By Field Level Media
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Jayson Tatum had 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists to help the Boston Celtics extend their winning streak to four games by beating the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 111-101 on Saturday night.

It was Tatum’s fourth game with at least 40 points this season. He was 12 of 28 from the field and played 45 minutes.

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Jaylen Brown added 31 points and six rebounds for the Celtics, who also received 14 points and nine rebounds from Al Horford.

Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 34 points and eight rebounds. He made 5 of 10 3-point attempts.

LeBron James had 22 points and 14 rebounds, he but missed each of his six shots from behind the 3-point line. James left the game with a groin strain in the fourth quarter and did not return. Austin Reaves (16 points) was the only other Laker who scored in double figures.

The loss ended the Lakers’ eight-game winning streak. Los Angeles is 18-4 in its last 22 games.

Los Angeles trailed by 22 points in the second half but was within four points after two Doncic free throws made it 96-92 with 5:06 to play. The Lakers failed to get any closer, however, and Boston was able to pull away after that.

Boston’s Kristaps Porzingis (illness) missed his fifth straight game. Porzingis led the Celtics with 22 points in a 117-96 loss to the host Lakers on Jan. 23.

It was 33-33 after one quarter on Saturday, but the Celtics had a 58-54 halftime lead. Tatum led all scorers in the first half with 22 points.

The Celtics scored 19 of the first 21 points in the third quarter and led 77-56 after a Jrue Holiday basket capped a 15-0 run with 5:50 left in the third. The Lakers’ first field goal in the third came with 5:28 remaining in the quarter. Boston had an 87-67 advantage entering the fourth.

Stephen Curry reaches milestone as Warriors down Pistons

Stephen Curry had 32 points and hit a major milestone as Golden State downed Detroit, 115-110, in San Francisco on Saturday.

Curry reached 25,000 career points on a third-quarter 3-pointer. Jimmy Butler supplied 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Draymond Green had 12 points — including a late pivotal 3-pointer — along with nine rebounds and seven assists. Gui Santos had 15 points and six rebounds while Moses Moody added 12 points as Golden State won for the 11th time in 13 games.

Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 31 points but also committed nine turnovers. Malik Beasley had 17 points and Tobias Harris contributed 15 with 12 rebounds. Jalen Duren added 13 points with 13 rebounds.

The Warriors scored the game’s first nine points, but the Pistons pulled within two, 22-20, by the end of the quarter.

Isaiah Stewart’s three-point play to start the second gave Detroit its first lead. The game remained tight with neither side leading by more than five points in the quarter.

The Pistons emerged with a 54-51 halftime advantage.

Butler opened the second half with a 3-pointer and it continued to be a nip and tuck battle. Beasley gave the Pistons a five-point advantage, 75-70, on a steal and layup.

Butler’s three-point play tied the score at 77-apiece. Cunningham, who had 19 points in the quarter, drained a 3-pointer with two seconds left to give Detroit an 87-84 lead.

Moody’s 3-pointer with 7:22 remaining put Golden State on top, 93-92. Beasley made a midrange jumper to give Detroit a 98-97 lead before Curry drained a 3-pointer with four minutes left.

After a Golden State turnover, Beasley knocked down a corner 3-pointer. Butler’s side jumper with 1:22 to go gave the Warriors a 107-105 edge.

Cunningham’s transition layup with 50 seconds left put Detroit back on top, 108-107. Green answered with a 3-pointer and split free throws after a Cunningham turnover to make it 111-108.

Cunningham dunked and Curry matched that with two free throws. Beasley came up short on a 3-pointer and Curry closed the game out on the foul line.

Magic win a close one against Bucks to end skid

Paolo Banchero scored 29 points and the Orlando Magic, after losing three straight games by one or two points, came away from Milwaukee a two-point winner with Saturday’s 111-109 defeat of the Bucks.

The Magic entered Saturday’s contest on a five-game losing skid, with defeats in six of the last seven. Four of those were by one possession, and Orlando could have suffered another such setback after the Bucks’ fourth-quarter rally gave them possession with 6.6 seconds remaining.

Taurean Prince and Damian Lillard trapped Cole Anthony along the sideline, forcing a turnover that gave Milwaukee the ball and Lillard a 3-point attempt at the buzzer. However, Franz Wagner got a hand in Lillard’s face to challenge the step-back attempt and the Magic survived after leading nearly wire-to-wire.

Orlando took over early in the first quarter and built a lead of as many as 17 points by the third quarter.

Milwaukee pulled to within two points midway through the final period with help from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 37 points — his 30th game with 30-plus points this season.

Banchero responded with five consecutive points. Anthony also connected on a big 3-pointer to cap his 22-point game, giving Orlando an eight-point cushion in the final two minutes.

After Lillard hit a 3-pointer for the last of his 26 points, making the deficit 109-106, Lillard rebounded a Banchero miss in the final minute. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope came up big, however, first blocking Lillard’s layup attempt and forcing the deflection off of Lillard to give Orlando possession.

Wendell Carter Jr. then slammed home a dish from Anthony, one of Anthony’s nine assists, to give Orlando a two-possession lead it would need in the closing seconds.

Caldwell-Pope finished with nine points. Anthony Black added 11 points and Wagner finished with 18. Wagner also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and dished five assists.

Banchero pulled down six rebounds, while Anthony snared four and blocked three shots. Antetokounmpo completed a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds in the loss, while Kyle Kuzma added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks.

Bulls rally past Heat with dominant fourth quarter

Josh Giddey recorded his third triple-double of the season and hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left as the visiting Chicago Bulls rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat the Miami Heat 114-109 on Saturday.

