Basketball: Clippers rout Celtics, Nets cruise past Wizards

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Clippers dealt the Boston Celtics another setback on Monday, beating the top team in the National Basketball Association (NBA) 113-93.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue hailed the “energy” generated by the return of his All-Stars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

George scored 26 points and Leonard racked up a season high of 25 points with nine rebounds and six assists as the injury-plagued Clippers showed how good they can be at full strength.

“When your two best players come back, that’s a lot of energy,” said Lue, who added that he told his players, “Let’s get out and run, let’s play faster”.

George said he is still deciphering how to best dovetail with Leonard. He said: “It’s just good if both of us are playing aggressive.”

Leonard added: “Only my ninth game. You can’t rush it. Yeah, just got to keep moving.”

His coach was pleased with the 31-year-old’s “huge” game and suggested the two-time NBA Champion and Finals Most Valuable Player is getting his “rhythm back”.

Jaylen Brown scored 21 points and Jayson Tatum added 20 with 11 rebounds for the Celtics, who were coming off a 123-107 loss to champions Golden State Warriors in a Finals rematch on Saturday.

It is the first time since October that the Celtics have dropped two games in a row, their league-best record falling to 21-7.

The Clippers dialled in defensively on the Celtics’ dangerous scorers, limiting Tatum to four-of-12 shooting as Los Angeles took a 56-47 lead at the break.

Tatum and Brown combined for just three three-pointers in 14 attempts, as the Celtics made just nine of 39 from beyond the arc.

Leonard said the strong defensive display was “a group effort by everybody”.

He added: “Being locked in to their plays, making sure that Tatum is getting double-teamed and Brown is seeing a lot of hands when he shoots the basketball; that’s what it took.”

Lue added: “We made a conscious effort to make sure Tatum and Brown played in a crowd all night.”

Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said he thought the Celtics “lost our poise” in the third quarter, when Leonard and George started on a scoring tear.

“But the margin for error is small,” Mazzulla said. “When you get great looks and you don’t make them, you have to find other ways to win.”

Elsewhere, the Brooklyn Nets cruised to their fourth straight victory as Kevin Durant’s 30 points fuelled a 112-100 win over the Wizards in Washington.

The Nets, who battled through early season struggles that saw coach Steve Nash sacked and then dealt with the suspension of Kyrie Irving in an anti-Semitism row, have now won eight of their last nine games.

“We’re building something,” Durant said. “We’ve got to keep fine-tuning.”

The Nets led by double digits for much of the second half, holding the Wizards to 45 points after the interval.

Durant added nine rebounds and six assists and Irving added 24 points as the Nets dealt the Wizards a seventh straight defeat.

Will Barton scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Wizards, who had 20 points apiece from Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma.

The Nets trailed Cleveland by just half a game for third place in the East, after the Cavaliers were upended by Western Conference stragglers San Antonio 112-111.

Josh Richardson scored 24 points to lead the Spurs, who were up by 10 with 4:35 to play and held on despite a Cavs rally that cut the deficit to two on Donovan Mitchell’s put-back basket with 53 seconds remaining.

Evan Mobley added a free throw that pulled Cleveland within one with 37.9 seconds left.

But Keldon Johnson blocked a shot by Mitchell, Cleveland’s Darius Garland missed a three-pointer and Spurs reserve Devin Vassell came up with a steal to seal the victory.

The injury absence of Ja Morant was no problem for the Memphis Grizzlies, who roared to a 128-103 home victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Tyus Jones scored 22 points and Jaren Jackson delivered 15 points, seven rebounds and a career-high eight blocked shots – which tied the Grizzlies’ franchise single-game record shared by Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol and Stromile Swift.

The Grizzlies won their sixth straight and moved within half a game of the New Orleans Pelicans atop the Western Conference.

In Dallas, Luka Doncic scored 38 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in the Mavericks’ 121-114 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Tim Hardaway Jr added 20 points for the Mavericks, who drained 22 three-pointers and withstood a 42-point performance from Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to snap a two-game losing streak.

In Portland, Damian Lillard drilled 11 three-pointers on the way to 38 points in the Trail Blazers’ 133-112 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. AFP