Jayson Tatum starred for the Boston Celtics as they held off a fightback by the Miami Warmth to win a feisty encounter 110-106.
Boston had a 15-point lead minimize to 2 with lower than two minutes remaining however dug in to increase their lead on the high of the Jap Convention.
Tatum was one help shy of a triple-double as he completed with 26 factors, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
Kristaps Porzingis added 25 factors whereas Tyler Herro scored 24 for Miami.
Boston star Jaylen Brown and Miami’s Duncan Robinson clashed within the fourth interval and exchanged heated phrases earlier than Brown was assessed a flagrant foul.
A 3-pointer from Herro then acquired Miami – who shocked the Celtics in final 12 months’s Jap Convention Finals – again to inside two at 106-104 with 1:49 remaining however Tatum and Porzingis sealed the win from the free-throw line.
Elsewhere, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander exploded for 38 factors and Jalen Williams added 32 because the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings 127-113.
The win ended a two-game shedding streak for the Thunder and strikes them as much as third within the Western Convention, half a sport again from leaders the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Kings, for whom middle Domantas Sabonis had a triple-double of 21 factors, 11 rebounds and 14 assists, keep within the play-in locations as they sit seventh within the West.