Jaylen Brown scores 33; Celtics beat Pistons 129-102
DETROIT — Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and the NBA-leading Boston won their eighth straight game, beating the short-handed Detroit.
Boston improved to 56-15 — an .800 winning percentage. Detroit is tied with Washington at the bottom of the league at 12-58 — 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 days, also missing a 119-94 home victory Monday night.
James Wiseman had a season-high 24 points for Detroit, and Jaden Ivey had 16. The Pistons have dropped nine straight against Boston.
THUNDER 123, RAPTORS 103
TORONTO — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 23 points in his only regular-season trip to his home country, Chet Holmgren had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Oklahoma City pulled away late to beat short-handed Toronto.
Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Kenrich Williams and Cason Wallace each had 12 as the Western Conference-leading Thunder won their fourth straight and extended Toronto’s season-worst losing streak to nine.
Canada native Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with eight assists and also had seven rebounds. Josh Giddey and Lu Dort scored 10 points apiece as Oklahoma City improved to 21-13 on the road.
The Raptors were lead by rookie Gradey Dick with 21 points, one shy of his career-best, and Kelly Olynyk with 16.
TIMBERWOLVES 104, CAVALIERS 91
MINNEAPOLIS — Mike Conley scored 21 points and Naz Reid added 18 points on his beach towel giveaway night, leading Minnesota past Cleveland.
Anthony Edwards had 16 points and 13 rebounds, Rudy Gobert grabbed 15 rebounds and Jaden McDaniels added 15 points, three steals and two blocks for the Timberwolves, who shot 52% from 3-point range and kept pace with first-place Oklahoma City in the Western Conference playoff race.
Minnesota is third, one game behind Denver.
Darius Garland led the Cavaliers with 19 points, Caris LeVert added 16 and Jarrett Allen had his 35th double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds, but banged-up Cleveland lost for the fifth time in seven games.
PELICANS 111, HEAT 88
MIAMI — CJ McCollum scored 30 points, Jose Alvarado added 17 and New Orleans had no trouble in a win over Miami.
It was McCollum’s fifth 30-point game of the season and his second in the last week. Trey Murphy III scored 14 points and Naji Marshall had 13 for New Orleans, which only got four points in 25 minutes from Zion Williamson and rolled anyway.
Jimmy Butler scored 17 points for the Heat, who fell
four games behind Orlando in the Southeast Division race and missed a potential opportunity to climb out of play-in tournament range. Terry Rozier scored 13 and Bam Adebayo finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Miami — which was 13 for 47 from 3-point range.
GRIZZLIES 99, SPURS 97
SAN ANTONIO — Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 28 points, including the winning basket with 1.2 seconds left, and undermanned Memphis overcame 31 points and 16 rebounds from Victor Wembanyama to snap a four-game skid with a 99-97 win over San Antonio Spurs.
After going 5 for 35 on 3-pointers, San Antonio made consecutive 3s in seven seconds to tie the game at 97-all with 18.8 seconds remaining. After Devin Vassell hit the first 3-pointer, Jeremy Sochan stole the inbounds and Tre Jones hit the tying 3.
Jackson drained a seven-foot jumper that won the game. Wembanyama missed a fadeaway 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
It was Wembanyama’s 38th double-double in 62 games this season.
Scotty Pippen Jr. added 18 points and Santi Aldama had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Memphis.