Celtics seize top spot in east Lillard sparks bucks past Raptors

LOS ANGELES – The Boston Celtics shrugged off the absence of Kristaps Porzingis and Jaylen Brown to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers and claim top spot in the Eastern Conference on Wednesday.

Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics scoring with 29 points while Derrick White weighed in with 27 to give Boston a 117-107 victory on the road in Philadelphia.

The win saw Boston move into first place in the Eastern Conference standings at 9-2, with the Sixers falling to 8-3 in second.

“Top to bottom we’ve got a lot of guys who can do a lot of good things,” said White, who scored 14 fourth quarter points to shepherd the Celtics to victory.

“I’ve been pretty bad the past couple of games, I just wanted to go out there and compete and do what I do and make some shots,” White said.

Also on Wednesday, Damian Lillard dropped 37 points with 13 assists and four rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks pounded the Toronto Raptors 128-112 on the road.

The win marked a triumphant return to Toronto for Bucks coach Adrian Griffin, the former Raptors assistant coach who joined Milwaukee in May following the sacking of Mike Budenholzer.

Milwaukee, missing the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo, controlled the game after taking the lead early in the first quarter, leading by as much as 33 points at one stage in the third quarter.

Lillard was backed with 30 points from Malik Beasley, who nailed eight three-pointers. Bobby Portis added 18 from the bench and Khris Middleton 11 as the Bucks improved to 7-4 for the season.

In other games around the NBA on Wednesday, Phoenix ended Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak after Kevin Durant and Devin Booker put up 31 points apiece in a 133-115 blowout in Arizona.

The Suns erupted in the first half to outscore the Timberwolves 76-54 in a dominant performance. Phoenix coach Frank Vogel was left purring at the performance of Booker, back in the line-up after recovering from a calf injury.

“His leadership on our team is really invaluable,” Vogel said. “He was great tonight.”

In Los Angeles, LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell both posted 28 points each but it was not enough to stop the Lakers from falling to a 125-110 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings led from start-to-finish to bag a fourth straight victory, behind a triple-pronged strike-force of Domantas Sabonis (29 points), Kevin Huerter and De’Aaron Fox. Huerter and Fox both finished with 28 points each.