LOS ANGELES, United States: Jayson Tatum delivered 31 points and 12 rebounds to spark the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics over Milwaukee 113-107 on Sunday despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 43-point performance for the Bucks.
The Celtics improved to 9-2, two games behind unbeaten Cleveland in the Eastern Conference, while the host Bucks slid to 2-8.
Payton Pritchard scored 18 points off the Boston bench while Derrick White and former Buck Jrue Holiday each scored 15 points and Jaylen Brown added 14 for the Celtics.
“Team effort,” Holiday said. “It’s not easy doing it by yourself. We did it collectively.”
Greek star Antetokounmpo also grabbed 13 rebounds and elbowed Brown to the floor at one point, then offered a hand to help him up only to pull it away when Brown reached for it.
“Giannis is a child,” Brown said afterward. “I’m just focused on helping my team get a win.”
The win eased the memory of two lopsided Boston losses in Milwaukee last season.
“It’s nice,” Holiday said. “We got blown out twice last year so getting this win here with my family in the building is awesome.”
The Bucks led 69-58 at half-time but the Celtics grabbed a 87-84 edge entering the fourth quarter and closed with a 9-5 run to seal the triumph, Tatum scoring seven in the crucial stretch.
“We just picked up the intensity,” Holiday said of the third-quarter rally. “We came out, hit shots, not getting too ahead of ourselves and getting back to Celtics basketball.”
In a showdown of Western Conference contenders, Golden State’s Stephen Curry scored 36 points, hitting 7-of-13 3-point shots, to lead the Warriors in a 127-116 victory at Oklahoma City that left both clubs 8-2.
The Thunder, led by 24 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, lost star big man Chet Holmgren in the first quarter with a right hip injury after a fall and being helped off the court.
At Minneapolis, Tyler Herro scored 26 points and reserve Nikola Jovic made a game-winning 3-point play with 7.1 seconds remaining to give Miami a 95-94 victory at Minnesota.
Jaden McDaniels tipped in a 3-point miss by Mike Conley with nine seconds remaining to give the Timberwolves a 94-92 lead, but Jovic answered with a layup and free throw for the deciding points.
Conley missed a final 3-point shot to seal Miami’s triumph, which snapped a three-game Heat losing skid and three-game T-Wolves win streak.
In another late thriller, Michael Porter’s basket with 6.1 seconds remaining gave the Denver Nuggets a 122-120 home victory over Dallas.
Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic had a triple double with 37 points, 18 rebounds and 15 assists to lead Denver while Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 43 points for the Mavericks.
With star forward Kevin Durant out due to a left calf strain, the Phoenix Suns fell to 8-2 with a 127-118 overtime loss to visiting Sacramento.
Keegan Murray tipped in a missed shot by DeMar DeRozan with 3.2 seconds remaining to give the Kings a 111-110 lead but Devin Booker’s free throw lifted the Suns level to force overtime.
DeRozan, who had a game-high 34 points, scored eight consecutive points for a 119-113 Kings edge and the Suns never led again, De’Aaron Fox scoring the last six in overtime.
Bradley Beal scored 28 to lead Phoenix, whose win streak ended at seven.
The NBA-worst Philadelphia 76ers outlasted visiting Charlotte for a 107-105 overtime victory, improving to 2-7 on the season.
LaMelo Ball’s 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining lifted Charlotte level at 97-97 to force overtime.
In overtime, Charlotte’s Grant Williams made a free throw with 0.1 of a second remaining and missed the next in hopes of a game-tying tip-in, but the 76ers grabbed the rebound to win.
At Indianapolis, Bennedict Mathurin scored 38 points and Tyrese Haliburton added 35 points and 14 assists to lead the Indiana Pacers over New York 132-121.
Orlando, meanwhile, had 23 points from Franz Wagner in a 121-94 home rout of Washington while Houston edged host Detroit 101-99 behind Alperen Sengun’s 27 points and Memphis routed host Portland 134-89.
