DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 42 points, Kyrie Irving added 40 and the new All-Star pairing sparkled throughout the Dallas Mavericks’ 133-126 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night.
Doncic won a matchup of the NBA’s top two scorers as Joel Embiid finished with 35 points for the 76ers, who were playing a night after a win in Miami without their All-Star center.
Irving and Doncic (12 assists) became the first Dallas teammates to score at least 40 in the same game.
They each had a 20-point first half while combining for 45, then combined to score 10 points in the first 102 seconds of the third quarter to start a 20-4 run for a 91-71 Dallas lead.
Tyrese Maxey scored 29 points for Philadelphia, and James Harden, who made his first 11 shots, finished with 19 points and 10 assists.
WARRIORS 115, CLIPPERS 91
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jordan Poole scored 34 points, Klay Thompson had 19 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, and Golden State used another big second-half surge to rally past Los Angeles for its straight victory.
Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points and hit from deep to beat the buzzer that ended the second quarter, putting the cold-shooting Clippers ahead 56-45 at halftime.
Then the Warriors charged back with a 42-point third quarter while holding the Clippers to 16 points to lead 87-72 heading into the final 12 minutes.
Mason Plumlee had a season-best 20 rebounds and his 14 in the initial two quarters were the most of his career in any half. Eric Gordon made his first start in six games since joining the Clippers in a trade from Houston and scored 16 points in the team’s fourth straight defeat and sixth in eight.
WIZARDS 119, RAPTORS 108
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kyle Kuzma scored the game’s first 10 points and finished with 30, Kristaps Porzingis added 25 points, and Washington beat Toronto in the opener of a two-game set between Eastern Conference playoff contenders.
Daniel Gafford scored 18 points and Delon Wright had a season-high 11 assists for the Wizards (30-32), who moved within percentage points of the ninth-place Raptors (31-33) in the East standings.
O.G. Anunoby scored 26 points and Jakob Poeltl had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Raptors, who had won five of their previous six games. Pascal Siakam had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Toronto. Scottie Barnes and Fred VanVleet had 14 points apiece.
SPURS 110, PACERS 99
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jeremy Sochan had 22 points and 13 rebounds for his first career double-double and San Antonio defeated Indiana with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich out because of an illness.
Devin Vassell scored 18 points for the Spurs in his return after missing 25 games following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He shot 8 for 15 in his first game since Jan. 2.
Popovich and lead assistant Brett Brown were out with non-COVID-19 illnesses. Popovich is expected to return for Saturday’s home game against Houston. Spurs assistant Mitch Johnson collected his first victory.
San Antonio has won two straight after dropping a franchise-record 16 in a row.
Buddy Hield had 27 points to lead the Pacers and Chris Duarte had 18.
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The Associated Press