CELTICS THRASH NETS, GIVE MAZZULLA 100TH VICTORY
BOSTON: Payton Pritchard scored 28 points and the NBA-leading Boston Celtics routed the Brooklyn Nets 136-86 on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) to give Joe Mazzulla his 100th victory as head coach.
Derrick White finished with 27 points. Jayson Tatum added 20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Celtics, who beat the Nets on back-toback nights and for the fourth time this season in both teams’ final game before the All-Star break.
Boston is 43-12. The Celtics went 57-25 in Mazzulla’s first season as coach. Wednesday marked the fifth 50-point win in team history.
Trendon Watford had 15 points for the Nets, losers of five of their last six. They trailed by as many as 56 points in the fourth quarter.
Cavs 108, Bulls 105
In Cleveland, All-Star Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, including the goahead free throw with 44 seconds left, and Cleveland overcame a 17-point deficit to beat Chicago.
Coby White had a chance to force overtime as time expired, but his 3-pointer from the top of the key rimmed out.
Isaac Okoro scored 16 points and Jarrett Allen had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland, which has won 18 of its last 20 and is an NBA-best 23-5 since December 16.
White scored 23 of his 32 points in the second half. DeMar DeRozan added 24 points for Chicago.
Magic 118, Knicks 100
In Orlando, Paolo Banchero scored 36 points, Franz Wagner added 21 and Orlando beat injury-riddled New York.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 33 points and six assists. Precious Achiuwa added 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Alec Burks had 13 points in his first start since coming back to the Knicks in a deadline trade last week.
Brunson scored 20 points in the first quarter, and the Knicks led 39-27 when Burks opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer. But with Brunson on the bench, the Magic ran off 17 straight points — 12 of them by Franz and Moritz Wagner — and moved ahead for the rest of the game.
The Knicks played their final game before the All-Star break without six players, including All-Star forward Julius Randle, who missed a ninth game with a shoulder injury. Donte DiVincenzo (sore hamstring), Bojan Bogdanovic (sore calf) and Isaiah Hartenstein (Achilles tendon) were all ruled out just before the game.
Mavs 116, Spurs 93
In Dallas, Kyrie Irving scored 34 points, Luka Doncic had 27 before leaving early in the fourth period and Dallas overcame an early 15-point deficit to beat San Antonio.
Doncic left three minutes into the fourth quarter holding his neck. He also had nine rebounds and eight assists in 31 minutes.
The game was the last for both teams before the NBA All-Star break, with the Mavericks winning a seasonbest sixth straight and Spurs falling for the eighth time in nine contests.
Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama had 26 points — 20 in the first half — and nine rebounds in his belated Dallas debut.
Heat 109, 76ers 104
In Philadelphia, Bam Adebayo had 23 points and 14 rebounds to help Miami beat Philadelphia.
Adbebayo’s thundering dunk capped a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter that gave Miami a lead it never relinquished.
Tyler Herro also had 23 points, and Duncan Robinson added 20 in the Heat’s fourth victory in five games. Tyrese Maxey scored 30 points for Philadelphia. Buddy Heild had 22 points and 10 assists, and Paul Reed, filling in for the injured Joel Embiid (left knee meniscus procedure), added 18 points and 12 boards.