NBA: Tatum's triple-double leads Celtics past Mavs

DALLAS – The road to success has not been smooth for the Boston Celtics but, for “one of the best teams” in the National Basketball Association (NBA), according to their star man Jayson Tatum, it is precisely this grit that will stand them in good stead.

On Thursday night in Dallas, the Celtics broke out of their funk as Tatum’s 29-point triple-double propelled them to a 124-95 victory over Luka Doncic and the Mavericks.

Boston boast the best record in the Eastern Conference and the NBA, 27-12, but they had dropped two straight games heading into the contest and knew things needed to change.

“It was a tough one the other day,” Tatum said in an on-court post-game interview of the Celtics’ loss to the lowly Thunder in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, which followed a 123-111 defeat by the Denver Nuggets.

“We lost two in a row, but we had a responsibility just to respond, to play better. That last two games haven’t defined our season.

“We’re one of the best teams and we just had to come out and play like it, and get back to playing like we know how.”

Tatum connected on just eight of 22 shots from the field, but he added 14 rebounds and 10 assists in just his second career triple-double.

“When we’re at our best, we play really good basketball on both ends of the floor with high effort for a long period of time,” Boston’s interim coach Joe Mazzulla said on ESPN.

“And then we go through a couple of games where we lose that. What I love about tonight was we did bounce back.”

Jaylen Brown scored 19 points for the Celtics, who ended the Mavericks’ seven-game winning streak. Dallas dropped to 22-17 in the Western Conference.

Tatum added that Boston’s defensive strategy on Doncic was to “just try and make it tough for him”.

“He’s obviously a hell of a player that can get any shot he wants,” the forward said.

Doncic, who had averaged a stunning 46.2 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10 assists over the previous five games, scored 23 and sat out the entire fourth quarter after the Celtics took a 24-point lead into the final period.

The Slovenian star, who appeared to be hindered by a sore left ankle, made seven of his 23 attempts from the field and missed all six of his three-point attempts.

Despite the defeat, the Mavs remained in fourth place in the West.

The Nuggets remained atop the West on 25-13, with a crushing 122-91 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at the Ball Arena.

Jamal Murray scored 18 points to lead seven Denver players in double figures. The Nuggets led from wire to wire and were up by 43 points going into the fourth quarter – in which the starters for both teams sat out.

Murray said consistency was the key to the Nuggets’ huge win, despite the lack of a big game from star centre Nikola Jokic – who scored 12 points.

“We kept the same defensive energy the whole game and obviously we just had it rolling,” he said.

“I think the best thing about us is we did good in the first half but we kept it going throughout the game.”

The Clippers’ star duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George combined for nine points as not a single Los Angeles starter scored in double figures.

The Memphis Grizzlies kept the pressure on the Nuggets at the top of the standings with a 123-115 victory over the Magic in Orlando, to also improve to 25-13.

Ja Morant scored 32 points and Jaren Jackson added 31 and set a strong defensive tone for the Grizzlies, who led by as many as 25 points midway through the third quarter.

A late push by the Magic was not enough, despite 30 points from Orlando’s No. 1 draft pick Paolo Banchero.

In Houston, Finland’s Lauri Markkanen scored a career-high 49 points to lead the Utah Jazz to a 131-114 win over the Rockets, snapping a five-game skid. AFP