NBA champions the Boston Celtics, fueled by 32 points from Jayson Tatum, on Friday bounced back from an overtime defeat with a gritty 124-109 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Tatum added 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, while Jaylen Brown scored 25 points with six rebounds and five assists in a physical game that saw tensions erupt in the fourth quarter when former Celtics player Grant Williams sent Tatum sprawling with a shoulder-to-shoulder check.
Williams was ejected, but Brown and others were clearly angered.
Photo: AFP
Less than a minute later, LaMelo Ball was assessed a flagrant foul for crowding in under Tatum as the Celtics star attempted a three-pointer. Charlotte’s Miles Bridges was ejected in the final minutes for punching the ball.
It all could make for fireworks with the teams scheduled to face off again yesterday, but Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was not fazed.
“I loved it,” said Mazzulla, who received a technical foul as did his Hornets counterpart Charles Lee. “It was tremendous.”
Photo: AP
“Physical game, guys handled it well, great poise, great execution,” added Mazzulla, who was particularly pleased with Tatum’s response to the foul by Williams.
“I’m glad he’s fine,” Mazzulla said. “What I liked most is how he jumped right up, didn’t lay around ... went to the free-throw line and did his business.”
In Cleveland, Ohio, Darius Garland scored 25 points, while Donovan Mitchell added 22 as the Cleveland Cavaliers remained unbeaten with a 120-109 win over the visiting Orlando Magic.
Cleveland have won their first six games to start the season, matching the franchise’s best start since 2016-2017.
Evan Mobley had 14 points and 12 rebounds, Caris LeVert scored 13 points and Jarrett Allen grabbed 11 rebounds for Cleveland, who have scored at least 110 points in all six games under new coach Kenny Atkinson.
Cleveland never trailed in what was a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference first-round playoff series, which the Cavaliers won in seven games.
Orlando trailed by as many as 22 points in the third quarter and lost their second straight game.
Jalen Suggs scored a career-high 28 points, Franz Wagner and Tristan da Silva added 17 apiece, and Moritz Wagner had 14.
The Magic were without All Star forward Paolo Banchero, who sustained a torn right oblique in their loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
Elsewhere on Friday, it was:
‧ Hawks 115, Kings 123
‧ Nets 120, Bulls 112
‧ Pelicans 125, Pacers 118
‧ Pistons 98, Knicks 128
‧ Raptors 125, Lakers 131
‧ T’wolves 119, Nuggets 116
‧ Trail Blazers 114, Thunder 137
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
WORLD SERIES: ‘The individuals that were involved in that last night was a very small segment of the east Los Angeles community,’ the Los Angeles county sheriff said Rowdy crowds took to the streets of Los Angeles after the LA Dodgers won the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series, setting a city bus on fire, breaking into stores and lighting fireworks. A dozen arrests were reported by police on Thursday, but officials said that most fans celebrated peacefully. Video showed revelers throwing objects at police in downtown LA as sirens blared and officers told them to leave the area on Wednesday night after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the MLB World Series at Giants Stadium in New York. Another video showed someone standing atop