Sawt Falasteen - Doncic sparks Mavs as Lakers slump continues

Doncic sparked a fourth-quarter fightback for Dallas, transforming a six-point deficit with just over seven minutes remaining into a five-point lead to help set up a 109-104 Mavs win at the Crypto.com Arena.

It was another frustrating outing for LeBron James and the Lakers, who had battled back from a 21-point first-half deficit to take the lead after outscoring Dallas 31-14 in the third quarter.

Doncic was backed by point guard Jalen Brunson with 22 points while Dorian Finney-Smith added 16.

The Mavericks improved to 37-25 to remain in fifth place in the Western Conference standings.

James led the scoring for the Lakers with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists while veteran Carmelo Anthony added 20 for the home side.

The loss saw the Lakers fall to 27-34 in the conference standings.

In Minneapolis, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 39 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves trounced a depleted Golden State Warriors 129-114.

Towns shot 14 of 22 from the field and grabbed nine rebounds while D’Angelo Russell added 22 points and Malik Beasley 20 from the bench at the Target Center.

"Just trying to come out here and lead by performance, and do what I can," Towns said after the win.

The Warriors were led by Stephen Curry's 34 points, but struggled to overcome the absence of Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala.

Minnesota improved to 34-29 with the win while the Warriors remain second in the Western Conference standings on 43-19, trailing leaders Phoenix by 6.5 games.

"We were really short-handed obviously, but we've just got to keep going," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

"We're going to be fine long-term. I'm excited about our team and where we can go. But we've just got to weather this storm."

In Boston, Jayson Tatum's 33-point display helped the Celtics to a 107-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Derrick White and Grant Williams had 18 each off the bench as the Celtics overturned a 17-point second-quarter deficit to claim the win.

In Toronto, the Raptors staged a fourth-quarter rally to send Brooklyn stumbling to a 109-108 defeat.

The Raptors outscored the Nets 28-19 in the fourth quarter to claim victory after having trailed by 10 points at the end of the third.

Gary Trent Jr. led a balanced offensive performance from Toronto with 24 points.

All five starters made double digits, with Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam adding 18 points each.

"I'm really proud that we just hung in there and stayed with it when it was kind of tough," Toronto coach Nick Nurse said.

V.AbuAwwad--SF-PST