(Basketball news) The Boston Celtics went onto win their 7th match in a row as they edged past the Oklahoma City Thunders 126-122. For the Celtics, Marcus Smart scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half as he also had eight assists and five rebounds while Jayson Tatum had 27 points and 10 rebounds and Al Horford added 12 points and 11 rebounds as Pritchard scored 10, and White finished with 16 points. For the OKC, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the scoring with 37 points as Lu Dort scored 21, and Aleksej Pokusevski finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds. With this result the Celtics moved to the top of the Eastern Conference table with a record of 11-3.

''Tonight was a resilient win – a tough game to win,'' said Jaylen Brown, who scored 26 for Boston.

“The first team was a little sluggish. We tried. We were giving it everything we got and just couldn't find it,'' Smart said. ''And then those two came in and gave us the jump we needed. The energy definitely shifted with those two guys coming into the game.''

''There were a lot of bright spots. We really put it to them. We controlled the game on the road against a great team, which is a credit to our guys,'' coach Mark Daigneault said.

''I thought especially in the second half, we didn't allow our lack of shot-making to affect our defensive effort,'' Mazzulla said. ''That to me is a sign of growth for the team.''

The Atlanta Hawks handed the Milwaukee Bucks their third defeat of the season as they beat them 121-106. For the Hawks, De'Andre Hunter scored 24 points and Trae Young had 21 points and nine assists, Clint Capela added 19 points and 10 rebounds, Dejounte Murray also scored 19 and John Collins had 16 points and nine rebounds as Atlanta won for the fifth time in seven games. For the Bucks, Antetokounmpo, who missed the last two games and three of the last four with left knee soreness, scored 27 points in 31 minutes while MarJon Beauchamp had 20 points. With this result the Bucks slumped to their 3rd defeat in 4 matches after a 9-0 start and as for the Hawks they are 3rd in the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 9-5.

''I thought our guards did a really good of establishing the tempo and making them work on the defensive end,'' Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. ''Defensively, we didn't give up anything easy.''

''When was the last time I played, like six or seven days ago, a week ago?'' Antetokounmpo said. ''But that's part of it. You can't get too low or get too high. It's part of it. You can't expect to be at your best when you haven't played for a week.''

''The scoring was really well distributed for them tonight,'' Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. ''They've beat us different ways. The guards have had big nights. Tonight, there was a lot of balance.''

Also read: Lakers get their 3rd win of the season against the Nets, Warriors lose again