Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The NBA champion Boston Celtics shrugged off the absence of All-Star Jayson Tatum, raining 20 three-pointers in a lopsided 123-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday. With Tatum sidelined by a sore right knee, reserve Payton Pritchard stepped up to lead the Celtics scoring with 27 points and 10 assists as they notched a 12th straight victory over the Pistons. Pritchard drilled seven three-pointers and reached 500 for his career — the 10th Celtic to reach that mark.
“Payton’s been awesome,” NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jaylen Brown said of Pritchard’s contribution off the bench all season, which has him in the conversation for Sixth Man of the Year. “We’ve all seen it coming,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of talent on this team and he’s capable of doing that each and every night.” Derrick White also made seven from beyond the arc on the way to 23 points. Kristaps Porzingis scored 19 and Brown chipped in 14 as six Celtics players scored in double figures. Reserve Luke Kornet was a perfect five-for-five from the field on the way to 12 points to help the Celtics bounce back from a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.
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The Celtics improved to 20-5, one game behind the 21-4 Cleveland Cavaliers atop the Eastern Conference. The Pistons, coming off a victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday, also got a strong contribution off the bench as Ronald Holland led Detroit’s scoring with 26 points. Cade Cunningham, who had his fifth triple-double of the season on Saturday, scored 18 points with eight rebounds and eight assists, but the Pistons connected on just seven of their 37 three-point attempts and never led after the first quarter.
In Miami, Tyler Herro scored 23 points and Bam Adebayo added 21 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Heat to a 114-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Miami pushed their winning streak to four games, rallying from a 16-point deficit early in the second quarter to lead 58-51 at halftime after which they never trailed. RJ Barrett posted a triple-double of 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for Toronto and Gradey Dick scored 22 points. Miami’s Jimmy Butler, the focus of trade speculation in the media this week, scored 11 points with five rebounds and four assists.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before the game that the trade talk swirling around Butler wouldn’t be a distraction to the player or the team. “This is this profession,” Spoelstra said. “You can’t get sick at sea over some narratives that are going on out there.”
The Sacramento Kings, fueled by Domantas Sabonis’ 32 points and 21 rebounds, held off the Pelicans 111-109 in New Orleans. DeMar DeRozan added 29 points for Sacramento, who led by 14 midway through the fourth quarter only for New Orleans to slice the deficit to two on CJ McCollum’s three-point play with 1:24 remaining. The Pelicans, led by 36 points from McCollum, came up short on two ensuing possessions as the Kings held on.
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