The Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 138-110 at TD Garden Friday night to win their 10th straight.
Jayson Tatum continued his campaign for league MVP by pouring in 32 points on 10-of-19 shooting (5-of-9 from deep) and grabbing eight rebounds. Jaylen Brown added 25 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, while Kristaps Porzingis netted 24 points on 8-of-14 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3 to help Boston improve to 47-12.
It was another balanced scoring game for the home team as seven C's players reached double-digit scoring.
"We've progressed, understanding every night is going to look different," Tatum said in his postgame comments. "If it calls for me to essentially pass the ball eight possessions in a row, because that's the right read, then you have to trust that that's what's going to help us win the game."
Luka Doncic recorded his 12th triple-double of the season with 37 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists. Kyrie Irving added 19 points, while P.J. Washington had 17 points and rookie Dereck Lively chipped in 15 points for Dallas, who dropped to 34-26.
The Celtics hit seven 3-pointers and led by as many as 12 to open the game, despite Tatum scoring only two points on a pair of made free throws in the final 18 seconds of the first quarter.
Boston took a 66-59 advantage into the half before the Mavs got within two (81-79) midway through the third. The C's responded with a 21-11 run and Tatum dropped 16 points to end the period.
In the end, Dallas was outscored 36-20 in the final frame and never got any closer than 12 points.
"We know if we play the game the right way, there's a lot of options out there," Brown told reporters. "We're confident in the game plan and we're confident in our ability to read the game. And we've been doing that pretty much all year."
The Celtics will take the NBA's longest win streak into another matchup against the Golden State Warriors (32-27) on Sunday afternoon. ABC has the tip-off from the Garden at 3:30 pm ET.
Game Notes:
Boston was 55.3% from the field, including 21-of-43 (48.8%) from 3-point range, while the Mavericks were 46.8% from the floor and 9-of-34 (26.5%) from long range. The Celtics out-rebounded the visiting team 47-42 and also outscored them in the paint 62-60. The C's dished out 33 assists (nine turnovers) on 52 baskets and Dallas had 20 dimes (eight turnovers) on 44 made shots.
Joel Pavón
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