INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 30 points and the Boston Celtics made 20 3-pointers in a 140-122 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.

The All-NBA forward, who is averaging 29.4 points, shot 13 of 20 from the field and made two 3-pointers. Payton Pritchard added 29 points, making three 3s, and grabbed nine rebounds.

The Celtics were 20 of 39 from beyond the arc compared to the Pacers’ 18 of 44. Reserve Sam Hauser was 7 for 8 behind the arc and scored 23 points, while Derrick White added 21 points with three 3s.

The Celtics (19-11), winners of four in a row and back-to-back games against Indiana, were starting a five-game road trip.

Andrew Nembhard led the Pacers (6-25) with 18 points and four 3s.

The Celtics trailed by 15 midway through the first quarter, but methodically chipped away at the deficit, then pulled away with six 3-pointers in a 47-point second quarter for a 75-61 halftime lead.

Up next

Celtics: Visit Portland on Sunday.

Pacers: Visit Miami on Saturday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jaylen-brown-scores-30-points-024449767.html 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Keyshawn George scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and the last-place Washington Wizards beat the struggling Toronto Raptors 138-117 on Friday night.

CJ McCollum and Bilal Coulibaly each added 21 points to help the Wizards to their highest-scoring performance of the season. The Raptors owned the NBA’s fourth-best defensive rating entering Friday.

Washington halted a four-game home losing streak but still has the NBA’s worst record (6-23). The Wizards shot 59.3% (54 of 91) as a team, out-rebounded the Raptors 46-33 and outscored the visitors 36-17 in the fourth quarter.

Brandon Ingram scored 29 points and Immanuel Quickley added 25 for Toronto, which has lost nine of 13.

Sandro Mamukelashvili had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors, who played without starters RJ Barrett (knee sprain) and Jakob Poetl (back strain).

Toronto closed an 11-point halftime deficit to two by the end of the third quarter before succumbing to Washington’s late onslaught.

Justin Champagnie and Bub Carrington sank consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the Wizards’ lead to 10 points with 10:08 to play. Later, McCollum and Carrington hit 3s sandwiched around George’s running layup in a spurt that extended it to 120-104.

Coulibaly’s dunk in transition with 3:50 remaining made it a 20-point game for the first time

Up next

Raptors: Begin a five-game homestand Sunday against Golden State.

Wizards: Continue their homestand Sunday against Memphis.

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AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/keyshawn-george-scores-23-points-024201838.html 

ATLANTA (AP) — Norman Powell had 25 points, Pelle Larsson scored a career-high 21 and the struggling Miami Heat handed the Atlanta Hawks their fifth straight loss, 126-111 on Friday night.

Kel’el Ware had 16 points and 13 rebounds in place of Bam Adebayo, who missed the game with a back injury. Andrew Wiggins had 18 points and Jamie Jaquez Jr. had 16 points off the bench.

The Heat had lost eight of nine games entering Friday, but got back over .500 at 16-15. Tyler Herro missed his eighth straight game with a toe injury. Larsson started after missing five games with a sprained left ankle.

Trae Young led the Hawks with 30 points and he also had seven assists. Jalen Johnson added 24 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

Wiggins turned in one of the plays of the game in the fourth quarter. He saved the ball along the sideline after stealing an inbounds pass, got a return pass and hit a running reverse layup to stretch Miami’s lead to 102-87 with 9:05 to play. A 9-0 run capped by an over-the-head layup by Powell later in the quarter pushed the lead to 17.

The Heat outrebounded the Hawks 52-42 and forced 21 turnovers while committing 12. That resulted in 19 more field goal attempts for Miami.

The Hawks fell to 5-10 at home and are the only team in the NBA with a winning record on the road (10-7) and a losing record at home.

Dyson Daniels returned for Atlanta after missing one game with right hip inflammation. He had eight points and six rebounds.

Up next

Heat: Host Indiana on Saturday night.

Hawks: Host New York on Saturday night in their eighth back-to-back of the season, which is the most in the NBA.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/norman-powells-25-points-lead-023348888.html 

The Los Angeles Lakers‘ list of problems is growing. They have lost six of their last 10 games, and their weaknesses on the defensive end are being increasingly exposed by their opponents. Following their 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day, coach JJ Redick said that his players “don’t care enough” about doing what’s needed to win games.

