The Celtics winning streak is 12 and more from Sunday night in the NBA

There were only four games played in the NBA on Sunday night, but that didn’t make the action any less interesting. The Celtics kept their streak alive after a close game with the Raptors, James Harden proved he was one of the league’s best maestros and an NBA great made his debut on the college level.

Here’s everything you need to know.

After losing their first two games the Celtics have ripped off 12 in a row and toppled a formidable foe in the Raptors on Sunday. This is reaching franchise record territory for Boston — the last time they had a winning streak this long was 2009.

This team is good and they do it through defense. That’s why even when Kyrie Irving or Al Horford go down, they can take care of good teams with no problem. They’re officially 3-0 when Horford and Irving don’t play and 4-0 if we include the Hornets game where Irving played two minutes.

The Celtics are good.

With that being said, the Raptors were just one shot away from stopping the Celtics in their tracks. DeMar DeRozan had a good look at the bucket and took a shot he frequently makes.

In today’s league, that shot is frowned upon. But for DeRozan, who specializes in contested jump shots, it’s a solid look. Some Raptors fans were miffed because Kyle Lowry only took 10 shots throughout the game despite scoring 11 first-quarter points.

But the Raptors say they’ll live with the look they got every time.

On Nov. 5, Harden scored 56 points in 35 minutes. On Sunday night? He dished out nine assists in the first quarter to generate 21 points for the Rockets to propel them toward a blowout win against the Pacers.

There’s just no stopping this dude. Just look.

Harden finished the game with 26 points, 15 assists and five rebounds. In the legendary words of Diddy:

Quietly, the Pistons have won 10 games this season including a win over the Warriors. The attendance in their new arena might be shaky, but their team certainly isn’t. Tobias Harris was incredible in their win over the Heat, when he scored 25 points.

We might have to start taking the Pistons a bit more seriously.

Last night after a win over the Mavericks, James called Dennis Smith, Jr. a ‘diamond in the rough’ and said the Knicks should’ve drafted him, which implicitly says they made a mistake by drafting Frank Ntilikina.

But on Sunday when he addressed reporters, Porzingis was having none of it.

“I don’t know why he made those comments. But all I can say is we love Frank and we’re happy with him,” Porzingis said in defense of the Knicks’ rookie. “He’s playing great, and he’s doing what he’s supposed to. And I would not change Frank for anybody. Simple.”

Monday night’s matchup is going to be big fun.

Flagrant fouls have been all the rage — literally — across the league over the last week. On Sunday, Nowitzki joined in on the fun after he was called for a Flagrant-1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Those are harsh words, big fella. Here’s the foul in question.

Looks like a good call. Still, I’m sure Nowitzki cursing someone out will make for a great soundbite.

Patrick Ewing is a Hall of Famer and was a longtime NBA assistant coach, but now he’s got his hands on the wheels at Georgetown. On Sunday night, Georgetown had their home opener in D.C. and lots of Ewing’s old buddies turned out to support him.

Here’s Michael Jordan!

And here’s Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo! What a collection of big men. You still can’t score on these guys.

It’s really nice to see old faces turn up in support for Ewing who never got the NBA shot he was looking for. Hopefully his tenure at Georgetown will be a great one.

Another week, another jersey. This time it’s Thaddeus Young.

Nike really has to do something about this issue. It just keeps happening.

Celtics 95 , Raptors 94 (Celtics Blog recap | Raptors HQ recap)

Pistons 112, Heat 103 (Detroit Bad Boys recap | Hot Hot Hoops recap)

Rockets 118, Pacers 95 (The Dream Shake recap | Indy Cornrows recap)

Thunder 112, Mavericks 99 (Welcome to Loud City recap | Mavs Moneyball recap)

Western Conference

Eastern Conference