The Boston Celtics boast the NBA’s best record and enter Monday’s visit to the Chicago Bulls on a nine-game winning streak.

Boston’s surge began at the expense of the Bulls, whom the Celtics defeated 123-119 on Nov. 4. The team has found its stride — not to mention an even keel — ever since.

“We can’t try to look too far ahead and forget about all the details that need to be taken care of that’s right in front of us,” Boston’s Jaylen Brown said. “Sometimes, we get a lead and we let the game get away from us, and that’s the challenge, to be mature, to be locked in and be focused.”

Chicago surely can attest to that last part.

After trailing by 19 points in the third quarter of Friday’s game against the visiting Orlando Magic, the Bulls tied the game early in the fourth and grabbed the lead down the stretch.

Nikola Vucevic missed a pair of free throws with 12.2 seconds to go, however, and the Bulls lost an opportunity to extend the lead beyond two points. Orlando’s Jalen Suggs took advantage, swishing a game-winning 3-pointer in the closing seconds to send Chicago to its fourth straight loss and sixth defeat in seven games.

While Vucevic shouldered the blame, Bulls leader DeMar DeRozan, who scored 41 points, stressed that Chicago needs to play better across the board.

“We can’t put it merely on free throws,” DeRozan said. “The margin of error when you’re playing down 19 points is tough. Too much stuff’s gotta go perfect.

“If we don’t put ourselves in that hole, we can easily win a game without it coming down to free throws. Can’t put that stress on him. Is what it is. Gonna bounce back though.”

Monday begins a stretch that will see the Bulls play eight of their next 10 games against foes with records above .500.

Second-leading scorer Zach LaVine will aim to regroup after coach Billy Donovan benched him for the final 3:43 against Orlando as LaVine struggled to 1-for-14 shooting.

“That’s Billy’s decision. He gotta lay with it,” LaVine said. “Do I agree with it? No. I think I can go out there and still be me even if I miss some shots. But that’s his decision. He has to stand on it.”

Boston drilled 20 3-pointers during Friday’s 117-109 victory at New Orleans, including a 10-for-16 run from deep in the first quarter.

Jayson Tatum had a double-double of 19 points and 10 assists and Brown joined him with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Derrick White had 26 points while Al Horford scored 18.

Boston’s slimmest margin of victory during the winning streak is three points, while its largest is 25.

“I think we’ve definitely shown growth throughout the season,” Brown said. “I think we’ve continued to get better. But I think we still have a lot of work to do. I think we still know everybody holds us to a high standard, but I’m sure fans watching the game can see areas where we can get better and we see them too.”

–Field Level Media

Giannis Antetokounmpo gets an opportunity to demonstrate that his extra free throw-shooting practice will pay dividends when the Milwaukee Bucks open a four-game homestand Monday night against the Damian Lillard-less Portland Trail Blazers.

The Bucks have lost four of six, including 110-102 at Philadelphia on Friday night in a visit that wound up being more headline-grabbing for what happened after the 48-minute affair had ended.

Antetokounmpo had 25 points and 14 rebounds in the loss but shot poorly at the foul line for the third consecutive game, going just 4-for-15.

He responded by returning to the court well after the game for additional work, only to find the arena crew already partway into its nightly routine.

Antetokounmpo wound up pushing a ladder out of the way — it crashed to the court — to attempt to complete a 10-shot drill and found himself having to explain himself afterward following a run-in with the 76ers’ Montrezl Harrell, who seized the Bucks star’s basketball.

Antetokounmpo got in eight of his 10 shots, then noted it’s not a technical flaw that’s resulted in him going 19-for-44 in his last three games.

“I’m just not making them. Simple as that,” he observed. “I don’t think there’s no issue. The ball is not going in.”

The same could be said of the Bucks’ shooting in general. They have shot just 42.6 percent overall and 34.1 percent on 3-pointers in their last six games, during which they have lost to the Atlanta Hawks twice, San Antonio Spurs and 76ers by an average of 15 points.

The Bucks have yet to see the Trail Blazers this season. When the clubs last met on Valentine’s Day nine months ago, Portland came away with a 122-107 road win, taking advantage of Antetokounmpo’s absence.

