NBA: Celtics hold off undermanned Hawks
JAYSON Tatum led the way with 32 points as the host Boston Celtics narrowly held off the undermanned Atlanta Hawks 112-107 Friday night.
Enes Kanter had 16 points and 15 rebounds, and Romeo Langford scored a career-high 16 as the Celtics won their sixth straight game and for the ninth time in their last 10.
John Collins had 30 points and 10 rebounds, Kevin Huerter scored 25 and Brandon Goodwin added 21 for the Hawks, who have lost three of four.
Atlanta had just nine players available after acquiring Clint Capela, Dewayne Dedmon, Skal Labissiere and Derrick Walton Jr. in separate trades this week. All four additions were out, as was Trae Young (ankle), Bruno Fernando (calf) and Cam Reddish (concussion).
For the Celtics, Jaylen Brown (ankle), Gordon Hayward (foot) and Daniel Theis (ankle) were unavailable, but Kemba Walker (knee) and Marcus Smart (quad) returned from missing three and two games, respectively.
Boston used a 33-18 third quarter to take control, but Atlanta got within three, 108-105, when Goodwin sunk a three and followed with another bucket with a minute left.
The Hawks called timeout down 110-107 with 18.3 seconds to go, and Huerter and Goodwin missed chances to tie in the final 10 seconds to seal the result.
Beal’s last-second layup lifts Wizards over Mavs
Bradley Beal's layup with 0.2 seconds left lifted the Washington Wizards to a 119-118 win over the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
Beal took the inbounds pass from Troy Brown Jr. near the foul line with 1.8 seconds left and drove for the layup. The Mavericks' alley-oop attempt at the buzzer failed.
Dorian Finney-Smith's corner 3 gave the Mavericks a 117-112 lead with 1:48 remaining, but Ish Smith's 3 made it 117-115, and Davis Bertans tied it with two free throws with 45.3 seconds to play.
After Kristaps Porzingis' shot was blocked by Washington's Isaac Bonga, Beal missed and Tim Hardaway Jr. was fouled by Bonga with 1.8 seconds left. He missed the first but made the second.
Beal had 29 points for Washington, ending a streak of seven straight games with 30-plus points. Bertans added 20 points.
Seth Curry led seven Mavericks in double figures with 20 points and Hardaway finished with 19.
Porzingis, who suffered a broken nose in a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies
on Wednesday night, played but was limited to 21 minutes due to foul trouble, and finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Luka Doncic (sprained right ankle) of the Mavericks missed his fifth straight game and Washington was without Thomas Bryant (right foot soreness).
Paul scores 22 as Thunder beat Pistons
Chris Paul scored 22 points to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 108-101 home win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.
The Thunder led for much of the game but never could stretch the margin to double digits before Detroit made a push early in the third quarter to come back and tie the game at 57.
Oklahoma City then scored nine consecutive points quickly to ignite a 19-6 run overall and grab control.
Paul and Shai
Gilgeous-Alexander scored six points each during that stretch, which lasted until two minutes remained in the quarter.
The Pistons made a push in the fourth, cutting the deficit to four in the final three minutes, but the game never got any closer.
Oklahoma City stretched its winning streak to four games and has won nine of its past 10.
Detroit has lost seven of its past nine.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 points for the Thunder while Danilo Gallinari added 19, Dennis Schroder 18 and Steven Adams 16.
Raptors outlast Pacers, extend franchise-best win streak to 13
Serge Ibaka collected 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors extended their franchise-best winning streak to 13 games on Friday with a 115-106 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.
Fred VanVleet had 20 points and OG Anunoby added 16 for Toronto, which benefited from a 27-6 advantage in fastbreak points to complete a home-and-home sweep of the Pacers this week.
The Raptors posted a 119-118 victory over Indiana at Toronto on Wednesday.
Toronto's Kyle Lowry scored 10 of his 16 points in the first quarter to move past Vince Carter (9,420 points) for third place among the franchise's top all-time scorers.
Carter previously held the team record before being traded to the then New Jersey Nets in 2004.
Lowry's night came to an abrupt end with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter. He sustained what the Raptors referred to as whiplash after he came down hard on the leg of Ibaka.
Toronto's Pascal Siakam scored 13 of his 15 points in the first quarter before he was inadvertently poked in the eye by teammate Rondae Hollis-Jefferson following a layup from Indiana's Victor Oladipo with 3:24 remaining in the second.