Toronto Raptors upset Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets rout Denver Nuggets

TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors wanted revenge, even if the task was as tough as playing against the National Basketball Association (NBA) champions.

On Jan 15, R.J. Barrett scored a game-high 22 points as the lowly Raptors turned the tables on the Boston Celtics with a dominant 110-97 victory in front of their home crowd in Toronto.

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 offence 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.

The win came as sweet revenge for the team, 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 coach Darko Rajakovic said afterwards.

“But 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 defence, meanwhile, kept Boston star Jayson Tatum quiet, restricting the Celtics ace to just 16 points from five-of-15 shooting.

Toronto improved to 10-31, while Boston dropped to 28-12 to fall 6.5 games behind East leaders Cleveland (34-5) at the top of the table.

Elsewhere, 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 warmup.

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, making six three-pointers.

Houston’s fifth straight win leaves them second in the West on 27-12, behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (33-6).

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 centre, against a team sitting No. 2 in the Western Conference, you’ve got to play damn near perfect,” he said.

“And we were definitely far from that tonight. Just a disappointing night overall.”

In other games, 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 Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis.

In Philadelphia, Jalen Brunson’s 38-point masterpiece helped the New York Knicks edge past the 76ers 125-119 in an overtime thriller at the Wells Fargo Centre.

Mikal Bridges added 23 points while Josh Hart delivered a triple-double comprising 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 play-off berths.

In San Antonio, Victor Wembanyama produced a monster defensive performance but it was not enough to prevent the Spurs from suffering a 129-115 defeat by the Memphis Grizzlies.

French star Wembanyama made eight blocks and pulled 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.

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. AFP