Celtics nip Raptors for 12th win in a row
BOSTON—Al Horford had 21 points in his return from a two-game absence and the Boston Celtics hung on to beat the Toronto Raptors, 95-94, on Sunday for their 12th straight victory. Boston, sans the injured Kyrie Irving, rose to 12-2. In Indianapolis, James Harden had 26 points and a season-high 15 assists and the Houston Rockets beat the Pacers, 118-95.
BOSTON— Al Horford had 21 points in his return from a two-game absence because of a concussion and the Boston Celtics hung on to beat the Toronto Raptors, 95-94, on Sunday for their 12th straight victory.
Boston (12-2) was playing without Kyrie Irving after he took an inadvertent elbow to the face from teammate Aron Baynes on Friday night against Charlotte. Irving has a minor facial fracture but has not been diagnosed with a concussion as initially feared.
Jaylen Brown added 18 points, and Terry Rozier helped fill in for Irving with 16 points off the bench. Boston shot just 40.2 percent from the field.
Losing spell
DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points, and Kyle Lowry had 19 points and seven rebounds for Toronto. The Raptors dropped to 7-5 after winning two straight.
Jayson Tatum’s acrobatic layup with 1:26 remaining in the fourth quarter put the Celtics up 95-90.
DeRozan missed a potential go-ahead stepback jumper with 19 seconds remaining. Tatum got the rebound, but elbowed Fred VanVleet in the face for an offensive foul that was confirmed by video review.
DeRozan had another look to give Toronto the win, but missed a turnaround jumper with 2 seconds left. Serge Ibaka scooped up the rebound, but lost the ball as time expired.
The Celtics took a 77-76 lead into the fourth after fighting back from nine down.
DeRozan and Lowry scored 21 of the Raptors’ 24 first-quarter points, but combined for just five in the second as Toronto led by five at halftime.
Irving visited a facial specialist Sunday and was fitted for a mask after being injured Friday. The last time Irving played in a mask was on Dec. 15, 2012, when he scored a then-career-high 41 points versus New York with Cleveland.
Harden leads Rockets anew
In Indianapolis, James Harden had 26 points and a season-high 15 assists and the Houston Rockets beat the Pacers, 118-95. “We’re preaching it. Getting off to better starts and not trying to fight our way back into games. We’ve been doing that as of late,” Harden said. The Rockets improved to 11-3, never trailing and leading by as many as 23. The Rockets overwhelmed the Pacers from the start, jumping out to a 13-2 lead. Houston continued to pile it on early and often, outscoring the Pacers 24-9 during the first 6 minutes. Indianapolis native Eric Gordon had 21 points, and Clint Capela had 20 points and 17 rebounds for the Rockets on the way to Houston’s sixth straight victory.
Houston outscored Indiana 46-38 in the paint, but their most impressive work on the offensive end of the floor came beyond the 3-point line, making 17 3-pointers. Houston’s defense was also a high point for the Rockets with 10 of Indiana’s 13 turnovers coming by way of a steal.
“It was a professional win,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They came in and they took care of business right from the get go. We played well. We’ve been playing well. We’re going to keep it going ... we just don’t want to get too excited, we have another game Tuesday.”
Only hope
The lone bright spot of the game for the Pacers came in the second quarter when they managed to cut Houston’s lead to 39-34. Victor Oladipo had 28 points, and Domantas Sabonis added 17 off the bench for Indiana, and Lance Stephenson had eight points and 10 assists.
But the Rockets were simply too much for the Pacers.
Houston went into halftime leading once again by double digits, 63-51 and put it away in the third quarter with the same offensive mindset that they started the game with.
Other matches saw Oklahoma City stop Dallas, 112-99, and Detroit outclass Miami, 112-103.