(The Sports Xchange) – – – Highlights of Saturday’s NBA games.
Celtics 99, Pistons 93
Avery Bradley led a balanced attack with 18 points and the Boston Celtics won their third straight by downing the Detroit Pistons 99-93 at The Palace on Saturday.
Point guard Isaiah Thomas contributed 17 points and nine assists and reserve shooting guard Evan Turner supplied 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for Boston (17-13).
The Celtics’ starting frontcourt of Jared Sullinger, Amir Johnson and Jae Crowder combined for 33 points and 23 rebounds.
Center Andre Drummond carried the Pistons (17-14) with 22 points and 22 rebounds, his fifth 20-20 game of the season.
Detroit point guard Reggie Jackson had 17 points, small forward Marcus Morris added 16 and rookie forward Stanley Jackson chipped in 12.
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Wizards 111, Nets 96
John Wall continued his hot December pace with 22 points and 13 assists to lead the Washington Wizards to a 111-96 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center.
Wall, who came into the game averaging 22.8 points and 11.7 assists during the month, posted his fifth consecutive double-double and 15th of the season.
Marcin Gortat had a game-high 25 points and seven rebounds and rookie Jarell Eddie scored 12 points off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range in his NBA debut for the Wizards, who won their fourth game in a row.
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Raptors 111, Bucks 90
DeMarr DeRozan scored 22 points and Terrance Ross added 21 off the bench as Toronto overcame a third-quarter lull to put away Milwaukee.
DeRozan scored 10 points in the third quarter after Toronto had fallen behind by as many as six and the Raptors opened the fourth with a 17-2 run to go ahead by 13 when Ross sank a three-pointer with 5:56 remaining.
Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 20 points and Greg Monroe had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
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76ers 111, Suns 104
Isaiah Canaan scored 22 points and Nick Stauskas had 17 as the Philadelphia 76ers won their second game of the season and for the first time on the road with a 111-104 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Ish Smith had 14 points and five assists in his first game with the 76ers (2-30) since being acquired from New Orleans on Thursday and Carl Landry had 16 points.
Brandon Knight had 21 points for the Suns, who lost point guard and leading scorer Eric Bledsoe to a left knee sprain with 7:40 remaining in the second quarter.
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Trail Blazers 105, Cavaliers 76
Allen Crabbe scored 21 of his career-high 26 points in the first half and Portland blew away Cleveland to end a five-game losing streak.
