VanVleet tops 30, Raptors beat Pistons
Fred VanVleet scored 35 points, topping 30 for a career-best ninth time this season, and Pascal Siakam added 28 points as the Toronto Raptors beat the Detroit Pistons 119-118 Sunday for their fourth win in five games.
Scottie Barnes scored 20 points and Precious Achiuwa had 11 points and 11 rebounds as Toronto won its second straight win over Detroit after losing the previous six meetings.
Toronto is 20-7 all-time when VanVleet scores 30 or more points.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 33 points, Alec Burks had 21, and Hamidou Diallo and Jaden Ivey each had 18 for the Pistons. Detroit failed once again to win consecutive games for the second time this season.
Ivey's 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter cut it to 116-113 before VanVleet answered with a pair of free throws.
Bogdanovic hit two free throws, but Achiuwa made one of two at the line to put Toronto up by four points with 4.4 seconds left. Ivey's 3 at the buzzer wasn't enough for the Pistons.
Detroit beat San Antonio in double overtime Friday in a matchup of two of the NBA's worst teams. The Pistons haven't won backto-back games since victories at Denver and Utah on Nov. 22 and 23, following all 10 wins since with defeats.
CELTICS 119, GRIZZLIES 109 >> Derrick White scored 23 points to help a shorthanded Boston team hold off Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies 119-109 on Sunday.
Sam Hauser added 20 points, tying his careerhigh with six 3-pointers, Al Horford had 16 points and Payton Pritchard 12 for Boston, which won its fourth straight. Celtics star Jayson Tatum didn't have his sharpest game, finishing with 16 points but making 3 of 16 shots and missing 7 of 8 3-point attempts.
Morant led the Grizzlies with 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds, while Desmond Bane scored 18 and Jaren Jackson Jr. had 15 points and seven rebounds.
Boston was without starting point guard Marcus Smart, who missed his 10th straight with a bone bruise in his right ankle, as well as forward Jaylen Brown (facial fracture he suffered from an inadvertent elbow by Tatum( and reserve guard Malcolm Brogdon (sore Achilles).