Kyrie Irving's 30 Points Snaps Thunder's Seven-Game Win Streak
4th February 2019
Westbrook hit a 3-pointer, made a steal and sank two free throws to pull the visitors within 121-119 in the final minutes
- Kyrie Irving scored 30 points and passed out 11 assists on Sunday as the Boston Celtics snapped Oklahoma City's seven-game NBA win streak with a 134-129 home triumph
- The Thunder fell to 33-19, four games adrift of Western Conference leaders Denver and Golden State, despite a sixth consecutive triple double from Russell Westbrook, who had 22 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds
- Westbrook sank a free throw but missed the rim on his second attempt trying to set up a Thunder rebound and the Celtics took the ball, Smart hitting two final free throws to seal the victory
NEW YORK, United States- Kyrie Irving scored 30 points and passed out 11 assists on Sunday as
the Boston Celtics snapped Oklahoma City's seven-game NBA win streak with a
134-129 home triumph.
Marcus Morris added
19 points and Marcus Smart netted 18 as eight of nine players taking the court
for Boston scored in double figures and the Celtics improved to 34-19, matching
Philadelphia for third in the Eastern Conference.
"We have great
continuity, great rhythm," Irving said. "Playing the best we can
every single day."
The Thunder fell to
33-19, four games adrift of Western Conference leaders Denver and Golden State,
despite a sixth consecutive triple double from Russell Westbrook, who
had 22 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds.
Westbrook hit a
3-pointer, made a steal and sank two free throws to pull the visitors within
121-119 in the final minutes.
Jerami Grant's
3-pointer pulled the Thunder within 129-128. Boston's Jayson Tatum hit only
1-of-2 free throws but Irving forced a Westbrook turnover and Tatum added two
more from the line to give the Celtics a 132-128 edge with 7.4 seconds to play.
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Westbrook sank a
free throw but missed the rim on his second attempt trying to set up a Thunder
rebound and the Celtics took the ball, Smart hitting two final free throws to
seal the victory.
"Down the
stretch it's winning time. Just like that," Irving said. "That's a
great team over there. It was a great challenge."
Paul George led the
Thunder with 37 points and New Zealand's Steven Adams added 16 points and nine
rebounds for Oklahoma City.
The Thunder reeled off
11 points in a row in just over two minutes for a 76-73 lead in the third
quarter but Morris answered with a corner 3-pointer to begin a 12-2 Boston run
and the Celtics bounced back to lead 99-93 entering the fourth quarter.
"We played with
more aggressiveness on offense and we moved better on defense," said
Celtics coach Brad Stevens, whose club improved to 20-0 at home when leading
after three quarters.
The Celtics hit a
season-best 59 percent of their shots from the floor.
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At Toronto, the host
Raptors ripped the Los Angeles Clippers 121-103 behind 18 points from Kawhi
Leonard plus 16 points and 12 rebounds from Congo-born Spaniard Serge Ibaka.
Canada's Shai
Gilgeous-Alexander, a 20-year-old guard playing in his homeland, led the
Clippers with 19 points.
The Raptors improved
to 38-16, second in the East by 1.5 games to Milwaukee, while the Clippers fell
to 29-25, clinging to the last Western Conference playoff spot by one game over
Sacramento.
Memphis guard Mike
Conley scored 25 points and Spanish big man Marc Gasol added 24 to spark the
Grizzlies over the NBA-worst New York Knicks 96-84 at Madison Square Garden.
Conley added eight
rebounds and seven assists while Gasol contributed nine rebounds and five
assists for Memphis, which also had 19 points from Justin Holiday.
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New York's
league-worst record slid to 10-42 after a 13th consecutive loss while the
Grizzlies, second worst in the Western Conference, improved to 21-33.
Kevin Knox led the
Knicks with 17 points while DeAndre Jordan, in his first game after arriving in
a deal with Dallas, contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds.