Celtics storm past 76ers in London
(Reuters) On the verge of being blown out, the Boston Celtics instead routed the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday in London.
Outscoring Philadelphia 66-46 in the second half, Boston overcame a 22-point, second-quarter deficit and claimed a 114-103 victory at O2 Arena.
Jaylen Brown led five players in double figures for the Celtics, with Kyrie Irving adding 20 to go along with seven assists and six rebounds. Marcus Morris scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Al Horford collected 13 points, eight boards and seven assists.
JJ Redick scored a game-high 22 points for Philadelphia, while rookie Ben Simmons hit for 16. Joel Embiid contributed a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Fred VanVleet scored a careerhigh 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting as host Toronto steamrolled Cleveland.
CJ Miles made four 3-pointers while scoring 16 points and Jonas Valanciunas contributed 15 points and a season-high 18 rebounds for the Raptors. Pascal Siakam also scored 16 points as Toronto won for the sixth time in seven games.
LeBron James had 26 points for the Cavaliers, who were routed for the second straight contest while losing for the sixth time in the past eight games. Cleveland trailed by as many as 41 points on Monday in a 127-99 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Blake Griffin returned from a twogame absence caused by a concussion and hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:55 to play, sending Los Angeles past host Sacramento.
The club’s ninth victory in the past 12 games might have been a costly one for the injury-ravaged Clippers, who lost star center DeAndre Jordan to a sprained left ankle in the second quarter.
Los Angeles’ Lou Williams, who exploded for 50 points Wednesday in a win over the Golden State Warriors, followed up with a game-high 30 against the Kings. Griffin added an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double. Bogdan Bogdanovic topped Sacramento with 22 points.