Jayson Tatum had a game high 29 points on Tuesday evening, as the Boston Celtics pulled away from the Memphis Grizzles 122-107 at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. It is the ninth consecutive win for Boston over Memphis.
Memphis (33-39) scored the first basket of the game, but after that it was all Boston. The Celtics led by seven after the opening 12 minutes and by 16 at the half. The green went up 19 in the third on a Tatum three-pointer, and the Grizz never got closer than eight the rest of the way. Bostons largest lead was 20 late in the contest.
Tatum added six rebounds to his point total. Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward each added 19 points in the win. Walker had four rebounds and three assists, while Hayward had five rebounds and five assists. Marcus Smart also contributed 11 points, three rebounds, and nine assists, while Enes Kanter also had 11 points and eight rebounds. Robert Williams III also got into double figures with 10 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks. Ja Morant led Memphis with 26 points, four rebounds, and 13 assists. Boston (48-23) has one more game remaining in the regular season at the NBA bubble against the Washington Wizards Thursday at 12 p.m. The Celts have gone 5-2 in the restart.
At Fenway Park in Boston, the Tampa Bay Rays won for the second night in a row taking the first two of a four game series making it look easy in a 8-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.
The teams traded runs early on. Mike Brosseau led off the game in the top of the first with a line drive solo homer to right center field to make it 1-0 Tampa. Boston (6-11) got even when Michael Chavis singled in a run in the bottom of the second. Yandy Diaz gave the Rays back a lead they wouldn’t give back with an RBI single in the top of the third. The doors came off in the seventh inning when the visitors struck for six runs to pull away. Manuel Margot, Brandon Lowe, and Hunter Renfroe doubled in runs, Diaz singled in another run, and a passed ball allowed another to score making it 8-1. Alex Verdugo had an RBI single in the Red Sox eighth to finish off the scoring.
Martin Perez (2-2) took the loss on the mound for Boston allowing two runs, three hits, with five strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Austin Brice was lit up for five earned runs in just 2/3 of an inning, while Robert Stock and Dylan Covey combined for 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. Andrew Benentendi, Chavis, and Jonathan Arauz each had two hits for the Sox. Brosseau, Diaz, and Margot had two hits each for Tampa Bay. John Curtiss (1-0) allowed one run on four hits in 2.2 innings to get the win in a bullpen game. The Rays (10-8) used seven pitchers in the game. Zack Godley will take to the rubber for Boston in game three of the series Wednesday night at 7:30, while Blake Snell will fire for Tampa.
