Jayson Tatum had 40 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists, and the Boston Celtics held off a late rally to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-101 on Saturday night.
With LeBron James in the locker room with a strained groin, the Lakers cut a 20-point, fourth-quarter deficit to single digits. But Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored Boston’s final 12 points to preserve the win.
Brown added 31 points as the Celtics earned their fourth straight victory.
James finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists before exiting midway through the fourth quarter as the Lakers had their eight-game Los Angeles win streak.
Luka Doncic had 34 points and eight rebounds in his first game in Boston since he and the Dallas Mavericks lost Game 5 of the NBA Finals as Boston clinched its 18th championship.
Things fell apart for the Lakers in a third quarter in which they showed very little connectivity on offense. It’s clearly something that’s still missing at times with the addition of Doncic.
Elsewhere, Stephen Curry became the 26th player in NBA history to score 25,000 career points, reaching the milestone during the third quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ 115-110 win against the Detroit Pistons.
“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!” Curry yelled while running back through the hallway to the locker room following a quick return to the court postgame.
Curry, who turns 37 next Friday, surpassed 25,000 with a 3-pointer at the 8:32 mark of the third quarter then received a warm ovation when recognized during a timeout with 5:42 to go.
He finished with 32 points — pushing his total to 25,017 — on 8-for-22 shooting and converted all 12 of his free throws.
His next remarkable task is becoming the first player in the league to make 4,000 3-pointers. Curry hit four Saturday and needs seven more.
Trae Young had 36 points and Caris Lavert added 26 off the bench as the Atlanta Hawks held off the Indiana Pacers 120-118 for their third win in four games.
Oneka Okongwu had 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Hawks.
The Hawks led by 20 points after the first quarter and 17 at halftime, but the Pacers took the lead midway through the fourth quarter before Atlanta made the key plays down the stretch.
