New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Brown powers Celtics to win over Magic
BOSTON — Jaylen Brown scored 34 points, including a career-high 10 3-pointers, and Jayson Tatum added 23 on Sunday to help the Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic 112-96 and snap a three-game losing streak.
The Celtics made 23 3pointers in the game, one short of the franchise record. Brown was 10 for 18 from the distance and one short of Marcus Smart’s team record of 11 for one player.
“I lost count at some point,” Brown said. “I wish somebody would have told me that. I would have fired up five, six more to make sure I beat Marcus.”
Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando, which beat Brooklyn on Friday night to snap a nine-game losing streak. The Magic cut a 23-point, third-quarter deficit to
91-83 early in the fourth before Boston scored 12 of the next 16 points — including a pair of 3-pointers by Brown.
“This team has been in a funk in some ways with that stuff, but that’s not who they are,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “We’ve seen what they do when their backs are against the wall. We know that they compete. There’s never been a question of that.”
The Magic led by as many as five points in the first quarter and held a 40-37 lead with seven minutes left in the second before Brown made a pair of 3-pointers to spark an 11-2 run.
It was 50-46 Celtics in the final minute of the half before Tatum hit back-toback 3s that gave Boston its first double-digit lead. Leading 56-49 early in the third, the Celtics scored 10 straight points to start a
19-5 run that made it a 21point lead.
Boston made 20 of its first 40 3-point attempts before missing five in a row. It shot 23 of 54 from 3-point range in all.
“They shot the ball very, very well,” Vucevic said. “But a lot of it was also because we didn’t make it hard enough.”
NETS 113, WIZARDS 106
NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and James Harden had 26 to lead Brooklyn to a victory over Washington.
Blake Griffin dunked for the first time since December 2019 in his Nets debut and Nicolas Claxton added 16 points, including two three-point plays down the stretch to help hold off the Wizards.
Russell Westbrook had 29 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for Washington.
After trailing by as many as 14 in the first half and 12 in the second, Washington pulled to 103-102 on Westbrook’s driving layup with 3 minutes remaining.
But, Claxton produced two dunks while being fouled off feeds from Irving over the final stretch as Brooklyn never relinquished the lead.
DeAndre Jordan scored 12 points and Joe Harris added 10 for the Nets, who have won 15 of their last 17 games.
Rui Hachimura had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards. Alex Len also had 20 points and Bradley Beal finished with 17.
Griffin played in his first game for the Nets since his buyout from the Pistons, checking in with 4:37 left in the first quarter.
Brooklyn trailed by as many as 14 points in the opening quarter and was behind 30-25 after the first quarter. Harden opened the second quarter by scoring the first nine points and the Nets never trailed again.
Brooklyn opened up its own game-high lead at
52-38 on Bruce Brown’s bucket with 4:54 left in the first half.
The Nets went on to lead 63-56 at halftime.
The Wizards pulled within four on Len’s dunk with just over 8 minutes left in the third quarter. A 9-1 Brooklyn run punctuated by Harden’s short jumper put the Nets up 82-70.