LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The Boston Celtics drained a franchise record 24 three pointers en route to knocking off the last undefeated team in the NBA on Thursday with a 117-113 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and Gordon Hayward tallied a season high 18 for the Celtics, who snapped the Bucks seven-game win streak to start the season.
“We stayed resilient and won the game,” said Boston’s Marcus Morris, who finished with 17 points.
“We knew we could take their best shot and ended up winning the game. We let ’em have it.”
The Celtics, whose previous record for three-pointers was 19, finished one short of tying the NBA record of 25, set by the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 4.
Giannis Antetokounmpo returned to the lineup after missing one game and led Milwaukee with 33 points and 11 rebounds.
Khris Middleton and Malcom Brogdon scored 16 apiece and Eric Bledsoe had 13 points and seven assists for the Bucks.
The Celtics held off the Bucks down the stretch for their fourth consecutive win. Milwaukee went on a 12-0 run to begin the final quarter and cut the Boston lead to three.
Milwaukee stormed back making it 113-112 when Bledsoe made a free throw with 13 seconds left.
But that was as close as the Bucks would get as the Celtics iced the victory from the foul line.
There was an extended time out midway through the first quarter, when World Series winning Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora carried the championship trophy onto the basketball court.
Fans roared when Cora led the players out of the tunnel continuing a celebration that started Sunday with a series-clinching victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Elsewhere, Joel Embiid had 41 points and 13 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers improved to 5-0 at home with a 122-113 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
“It’s great,” Embiid said. “It’s just about being aggressive and staying within the concepts of the system.”
Embiid now has six games with a least 30 points and 10 rebounds.
Australia’s Ben Simmons added 14 points and 11 assists and Markelle Fultz provided a spark late in the third quarter and finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
“He’s tough, he’s skilled, he can shoot, he basically can do everything,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of Embiid.
Embiid scored an emphatic dunk over Boban Marjanovic with 99 seconds remaining that gave Philadelphia a 117-109 lead.
“He was just dominant,” Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said.
Lou Williams scored 26 points for the Clippers, and Danilo Gallinari had 25. Tobias Harris finished with 24 points.
In Atlanta, De’Aaron Fox set career highs with 31 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds for his first career triple-double, and the Sacramento Kings beat the Atlanta Hawks 146-115 for their fifth consecutive win.
Buddy Hield scored 27 points and Nemanja Bjelica had 19 for the Kings.
After leading by only five points at halftime, the Kings outscored the Hawks 46-23 in the third. Fox had 21 points in the period.
© Agence France-Presse
