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Atlanta (United States) (AFP) – Boston’s reserves stood out Wednesday as they helped the Celtics to their eighth straight NBA win, this time by a score of 126-101 over the Atlanta Hawks.
Basketball player Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 22 points and fellow All-Star Jayson Tatum added 19, but Brown said it was Boston’s 44 points that made the difference.
“They won the game,” Brown said after Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet each scored 15 points off the bench and Payton Pritchard added 14.
“Tatum and I played decently, but our bench took us and took our team.”
Brown said the contributions from reserves compensated for the injury absences of Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon.
The Celtics entered the game leading the NBA in three-pointers per game.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 27 points, but the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics held Atlanta to just 41.6 percent shooting in a dominant performance.
On the other hand, Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit the game-winning three-pointer in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 121-120 win over the Washington Wizards.
The Thunder trailed by 17 in the first quarter and by 13 at the half, but stormed through in a game featuring 15 lead changes.
Bradley Beal put the Wizards up 120-118 with effective shooting with 6.7 seconds left.
But Gilgeous-Alexander had the answer with a triple step back with 1.9 seconds left. The Wizards had one more possession, but Lu Dort sent a fielding pass to Beal out of bounds as time expired.
“We gave him a bit of an advantage tonight and we had to fight to recover,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who matched his career-high with 42 points, 30 of them in the second half.
He added six rebounds and seven assists for the third straight game of at least 35 points and five assists.
Returning from a five-game absence due to covid protocols, Beal scored 25 points. Kristaps Porzingis led Washington with 27 points, but the Wizards’ four-game hitting streak ended.
In Toronto, OG Anunoby had season-high 32 points and 10 rebounds as he led the Raptors to a 112-104 win over the Miami Heat that snapped the Miami Five’s three-game hitting streak.
The Indiana Pacers stung the Hornets 125-113 in Charlotte, a loss made even more painful for the hosts when guard LaMelo Ball, who missed the first 13 games of the season, injured his left ankle with the remaining pair minutes when he stepped on a fan trying to chase a loose ball.
Ball led the Hornets with 26 points, 16 in the second half, and made five 3-pointers before leaving the game.
Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points and dished out 11 assists and Myles Turner added 20 points for the Pacers, who won for the sixth time in eight games.
On the other hand, the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised to a 126-108 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 35 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 30 for the Timberwolves, who led 42-24 after the first quarter.
The Magic were without the number one draft pick, Paolo Banchero, for the fourth straight game.
© 2022 AFP
