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Celtics topple Kings in Mexico
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THE Boston Celtics humbled the Sacramento Kings 114-97 on Thursday as the National Basketball Association held a regular-season game in Mexico City for the second year in a row.
Four Celtics players finished with at least 20 points, with point guard Isaiah Thomas scoring 21 and dishing out nine assists in front of a crowd of 18,660 at the Mexico City Arena.
Kings guard Rajon Rondo had a rough reunion with his former Celtic teammates, getting ejected midway through the third quarter after a second technical foul for arguing with the referee.
Kings coach George Karl said that Rondo’s ejection affected any chance of mounting a comeback.
Sacramento’s star center DeMarcus Cousins was held to 16 points, well below his 28.2 season average.
The Celtics improved to 11-8 and sit in second place in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division while the Kings fell to 7-13 and lie in fourth place in the Western Conference’s Pacific Division.
The game was part of the NBA’s drive to expand its international presence as part of its NBA Global Games series. London will host the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors on January 14.
The league has now staged three regular season games — in 1997, 2014 and 2015 — and 19 preseason matchups in Mexico, the most total games outside of the United States and Canada.
“I love the idea of the NBA being a global brand,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “I’m all for the globalization of basketball.”
Thomas said the crowd was loud and energetic. “We fed off the energy that they gave us, so I’m happy to be able to play out here in Mexico and hopefully we can come back,” he said.
In Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 28 points, including two free throws with 1.5 seconds left as the Heat topped the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-95 in a wild, back-and-forth game that featured 38 lead changes.
In Wade’s 13-season career with the Heat, no Miami game ever had more than 31 lead changes.
Chris Bosh scored 16 points, Goran Dragic added 14 and Josh McRoberts scored 12 for Miami, which survived when Russell Westbrook’s 3-point try from the right wing bounced off the backboard as time expired.
Westbrook and Kevin Durant each scored 25 for Oklahoma City, which missed a pair of 3 pointers in the final 10 seconds. Durant missed a 3-pointer and Bosh grabbed the rebound, calling time with 7.7 seconds remaining.
Also, it was: Nuggets 106, Raptors 105; Magic 103, Jazz 94; Spurs 103, Grizzlies 83; and Trail Blazers 123, Pacers 111.
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