San Francisco (AFP)
The Boston Celtics continued their brilliance this season, and strengthened their lead in the Eastern Conference and the overall standings, by achieving their sixth victory in a row, and came with a sweeping result over the visiting Brooklyn Nets 136-86, while the Los Angeles Clippers spoiled Stephen Curry’s historic achievement by defeating the Golden State Warriors 130-125 in the Premier League. American professional basketball.
In Boston, Payton Pritchard shined by scoring 28 points, Derrick White added 27, and Jason Tatum added 20 with 9 assists and 7 rebounds in the Celtics' second victory over the Nets in two days and the fourth this season.
Joe Mazzola's 100th victory came as coach of the team, which he took over temporarily in September 2022, after the suspension of Nigerian-born Emi Udoka, before he was rewarded by signing with him permanently on February 16, 2023, before the traditional “All Star” match scheduled for Sunday in Indianapolis.
The Celtics completely dominated the match, in which the difference reached 56 points in the last quarter, before settling at 50 points in the end, as the Nets suffered the second largest defeat in their history, while the home team achieved the fifth largest victory in its history.
The Celtics became only the third team in the history of the league to achieve two victories, during one season, by a difference of fifty points or more (beating the Indiana Pacers 155-104 in November), after Milwaukee in the 1978-1979 season and Sacramento in the 1992-1993 season.
The legendary Green Team raised its number of victories this season to 43 in 55 games, leading the Eastern Conference by 6 games ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who defeated the Chicago Bulls 108-105, thanks to 30 points from Donovan Mitchell, including a free throw in the last 44 seconds that put his team in the lead. Introduction, during a match in which they trailed by 17 points.
The Celtics also strengthened their lead in the overall standings by 4 and a half games over the Minnesota Timberwolves, 5 and a half games over the Oklahoma City Thunder, and 6 over each of the Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers, who overcame their deficit in the fourth quarter by 12 points against their host and neighbor, the Golden State Warriors, and emerged victorious 130- 125, in the absence of Kawhi Leonard due to a leg injury.
The Clippers owe the victory to Norman Powell in particular, as he scored 4 three-pointers in the last 7.03 minutes of the match, which he ended with 21 points, and James Harden added 26 with 8 rebounds and 7 assists, and Paul George 24 before coming out with the six fouls.
The Clippers spoiled Curry's historic evening in which he scored 41 points, including 9 three-pointers out of 19 attempts, thus becoming the first player in the history of the league to score 7 or more three-pointers in four consecutive games, after he had previously scored 11 in the victory over the Pacers last Thursday, then 9 in the win over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday and 7 on Monday in the win over the Utah Jazz.
In other notable matches, the Dallas Mavericks achieved their sixth victory in a row, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 116-93 thanks to 34 points from Kyrie Irving, 27 with 9 rebounds, and 8 assists from Slovenian Luka Doncic, who left the game three minutes after the start of the final quarter due to… Neck pain.
Despite the efforts of the French “rookie” Victor Wepmanyama (26 points, including 20 in the first half, with 9 rebounds and 3 defensive interceptions), Spurs suffered their eighth defeat in the last nine games and the forty-fourth this season.
The defending champion Denver Nuggets fell to the Sacramento Kings 98-102, while the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz 138-122, thanks to 37 points and 15 rebounds by Anthony Davis.
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