Giddey had 26 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists for Chicago, which outscored Miami 36-20 in the fourth quarter. Coby White scored 21 points, Zach Collins contributed 18 points and 15 rebounds, Tre Jones added 15 points, Matas Buzelis had 13 and Kevin Huerter chipped in 11 off the bench.

Chicago took its first lead since early in the first quarter after opening the fourth quarter on a 19-5 run to move ahead 97-94 with 5:52 left in regulation.

Jones scored 13 points in the final period, including a 3-pointer that tied the game at 105 with 2:17 left.

Miami pulled within 110-109 on Andrew Wiggins’ layup with 1:12 left, and Giddey’s decisive 3-pointer in the final minute helped the Bulls seal the comeback victory.

Wiggins and Bam Adebayo scored 20 points apiece for Miami, which shot 1 of 11 (9.1 percent) in the fourth quarter. The Heat fell a season-low five games under .500.

Tyler Herro scored 21 points, Terry Rozier scored 15 points on five 3-pointers, Duncan Robinson added 12 points, and Kel’el Ware had seven points and 12 rebounds.

Giddey was 9 of 15 from the field and made three 3-pointers for Chicago, which has won two straight games for the first time since Jan. 4-6.

Miami led 36-24 at the end of one period after shooting 50 percent from the field (14 of 28) and closing on a 15-4 run.

The Heat extended their lead to 51-35 on Rozier’s trey with 7:13 left in the second quarter, but they scored only four more points in the half as Chicago pulled within 55-48 at intermission.

Adebayo had 12 points in the first half to lead Miami, which called timeout 42 seconds into the third quarter after Collins hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 55-54.

Miami led 89-78 after Rozier capped an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third period.

Hawks turn back Pacers for second time in three days

Trae Young had team highs of 36 points and eight assists on Saturday, helping the Atlanta Hawks post a 120-118 win over the visiting Indiana Pacers.

Caris LeVert added 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting off the bench, and Onyeka Okongwu collected 16 points and 16 rebounds. Dyson Daniels added 10 points and five steals as the Hawks won their second game against Indiana in three days.

Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana with 30 points off the bench, followed by Pascal Siakam’s 23. Aaron Nesmith and Myles turner scored 14 points apiece, and Andrew Nembhard posted 11 points and 12 assists. Thomas Bryant chipped in 10 points, for the Pacers.

Trailing by 18 points after Daniels’ 3-pointer less than a minute into the third quarter, Indiana pulled within 75-65 after Mathurin’s jumper with 9:03 left.

Georges Niang’s three-point play gave Atlanta an 84-73 lead with just over four minutes left in the quarter. Indiana’s Ben Sheppard converted a three-point play about to pull the Pacers within six, and they trailed by seven going into the fourth quarter.

The Pacers cut the Hawks’ lead to one on Mathurin’s triple early in the period, but Okongwu’s layup and Caris LeVert’s trey pushed Atlanta’s advantage back to six.

Siakam answered with a personal 5-0 spree, before Bryant’s 3-pointer gave Indiana a 104-102 lead — its first since it was 2-0.

After Nesmith’s floater knotted the game at 111 with 4:17 left, Young’s basket and then his assist to LeVert gave the Hawks a four-point edge.

Nembhard and Okongwu then traded baskets, before a Nembhard layup cut Atlanta’s lead to 117-115 with 56 seconds left.

Turner split a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left, Young made two from at the other end, and Siakam elected to take a dunk with 1.3 seconds left, cutting Indiana’s deficit to one. Young then split a pair of free throws.

The Hawks finished the first quarter on a 13-2 run to take a 39-19 edge entering the second. Siakam buried a 3-pointer at the 7:38 mark of the second quarter, pulling the Pacers within nine.

Wizards edge Raptors as game comes down to the last split-second

Jordan Poole returned after missing three games with an elbow injury to score 34 points and the visiting Washington Wizards defeated the Toronto Raptors 118-117 on Saturday night.

Washington had to wait out a review that ruled that Jamal Shead’s shot that could have won the game for Toronto did not beat the buzzer.

Bilal Coulibaly added 18 points for the Wizards, who have won two straight. Khris Middleton and Corey Kispert each scored 12 points. Richaun Holmes had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Alex Sarr had 10 points and 14 rebounds.

RJ Barrett scored 23 points and Jakob Poeltl scored 21 for Toronto. Scottie Barnes added 18 points for the Raptors. Jared Rhoden scored 13 points, Shead and Jamison Battle each scored 11 points.

The Wizards intended to attack the Raptors’ pressure and speed with a push-and-run approach. They had some early success with the high-tempo approach, but the Raptors closed the first quarter with a 7-1 burst to lead 39-33.

Toronto took a 10-point lead with 8:48 left in the second quarter on a weird play. Barnes missed on his attempt at a running dunk, but the ball bounced to Battle, who swished a corner 3-pointer.

Washington used a 9-2 spurt to cut the lead to three with 6:18 to go. Marcus Smart’s two free throws gave the Wizards a one-point lead with 32 seconds left in the half. After Toronto missed a shot, Poole hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and Washington led 69-65.

The Wizards took advantage of Toronto’s missed shots and turnovers, were more aggressive pursuing long rebounds and took a 13-point lead on Coulibaly’s two free throws with 8:16 remaining in the third quarter. Toronto chipped at the lead, taking advantage of Washington’s missed shots, to cut the deficit to 95-89 after three quarters.

Poeltl scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to trim the margin to one. Washington led by eight with 6:43 left after Poole hit two consecutive 3-pointers. The Wizards’ lead was one after Rhoden made one of two foul shots with 1:07 left. The teams exchanged baskets before Toronto took possession with two seconds left to set up Shead’s futile floater that left his fingertips a split second after time expired and banked in.