The Boston Celtics defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-109 in a possible preview of the NBA Finals, a result that, combined with the San Antonio Spurs’ win in Memphis (98-123), tightens the West in the final stretch of the regular season.
The Thunder, the reigning champions and title favorites, remain first with a 57-16 record, but the Spurs are just two games back (55-18) with nine games still to play.
Oklahoma City arrived in Boston on an unstoppable run of 12 straight wins. But they came up against a team that has gone from strength to strength and has just welcomed back Jayson Tatum at the key moment of the season.
Tatum scored 19 points, while Jaylen Brown contributed 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists; a lethal duo for Boston in recent weeks.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points for the Thunder, who pulled away early with a 13-point lead in the first quarter, but saw the Celtics slowly chip away at the deficit and turn the game around.
The Celtics are second in the East (48-24), four games behind the Detroit Pistons (52-20), although they are the favorites with the bookmakers to reach the NBA Finals.
Spurs scare with Wembanyama (19 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks)
The Celtics are not the only ones who want to challenge the Thunder’s reign; San Antonio is having an excellent campaign and has seven wins in a row with Wednesday’s win at the FedExForum in Memphis.
Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, one of the candidates for MVP of the season, scored 19 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks.
Devin Vassell added 19 points, while Stephon Castle and Keldon Johnson scored 15 points each in what was a dunking festival by the Spurs, who are preparing to participate in their first playoffs since the 2020 bubble in Orlando.
Blow to Detroit and 14-1 from Atlanta
The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Detroit Pistons 129-130, a victory that moves them up to fifth place in the East after a 14-1 run in their last 15 games. The Hawks (41-32) were 10th at the start of this streak.
Jalen Johnson was close to a triple-double with 27 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, while CJ McCollum contributed another 27 points.
The Hawks went up by 21 just before halftime, but squandered the entire lead in a 27-5 run to start the third quarter.
Jalen Duren had a double-double with 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Pistons, Tobias Harris added 22 points and Daniss Jenkins 19 points and 10 assists. The Pistons are without their star, Cade Cunningham, at least until the start of the playoffs.
Jokic close to 20-20-20 triple-double and Jamal Murray scores 53 points for Nuggets
In addition to these games, also on Wednesday Luka Doncic scored 43 points in the Lakers’ 130-137 win in Indianapolis and Nikola Jokic recorded a triple-double (23-21-19) and Jamal Murray scored 53 points in the Denver Nuggets’ 142-135 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Chicago Bulls 157-137 in the return of Joel Embiid (35 points) from injury and Paul George (28 points) from a 25-game suspension for a positive test.
The Timberwolves defeated the Rockets 110-108 in a surreal overtime that began with a 0-13 run in favor of Houston, answered with a 15-0 by Minnesota.
In other games, the Miami Heat won 103-120 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Washington Wizards snapped their 16-game losing streak with a 110-133 victory over the Utah Jazz and the Milwaukee Bucks lost 130-99 in Portland.
In Inglewood, the Clippers defeated the Toronto Raptors 119-94, while further north, still in California, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Brooklyn Nets 109-106
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