Mavericks 120, SPurs 109

Luka Doncic had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Klay Thompson added 22 points in his Dallas debut and the Mavericks beat San Antonio in the opener for both teams Thursday night.

Kyrie Irving had 15 points for the defending Western Conference champions, who got eight assists from Doncic and seven rebounds from Thompson.

Victor Wembanyama shot just 5 of 18 from the field for 17 points to open the young French phenom’s second year with the Spurs. Jeremy Sochan and Julian Champagnie scored 18 apiece.

Thompson’s first game with the Mavericks was the headliner, but Chris Paul’s San Antonio debut to start his 20th season was an important moment for the Spurs in the growth of a young team seeking to end a five-season playoff drought.

The offense looked rough, and Paul’s only points came on a 3 in the third quarter. But the point guard’s long-term value showed with eight assists and seven rebounds.

Celtics 122, Wizards 102

Jayson Tatum had 25 points and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes, and Boston cruised to a victory over Washington.

Jaylen Brown scored 27 points in the Celtics’ first road game of the season. Derrick White had 19 and Payton Pritchard added 15 as the defending NBA champions extended their winning streak against Washington to five games.

Jordan Poole scored 20 of his 26 points before halftime in the rebuilding Wizards’ season opener, and Jonas Valanciunas added 18 in his Washington debut.

After taking their first double-digit lead just before halftime, the Celtics outscored the Wizards 34-19 in the third quarter put the game out of reach.

With rookies Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington in an extremely young starting lineup, the first half was mostly an encouraging performance.

Boston closed the first half on a 10-1 run to build its largest lead to that point. Tatum hit a pair of 3-pointers, one from each wing, then fed Brown on the second of back-to-back running layups to stake Boston to a 64-54 advantage.