Klay Thompson shines in Dallas debut as Mavericks beat San Antonio Spurs

DALLAS – Four-time National Basketball Association (NBA) champion Klay Thompson scored 22 points in his Dallas debut on Oct 24, giving a lift to Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic in a 120-109 home win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Doncic scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mavs, who fell to the Boston Celtics in last season’s NBA Finals and acquired Thompson in a free-agent deal in the off-season, with the hope of going one better this season.

Thompson, who won four titles in 13 seasons with the Golden State Warriors, was delighted with his Mavs debut.

“Blue is my favourite colour, and Mavs blue looks good on me,” he told broadcaster TNT.

Kyrie Irving added 15 points for Dallas as the Mavs harried the Spurs defensively.

San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama, aiming to build on last season’s Rookie of the Year campaign, connected on just five of 18 shots from the field on the way to 17 points and the Spurs had 19 turnovers, leading to 19 Dallas points.

Chris Paul, a 12-time All-Star point guard brought in to lend veteran experience to a young San Antonio squad trying to get back into the play-offs after a five-season absence, scored all of his points on a lone three-pointer, finishing one-of-six from the field with eight assists.

“Couldn’t ask for a better start,” Thompson added. “Just sharing the flow with (Irving), Luka and the rest of the guys – very special after a hard month of really good work.

“A great debut. But it’s only one game in October. I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Tonight was a great start. But I’m not satisfied. We have so much basketball ahead. It’s just a small step for where we want to go.”

Mavs coach Jason Kidd, meanwhile, praised a “good team performance”.

“Defensively, we were good to be able to keep us close,” he said. “That second half, Luka and Kai (Irving) and Klay, being able to pick up full court, we got some deflections and steals.

“Our defence helped us win this game as much as (scoring) 120 points. Good team win we can build from.”

Elsewhere, the Celtics, coming off a season-opening rout of the New York Knicks, got off to a slow start against last season’s second-worst team, the Washington Wizards, who led by as many as eight points in the early going.

They were tied at 51-51 with five minutes left in the second quarter, but Boston closed the first half on a 13-3 run and dominated the second on the way to a 122-102 victory.

Jaylen Brown celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring 27 points and Jayson Tatum added 25 with 11 rebounds for the reigning champions, who also had 19 points from Derrick White.

“We just had to carry over from the first game,” Brown said. “This was our first road game... we started off a little slow but we stayed the course and we were able to get the win.”

Jordan Poole led the Wizards’ scoring with 26 points – 20 in the first half as he kept Washington in touch early on. But the Celtics outscored the Wizards 34-19 in the third quarter and the rout was on.

With victory in hand, Tatum sat out the entire fourth quarter, while Brown departed with just over eight minutes to go.

In other games, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points, Chet Holmgren finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds, as visitors the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a triple-double from Nikola Jokic to beat the Denver Nuggets 102-87.

The Minnesota Timberwolves edged out the Sacramento Kings 117-115 behind 33 points from Julius Randle. AFP, REUTERS