WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Luka Doncic scored 53 points in his return to the lineup as the Dallas Mavericks rallied past the Detroit Pistons 111-105, while the Golden State Warriors defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-120 for their third straight win.
Four of Doncic’s five career 50-point games have come this season, including his career-best 60 against the New York Knicks on Dec 27, 2022.
The Slovenian guard returned after spraining his left ankle last Thursday at Phoenix and then missing Saturday’s game at Utah.
Doncic had 18 of Dallas’ first 20 points and 24 of his team’s 30 in the first quarter, the highest-scoring opening period for a player this season.
Despite Doncic’s one-man show, the Pistons grabbed their first lead with 4:41 to play in the first quarter and led 57-53 at halftime.
The Pistons led by 11 in the third quarter and 84-83 going into the fourth. Dallas turned the tide by opening the final period on a 9-2 run, as Spencer Dinwiddie scored six points on his first three field goals of the game. Dinwiddie scored 10 of his 12 in the fourth quarter.
Bojan Bogdanovic had 29 points and Saddiq Bey scored 18 for the Pistons.
In Oklahoma City, Stephen Curry had 38 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, making 8 of 14 3-pointers and 12 of 20 shots overall in the defending champions’ road victory. Klay Thompson added 28 points.
Powered by 18 points from Curry and 16 from Thompson, the Warriors led 63-48 at halftime.
A 3-pointer by Mike Muscala at the end of the third quarter cut Golden State’s lead to 94-85, and the Thunder trailed by just two in the fourth.
Then the Warriors started to respond. Curry’s 3-pointer pushed their advantage to 115-107 with 2:35 remaining, and the game remained in Golden State’s control from there.
Paolo Banchero had 29 points as the Orlando Magic erased a big early deficit to get past the Philadelphia 76ers 119-109.
Kyrie Irving had 26 points to lead the Brooklyn Nets past the Los Angeles Lakers 121-104 in a game that saw LeBron James and Anthony Davis sit out.
Elsewhere, the Sacramento Kings outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-111, the Washington Wizards ended a 22-game losing streak to the Spurs in San Antonio with a 127-106 victory, the Phoenix Suns beat the Toronto Raptors 114-106, and the Portland Trail Blazers edged the Atlanta Hawks 129-125.