The Boston Celtics shook off the absence of injured Jayson Tatum and the early departures of Marcus Good and Robert Williams to beat the Toronto Raptors 106-104 on Saturday and push their NBA successful streak to 9 video games.
Jaylen Brown scored 27 factors and Grant Williams added a career-high 25 for the Celtics, who improved their league-best file to 35-12.
Coming off a gritty additional time win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, the Celtics trailed 85-81 going into the fourth quarter.
However they opened the ultimate body with a 9-0 run courtesy of three-pointers from Brown, Payton Pritchard and Grant Williams and stayed in entrance till Toronto tied it up at 103-103 on Gary Trent Jr.’s three-pointer with 2:23 to play.
Pritchard, who scored all of his 12 factors within the fourth quarter, drained one other three-pointer that proved to be sufficient.
Malcolm Brogdon added 23 factors off the bench for Boston, whose prime scorer Tatum was sidelined with a sore left wrist.
Grant Williams stated Tatum’s absence was no motive for the Celtics to give up the mindset of an elite group gunning to get again to the NBA Finals for a second straight yr after falling to Golden State within the title collection.
“You’ll be able to’t again down from any problem, irrespective of if you happen to’re down 12 guys, irrespective of if you happen to’re down 4, irrespective of if you happen to’re down two, irrespective of if you happen to’re a full group,” he stated. “It’s a must to do your job.”
Good rolled his proper ankle within the second quarter and left the sport whereas Robert Williams damage his left knee, stayed within the sport briefly however sat out the second half.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla stated Williams’s damage was “nothing critical” and Good had a sprained ankle.
“X-rays had been damaging,” he stated of Good, who needed to be helped off the courtroom. “So it’s only a matter of how he’s ready to deal with it day after day.”
Mobley propels Cavs
In Cleveland, Evan Mobley made positive the Cavaliers didn’t make the identical mistake twice, scoring a career-high 38 factors in a 114-102 victory over a Milwaukee Bucks group lacking two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton.
A day earlier, the Cavs let a Golden State group lacking star shooter Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Inexperienced get previous them, with coach J.B. Bickerstaff saying his group “obtained what we deserved” after taking the depleted Warriors too calmly.
On Saturday, second-year ahead Mobley was laser-focused, connecting on 19 of 27 pictures from the sphere and grabbing 9 rebounds.
Mobley scored 14 factors within the fourth quarter alone. Darius Garland added 21 factors and 10 assists and Caris LeVert, beginning instead of the Cavs’ injured prime scorer Donovan Mitchell, added 13 factors.
Milwaukee led by Jrue Vacation’s 28 factors, trailed a lot of the competition however managed to edge forward twice early within the fourth quarter earlier than Cleveland closed the door.
“We had been simply making an attempt to defend our residence, present up for the whole sport,” Mobley, 21, instructed Bally Sports activities Cleveland in an on-court interview.
Elsewhere the lowly Charlotte Hornets claimed back-to-back video games for simply the second time this season as they eked out a 122-118 victory over the Hawks in Atlanta.
The Hornets, down by 16 at halftime and by as many as 19 within the third quarter, rallied to snap the Hawks’ five-game successful streak.
Terry Rozier led Charlotte with 34 factors, together with three free-throws with 1.1 seconds left to present the Hornets a 120-118 lead.
After Atlanta did not inbound the ball after a timeout, Rozier drained one other pair of free throws.
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