PBA adopts FIBA rule on traveling for 44th season
BOSTON — Kyrie Irving returned after missing two games with an eye injury and scored 17 points to lead eight players in double figures as the Boston Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets 116-95 on Monday night (Tuesday, PHL time).
Jayson Tatum added 16 points, and Al Horford, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris, and Marcus Smart each scored 12 for the Celtics, who won their third straight game.
Rodions Kurucs led Brooklyn with 24 points. Spencer Dinwiddie had 15 and Kenneth Faried scored 13 with 12 rebounds. The Nets lost for just the fourth time in their last 16 games.
Irving was out after scratching both corneas in a collision Dec. 31 (Jan. 1, PHL time) at San Antonio.
Playing on consecutive days, the Nets came out sloppy in the opening quarter, committing 11 turnovers — about half coming on wild passes that sailed out of bounds. They ended up with a seasonhigh 25.
Trailing by 11 at halftime, Brooklyn sliced it to 59-54 early in the third quarter before the Celtics used a 17-9 spurt to pull ahead by 17 late in the period.
Boston led 86-74 entering the final quarter and the Nets never threatened.
In the first half, Boston led by double digits at the end of the first quarter and opened a 47-27 advantage on Tatum's layup midway into the second en route to a 56-45 edge at halftime.
UP NEXT
Nets: Host the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time).
Celtics: Close a fourgame homestand against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time).
There will be some changes for the 44th Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) season set to open on January 13 at the Philippine Arena.
At the official opening press conference yesterday, Commissioner Willie Marcial revealed a bunch new rules for the 2019 season.
The first one is that the league will review goal tending violations from start to finish starting this season.
It could be noted that there were a few calls that were not reviewed last season, leading to heated moments in game.
"Lahat re-reviewhin namin, parang three points. Kung plus two or minus two kapag goal tending,” Marcial said.
“Mapapansin mo lang yun sa replay eh. Minsan tama o mali yung referee, kahit sa fouls. So inayos namin, kasi importante yun eh, mawawalan ka ng two points, malaking bagay yun,” he added.
Another rule change for 2019 is that the PBA will adapt the FIBA rule on traveling.
Players will be allowed to take a gather step and this rule should help national team players in their transition to the international games.
“Sa traveling naman, ia-adopt na natin yung FIBA kasi parang nalulugi tayo eh. May isang step pa tayo eh. Ginagawa na ng NBA, ginagawa ng FIBA, gawin na rin natin para sa atin,” Marcial said.
Finally, coaches can now verbally call timeouts as opposed to before when they have to do gestures before being able to get a call.
Ginebra and TNT will open the 44th season Sunday at the Philippine Arena right after the PBA Leo Awards.