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• Irving hails Doncic's resilience after star turn against Clippers

  Kyrie Irving was amazed by the "resilience" of Luka Doncic after he led the Dallas Mavericks to a pivotal Game 5 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers despite suffering from injury and illness.

  A knee problem that has been troubling Doncic since Game 3 was wrapped with ice by midway through the fourth quarter, but he scored 35 points to lead the Mavs to a 123-93 rout of the Clippers.

  That gave the Mavs a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference first-round series and put them on the brink of a series victory.

  Doncic had 14 points in the third quarter as Dallas extended its lead to 25 before taking an 89-69 advantage into the fourth. He shot 14 of 26 from the field and finished with 10 assists and seven rebounds. 

  It was the fifth time in his postseason career that Doncic had produced a performance with at least 30 points and 10 assists, extending what is already a team record.

  And Doncic also tied with Michael Jordan for the most consecutive 20-plus point games on the road to begin an NBA playoff career. He has now done that in 15 consecutive games.

  Maxi Kleber hit five 3-pointers and Irving added 14 points and six assists on a great Wednesday night for Dallas.

  "I always speak on his resilience," Irving said about Doncic after the game, per ESPN. "He's not feeling a hundred percent, but he's still going to go out there and play. 

  "For me as a teammate, I enjoy that. I enjoy being around somebody like that that's going to push themselves but also be smart and still make an impact on the game – and still empty his clips, as we like to say. 

  "Even though he is not feeling well or he's not able to be a hundred percent, he's still able to lead our team in his own way."

  The Mavericks will try to close out the Clippers at home in Game 6 on Friday. Doncic admitted that, given his condition, he would not have played in Game 5 if it had been a regular season contest.

  "It's the playoffs," he said after playing while feeling unwell as well as managing the pain in his knee.

  "When you start the game in the playoffs, it's a different thing. There's a lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions. So you just keep going."

  Clippers coach Tyronn Lue knows finding a way to stop Doncic will be key if his team are to reverse their fortunes.

  "We knew at some point Luka was going to have a Luka game," he said. "We are not going to hang our heads.

  "We have got to win four games. We go to Dallas, Game 6 on Friday and we will be ready to go."

• Celtics are 'learning from mistakes' after series win over Heat

  Jayson Tatum claimed that the Boston Celtics are learning from their mistakes after securing their place in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

  The Celtics are into the semifinals following a 4-1 series victory over the Miami Heat after winning Game 5 118-84 on Wednesday.

  In taking the series, the Celtics avenged their 2023 Conference finals loss to the Heat, who routed them in Game 7.

  Tatum praised the team’s attitude during the win, saying: "That's how it should be.

  "We should be learning from our mistakes and things we could've done better and applying it to the next season, because we're trying to have a different outcome this year."

  Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each scored 25 points, while Sam Hauser had 17 points and Tatum added 16 with 12 rebounds for the Celtics.

  Despite a record-breaking shooting performance by the Heat in Game 2, they struggled to gain a foothold in the series. They missed 26 of 29 from 3-point range and were out-rebounded 56-29 in Game 5 while playing without the injured Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

  The Celtics were also without a key player, as Kristaps Porzingis missed his first postseason game with a right calf strain that will keep him out for at least a week.

  Brown insisted that the Celtics have proven that they were never reliant on any single player.

  "I think we just have to continue to play our game like we've been doing our whole career and continue to show our growth by trusting our teammates," he said.

  "I think if we're going to win, we're going to win as a team."

  Up next for the top-seeded Celtics is the winner of the Cleveland-Orlando series that the Cavaliers lead 3-2.

• NBA: Celtics rout Heat to reach East semis; Mavericks cruise to 3-2 lead

  Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each scored 25 points and the Boston Celtics rolled to a 118-84 rout of the short-handed Miami Heat on Wednesday to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

  Up next for the top-seeded Celtics is the winner of the Cleveland-Orlando series that the Cavaliers lead 3-2.

  Sam Hauser had 17 points and Jayson Tatum added 16 with 12 rebounds for the Celtics, who never trailed and gained a measure of revenge a year after Miami routed them in Game 7 of the conference finals.

  Bam Adebayo scored 23 points and Tyler Herro had 15 for Miami, which exited the playoffs prior to the conference finals for the first time since 2021.

  The Heat, who missed 26 of 29 from 3-point range and were outrebounded 56-29, played without Jimmy Butler (knee), Terry Rozier (neck) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (hip).

   

  Doncic, Mavericks rip Clippers

  Luka Dončić scored 20 of his 35 points in the second half to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 123-93 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers for a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference first-round series.

  Doncic had 14 points in the third quarter as Dallas extended its lead to 25 before taking an 89-69 advantage into the fourth quarter. He shot 14 of 26 from the field and finished with 10 assists and seven rebounds.

  The Mavericks will try to close out the Clippers at home in Game 6 on Friday.

  Maxi Kleber hit five 3-pointers and Kyrie Irving added 14 points for Dallas, which shot 54 percent (47 for 87) from the field, including 35.9 percent (14 for 39) from long range. The Clippers, meanwhile, were held to 37.9 percent (33 for 87) shooting and 25.7 percent (9 for 35) on 3s.

  Paul George and Ivica Zubac scored 15 points apiece and James Harden scored just seven points on 2-of-12 shooting and missed six of his seven 3s. Russell Westbrook missed his first eight shots before finally scoring in the third quarter and finishing with six points on 2 of 11 from the field.