PHILADELPHIA – The Boston Celtics shrugged off the absence of Kristaps Porzingis and Jaylen Brown to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers and claim top spot in the Eastern Conference on Wednesday.
Jayson Tatum led the Boston scoring with 29 points while Derrick White weighed in with 27 to give the Celtics a 117-107 victory on the road in Philadelphia.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) win saw Boston move into first place in the Eastern Conference standings at 9-2, with the Sixers falling to 8-3 in second.
“Top to bottom we’ve got a lot of guys who can do a lot of good things,” said White, who scored 14 fourth-quarter points to shepherd the Celtics to victory.
“I’ve been pretty bad the past couple of games... so I just wanted to go out there and compete and do what I do and that is to make some shots.”
White was praised by Joe Mazzulla for stepping up for the team.
“With the match-ups that we had, his efficiency was sky high. And when we can get him into those pick-and-rolls with his right hand, it’s a good effective play for us,” the Boston coach said.
“He’s one of those guys who just shows up and makes the big play.”
An entertaining clash at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Centre saw the lead change hands 11 times, with Boston sprinting into a 17-point lead early in the second quarter.
The Sixers responded to finish the first half strongly, however, taking a 58-57 lead into the break.
But Boston hit back in the third period to outscore Philly 26-17 to take what turned out to be a decisive eight-point lead into the fourth quarter.
“The physicality on the ball, we were not able to get into things as crisply as we would like to,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.
“It’s not always easy coming off a back-to-back like that and it took us a minute to get into the game. I think that we gave up some easy offence and dug ourselves a hole.”
In other games on Wednesday, Damian Lillard dropped 37 points with 13 assists and four rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks pounded the Toronto Raptors 128-112 on the road.
“The situation was right for it,” he said of his big night.
“With Giannis not playing I knew I would have more responsibility, I knew I would have to be more aggressive and kind of assert myself from a playmaking and scoring standpoint.”
The win marked a triumphant return to Toronto for Bucks coach Adrian Griffin, the former Raptors assistant coach who joined Milwaukee in May following the sacking of Mike Budenholzer.
Milwaukee, missing the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo, controlled the game after taking the lead early in the first quarter, leading by as much as 33 points at one stage in the third quarter.
Lillard was backed with 30 points from Malik Beasley, who nailed eight three-pointers. Bobby Portis added 18 from the bench and Khris Middleton 11 as the Bucks improved to 7-4 for the season.
“He made a lot of timely shots,” Griffin said of Beasley. “That’s what he’s here for. He’s an unbelievable shooter.”
Scottie Barnes led Toronto’s scorers with 29 points.
In Chicago, Paolo Banchero’s last-gasp jump shot with a second remaining helped the Orlando Magic (6-5) to a pulsating 96-94 victory over the Bulls.
Chicago looked to have done enough to force overtime after a brilliant three-pointer from Zach Lavine tied it up at 94-94 with eight seconds left on the clock.
But Banchero drove to the basket on the final Orlando possession, spinning to shoot to make the decisive bucket.
He finished with 17 points from four-of-12 shooting in a low-scoring game. LaVine led Chicago (4-8) with 19 points. AFP, REUTERS