The Trail Blazers didn’t have Lillard in that one, and like Antetokounmpo, he probably wishes he could have his last performance back. He shot just 2-for-14 overall and 1-for-12 on 3-pointers in a 118-113 home loss to the Utah Jazz on Saturday night before leaving in the third quarter with right calf tightness.

The team said Sunday that an MRI exam detected a Grade 1 strain to the soleus muscle in the lower leg. Lillard will be re-evaluated in one to two weeks.

Lillard’s 13-point effort was six points fewer than any previous game this season.

Lillard indicated afterward he planned to take some time off to get the lingering issue right. He had played in six of Portland’s seven games since sitting out four in a row bridging October and November with the same problem.

“I took off running back on defense and felt like it tightened up,” he reported afterward. “I could tell it was irritated. I kind of had a conversation with myself. I wanted to see how I felt. I was sitting for two weeks. I didn’t want to go out there and do the same thing over again. I came out and let them look at it, and that was it.”

Anfernee Simons exploded for 31 points in Lillard’s absence in February’s trip to Milwaukee. He had a team-high 23 points Saturday against Utah.

Portland, which has lost three of four since a 9-3 start, will play its next four games on the road. The trip continues at Cleveland, New York and Brooklyn, forcing the club to spend Thanksgiving away from home.

–Field Level Media

The red-hot Indiana Pacers will look to extend their current winning streak to five games and seek a second straight win over the Orlando Magic on Monday in Indianapolis.

The same two teams played on Saturday, with Indiana outlasting Orlando for its sixth win in the last seven games, 114-113.

Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner both recorded double-doubles in the win, Haliburton with 22 points and 14 assists and Turner with 20 points and 11 rebounds. The duo helped pace Indiana to its fourth single-digit-margin win in the month of November.

“We’re going through this together for the first time, but it’s happening over and over where we’re in close games,” Haliburton said in his postgame press conference. “You’ve kinda got to figure it out together on the go, and we’re growing together as a group.”

The Pacers also continued to show off their depth with the reserve duo of Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin going for 19 and 12 points, respectively.

On the season, Mathurin is Indiana’s second-leading scorer at 19.1 points per game, behind only Haliburton’s 20.6 points per game. Mathurin has come off the bench in all 15 games.

“We have a young team, but … we are pretty quick at finding ways to win,” Mathurin told Bally Sports following Saturday’s win. “Which is a great thing. Play every game like it was the last game, so we’re trying to win every game.”

Indiana weathered three 20-point-plus scoring efforts from Orlando’s Franz Wagner (29 points), Bol Bol (22 points) and Mo Bamba (21 points) in Saturday’s win, which was the Magic’s third loss in the last four games.

Orlando was playing the second leg of a back-to-back on Saturday, the second game in a brief, three-game road swing that opened Friday with a thrilling win at Chicago.

After giving up a 19-point lead to the Bulls, the Magic rallied in the closing minute to set the stage for Jalen Suggs’ game-winning 3-pointer.

Orlando nearly scored another win in the closing seconds on Saturday, but both Wagner and Bol missed looks at the rim.

“We drew the play up just like that,” Bol said of the final sequence to get Wagner open. Bol got the rebound and had another attempt that fell short. “It was a good look,” he said.

Wendell Carter Jr., who played Friday against the Bulls, missed Saturday’s game with a foot injury. Gary Harris also sat against the Pacers after contributing seven points in 24 minutes at Chicago.

The absences compounded season-long personnel issues for Orlando, which remains without No. 1 overall draft pick Paolo Banchero due to an ankle injury.

Banchero — who is averaging 23.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game — last played on Nov. 7. The Orlando Sentinel reports he will miss another seven to 10 days.

“A lot of guys stepped up tonight. It’s next-man mentality,” Wagner said in his postgame press conference of Orlando’s play with a bevy of injuries. “I think we’ve got a great team chemistry and guys are ready to play. Lineups change a little bit, but everyone’s always engaged in practice and everyone knows what they’re supposed to do out there.”

