Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Jaylen Brown scored 26 points and Jayson Tatum added 23 as the Boston Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors 115-101 on Sunday. Tatum added 13 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals for the Celtics, who notched their third straight win to tighten their grip on second place in the NBA Eastern Conference.
After hot starts in their past two victories, the Celtics looked sluggish in the early going. They were bedeviled by 18 turnovers, leading to 24 Raptors points, and connected on just eight of their 28 three-point attempts. Up 80-77 going into the fourth quarter, the Celtics were buoyed by 11 points from Payton Pritchard in the final frame, pushing their lead to as many as 18. Ja’Kobe Walter scored 16 points and RJ Barrett and Brandon Ingram added 15 points each for the Raptors, who are seventh in the East but neck and neck with Philadelphia in the fight for sixth and a chance to escape the play-in tournament.
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Later Sunday, LeBron James leads a depleted Lakers team against the Mavericks in Dallas. The Lakers, clinging to third place in the Western Conference, have confirmed they will be without NBA leading scorer Luka Doncic and offensive sparkplug Austin Reaves for at least the last five games of the regular season. Doncic suffered a hamstring strain in a loss to Oklahoma City Thursday, and Reaves has an oblique muscle injury.
The fourth-placed Denver Nuggets are hot on the Lakers’ heels, with the Houston Rockets just two games behind them in fifth place. Golden State superstar Stephen Curry is expected to return from a 27-game injury absence when the Warriors host the Rockets. Curry, who last played on January 30, was diagnosed with a bone bruise and patella-femoral pain syndrome in his right knee.
The 38-year-old said this week that he’d been frustrated at the slow pace of recovery from an injury he expected to sideline him “a week, 10 days max.” “The patience then was tough just because it’s one of those injuries you really have to let rest,” he said. Curry said there is “nothing structurally wrong” with his knee but acknowledged he’s dealing with “a new normal” in terms of managing the issue. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Curry will be on a minutes restriction as the team, currently 10th in the West, builds toward the play-in tournament.
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