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Wembanyama stars as red-hot Spurs sink Celtics / Photo: Ronald Cortes - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Wembanyama stars as red-hot Spurs sink Celtics
Victor Wembanyama scored 39 points as the red-hot San Antonio Spurs defeated the Boston Celtics 125-116 on Tuesday in a potential NBA Finals preview.
French star Wembanyama spearheaded another dazzling all-round offensive performance from San Antonio, who have now won 16 of their last 17 games.
Wembanyama's tally included eight three-pointers -- matching his NBA career high -- along with 11 rebounds and two blocks against a Boston side who have also been in prime form recently.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama's ability to shoot from long range posed a dilemma for opposition defenses.
"He's shown he can obviously get hot and make shots," Johnson said. "It really puts defenses in a tough place in terms of how they want to play because if you take the gravity away from him it obviously can open up the rest of the floor."
De'Aaron Fox backed Wembanyama with 25 points while Stephon Castle finished with 18 and Devin Vassell 14.
Derrick White led Boston's scorers with 34 points while Jayson Tatum added 24 and Ron Harper Jr. 22 off the bench.
San Antonio improved to 48-17 with the victory and are second in the Western Conference behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (51-15).
The Celtics are second in the Eastern Conference with a 43-22 record.
A.Schmidt--BlnAP
