Jayson Tatum on Sunday delivered 31 points and 12 rebounds to spark the reigning NBA champions Boston Celtics over Milwaukee 113-107 despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 43-point performance for the Bucks.
The Celtics improved to 9-2, two games behind the unbeaten Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference, while the host Bucks slid to 2-8.
Payton Pritchard scored 18 points off the Boston bench while Derrick White and former Buck Jrue Holiday each scored 15 points and Jaylen Brown added 14 for the Celtics.
Photo: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images / USA Today
“Team effort,” Holiday said. “It’s not easy doing it by yourself. We did it collectively.”
Greek star Antetokounmpo also grabbed 13 rebounds. In the second period, he appeared to inadvertently elbow Brown to the floor, resulting in an offensive foul against the two-time Most Valuable Player.
As they headed back up the floor, Antetokounmpo held out his hand toward Brown, only to pull it back over the top of his face while smiling at him. Antetokounmpo then reached out his hand again, but the Celtics’ three-time All-Star looked down without reciprocating.
“Giannis is a child,” Brown said afterward. “I’m just focused on helping my team get a win, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Antetokounmpo said he was just joking.
“We’re playing basketball. At the same time, we’ve got to have fun when we play,” he said.
“I think we’re always trying to joke around within the flow of the game. It’s something I do with my kids when we play around. Sometimes, I’m like: ‘Give me a high five. Oh, you’re too slow.’ I just did it. I enjoyed it, though. It was fun,” he added.
When Antetokounmpo was told about Brown’s post-game comment, the forward praised Brown as “an incredible player,” while defending his actions.
“At the end of the day, if I’m called a child, so be it. I have three children of my own and I think six nieces. I take care of a lot of kids around here. Sometimes when you’re around a kid, you try to act like a kid. It’s fun. It’s fun to be around them. So I just try to go out there and have fun. Again, great player, great competitor. If I have another opportunity, I’ll do it again.”
In a showdown of Western Conference contenders, Golden State’s Stephen Curry scored 36 points, hitting 7-of-13 three-pointers, to lead the Warriors in a 127-116 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder that left both clubs 8-2.
In another late thriller, Michael Porter’s basket with 6.1 seconds remaining gave the Denver Nuggets a 122-120 home victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic had a triple-double with 37 points, 18 rebounds and 15 assists to lead Denver while Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 43 points for the Mavericks.
Also producing a triple-double was LeBron James, who scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and 16 assists to spark the Los Angeles Lakers over the Toronto Raptors 123-103.
Elsewhere, the Phoenix Suns fell to 8-2 with a 127-118 overtime loss to the visiting Sacramento Kings, while the NBA-worst Philadelphia 76ers outlasted the visiting Charlotte Hornets for a 107-105 overtime victory, improving to 2-7 on the season.
The Miami Heat pipped the Minnesota Timberwolves 95-94, the Indiana Pacers beat the New York Knicks 132-121, the Orlando Magic routed the Washington Wizards 121-94, the Houston Rockets edged the Detroit Pistons 101-99 and the Memphis Grizzles mauled the Portland Trail Blazers 134-89.
Additional reporting by AP
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS