R.J. Barrett on Wednesday scored 22 points as the lowly Toronto Raptors turned the tables on the Boston Celtics with a dominant 110-97 victory over the reigning NBA champions.
The Raptors, who are languishing three places off the bottom of the Eastern Conference, grabbed only their 10th win of the season after stifling Boston’s offense at the Scotiabank Arena.
Barrett spearheaded a balanced offensive display by Toronto, spreading the ball deftly as all five Raptors starters finished in double figures.
Photo: AP
The win came as sweet revenge for Toronto, who had been on the receiving end of a brutal 125-71 mauling by the Celtics in Boston on Dec. 31.
“It was a tough loss for us in Boston,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “This group is very connected and is a very prideful group — so we really wanted to go out there and compete at the highest level. Everybody contributed tonight.”
Barrett, who also had 10 rebounds and eight assists, was given scoring support from Scottie Barnes with 18 points, while Jakob Poeltl finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Raptors defense kept Boston star Jayson Tatum quiet, restricting the Celtics ace to just 16 points from five-of-15 shooting.
Toronto improved to 10-31 in the Eastern Conference standings, while Boston dropped to 28-12 to fall 6.5 games behind leaders Cleveland (34-5) at the top of the table.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, the Denver Nuggets were humbled 128-108 at home by the high-flying Houston Rockets in a lopsided Western Conference duel.
The Nuggets suffered a blow before tip-off when three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic was ruled out with an elbow injury during the warm-up.
With Aaron Gordon (calf) also missing, Houston rammed home their advantage to score a wire-to-wire victory.
Jalen Green led the Rockets scoring with 34 points, including six three-pointers.
Houston’s fifth straight win leaves them in second place in the West on 27-12.
Denver coach Michael Malone said his team had failed to rise to the challenge following the injury absences of Jokic and Gordon.
“When you’re without your starting power forward and center, against a team sitting No. 2 in the Western Conference, you’ve got to play damn near perfect, and we were definitely far from that tonight. Just a disappointing night overall,” Malone said.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Stephen Curry drained seven three-pointers in a 31-point performance to help the Golden State Warriors grind out a 116-115 win over the Timberwolves.
In Philadelphia, Jalen Brunson’s 38-point masterpiece helped the New York Knicks edge past the 76ers 125-119 in an overtime thriller at Wells Fargo Center.
Mikal Bridges added 23 points, while Josh Hart delivered a triple-double comprised of 10 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists, with four steals thrown in for good measure.
The Knicks improved to 27-15 to remain third in the East, while the Sixers, missing the injured Joel Embiid once again, fell to 15-24, just outside the playoff berths.
In San Antonio, Texas, Victor Wembanyama produced a monster defensive performance, but it was not enough to prevent the Spurs suffering a 129-115 defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies.
French star Wembanyama made eight blocks and hauled down 12 rebounds in vain as the Grizzlies remained in third place in the Western Conference on 26-15, eight games adrift of leaders Oklahoma City (33-6).
Ja Morant was the Grizzlies’ talisman, finishing with 21 points, 12 assists and four rebounds. Desmond Bane also had 21 points for the visitors.
In New Orleans, Dejounte Murray’s 30 points propelled the Pelicans to a 119-116 win over the depleted Dallas Mavericks, who remain without injured stars Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.
The Milwaukee Bucks cruised past the Orlando Magic 122-93 to maintain their impressive recent run of form, Damian Lillard scoring 30 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo 26.
In Los Angeles, there were contrasting victories for the Clippers and Lakers over the Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat respectively.
The Clippers crushed the Nets 126-67, while the Lakers rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to score a 117-108 win, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis bagging 22 points apiece.
Elsewhere, the Hawks downed the Bulls 110-94 and the Hornets stung the Jazz 117-112.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),