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Boston (United States) (AFP) – With 34 points from Jayson Tatum and 31 with 10 rebounds from Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 134-112 on Sunday for their sixth consecutive win and took over the top spot in the NBA Eastern Conference.
The Celtics won for the 24th time in their last 28 games and, combined with the 76ers’ loss on the day to Phoenix, took the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time this season.
This win came at the expense of a team that until recently had been one of the best in the NBA: Minnesota is 12-5 since the All-Star break, winning 10 of 11 before recent back-to-back losses to Phoenix and Dallas.
Anthony Edwards scored 24 and Karl-Anthony Towns added 19 for the Timberwolves, who opened a four-game road trip.
The Celtics opened with 13 points in the second quarter to emerge with a double-digit lead that they never relinquished. They went into the intermission up 72-49.
At the time, everyone was waiting to see if Tatum would move into the NBA’s scoring lead and he did, as he totaled 1,923 points on the season after the game to pass Atlanta’s Trae Young (1,915) for the top spot.
The Celtics star already has one of the 15 best scoring seasons in Celtics history and has seven games left to become the seventh player in franchise history to top 2,000 points in a season. He would join John Havlicek, Paul Pierce, Larry Bird, Isaiah Thomas, Kevin McHale and Sam Jones.
Suns still on
In Phoenix, Devin Booker scored 35 points, point guard Chris Paul had 19 points and 14 assists and the NBA-leading host Suns won their eighth straight game with a 114-104 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
It was a white-hot matchup between two teams with their sights set on the NBA Finals.
The Suns sit as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and the best record in the league, while the 76ers battle Milwaukee, Boston and Miami for the top spot in the East.
The Sixers saw their winning streak of three straight games snapped despite another great game from Cameroon’s Joel Embiid, who finished with 37 points and 15 rebounds.
Philadelphia’s other star, James Harden, had a tough game, shooting just 2-for-11 from the field. He scored a total of 14 cartons, nine assists and seven rebounds.
The Suns took a 91-86 lead in the fourth quarter. They pushed that lead to 101-90 midway through the quarter, but the Sixers scored 10 straight points, highlighted by two 3-pointers by Tyrese Maxey, to rally a bit.
However, Booker responded by taking another shot from range as Danny Green fouled him, and the Suns scrambled away to ultimately get the win.
Booker shot 13-of-22 from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, in one of his most efficient games this season.
– Sunday results in the NBA:
NY Knicks a Detroit 104-102
Boston a Minnesota 134-112
Phoenix a Philadelphia 114-104
Washington a Golden State 123-115
New Orleans a LA Lakers 116-108
Dallas a Utah 114-100
Charlotte a Brooklyn 119-110
© 2022 AFP
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