Jayson Tatum on Wednesday scored 16 of his 33 points in the second half as the Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic 116-100.
Gordon Hayward added 23 points and Jaylen Brown finished with 18 to help the Celtics win their fifth straight.
Orlando pulled within 105-98 with less than three minutes to play on a basket by Nik Vucevic. The Celtics responded with back-to-back three-pointers by Hayward and Tatum that made it 111-98 with 1 minute, 46 seconds left.
Evan Fournier led the Magic with 26 points. Aaron Gordon added 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Terrence Ross finished with 18 points. Orlando lost for the sixth time in seven games.
After being held to three points in the third quarter, Tatum scored 10 straight points to give Boston a 99-91 lead with 6 minutes, 52 seconds remaining. He then led a fast break and found Brown, who threw down a one-handed dunk over Michael Carter-Williams to give the Celtics the game’s first double-digit advantage.
The Magic took an early 12-5 lead in the first quarter before the Celtics closed the period on a 27-12 run.
In other results, it was:
‧ Pistons 116, Suns 108
‧ Raptors 119, Pacers 118
‧ Nets 129, Warriors 88
‧ Thunder 109, Cavaliers 103
‧ Hawks 127, Timberwolves 120
‧ Grizzlies 121, Mavericks 107
‧ Nuggets 98, Jazz 95
‧ Clippers 128, Heat 111
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