The Boston Celtics on Friday rolled to a ninth straight NBA victory, while Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic notched another milestone with his 50th career triple-double.
Doncic scored 33 points with 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the Mavericks’ 127-99 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
At 23 years, 263 days old in his 279th game, Doncic became the second-youngest and second-fastest NBA player to 50 triple-doubles.
Photo: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY
Oscar Robertson was 23 years, 32 days old when he achieved the feat in his 111th career game.
It marked the 25th time that Doncic has scored at least 30 points in a triple-double. He has got four 30-point triple-doubles in 14 games this season.
His Friday exploits came as the Nuggets are without two-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, who missed a second straight game due to COVID-19 protocols.
Photo: AFP
“It’s great,” Doncic said of the achievement, albeit without much enthusiasm, adding: “A win is a win.”
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was more effusive in discussing his young star.
“He’s already rewriting the record books,” Kidd said. “Oscar is pretty special, so to be in there behind Oscar — it just shows you how good he is.”
In New Orleans, the Celtics improved their league-leading record to 13-3, their latest long-range barrage burying the Pelicans 117-109.
Each of Boston’s five starters scored in double figures and each drained at least two of the Celtics’ 20 three-pointers — Derrick White connecting on six.
Jaylen Brown paced the Celtics with 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, while White scored 26 points.
New Orleans cut a 13-point deficit to six midway through the fourth quarter before the Celtics pulled away again.
Brown said that despite their recent dominance, the Celtics can improve their focus.
“Sometimes we get a lead and we let the game get away from us,” he said. “That’s the challenge: to be mature, to be locked in and be focused.”
“Other teams are not going to lay down,” he said. “They know we got to the finals last year [season], so they’re going to come with their A game.”
The Golden State Warriors, who beat the Celtics in last season’s championship series, but have struggled in the early stages of their title defense, rebounded from an ugly loss to Phoenix with a 111-101 victory over the New York Knicks.
“Our defensive effort tonight was finally a little bit better,” said Stephen Curry, who led the Warriors with 24 points and 10 rebounds. “We still believe that’s how we win. We’ve just got to put it together game after game after game.”
In Philadelphia, 76ers center Joel Embiid scored 32 points and out-dueled Milwaukee big man Giannis Antetokounmpo to lead the injury-depleted hosts to a 110-102 victory over the Bucks.
After the game, Antetokounmpo got into an argument with an arena worker as he tried to shoot practice free throws.
After going four for 15 from the line, Antetokounmpo returned to the Wells Fargo Center floor several minutes after the game ended to shoot free throws with a small number of fans still in the building.
Antetokounmpo missed his first five attempts in the post-game practice.
During a break in his shooting, arena workers moved onto the court for their usual post-game activities.
One of the workers set up a ladder next to the basket where Antetokounmpo was shooting.
Antetokounmpo walked up to the ladder and moved it out of the way.
The employee moved it back in place, much to the ire of Antetokounmpo.
He approached the staffer, had a quick, heated verbal exchange, then moved the ladder away again, sending it crashing to the floor.
Word spread quickly through the Wells Fargo Center and 76ers backup center Montrezl Harrell, who was still on the other end of the court talking to a group of people, including some 76ers staffers, started to walk toward Antetokounmpo, shouting at him for mistreating the arena employee.
Harrell never made it past half court, as team employees got him to turn around and head to the Philadelphia locker room.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Bulls 107, Magic 108
‧ Cavaliers 132, Hornets 122
‧ Grizzlies 121, Thunder 110
‧ Jazz 134, Suns 133
‧ Lakers 128, Pistons 121
‧ Rockets 91, Pacers 99
‧ Wizards 107, Heat 106
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