Horford tows Celtics to 9th straight win

Veteran Al Horford turned back the clock to help the National Basketball Association (NBA) champion Boston Celtics notch a ninth straight victory and nab a franchise first with a 117-103 win over the Grizzlies in Memphis on Monday.

Horford, 38, led the Celtics scoring with 26 points off the bench while Jayson Tatum added 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Celtics defense stymied the Grizzlies in the second half to complete a perfect 6-0 road trip — the longest unbeaten road swing in the club’s history.

Boston, second in the Eastern Conference behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, won all six games by double digits.

Horford scored his season-high, draining six of Boston’s 21 three-pointers.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Horford said.

“It’s pretty amazing for me to be in this position and I’m just trying to have fun with it and enjoy with my team.”

Ja Morant scored 26 points for the Grizzlies, who led by as many as 11 in the first half and regained the lead early in the third.

Ultimately, however, they couldn’t keep pace and lost ground in their fight with the Los Angeles Lakers for fourth place in the West.

The Lakers beat the second-placed Houston Rockets 104-98 in a tense duel at Crypto.com Arena.

Luka Doncic, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent scored 20 points apiece for the Lakers and LeBron James added 16.

James drilled a pair of free throws to push the Lakers lead to 102-98 with 11.1 seconds left then came up with a massive block as Los Angeles held on for the victory.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, already assured of the Western Conference top seed, racked up their 10th straight victory with a 145-117 pounding of the Chicago Bulls.