Jayson Tatum on Wednesday scored 23 points before leaving the game in the third quarter with a groin injury as the Boston Celtics routed the Memphis Grizzlies 119-95.
Daniel Theis had 14 points, while Enes Kanter finished with 13 points and eight rebounds to help Boston win their second straight.
Memphis have lost two in a row since posting a season-high, seven-game winning streak.
Jonas Valanciunas led the Grizzlies with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Jaren Jackson Jr and Solomon Hill each added 13 points.
Tatum limped to the locker room with a right groin strain with 4 minutes, 43 seconds left in the third.
He returned to the bench at the start of fourth quarter with his right leg wrapped, but was still noticeably in pain and did not return.
However, Boston did not need him, using a 22-3 run — capped by a three-pointer by Gordon Hayward — to increase their 12-point halftime lead to 87-54. Kemba Walker, Hayward and Marcus Smart scored 18 of Boston’s first 20 points in the third period.
Boston were six of seven from the three-point line. It was the worst third quarter of the season for Memphis, who were outscored by 22 points.
The Celtics’ lead grew as high as 38 points in the fourth.
Boston missed 13 of their first 17 field-goal attempts, including going one of eight from the three-point line.
Walker, Hayward and Smart scored just six points between them in the first half, combining to go just one of 16 from the field.
It helped Memphis, who had the highest scoring offense last month (118.7 per game since Dec. 9), to take a 42-35 lead in the second quarter.
However, Boston got their footing and used a 23-0 run to take a 58-42 advantage. The Grizzlies went scoreless for 6 minutes, 51 seconds until Valanciunas scored with just 1.3 seconds left before halftime.
In other results, it was:
‧ Thunder 120, Magic 114
‧ Raptors 107, 76ers 95
‧ Pistons 127, Kings 106
‧ Hawks 102, Clippers 95
‧ Heat 134, Wizards 129 OT
‧ Lakers 100, Knicks 92
‧ Bulls 117, Timberwolves 110
‧ Rockets 121, Nuggets 105
‧ Pacers 112, Suns 87
‧ Spurs 121, Pelicans 117
‧ Jazz 129, Warriors 96
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB