Brown, Tatum lead Celtics to revenge win
Boston defeated Pistons 10 days after losing to them
Jaylen Brown scored 27 points and Jayson Tatum added 26 points and 11 rebounds as the Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons 113-104 on Saturday.
The Celtics have won 11 of their past 12 games, the blemish a 112-111 home loss to Detroit on Feb. 16. On Saturday, Boston was able to take advantage of Cade Cunningham’s foul trouble.
Cunningham led Detroit with 25 points in 27 minutes, but no one else approached 20 points.
Payton Pritchard led Boston’s second unit with 19 points and Grant Williams added 13.
The Pistons lost guard Hamadou Diallo with 6:29 left in the second quarter after he was ejected for pushing official Suyash Mehta when they nearly collided in transition. Diallo was averaging 15.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in his past eight games.
Boston led 56-54 at halftime, and, with Diallo gone, Pistons coach Dwane Casey had to stay with Cunningham after he picked up his fourth foul early in the third.
Cunningham, who played only nine minutes in the first half, had eight points in 11 third-quarter minutes without picking up his fifth foul. That was enough to put Detroit up 82-78 going into the fourth, but the Celtics quickly regained the lead.
Nets 126, Bucks 123: Kyrie Irving scored 38 points and Brooklyn defeated Milwaukee. Seth Curry had 19 points and Andre Drummond added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets. Bobby Portis led Milwaukee with 30 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 29 points and 14 rebounds.
Hawks 127, Raptors 100:
Trae Young returned to his All-Star form by scoring 41 points and Atlanta rode a dominant third quarter to a victory over Toronto. Young had 11 assists in his strong bounceback game. He shot only 3for-17 from the field in Atlanta’s 112-108 loss at Chicago on Thursday night, his first game after starting in the All-Star Game. Kevin Huerter added 14 points for the Hawks.
Heat 133, Spurs 129: Bam Adebayo scored a season-high 36 points, Tyler Herro added 27 off the bench and Miami overcame an early 16-point deficit to beat San Antonio. Jimmy Butler scored 27 points in 30 minutes to help Miami improved the Eastern Conference’s best record to 40-21.
Cavaliers 92, Wizards 86:
Lauri Markkanen scored 23 points and All-Star center Jarrett Allen had 18 points and 14 rebounds in rallying Cleveland
to a victory over Washington.
Washington matched the largest lead of the game at 84-75 on Daniel Gafford’s follow shot with 6:39 remaining, but Cleveland answered with 12 straight points. Grizzlies 116, Bulls 110: Ja Morant scored a career-high 46 points and Memphis hung on to beat Chicago.
Notes: Knicks rookie Quentin Grimes will miss at least two weeks with a right knee injury. Grimes was hurt Friday night in a 115-100 loss to Miami after it appeared he banged knees with another player along the baseline. The Knicks said the injury was a subluxation of his right patella . ... Ben Simmons is dealing with back soreness as the Brooklyn Nets’ new acquisition prepares to make his 202122 debut. Nets coach Steve Nash confirmed before Saturday’s game with the Milwaukee Bucks that the three-time AllStar has encountered “just a little soreness in his back.” “It’s not like an injury,“Nash said. “It’s just kind of like as he’s returning to play, his back’s flared up a little. It’s not like a long-term thing.” The Nets acquired the 6-foot-10 guard/ forward along with Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two future first-round picks in a Feb. 10 trade that sent 10-time All-Star James Harden and Paul Millsap to Philadelphia.