Harden, George star as Clippers level series at Dallas

Paul George and James Harden have each scored 33 points to help the Los Angeles Clippers hold on after blowing a 31-point lead and beat the Mavericks 116-111 in Dallas, evening their NBA playoff first-round series at 2-2.

The Clippers won again on Monday (AEST) without Kawhi Leonard, who missed the series opener with right knee inflammation before playing in the two Dallas victories.

The teams have split a pair on each other’s home court in the third Western Conference first-round meeting between them in the past five seasons. Game 5 is Wednesday night in LA.

Kyrie Irving scored 40 points for the hosts, including an acrobatic layup with 2:15 remaining for a 104-103 lead that was the first for the Mavs since the middle of the opening quarter.

Luka Doncic had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in his fourth career playoff triple-double -- all against the Clippers.

George scored 26 points in the first half, when the Clippers’ lead reached 55-24 on a three-pointer by 10-time All-Star Harden. The high-scoring stars combined to go 11 of 16 from long range as LA finished 18 of 29 overall.

Earlier in Philadelphia, Jalen Brunson recorded the highest-scoring game of his playoff career and the highest ever by a New York player in the post-season.

He had 47 points, added 10 assists and the Knicks beat the 76ers 97-92 to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

New York moved within a victory of getting to the Eastern Conference semis for the second straight year and the No.2 seeds can do that with victory at home on Tuesday night.

Brunson wouldn’t let them lose in Philly in front of a crowd that seemed split between big Northeast cities that had a decidedly Knicks sound down the stretch.

“The Philadelphia fanbase is, I said this before, they’re very relentless and very passionate. I mean, I’m an Eagles fan, I would know,” said Brunson, who won two College national championships with Villanova.

“But seeing the Knicks here and hearing the Knicks here, it was pretty cool and it’s awesome.”

Not for Sixers star Joel Embiid, who had to hear Brunson get louder chants of “MVP! MVP!” than the guy who actually won the award last season.

“Disappointing. It’s unfortunate,” Embiid, who finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, said.

“Yeah, kind of (ticks) me off, especially because Philly is considered a sports town ... so it shouldn’t happen.”

But Brunson’s performance was too marvellous not to cheer as he surpassed the 46 points scored by Bernard King in 1984.