The Boston Celtics retired the No. 5 Jersey of NBA Top 75 star Kevin Garnett after losing to the Dallas Mavericks 95-92 at TD Garden on Sunday.

"I just manifested, not only a championship, but being immortal in the ceiling, you know what I'm saying? So safe to say I manifested this," Garnett said.

Though Garnett only played in the Celtics for six seasons, not even half of his time in the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Celtics granted him the honor first, making his shirt the 23rd one float next to the 17 NBA Championships the team has won in history.

Garnett was the one who added the 17th to those titles in 2008, together with Paul Pierce, whose No. 34 Jersey was already retired by the Celtics, and Ray Allen.

The most affectionate moment of the ceremony was when the three hugged together. It has been almost 10 years since Garnett and Allen looked so closed.

"It's good to see Ray Allen here," Garnett said. "Real s***. It's good to see you, man. You next, dog."

"So it did center around Kevin and myself because I did get the sense that the people here felt how Kevin felt. Once he accepted me, then the people accepted me. That was the sense. I was glad we could do that and people could see, 'We won with this guy in 2008, and that's what matters most," Allen said.

"We appreciated you, man." Pierce said. "You brought a sense of culture to this city that was desperately needed. You brought Celtic Pride back."

The Celtics could have welcomed the ceremony with the sixth straight win if they hadn't wasted a 13-point lead. Luka Doncic scored 11 points in the third quarter for the Mavericks, leading his team to a 38-26 rally in this quarter. The whole team of the Mavericks shot 11 for 15, 6 for 9 and 10 for 10 in field goals (FGs), 3-pointers and free throws, respectively in this quarter.

The last quarter of the game again became a rough, defensive contest as the two sides exchanged 19 points. Doncic was completely shut out of the Celtics' paint, but he still managed to find open Spencer Dinwiddie outside the 3-point line at 0:12 to make the game-winning triple.

This was the sixth time for the Mavericks to end the opponents' winning streak, which was at least five games long. After Sunday's win, they are only half a game away from the Western Conference fourth Utah Jazz.

Lakers lose both game and dignity

The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers 140-111 at Footprint Center on Sunday, bagging one of their easiest wins this season.

The Suns had seven players reach double-digit points, led by 30 of Devin Booker who also had 10 assists and four steals. Deandre Ayton got a double-double of 23 points and 16 rebounds after shooting 11 for 14 in FGs. The team also led hugely in fast break points 28-11, points in the paint 72-36 and assists 36-24.

The game was long gone in the first quarter when the Sun scored 48 points, 17 of which were via fast break. Their opponents were careless with the ball and lacked the will to put up any decent resistance. In fact, the Lakers only committed three person fouls in the first two quarters.

The Suns might have extra motivation from Anthony Davis' remarks before the game. Davis said the purple and gold could have won the series against the Suns last season if he hadn't been injured.

"We know that. They know that. They got away with one," Davis said.

"Instead of taking the high (road), you make a comment like that," Booker said, revealing that his team learnt Davis' words before going to the arena.

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel should be held responsible for the humiliating loss as well with his decision to send a small-ball squad against Ayton, JaVale McGee and Bismack Biyombo. One of the consequences was being dominated in rebounds (51-37 in total and 14-7 on the offensive glass).

"That's just my thing," Ayton said. "I'm punishing teams like that."

LeBron James got 31 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Lakers on Sunday night, reaching 10,000 assists in his career and becoming the first player in NBA history to score 30,000+points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists.

Only he knows how it feels like to reach such a record in a loss like this.

"I get a loss of words anytime things like this happen to me," James said. "I automatically start thinking about my hometown of Akron and my upbringing where I come from. The dreams I had of being in this league at the highest level and to now sit alone in a statistical category in this league. I model my game after being able to score, rebound and assist. And to sit alone in a stat, I'll say cool, but it doesn't quite make sense to me."

Other games on Sunday (away teams come first):

New York Knicks 107-110 Brooklyn Nets

Los Angeles Clippers 106-102 Detroit Pistons

Philadelphia 76ers 116-114 Orlando Magic

Indiana Pacers 128-131 Atlanta Hawks

Houston Rockets 105-130 New Orleans Pelicans

Memphis Grizzlies 125-118 Oklahoma City Thunder