In that same game, Austin Reaves, who had recently missed three games due to a calf strain, didn’t play in the second half due to soreness in that same calf. He was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Friday, and he has now been diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain. As a result, he will miss at least four weeks of action.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves has been diagnosed with a grade 2 left gastrocnemius strain and will be reevaluated in four weeks.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 27, 2025

Reaves has been having a stellar season so far with averages of 26.6 points and 6.3 assists a game while shooting 50.7% from the field and 36.5% from 3-point range.

His absence will be a sizable blow to a Lakers team that isn’t elite enough all around on offense, even when fully healthy, to overcome their defensive problems.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Austin Reaves will miss time once again due to injury

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/austin-reaves-miss-time-once-023309187.html 

Before the Magic took to the Kia Center court against the Hornets on Friday night, coach Jamahl Mosley said Charlotte‘s 10-20 record wasn’t indicative of what the team was capable of accomplishing.

Mosley made it clear Orlando needed to focus on taking care of the little things in order to secure the desired outcome during their second meeting of the season against the Southeast Division foe.

And he wasn’t wrong on either viewpoint.

The Magic trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half and later by as many as 24 in the third quarter when Charlotte exited a sold-out Kia Center on top 120-105, outrebounding Orlando 53-42 with 25 second-chance points.

Charlotte (11-20) had seven different scorers finish in double figures, including 22 from star LaMelo Ball, when the team shot 19 for 39 (48.7%) from 3-point range.

In comparison, Orlando ended 11 for 35 (31.4%) from distance when nothing came easy on offense and the team couldn’t come up with the necessary defensive stops to mount a comeback.

The Magic (17-14) return to Kia Center on Saturday for the second game of a back-to-back when three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets (who beat Orlando by 11 points Dec. 18) make their lone trip of the season to Central Florida.

Starting 5

Playing without Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain) and Jalen Suggs (left hip bruise) again, Tyus Jones and Anthony Black remained in the starting lineup alongside Banchero, Desmond Bane and Wendell Carter Jr. (16 points) against the Hornets.

Black, who had scored 19-plus points in the past four games, posted 15 in the first half after he hit his first three triples. He added his fourth 3-pointer in the fourth when he notched 24 in 36 minutes.

While Black had some success from distance, Bane and Banchero did not. The pair combined to shoot 0 for 4 from 3 before the break and ended 0 for 8 distance with missing all six of his attempts.

Bane drove to the basket early to reach 10 points by the half but was responsible for all three of Orlando’s first-quarter turnovers. He ended with just 15 points when he found himself in foul trouble after he picked up his fourth foul with 10 minutes left in the game and his fifth about two minutes later.

Banchero was passive at times when he missed first three shots from the floor and opened 1 for 5 and couldn’t find his footing the rest of the night. The Magic forward ended 4 for 13 shooting with just 13 points in 31 minutes.

Second unit

The Magic upgraded Tristan da Silva from probable to available earlier in the day after he had missed the past four contests due to a right shoulder bruise.

The second-year pro made his presence felt early when he hit his first 3-pointer and was the lone member of Orlando’s bench to score in the first half when he had 8 points with 2 assists. He didn’t score again.

Charlotte’s bench outscored Orlando’s 41-29.

Reserve center Goga Bitadze (left knee strain) missed his second straight game.

Rookie watch

Both Jase Richardson and Noah Penda entered in the first quarter but failed to make an offensive impact early.

Penda missed first three shots from the floor, including a pair of 3s, and only played 8 minutes through the first three frames. Richardson got on the board late in the third quarter with a triple and ended with 14 points in 22 minutes.

Hornets No. 4 pick Kon Knueppel posted 16 points when he shot 4 for 4 from 3, but did not return in the second half due to a right ankle injury.

Magic give back

At halftime of Friday’s game, the Magic surprised a local family with a variety of gifts as part of NBA Cares Season of Giving.

With help from president of business operations Charlie Freeman and Magic community ambassador Bo Outlaw, the team presented a family of four a new 2026 Kia Sorento EX, $5,000 for home furnishings courtesy of AdventHealth, family meals for a year from Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks, a three day, two night stay at Caribe Royale, four Chick-fil-A for a year packs, one phone and three tablets with service from Total Wireless, a free ice cream party at Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream, four gift bundles from hair ties company Teleties, a 65-inch TV, an air fryer, a kitchen aid mixer, pots and pans, arts and crafts and other household essentials to assist them through difficult times.

