DALLAS — Luka Doncic scored 42 points, Kyrie Irving added 40 and the new All-Star duo shone throughout the Dallas Mavericks’ 133-126 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers Thursday night.
Doncic won a match between the NBA’s leading scorers as Joel Embiid finished with 35 points to 76, who were playing one night after winning Miami without an All-Star status.
Irving and Doncic became the first teammates in Dallas to score at least 40 in the same game.
They each had 20 points in the first half while combining for 45, then combined to score 10 points in the first 102 seconds of the third quarter to start 20-4 for a 91-71 Dallas lead.
The 76ers scored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter to move within four points as Embiid and James Harden watched from the bench, which brought Doncic back into the game earlier than planned.
Doncic’s comeback, who had 12 assists, led Irving back with a three-point play and a deep three-pointer before Doncic hit another long single for a 119-108 lead. They gathered to go to 13 of the 21 depths.
The franchise’s first pair of All-Star starters, who won for the second time in six games together since Irving’s arrival in the blockbuster trade with Brooklyn, also fielded the others.
Five other Mavericks hit 3-pointers as Dallas finished with a season-high 25 3-pointers on 48 attempts (52%).
Harden made his first 11 shots—five from the field, including three 3’s and six free throws—while finishing the first half with 19 points and 10 assists.
The 10-time All-Star guard was limited to eight points and three assists after the break, and notched two of six turnovers in the fourth quarter — on steals from Doncic and Irving — as Dallas was rebuilding its lead.
Hint
76ers: Therese Maxe scored 29 points. … Jalen McDaniels committed three fouls in 14 seconds and four in less than a minute late in the third quarter. Two seconds after he and coach Doc Rivers complained about a call when he knocked the ball out of Doncic’s hands, McDaniels ran across a screen from a Maxi-Clipper for his fourth touchdown of the sequence and fifth overall.
Mavericks: Reggie Bullock (15 points) and Christian (10) were the other leading scorers. … Maxi Kleber and Tim Hardaway Jr. each went 2-of-4, with Kleber scoring nine and Hardaway eight.
the next
76ers: Game three of five, and game three in four nights, in Milwaukee on Saturday.
Mavericks: Visit Phoenix on Sunday for the first meeting between Kevin Durant and Irving as both were traded by Brooklyn.
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