Luka Doncic scores 42, Kyrie Irving 40 as Mavs outlast 76ers 133-126

DALLAS (AP)— Luka Doncic scored 42 points, Kyrie Irving added 40 and the newAll-Star pairing sparkled throughout the Dallas Mavericks’ 133-126victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night.

Doncic wona matchup of the NBA’s top two scorers as Joel Embiid finished with35 points for the 76ers, who were playing a night after a win inMiami without their All-Star center.

Irving andDoncic became the first Dallas teammates to score at least 40 inthe same game.

They eachhad a 20-point first half while combining for 45, then combined toscore 10 points in the first 102 seconds of the third quarter tostart a 20-4 run for a 91-71 Dallas lead.

The 76ersscored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter to get within fourwith Embiid and James Harden watching from the bench, which broughtDoncic back in the game earlier than planned.

The returnof Doncic, who had 12 assists, got Irving going again with athree-point play and a deep 3-pointer before Doncic hit anotherlong one for a 119-108 lead. They combined to go 13 of 21 fromdeep.

Thefranchise’s first pair of All-Star starters, who won for the secondtime in six games together since Irving arrived in the blockbustertrade with Brooklyn, got others involved, too.

Five otherMavericks hit 3-pointers as Dallas finished with a season-high 253s on 48 attempts (52%).

Harden madehis first 11 shots — five from the field, including three 3s andsix free throws — while finishing the first half with 19 points and10 assists.

The 10-timeAll-Star guard was limited to eight points and three assists afterthe break and had two of his six turnovers in the fourth quarter —on steals by Doncic and Irving — when Dallas was rebuilding itslead.

TIP-INS

76ers:Tyrese Maxey scored 29 points. ... Jalen McDaniels picked up threefouls in 14 seconds and four in less than a minute late in thethird quarter. Two seconds after he and coach Doc Rivers complainedabout a call when he knocked the ball out of Doncic’s hands,McDaniels ran through a screen from Maxi Kleber for his fourth inthe sequence and fifth overall.

Mavericks:Reggie Bullock (15 points) and Christian (10) were the otherdouble-figure scorers. ... Maxi Kleber and Tim Hardaway Jr. eachwent 2 of 4 from 3, with Kleber scoring nine and Hardawayeight.

UPNEXT

76ers: Thethird game of a five-game trip, and third game in four nights, atMilwaukee on Saturday.

Mavericks:Phoenix visits Sunday in the first meeting between Kevin Durant andIrving since both were traded by Brooklyn.