quarter rally and overtime to get past the Dallas Mavericks 110-102 and tied for the franchise's fourth-longest National Basketball Association (NBA) win streak at 16. They can tie the third longest at 17 in a row in Miami today.
Kyrie Irving scored 10 of his game-high and season-best 47 points in overtime after Dallas (3-15) scored in the first four points to take a 100-96 lead.
Irving, playing with a clear plastic mask to protect the minor facial fractures he suffered earlier this month, became the first Celtic since Larry Bird to score 45-plus points while 70 per cent from the floor, according to ESPN.
He said: "Teams make their runs and we just stay the course. We're just unwavering in our approach.
"In the last few games, we've been down quite a few, so for us it's just about battling back when teams get a comfortable rhythm, whether it'd be in the first half or the second half.
"As a group, we continue just to stick together throughout anything and everything."
The Celtics (16-2) looked to be gassed as they fell behind 87-74 with 7min 47sec to go, but anyone who has watched them build this improbable win streak knew they would have one last run.
A clampdown on defence led to a 17-5 run to get within 92-91, but they still needed a 5-0 spurt to end the game to get to overtime.
Dallas got 18 points from Wesley Matthews, 16 from J.J. Barea, and Dirk Nowitzki posted his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
It marked the eighth comeback win during the Celtics' streak, three games shy of tying the franchise record set during the 2008-09 season. They have trailed by double digits in five of those comebacks, including their last three - Golden State Warriors by 17, Atlanta Hawks by 16 and Mavericks by 13.
Elsewhere on Monday, Cleveland sent a message to their Eastern Conference rivals with a ruthless walloping of Detroit. The 116-88 blowout was the clearest sign yet the 2016 NBA champions have shaken off their early-season problems. They have now won five games in a row, improving to 10-7.
Kevin Love led the scoring with 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists while LeBron James had 18 points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes. Jae Crowder had 18 points with Jose Calderon adding 14.
"I just wanted to keep the pedal down," James said of the big win. "We haven't had a win like this in a very long time. "We come out sometimes in the third quarter and have a slow start and teams get back into it.
"But today, we just kept it going. That's a pretty big step for us."
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
