Celtics
All-Star Wing Jaylen Brown came to the forefront again, scoring 33 points in the Celtics’ road win over the Pistons on Friday.
“It’s an honor to coach Jaylen when he’s playing like this,” coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters. “He handles every possession on both ends of the floor and he gets the shots he wants, both for himself and his teammates. He plays very complete basketball and it’s fun to watch.
- Boston was without Jayson Tatum, who sat down to rest a sore ankle. “I just wanted to be aggressive, because we had a few guys out,” Brown said. “When (Tatum) is not there, I know I have to play a little faster.”
- The Celtics (56-15) have won eight straight and sport the The best record in the NBA. They have five games left on their six-season journey.
Pacers
The Pacers overcame a double-digit first-half deficit for an impressive 12-point road win over the Warriors on Friday, with a guard Tyrese Haliburton (26 points, 11 assists) and forward Pascal Siakam (25 points, 16 rebounds) in the lead.
“We had to step up our attitude in the second half, our overall nastiness to compete and get physical,” the coach said. Rick Carlisle told reporters.
- Center Myles Turner set the franchise record for blocks in the third quarter, surpassing Jermaine O’Neal along the way. Turner now has 1,246 career blocks, all with Indiana.
- Turner on the accomplishment: “I think it’s amazing. I can walk away with something no matter what happens in the future. Now I can tell this moment to my children, my grandchildren and I hope this record will be here to stay for a long time.
- The Pacers (40-31) are in third place in the Central Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference, 2.5 games ahead of Miami.
- Indiana is 5-0 at Chase Center, the only undefeated team in the building since the Warriors moved to San Francisco.
Raptors
- The Raptors only had seven players available Friday’s home defeat against the Thunder – and have now lost nine games in a row overall.
- Against the Thunder, they committed 27 turnovers. “It’s really difficult to play when you’re constantly at a disadvantage in transition,” said coach Darko Rajakovic.
- Guard Gary Trent Jr.. it was a late scratch with an old issue. Toronto was already without guard Emmanuel Quickley (personal reasons), All-Star forward Scottie Barnes (hand), center Jakob Poeltl (finger), forward RJ Barrett (personal), forward Chris Boucher (knee) and guard DJ cardboard (ankle).