It marked the 17th consecutive season the Magic have hosted one family around the holidays for “The Big Give.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/beede-breakdown-magic-lack-energy-023200863.html 

ATLANTA — What do you get when a pair of teams enter at 2-8 in their previous 10? The desperation of Friday night at State Farm Arena.

Miami Heat vs. Atlanta Hawks wasn’t about making a statement.

It was about coming up for air.

To that end, the Heat can breathe a bit easier, after stealing into the Georgia night with a 126-111 victory.

With his team playing in the ailment absences of Bam Adebayo (back) and Tyler Herro (toe), Heat coach Erik Spoelstra reshuffled his rotation and found enough to stop the bleeding.

Overcoming 30 points from Hawks guard Trae Young and 24 from forward Jalen Johnson, the Heat got 25 points from Norman Powell, 21 from replacement starter Pelle Larsson, 18 from Andrew Wiggins, 16 from Jaime Jaquez Jr., as well as a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double from Kel’el Ware.

The Heat are right back at it on Saturday night, against the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center.

Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:

— 1. Game flow: It was tied 32-32 after the opening period. Then, boosted by a 12-0 run late in the second period, the Heat moved to a 63-51 halftime lead, with 14 fast-break points in that second period.

From there, the Heat took a 90-84 lead into the fourth, pushing their lead back to double digits early in the period, with Wiggins stepping up his scoring.

Eventually the lead got to 15, forcing Hawks coach Quin Snyder to call timeouts 49 seconds apart. But as has been the case all season amid the inability to build leads into bigger leads, it soon was an eight-point game.

A banked-in Larsson 3-pointer eventually provided needed relief, the Heat holding on from there.

— 2. No Bam: Not only was Adebayo out Friday, but Spoelstra did not cast an optimistic tone about Saturday night against the Pacers.

“We’ll see,” Spoelstra said before Friday night’s game. “We’ll treat him day-to-day. I know him, I know his personality, I know how much he wants to be out there. But since it is back soreness and he wasn’t moving well two days ago, it didn’t really get better yesterday. Today was just full treatment and some light activities. So we’ll see where he is tomorrow.”

Spoelstra declined to address whether the back had impacted Adebayo’s recent uneven play.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” he said. “He wouldn’t want me to comment on that. But we’ll just do as much treatment as we possibly can. I do know that he needs this right now.”

— 3. The Larsson factor: With Adebayo out, Spoelstra immediately injected Larsson into the starting lineup in the first game back for the second-year swingman after missing the previous five with an ankle sprain.

It was Larsson’s 17th start of the season. The first five was rounded out by Powell, Ware, Wiggins and Davion Mitchell. The Heat entered 4-2 with that lineup.

Larsson was injured in the Dec. 9 NBA Cup road loss to the Orlando Magic.

Larsson was 3 for 3 for eight points in his initial six-minute stint, and he kept going from there.

Larsson finished 9 of 13 from the field, with six rebounds and five assists.

— 4. Jovic, too: In addition to Larsson, also back was Nikola Jovic, who missed the previous four games with an elbow contusion.

Jovic was fourth off Spoelstra’s bench, behind Jaquez, Kasparas Jakucionis and Dru Smith.

That had Simone Fontecchio out of the rotation for just the second time this season.

After an 0-for-4 start, Jovic completed a four-point play early in the second period, before then falling to 1 of 8, as his season-long struggles continued, later falling to 1 of 11.

Jovic closed 3 of 14, although he did add seven rebounds and four assists.

— 5. Powell play: The uneven recent run for Powell continued early, at just six points midway through the first quarter.

Previously on pace for his first All-Star berth, Powell in the three previous games had shot 7 of 21, 7 of 17 and 6 of 17.

This time it was a 2-of-6 start. With Herro and Adebayo out, more was needed. So Powell immediately responded with back-to-back 3-pointers.

Powell came around to close 9 of 16 from the field, with seven rebounds and five assists.

Through it all, Powell extended his streak of games scoring in double figures to 29, six off the longest such run of his career.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/adebayo-herro-heat-relief-swoon-023100670.html