The Boston Celtics kept the pace at the top of the Eastern Conference, easily defeating the Indiana Pacers to improve to 28-7 on the season thanks to big nights from star duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Meanwhile, their conference foes the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks both dropped games in upset losses.
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Read on for our NBA Wrap!
CELTICS STAR DUO SHINE AS BOSTON EXTENDS LEAD IN THE EAST
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 69 points and the Boston Celtics again kept the potent Indiana Pacers offence in check in a 118-101 NBA victory at Indianapolis on Saturday.
Tatum scored 38 points and Brown added 31 for the league-leading Celtics, who held the Pacers to a season-low in points as they snapped Indiana’s six-game winning streak.
Boston, who restricted the Pacers to their previous season low in points in their 155-104 win on November 1, were dialled in defensively, holding the Pacers to 17 points in the first quarter.
But the Celtics suffered an early blow when Kristaps Porzingis exited in the first quarter with an eye laceration and the Pacers clawed back.
Aided by 18 Celtics turnovers — 12 of them in the first half — the Pacers chipped away at a 16-point deficit and trailed 58-49 at halftime.
The Pacers, who eliminated the Celtics from the NBA in-season tournament in December, cut the deficit to 84-81 heading into the fourth, but the Celtics powered away in the final period.
Tatum made a season-high eight three-pointers — half of the Celtics’ 16. He added 13 rebounds and six assists.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla lauded his superstar, believing he’s so good that he “gets taken for granted”.
Tatum was proud of his team’s efforts on defence, noting the Pacers’ league-leading scoring output.
“We know they can put up 160,” Tatum said.
“That’s one of the best offences in the league. They play with pace. They share the ball. They can shoot, so you’ve got to be locked in when you come to Indiana.”
Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with 20 points off the bench. Tyrese Haliburton added 17 points and seven assists and came up with five steals.
The teams will meet again on Monday, when Tatum said he expects it to be even harder to contain the league’s most prolific offence.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “You know they’re going to make adjustments. We’ve got to see what we can do better. It’s like a playoff series on the road.”
– AFP
SIXERS, BUCKS SUFFER UPSET LOSSES
It was a perfect night all round for the Celtics, as in addition to their win, their two biggest rivals in the Eastern Conference both went down in shock upsets.
Even without star centre Joel Embiid (knee swelling), the Sixers were still -5.5 favourites against the 17-20 Utah Jazz.
However, it was Utah who controlled the game from the outset and ran away with an 11-point win – just their fifth road victory of the season.
Guard Collin Sexton (22 pts, 10 asts) and forward Lauri Markkanen (33pts, 13 rebs) led the way for the Jazz, who also had handy contributions from Jordan Clarkson (18 pts) and Walker Kessler (10pts) off the bench.
Brunson, Knicks beat 76ers, Embiid hurt | 00:50
It was the Sixers second straight loss, after they were thrashed by the Knicks by nearly 40 points a night earlier.
Milwaukee were also heavily favoured to take care of business against the Rockets but lost 112-108 despite a 48 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The ‘Greek Freak’ was efficient from the field (16/25) and went to the foul line a whopping 21 times, but despite this and being quite undermanned, the Rockets pulled off one of the best wins of their impressive season.
Houston sit just outside the top eight of the Western Conference standings.
Milwaukee are now 3.5 games behind Boston in the race for the East’s no. 1 seed.
NBA SCORES – JANUARY 7
Celtics 118 @ Pacers 101
Jazz 120 @ 76ers 109
Bucks 108 @ Rockets 112
Knicks 121 @ Wizards 105
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