Jaylen Brown scored 39 points and Jayson Tatum added 38 to become the NBA’s second 1,000-point scorer this season as the host Boston Celtics coasted past the Houston Rockets 126-102 on Tuesday night.

Boston shot 47.3 percent for the game and was 20 of 56 (35.7 percent) from long range, setting a franchise record for most 3-point attempts in a regulation game. Brown and Tatum each hit six triples.

Robert Williams III had 11 points and 15 rebounds while Tatum added eight rebounds and four assists in Boston’s third straight win.

Jalen Green had a team-high 28 points and Kevin Porter Jr. contributed 22 points and nine assists for the Rockets, who have lost six of their past seven games.

The Celtics, who led by seven at halftime, were in front 92-81 after the third quarter. Boston’s Grant Williams sank back-to-back 3-pointers and Malcolm Brogdon (six points, eight assists) fed Robert Williams for a dunk to cap an 8-0 run before Green drilled a quarter-ending trey for Houston.

Boston crossed over the 100-point marker with a 9-3 run to begin the fourth, including another Brogdon-to-Robert Williams connection.

Houston got back within 10 after Jabari Smith Jr. and Porter sank 3-pointers, but Marcus Smart, Brown and Tatum all hit from deep in succession, forcing a Rockets timeout with 4:32 left in a 113-97 game.

The Celtics had a 34-21 scoring edge in the fourth.

A Brown steal and Tatum windmill dunk came during a quick 7-2 stretch that put an exclamation point on Boston’s eighth straight home win against Western Conference foes dating back to last season.

The Rockets carried on the momentum of their Monday win at Chicago, jumping out to a 13-5 lead after Smith and Kenyon Martin Jr. (17 points) hit back-to-back treys.

Boston responded with a 10-2 run, and soon after, a Robert Williams tip-in gave the Celtics their first lead at 19-18.

Al Horford’s 3-pointer punctuated a 6-0 spurt to finish a second quarter that featured five ties and four lead changes. The Celtics led 56-49 at the break.

Green was busy trying to keep Houston in it in the third, going 7 of 9 from the field and scoring 18 points during the frame.

–Field Level Media

Kristaps Porzingis collected 24 points and 10 rebounds as the host Washington Wizards overcame Joel Embiid’s 48-point performance in a 116-111 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

Bradley Beal scored 19 points and Kyle Kuzma and Rui Hachimura each added 14 to send the Wizards to their third win in four games following a 10-game losing skid.

Corey Kispert, Daniel Gafford and Monte Morris each had eight points, and Deni Avdija added seven off the bench in his return from a two-game absence due to lower back soreness.

Embiid made 17 of 32 shots from the floor and 13 of 14 from the free-throw line for the 76ers, who were unsuccessful in overcoming a double-digit first-half deficit. As a result, they saw their season-high eight-game winning streak come to a halt.

Philadelphia’s James Harden recorded 26 points and 13 assists and Tobias Harris added 15 points.

Harden made three straight free throws, converted a three-point play and added a driving layup as the 76ers whittled a 16-point deficit down to two at 101-99 with 8:13 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harden later set up Embiid for an alley-oop dunk to bring Philadelphia within one at 108-107 with 2:59 to play.

Porzingis countered with a 3-pointer before Embiid made a free throw to keep the Sixers within one possession with 2:05 remaining.

Morris drained a pair of free throws and Porzingis added one to push Washington’s lead to 114-108 with 11.9 seconds left. Embiid responded with a 3-pointer to halve the deficit with six seconds left, but Avdija sank a pair of free throws to cap the scoring.

Hachimura made four baskets as Washington scored 23 of the first 35 points of the second quarter to secure a 55-42 lead. Philadelphia answered with a modest run as Embiid sandwiched layups around Harris’ three-point play, but Beal drained a step-back 3-pointer to push the Wizards’ advantage to 67-56 at halftime.

Beal recorded 11 points as the Wizards overcame both nine turnovers and an early scoring surge by Embiid to claim a 32-30 lead at the end of the first quarter. Embiid made 6 of 9 shots from the floor and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with 16 points in the frame.

–Field Level Media

LeBron James scored 28 points to lead six players in double figures as the visiting Los Angeles Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 129-110 win over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.

Russell Westbrook recorded a triple-double with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists, Thomas Bryant had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Troy Brown Jr. matched his season high with 15 points. Patrick Beverley scored 14 and Lonnie Walker IV added 10.

Markelle Fultz led Orlando with 16 points, while Wendell Carter Jr. and Franz Wagner scored 15 apiece. Terrence Ross scored 13, Moritz Wagner had 12 and Bol Bol chipped in 10.

Los Angeles never trailed after moving ahead 22-21 in the first quarter. The Lakers shot 54.4 percent from the field and 17 of 43 (39.5 percent) from 3-point range.

James scored 12 points in the third quarter to help put Los Angeles ahead 92-83 heading into the final period. He fell two points shy of extending his seven-game streak of at least 30 points.

Brown scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer that put the Lakers ahead 116-100 with 4:24 remaining.

Los Angeles ended the first quarter with a 33-27 lead after holding Orlando to 37.5 percent shooting.

The Lakers stretched their lead to 16 points before the Magic used a 9-3 run to pull within 61-51 at the half.

Bryant had 13 points and seven rebounds in the first half for Los Angeles, which shot 53.3 percent. Fultz scored 13 to lead the Magic.

After being outscored 51-21 in the third quarter of a 124-115 loss to Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, the Lakers were able to maintain their lead throughout the second half against the Magic.