Celtics defeat Bucks despite big night for ‘child’ Giannis
https://arab.news/cn5dz
Celtics defeat Bucks despite big night for ‘child’ Giannis
- Celtics survive Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 43-point performance for the Bucks
- The Bucks led 69-58 at half-time but the Celtics grabbed a 87-84 edge entering the fourth quarter
Real Madrid scrape win over Rayo, Athletic claim derby draw
- Vinicius Junior scored early on for Madrid after Jude Bellingham limped off with a hamstring injury which is expected to keep him out for around a month
BARCELONA: Kylian Mbappe stayed calm to roll home a 100th-minute penalty and claim Real Madrid a 2-1 win over nine-man Rayo Vallecano on Sunday in a spicy La Liga derby clash.
Elsewhere Athletic Bilbao struck late to secure a 1-1 Basque derby draw against Real Sociedad and Real Betis rose to fifth with a 2-1 win at Valencia.
Los Blancos cut Barcelona’s lead back to one point at the top of the table after the Spanish champions beat Elche on Saturday.
Vinicius Junior scored early on for Madrid after Jude Bellingham limped off with a hamstring injury which is expected to keep him out for around a month.
Jorge de Frutos pulled Rayo level early in the second half as Madrid fans showed their anger at their team following the midweek Champions League defeat at Benfica.
After Pathe Ciss’s red card tilted the game in Madrid’s favor, Mbappe netted from the spot at the death for his 22nd La Liga goal this season.
Pep Chavarria was also sent off in the final stages for Rayo, 17th, who took a shaky Madrid to the wire before falling short.
Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa said it would take time before the team could become more consistent, having had six games at the helm since replacing Xabi Alonso.
“I’m not Gandalf the White,” the Madrid coach told reporters, referring to the fictional wizard from the Lord of the Rings.
“What I want from my players is what I’m seeing, commitment, attitude, mentality, knowing that to win each game quality is not enough, consistency is key... we will work on that.”
Arbeloa said Madrid had to play better than other teams to beat opponents, because of their illustrious name.
“This is Real Madrid, and to beat Rayo Vallecano we need to do more than the rest of the teams in La Liga,” he continued.
The coach said Bellingham would be a “big absence” for the matches ahead after he limped off early, incuding the Champions League play-off games against Jose Mourinho’s Benfica — again.
After the defeat in Portugal stopped Madrid reaching the last 16 directly, the Santiago Bernabeu crowd was in unforgiving mood and whistled their own players, despite appeals from Arbeloa and Mbappe ahead of the game.
Vinicius, who was targeted, fired the hosts ahead in the 15th minute with a fine individual goal.
Los Blancos were in charge but despite taking the lead, their fans were not appeased, and whistled the team in at the break.
Things got worse when four minutes into the second half Rayo pulled level through De Frutos.
The visitors should have taken the lead after an hour when Andrei Ratiu ran through on goal but Thibaut Courtois denied him superbly, while Mbappe hit the crossbar at the other end.
Rayo self-destruct
Rayo made life harder for themselves when midfielder Ciss was sent off for an ugly foul on Madrid’s Dani Ceballos.
Eduardo Camavinga headed against the post as Arbeloa’s side turned the screw.
With nine minutes of stoppage time ticking down Madrid were awarded a penalty when Nobel Mendy clumsily fouled Brahim Diaz, and La Liga’s top scorer Mbappe dispatched it.
Rayo finished the match with nine men after Chavarria was shown a second yellow card for shoving Rodrygo Goes.
“The important thing is to improve, to grow as a team, try to be calmer, we can’t always be waiting for the opponent to make a mistake,” said Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde.
At Athletic’s San Mames home Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta’s fine solo goal snatched the hosts a point against in-form Real Sociedad.
La Real continued their fine start under American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo as they went a sixth game unbeaten, but victory was almost theirs after Goncalo Guedes’s 37th-minute long-range rocket.
Brais Mendez was sent off for hitting out at Aitor Paredes and Real Sociedad paid the price as Ruiz de Galarreta burst into the area and smashed home with two minutes left.
The draw left Real Sociedad eighth, still in contention for European football next season after their improvement.
“I think we deserved the three points today, when it was 11 against 11 we were dominant,” La Real midfielder Carlos Soler told DAZN.
Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic, 11th, are winless in their last six La Liga games but will be bolstered by avoiding a derby defeat by the skin of their teeth.
“We’ve had a difficult month, lots of adverse results... luckily with the final push we were able to draw,” said Ruiz de Galarreta.
