NBA ROUNDUP : After Slow Start, Celtics Win Easily

As expected, the game was a mismatch. The Dallas Mavericks, though, made it interesting for a while Sunday night at Boston.

The injury-riddled Mavericks stunned the Boston Celtics by taking a 16-point lead after the first quarter, but then the Celtics scored 42 points in the second quarter and went on to a 127-110 victory.

It was the Celtics’ 16th consecutive home victory.

While improving their season record to 26-5, their best since a similar start in the 1984-85 season, the Celtics recorded their 400th regular-season home victory since Larry Bird joined the club in 1979.

Dallas, which has never won in Boston, charged to a 35-22 first-quarter lead and widened the advantage to 38-22 on Rolando Blackman’s three-point basket.

The Celtics then went on a 38-11 run to go from 16 points down to 11 points up before settling for a 64-54 lead at halftime.

Bird scored 11 of his 17 points in the decisive run, while Kevin McHale got nine of his 21. Dee Brown added six of his 17, Reggie Lewis had five of his 20, and Brian Shaw four of his 12 in the rally.

Kevin Gamble, who had only two points during the run, led Boston scorers with 23 points. Blackman led the Mavericks with 27.

Portland 114, Seattle 111--Danny Ainge scored 20 points, including two three-pointers in the final 2:41, and Terry Porter’s layup broke a tie with 18 seconds remaining as the Trail Blazers fought off a comeback to beat the SuperSonics at Portland.

Shawn Kemp, who led Seattle with 25 points, scored 17 in the second half as the SuperSonics rallied from an 13-point halftime deficit to lead 99-95 with 7:19 left.