Rookie Paolo Banchero was held to a season-low four points on 1-of-6 shooting for Orlando, which had won two straight and eight of the past nine.

Moritz Wagner had his streak of consecutive made free throws snapped at 39 after missing early in the second quarter. The streak tied for the third-longest in Magic history.

–Field Level Media

The New Orleans Pelicans just played one of their better games of the season while short-handed.

They expect to be stronger when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

On Monday night, the Pelicans defeated the visiting Indiana Pacers 113-93 despite the absence of their top two scorers: Zion Williamson (illness) and Brandon Ingram (toe). In addition, another starter, Herbert Jones Jr., was in health and safety protocols.

Two more key rotation players in Trey Murphy III (non-COVID illness) and Dyson Daniels (non-COVID illness) also were out.

Williamson, who has missed the last three games, said after practice Tuesday that he will play against the Wolves and head coach Willie Green said Murphy and Daniels are probable.

New Orleans gave at least 17 minutes to all nine players that were available Monday and all but one scored.

“At no point was it like, ‘Let’s try and make it a game,'” Williamson said. “It was: ‘We’re about to go out here to win this game and we’re going to execute.’ And they did that.

“We have a deep team – so many different pieces that can be utilized on any given night.”

Despite the absences, New Orleans held Indiana to 38 first-half points, the fewest it has allowed in a half this season. The Pacers’ 93 points were the third fewest the Pelicans have allowed in a game.

“We have to continue to work and build a foundation defensively because it’s sustainable,” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said. “Our offense can come and go. We didn’t shoot the ball great (45.6 percent), but we defended.”

The Pelicans have won 12 of their last 14 home games, with losses in that stretch against the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.

New Orleans has won three straight games while shorthanded, while Minnesota has lost three straight amid key absences.

All-Star Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns (calf) has missed the last month and three rotational players – Kyle Anderson (back), Taurean Prince (shoulder) and Jordan McLaughlin (calf) – missed a 113-110 loss at Miami on Monday.

The Wolves shot 54.4 percent from the floor but committed 22 turnovers. That helped the Heat take 102 shots compared to Minnesota’s 79.

“That’s 22 shots we didn’t get, so the turnovers were big,” said Minnesota’s Naz Reid, who had 21 points off the bench.

The Wolves forced Miami into a missed shot with 2.5 seconds left, but couldn’t attempt a potential tying shot because of a turnover that head coach Chris Finch called “fitting.”

“Throughout the whole game it was ups and downs,” Reid said. “We’ve got to be better within the course of the game so we won’t have to be in that position (at the end).”

Minnesota has averaged 106 points during the losing streak, which was preceded by a three-game winning streak in which it averaged 126 points. It has lost five of its last six games on the road.

“We just need to keep our minds in the right place,” said Wolves center Rudy Gobert, who was limited to eight rebounds against the Heat.

The Wolves will play the third game of a four-game road trip while the Pelicans are playing the middle game of a three-game homestand.

–Field Level Media

The Milwaukee Bucks’ season-long losing skid has reinforced the notion that bad things come in threes.

The Bucks will look to end the drought during Wednesday’s visit to the Chicago Bulls, when they aim to come untracked from behind the 3-point line.

A 139-118 loss at NBA-leading Boston on Christmas Day saw the Celtics drill 19 baskets from 3-point range to Milwaukee’s 13. Grayson Allen, the Bucks’ leading 3-point shooter at 41.2 percent, missed each of his three attempts from deep and has tried just 17 long-range attempts in his past seven games.

“The sentiment of getting more 3s up, I agree with and I need to do that,” Allen said. “I need to find ways to do that.”

Milwaukee has been without Khris Middleton (right knee soreness) for the past five games. Middleton told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel the swelling in his knee gradually has subsided as he takes the injury day-by-day.

“Just trying to make sure that the next time I go back out there I’ll be out there for the long run,” Middleton said.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 27 points at Boston to lead five players in double figures.

Chicago, meanwhile, saw its season-high three-game winning streak snapped with Monday’s 133-118 loss to the visiting Houston Rockets. Chicago surrendered a 17-1 third-quarter run in the opener of a four-game homestand that concludes with three straight contests against Central Division foes.

The Bulls entered Tuesday ranked fourth in the Central Division and 11th in the Eastern Conference, eager to make up ground. The urgency the team showed during the winning streak seemingly dissipated against the Rockets, who opened the game on a 23-5 tear.

Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan, who scored a team-high 31 points, called the start “unacceptable.”

“We can’t feel out games,” DeRozan said. “We gotta go out the gate and treat it like it’s the fourth quarter. That’s just how we have to play. We have to be more aware of that.”

Monday marked the first time the Bulls have lost while leading at halftime this season, stopping a string of eight straight wins in that scenario to start the campaign.

A lack of depth, especially on the defensive side, was evident down the stretch as the Bulls played without Alex Caruso (concussion), Javonte Green (right knee soreness) and Derrick Jones Jr. (left ankle sprain).

“In the fourth, we started to try to switch just to keep the ball in front of us,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “I know (Nikola Vucevic) got caught in a couple mismatches, which I was fine with because I felt they were hurting us from behind the line because we got into rotations. I was just trying to do something different.

“But whatever you have out there group-wise, there’s enough out there to win in my opinion. We have to be better defensively. We have to coach them better and help them more.”

Chicago edged host Milwaukee 118-113 on Nov. 23 in the first of four meetings between the teams. DeRozan scored 36 points while the Bulls drilled 18 3-pointers and shot 42.9 percent from distance.

Milwaukee has won 16 of the last 18 games between the teams, going back to January of 2018.

–Field Level Media