–Field Level Media

Cameron Payne scored a team-high 21 points and flirted with a triple-double Sunday afternoon for the Phoenix Suns, who led nearly wire-to-wire in a 116-95 win over the visiting New York Knicks.

Payne, playing in place of injured All-Star point guard Chris Paul, added nine assists and seven rebounds as the Suns improved to 3-3 without Paul, who is sidelined with right heel soreness.

Deandre Ayton (13 points, 11 rebounds) had a double-double and scored the basket that put the Suns ahead for good with 8:28 left in the third quarter. Devin Booker scored 20 points and Damion Lee had 15 points off the bench while starters Torrey Craig (14 points) and Mikal Bridges (13 points) also got into double figures.

Jalen Brunson scored 27 points for the Knicks, who lost their second straight and fell to 2-2 on a five-game Western Conference road trip. RJ Barrett finished with 12 points and Quentin Grimes added 10 points.

Julius Randle opened the game with a layup to give the Knicks their lone lead, but Payne and Booker combined on an 8-0 run for the Suns, who twice opened up a 10-point lead and led 28-22 at the end of the first.

The Suns led by 11 twice in the second before the Knicks tied the game at 53-53 with a 17-7 run that ended with Randle and Brunson draining back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 1:06. Bridges then hit a floater and Brunson missed a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

Brunson missed another potential go-ahead 3-pointer to open the third quarter. A layup by Grimes tied the score for the final time at 60-60 with 9:19 left. The Suns missed three shots on their next possession but New York’s Isaiah Hartenstein missed a hook shot, after which Ayton hit the go-ahead layup and Booker dunked following a turnover by Randle.

The Knicks pulled within a basket twice more before Phoenix went on an 8-0 run to lengthen its lead to 75-64. The Suns led 90-75 at the end of the third and removed any doubt when Lee and Payne combined to score all the points in an 11-0 run that put the hosts ahead 105-79 with 6:29 left.

–Field Level Media

Portland Trail Blazers All-Star guard Damian Lillard has a right calf strain and will be re-evaluated in one to two weeks, the team said Sunday.

The Trail Blazers said Lillard sustained a Grade 1 strain to the soleus muscle in the lower leg. The severity was detected in an MRI exam following Saturday’s 118-113 home loss to the Utah Jazz.

He exited in the third quarter of the game after scoring 13 points in 27 minutes, despite 2-of-14 shooting. He added seven assists.

This is Lillard’s second calf injury of the season. He left the team’s game against the Miami Heat on Oct. 26 with a right calf strain and missed four games.

Lillard is averaging 26.3 points, 7.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 11 games this season. He was limited to just 29 games in 2021-22 because of an abdominal injury.

The 32-year-old has career averages of 24.7 points, 6.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds in 722 games, all with Portland. The Trail Blazers selected him with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.

The Trail Blazers begin a four-game road eastern road swing beginning Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

–Field Level Media

Kyrie Irving is returning to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday following an eight-game suspension and is available to play against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Nets suspended him indefinitely on Nov. 3 due to his conduct on social media when he tweeted about a book and movie that contained antisemitic ideas.

Irving told reporters on Sunday that he regretted his actions.

“I don’t stand for anything close to hate speech, or antisemitism, or anything that is anti going against the human race,” Irving said. “I feel like we all should have an opportunity to speak for ourselves when things are assumed about us. And I feel it was necessary for me to stand in this place and take accountability for my actions because there was a way I should have handled all of this.”

“I meant no harm to any person, any group of people,” he continued. “And yeah, this is a big moment for me because I’m able to learn throughout this process that the power of my voice is very strong. The influence that I have within my community is very strong. And I want to be responsible for that. In order to do that, we have to admit when you were wrong and instances where you hurt people and it impacts them.”

In a statement released Sunday, per ESPN, the team said Irving had made progress.

“Kyrie took ownership of his journey and had conversations with several members of the Jewish community. We are pleased that he is going about the process in a meaningful way,” the team said.

Prior to his suspension, Irving, 30, averaged 26.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists while shooting 45.3 percent from the field through eight games, all of which were starts. The Nets went 5-3 without him in the lineup, relying on Edmond Sumner to take on more of a workload in the backcourt.

–Field Level Media