And in his latest preparations for the upcoming confrontation with the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, Boston presented a coherent performance and succeeded in beating the Pelicans, third in the Western region.
The next match for Boston, which has four consecutive victories, will be expected against the Nets, as it leads the Eastern Conference standings (30-12) and the Nets are trying to chase it (27-13).
While Brown averaged nearly 27 points per game this season, he carried his team Wednesday on his shoulders, recording 15 of 21 attempts and adding 12 rebounds.
“This is a long season,” Brown said after the win. “There’s a lot of basketball going on. Day in and day out, you have to be ready to do your job.”
The balanced attack of Boston was exhausted by the Pelicans, as superstar Jason Tatum added 31 points and 10 rebounds, substitute Malcolm Brogdon 20 points and Al Horford 14, while the main winners Marcus Smart and Robert Williams missed 3.
In the loser, who missed the injured Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum emerged with 38 points, and Nagy Marshall added 18.
Milwaukee chase
The Milwaukee Bucks continued their pursuit of the Eastern Conference leaders, by defeating the Atlanta Hawks 114-105, led by distributor Gro Holiday, who scored 27 points.
The Greek star, Yannis Antetokounmpo, had his lowest score this season (7 points), but he added 18 rebounds and 10 assists.
Holiday was one of five Bucks players to score at least 10 points, while center fielder Brook Lopez added 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Milwaukee seemed to be in complete control of the game early in the second quarter, and took a 24-point lead in the third on its way to a routine win.
But Atlanta almost turned the tables, when it made up the difference and even advanced 103-101 over its opponent after a volley from Serbian Bogdan Bogdanovic. Lopez restored the Bucks’ lead with a three-pointer, which gave his team a 104-103 lead, then caught the last moments, achieving victory.
“We’re resilient,” Holiday said after the Bucks won. “We don’t like to lose.”
He continued, “The close matches help us understand the lessons, as we can decide the matches and benefit from that in the future.”
38 points for Morant
The star, Ja Morant, returned after missing two matches due to injury, to score 38 points and lead the Memphis Grizzlies to their eighth consecutive victory, at the expense of the San Antonio Spurs 135-129.
Memphis raised its tally to 28 wins against 13 losses, equally with the Denver Nuggets, the leaders of the Western Region, and the winner by a big score over its guest, the Phoenix Suns, 126-97.
Denver’s Serbian giant Nikola Jokic was close to achieving his twelfth “Triple Double” (ten or more in three statistical categories) this season, by scoring 21 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists.
The Nuggets made a 16-point lead in the first half, scoring 70 points, then raised the difference to 32 points in the third quarter on their way to victory.
In Wednesday’s matches, the Detroit Pistons left the bottom of the Eastern Region standings (12-33), by defeating its guest Minnesota Timberwolves 135-118, as Seddik B was the best scorer with 31 points, so that his team achieved its first victory after three losses and exchanged the bottom of the standings with the Charlotte Hornets.
