LOS ANGELES (AFP) -Jayson Tatum scored 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to propel the NBA champion Boston Celtics to a 116-103 victory over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
With Jaylen Brown sitting out their last game before the All-Star break with a sore right knee, the Celtics didn’t miss a beat, scoring 37 points in the first quarter to seize control and pushing their lead to as many as 24 on the way to a 66-47 halftime advantage.
The Spurs made inroads after the break and had the deficit down to eight points early in the fourth quarter before the Celtics pulled away again.
Tatum produced his third straight 30-point performance and added seven assists. Kristaps Porzingis delivered 29 points and Derrick White added 19 for the Celtics, whose 18 three-pointers helped make up for 17 turnovers leading to 22 Spurs points.
Boston notched a third straight win and their seventh in their last eight games.
De’Aaron Fox, acquired by the Spurs at the trade deadline, led San Antonio with 23 points.
Wembanyma added 17 points and 13 rebounds with two blocked shots. With his 85th straight game with at least one block, Wembanyama passed Hakeem Olajuwon for the fifth-longest such streak in NBA history.
“He’s one of the generational talents,” Porzingis said of the French phenomenon. “He’s still in his second year and he’s already a big force in this league.”
With the win the Celtics remained 5.5 games behind Eastern Conference leaders Cleveland, who cruised past the Raptors 131-108 in Toronto. Donovan Mitchell scored 21 points to lead seven Cavs players to score in double figures. Western Conference leaders Oklahoma City rallied from a 21-point deficit for a 115-101 home win over the Miami Heat.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 14 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, when the Thunder scored 24 straight points to open the period as a Heat team with three players sidelined by a stomach illness faded.
Bam Adebayo scored a team-high 27 points for the Heat and Tyler Herro – who was questionable to start after battling the stomach bug – added 14.
