DENVER — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown fueled a 31-3 run that helped the Boston Celtics put the skids on the NBA’s hottest team with a 105-87 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
The Nuggets looked well on their way to their ninth straight victory when they took a 79-65 lead in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Facundo Campazzo.
Boston outscored the Nuggets 40-8 the rest of the way. The Celtics had been held to 16 first-quarter points and trailed by 14 early on.
Brown started the epic run with a nifty bucket and Tatum provided the biggest highlights, including eight straight points on a trio of free throws, a jumper and a 3-pointer.
Tatum finished with 28 points two days after a career-best 53-point performance against Minnesota, and Brown had 20. Tatum (illness) and Brown (sore left knee) starred despite being listed as questionable before tip-off.
Michael Porter Jr. led Denver with 20 points. Nikola Jokic had 17 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
PELICANS 116, CAVALIERS 109
CLEVELAND — Zion Williamson scored 38 points and Brandon Ingram had 27 points and eight assists in rallying New Orleans past Cleveland.
Williamson fell one shy of his career best of 39 set March 26 against Denver. He made 16 of 22 field goal attempts and had nine rebounds as New Orleans pulled within one game of the final play-in tournament spot in the West.
Dean Wade scored a career-high 21 points for Cleveland.
BUCKS 124, MAGIC 87
ORLANDO, Fla. — Khris Middleton scored 21 points, Bobby Portis added 16 points —making four 3-pointers — and 10 rebounds and Milwaukee beat Orlando to end a three-game losing streak.
Milwaukee was again without star Giannis Antetokounmpo because of a sore left knee, but it mattered little as Middleton shot 8 of 13 from the field and added eight rebounds and five assists.
Mo Bamba scored a career-best 21 points for Orlando.
SPURS 119, MAVERICKS 117
DALLAS — DeMar DeRozan hit the tiebreaking jumper with 0.5 seconds left, giving him 27 of his 33 points in the second half and lifting San Antonio past Dallas.
Dejounte Murray scored 25 points as the Spurs stopped a season-long five-game losing streak while avoiding the first season sweep by their Texas rival in the 41-year history of the Dallas franchise. The Mavericks won the first two meetings.
Luka Doncic scored 29 points, including a basket for the 10th tie with 19 seconds left in a game that also had 12 lead changes.
Kristaps Porzingis had 31 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out for Dallas.
CLIPPERS 131, PISTONS 124
LOS ANGELES — Marcus Morris scored a season-high 33 points, Paul George added 32 and Los Angeles beat Detroit to cap a nine-game homestand.
Los Angeles was missing Kawhi Leonard, who sat out to rest as the Clippers were playing their third game in four nights.
Josh Jackson scored 26 points for Detroit. Saddiq Bey added 25.
HEAT 107, TRAIL BLAZERS 98
PORTLAND, Ore. — Bam Adebayo scored 22 points and Jimmy Butler added 20 to lead Miami past Portland.
The Heat have won six of their last seven games.
CJ McCollum and Norman Powell each had with 17 points for the Trail Blazers. Damian Lillard had just 12 on an off night when he made just three shots from the field, all 3-pointers.
HAWKS 105, HORNETS 101
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 32 points on a career-high eight 3-pointers and Atlanta rallied to beat Charlotte without Trae Young.
Clint Capela added 20 points and 15 rebounds for the surging Hawks. They have won six of seven to take sole possession of fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks won despite Young (left calf contusion) and reserve Danilo Gallinari (right foot soreness) sitting out along with John Collins, De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Tony Snell and Kris Dunn.
Miles Bridges led the Hornets with 23 points.
PACERS 132, GRIZZLIES 125
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Caris LeVert scored 34 points, Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis fell just short of triple-doubles and Indiana held off Memphis.
Brogdon had 29 points, matched his season-high with 11 assists and had nine rebounds. Sabonis finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, part of the Pacers grabbing a season-high 53 rebounds en route to their third straight victory.
Memphis center Jonas Valanciunas matched his career high with 34 points and his season high with 22 rebounds. Ja Morant had 23 points.
KNICKS 102, RAPTORS 96
NEW YORK — Julius Randle scored 26 points and New York recovered to beat Toronto after blowing an 18-point lead.
RJ Barrett added 19 points to help the Knicks get back to .500 at 27-27 with their second straight victory,
Gary Trent Jr. had 23 points for Toronto.
TIMBERWOLVES 121, BULLS 117
MINNEAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 12 rebounds, D’Angelo Russell scored 27 points and Minnesota beat Chicago.
Ricky Rubio connected on five of his six 3-point attempts and scored 17 points.
Two days after his first 50-point game, Zach LaVine scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half as Chicago tried to mount a comeback. LaVine was 13 of 28 from the field and 4 of 12 from 3-point territory.
