Irving's 47 lead Celtics past Mavericks to maintain streak
DALLAS, TX - NOVEMBER 20: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celtics drives to the basket against Dirk Nowitzki #41 of the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center on November 20, 2017 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS (AP) - Kyrie Irving scored 10 of his season-high 47 points in overtime as the Boston Celtics rallied once again from a double-digit deficit to beat the Dallas Mavericks 110-102 and extend their winning streak to 16 games.
The Mavericks led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, but as they have several times during their winning streak, the Celtics stormed back.
The winning streak ties the fourth-longest in Celtics history.
Boston tied the game at 96 when Irving stole the ball from Dirk Nowitzki and fed Jayson Tatum for an alley-oop lay-up that hung on the rim for a full second before dropping through.
Irving scored his team's first six points of overtime. Then after Jaylen Brown gave Boston a 104-102 lead with a jumper with 1:39 to play, Irving went to work on Yogi Ferrell, backing him down and drawing contact on a lay-up with 48.5 seconds to play. Though Irving missed the free throw to keep the score 106-102, Dallas never got closer.
Harrison Barnes scored 31 points and Wesley Matthews had 18 for Dallas, which came back from an early double-digit deficit as the Celtics went cold for much of the second and third quarters.
Irving and Barnes had chances in the final 30 seconds but both missed shots that would have given their teams the lead.
The Mavericks fell behind by as many as 15 points in the first half, outscoring the Celtics 55-35 over the second and third quarters.
Dallas took its biggest lead of the game when Yogi Ferrell fed a cutting Dwight Powell for a lay-up to make it 87-74 with 7:47 to play before the Celtics rallied.
Boston shot just 10-for-34 over the two middle quarters after building the early lead.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Marcus Smart came into the game shooting just 27 percent from the field, worst among NBA players with at least 10 attempts per game. And he shot 3-for-15 Monday as the Mavericks backed off and dared him to shoot. But Smart's 3 with 1:24 to play in the game put Boston within 96-94. . The game was a homecoming for Boston rookie Semi Ojeleye, who played college basketball at SMU in Dallas.
Mavericks: Guard J.J. Barea won the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for October for the relief work he did in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in his native Puerto Rico. He was presented with the award at halftime. Barea has provided more than 100,000 pounds of supplies to the island, and he has raised nearly $750,000 in funds through his own efforts and a YouCaring.com fund drive.
UP NEXT
Celtics: At Miami on Wednesday. The Celtics beat the Heat on October 28 for win number four of their streak.
Mavericks: At Memphis on Wednesday for the team's third meeting of the season. Each team won at home in a back-to-back series in late October.