Celtics pour it on vs. Pistons
NBA’s top team makes it eight wins in a row
Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and the NBA-leading Boston Celtics won their eighth in a row, beating the short-handed Detroit Pistons on the road 129-102 on Friday.
Boston improved to 56-15 — an .800 winning percentage. Detroit is tied with the Washington Wizards at the bottom of the league at 1258, 44 games behind the Celtics.
Peyton Pritchard added 20 points and Derrick White had 19 points and 11 assists. Jayson Tatum sat out against Detroit to rest an ankle for the second time in five games.
James Wiseman had a season-high 24 points for Detroit, which lost to Boston for a ninth consecutive time.
The Pistons were missing their top five post players — Jalen Duren (back), Stanley Umude (ankle), Simone Fontecchio (toe), Isaiah Stewart (hamstring) and Ausar Thompson (illness).
Tied at 43 in the second period, Boston took over a stretch that lasted into the third quarter, outscoring Detroit 47-21.
Other games
Thunder 123, Raptors 103:
Shai Gilgeous- Alexander scored 23 points for Oklahoma City in his only regular - season trip to his home country. Chet Holmgren had 18 points and 10 rebounds to help the Thunder pull away late to beat injury-depleted Toronto, which had a seasonworst 27 turnovers.
Pelicans 111, Heat 88: CJ McCollum scored 30 points, Jose Alvarado added 17 and New Orleans had no trouble on the road against Miami. It was McCollum’s fifth 30point game of the season and second in the past week. The loss dropped the Heat four games first-place Orlando in the Southeast Division.
Timberwolves 104, Cavaliers 91: Mike Conley’s 21 points and six assists helped Minnesota draw within a game and a half of the Northwest Division lead. Cleveland got 19 points from Darius Garland but shot only 24.1% on 3-point attempts (7 for 29) while Minnesota made 51.9% of its shots beyond the arc (14 for 27).
Grizzlies 99, Spurs 97: Jaren Jackson Jr. sank a pullup jump shot with one second to play to lift Minnesota to a road win against San Antonio. Jackson finished with 28 points to lead the Spurs, who overcame another big night for Victor Wembanyama, who had 31 points, 16 rebounds and five assists.
Notes
Russell Westbrook is expected to rejoin the Los Angeles Clippers next week, according to published reports. Westbrook has been out almost three weeks after surgery on his fractured left hand. The Clippers are 5-5 in his absence.
• New Orleans forward Brandon Ingram has a bone bruise in his left knee that is expected to keep him out of action for at least two weeks. He hyperextended his knee in Thursday’s loss at Orlando.