Another day, another slate of games around the Association. The daily notables are as follows:
Heat Burn Mavs
The Dallas Mavericks had been red-hot coming to the Miami Heat’s Kaseya Center, winning their last four games. But Jimmy Butler made sure that streak ended on Monday, dropping a season-high 33 points on top of 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
Buckets also converted the game-tying dunk with 4.4 ticks left. The Heat challenged that Butler was fouled on the play but was unsuccessful.
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro added 19 and 18, respectively, for the Heat, who improved to 7-7 going to their next assignment on Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Kyrie Irving scored 27 for the visiting Mavs, who dropped to 9-8. They next take on the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.
Cavs Stay Perfect at Home
The Cleveland Cavaliers may no longer be unbeaten, but they are still perfect at home.
Cleveland is now 10-0 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse after dismantling the Toronto Raptors, 122-108. Good friends Donovan Mitchell and Ty Jerome scored 26 apiece to pace the Cavs, who also got 23 points and 13 rebounds from big man Jarrett Allen.
Scottie Barnes starred for the Raptors, finishing with 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists, while RJ Barrett added 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The 17-1 Cavs next face the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday. The 4-13 Raptors travel to Michigan tomorrow to take on the Detroit Pistons.
Celtics Ride Hot Shooting to Power Past Wolves
The Boston Celtics’ three-point shooting is tops in the NBA and proved to be the difference-maker in their 107-105 triumph over the Minnesota Timberwolves at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown started off like a house on fire, scoring the Celtics’ first 15 points, all on long balls. The Wolves, though, survived Brown’s early onslaught and made it an exciting back-and-forth with the Cs, who hit 21 triples in all—including Brown’s dagger trey that put Boston up, 107-102, with 1:16 left.
Brown finished with a game-high 29 points on 7-for-10 shooting from deep, while Jayson Tatum added 28 on 5-for-12 from the arc. Anthony Edwards had 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists for the Wolves, who also got 23 points and 6 assists from Julius Randle.
Boston (14-3) next faces the Los Angeles Clippers tomorrow. Minnesota goes up against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
