Boston
Jayson Tatum added 16 points, and Al Horford, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart each scored 12 for the Celtics, who won their third straight game.
Rodions Kurucs led Brooklyn with 24 points. Spencer Dinwiddie had 15 and Kenneth Faried scored 13 with 12 rebounds. The Nets lost for just the fourth time in their last 16 games.
Irving was out after scratching both corneas in a collision Dec. 31 at San Antonio.
Playing on consecutive days, the Nets came out sloppy in the opening quarter, committing 11 turnovers — about half coming on wild passes that sailed out of bounds. They ended up with a season-high 25.
Trailing by 11 at halftime, Brooklyn sliced it to 59-54 early in the third quarter before the Celtics used a 17-9 spurt to pull ahead by 17 late in the period.
Boston led 86-74 entering the final quarter and the Nets never threatened.
In the first half, Boston led by double digits at the end of the first quarter and opened a 47-27 advantage on Tatum’s layup midway into the second en route to a 56-45 edge at halftime.
Spurs 119, Pistons 107
Detroit
Popovich now has 1,221 victories. He’s tied with Jerry Sloan for third place, trailing only Don Nelson and Lenny Wilkens.
Popovich didn’t seem too happy early on against the Pistons. The Spurs called a timeout with 6:19 left in the first quarter, down 17-9. After a turnover led to a dunk by Detroit’s Andre Drummond, Popovich took another timeout, 14 seconds after the first one.
San Antonio appeared to get the message. A 23-2 run spanning parts of the first and second quarters put the Spurs up 45-33.
It was relatively smooth sailing from there for San Antonio, which led 59-51 at halftime and 84-73 after three quarters.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 25 points for the Spurs. Blake Griffin scored 34 for Detroit, and Drummond added 19 points and 14 rebounds.
Rockets 125, Nuggets 113
Houston
P.J. Tucker set a career high with seven 3-pointers and scored a season-high 21 points to help Houston win for the 12th time in 14 games.
Capela had 19 points by halftime as Harden fed him again and again when Denver double teamed him behind the 3-point line.
Houston was up by 11 after two free throws by Torrey Craig with about 5 1/2 minutes left before Tucker and Harden made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to make it 117-100 about a minute later.
Gerald Green had 21 points and made six 3s on a night Houston made 22 3s for its sixth game this season with at least 20.
Nikola Jokic scored 24 points for the Nuggets, who had a five-game winning streak snapped.
Pelicans 114, Grizzlies 95
New Orleans
Second-year pro Frank Jackson scored a career-high 17 points for New Orleans, which had won two straight for the first time since winning three in a row in mid-November.
Mike Conley had 22 points and 10 assists for Memphis, but that was not nearly enough to stem what is now a six-game slide.
Bucks 114, Jazz 102
Milwaukee
Thon Maker added a season-high 15 points off the bench for the Bucks, who were coming off a 123-116 loss to Toronto on Saturday night. Milwaukee improved to 28-11, the second-best record in the NBA.
Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points and Rudy Gobert had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Jazz, who lost starting point guard Ricky Rubio to a right hamstring injury less than five minutes into the game. He didn’t return.
Lakers 107, Mavericks 97
Dallas
The two young Lakers responded to their coach Luke Walton’s demand for more passion after a blowout loss to Minnesota on Sunday. The duo helped rally Los Angeles from a double-digit halftime deficit.
The Lakers won for just the second time in seven games since LeBron James strained his groin on Christmas Day, and they swept the season series from the Mavericks 3-0.
Los Angeles surged ahead by outscoring the Mavericks 32-13 in the third quarter. The Lakers took their first lead of the game late in the third quarter on Ball’s dunk. They closed the third on a 13-4 run with Ball and Michael Beasley scoring 11 of the 13 points.
An 11-2 run to start the fourth put the Lakers up 96-82 with 8:52 to play. Dallas closed to within seven twice in the fourth quarter, but each time Ingram drew the defense to him and dished to JaVale McGee for dunks.
Luka Doncic scored 27 points to lead Dallas. The rookie was virtually the entire Mavericks offense in the second half, making six of his team’s field goals after the break. Dallas had 11 turnovers in the second half in addition to 11-for-43 shooting.
Dallas fell to 16-4 at home. The Mavericks entered the day tied for the fewest home losses in the NBA.
The Lakers came back from 13 down at halftime to tie the score 76-all when Ball hit the second of two free throws with 3:47 left in the third quarter, capping a 22-9 run.
With James still out, the Lakers got Kyle Kuzma back in the lineup after missing the past two games with a lower-back contusion. Kuzma missed his first eight shots and didn’t score until midway through the second quarter, but he hit two 3s early in the third quarter to spark the Lakers’ comeback.
The Dallas bench helped the Mavs build a double-digit lead and hold it steady through the second quarter. Reserves Dwight Powell, Dorian Finney-Smith and J.J. Barea combined for 23 points in the first half as Dallas led 67-54 at the break. The Mavs shot 58 percent from the field in the first half.
TIP-INS
Lakers: In what might have been Dirk Nowitzki’s final match-up against the Lakers, Walton joked that he wouldn’t match up Nowitzki’s countryman Moritz Wagner against his fellow German. “Mo has talked about that he’s a national treasure there (in Germany),” Walton said. “We’ll try to keep Mo off him. When legends get guys that look up to them guarding them, they kinda have their way.” Wagner didn’t get into the game.
Mavericks: Barea played his 800th game, becoming the 11th undrafted player from a U.S. high school or college to play 800 games since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. … Numerous Dallas Cowboys, including running back Ezekiel Elliott and linebacker Jaylon Smith, attended the game, drawing an ovation from the sellout crowd.
UP NEXT
Lakers: Host Detroit on Wednesday.
Mavericks: Host Phoenix on Wednesday. Two of the Suns’ nine wins this year have come against Dallas.
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