NBA play-offs: Thunder beat Mavericks, Celtics fend off Cavaliers

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks 100-96 to level their Western Conference semi-final series at 2-2.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 of his game-high 34 points in the second half, while Thunder team-mate Chet Holmgren registered 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

Dallas led 54-43 at half-time but Thunder closed the game with a a 20-10 run to take the win.

“We all have our role on the team,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.

“We all have somewhere we like to get to. All we can do is get to it and trust our work. That’s what we did and we pulled it out.”

PJ Washington top-scored for Dallas with 21 points, while Luka Doncic had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for a triple double.

However, the Mavs only made 12 of their 23 free throws, while the Thunder made 23 from 24.

Game five in their best-of-seven NBA play-offs series will take place in Oklahoma on Wednesday.

The Boston Celtics also won on Monday as they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-102 to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 33 points as Celtics team-mate Jaylen Brown weighed in with 27 points against a Cavaliers side deprived of star player Donovan Mitchell because of a left calf injury.

“I thought both teams played really hard,” said Boston coach Joe Mazzulla, whose team can win the series when they next play on Wednesday.

“I just thought you have to make plays down the stretch. So they made a tonne of plays and put a tonne of pressure on us, and we made a tonne of plays. I thought both teams brought it.”