The Miami Heat on Thursday sealed top seeding in the Eastern Conference playoffs as the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers suffered defeats on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors.
The Celtics were outgunned 127-121 by the Bucks in Milwaukee, while the Raptors edged out Philadelphia 119-114 in Toronto.
The combined results left Miami with an unassailable lead at the top of the Eastern Conference at 52-28 with two regular-season games remaining.
Photo: Benny Sieu-USA Today
Milwaukee’s victory over Boston leaves the Bucks in pole position to claim the second seed in the East. Milwaukee are 50-30 with games against the lowly Detroit Pistons yesterday, before a road game in Cleveland tomorrow.
Boston are 50-31 with just a final regular-season road game tomorrow against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Celtics looked to have clawed their way back into a winning position at the Bucks’ Fiserv Forum after trailing by 13 points near the end of the first half, taking a five-point lead at 114-109 midway through the fourth quarter, but after Marcus Smart’s driving layup put Boston ahead at 121-118 with just over two minutes remaining, momentum swung back to Milwaukee.
A three-pointer by Bobby Portis leveled the scores and then Giannis Antetokounmpo’s free throw put the Bucks ahead at 122-121.
A Jrue Holiday layup made it 124-121 to Milwaukee and then a wide-open missed layup by Boston’s Daniel Theis allowed Antetokounmpo to add another free throw for a 125-121 lead.
A George Hill steal and layup sealed the Celtics’ fate at 127-121.
Antetokounmpo and Holiday led the Bucks scorers with 29 point each, while Khris Middleton added 22 points.
Smart led the Boston scorers with 29 points.
“It was a tight game, but the guys found a way to win another close game, so some positives from that,” Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said.
In Toronto, Pascal Siakam’s 37-point triple-double sparked the Raptors to victory over the Sixers.
Siakam finished with 37 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in the Raptors win, while Gary Trent Jr added 30.
Joel Embiid led the Sixers’ scoring with 30 points and 10 rebounds, while Tyrese Maxey chipped in with 22 points.
“Offensively we lost our rhythm, we lost our pace,” Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers said. “That’s happened about three times now. We’ve got to keep our pace going. A frustrating loss.”
In the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets wrapped up the last automatic playoff place with a 122-109 win over Memphis.
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 35 points, 16 rebounds and six assists.
The victory ended the Minnesota Timberwolves’ faint hopes of sneaking into the automatic playoff spots.
The Timberwolves had kept their hopes alive briefly with a 127-121 victory over the Antonio Spurs, led by a career-high 49 points from Anthony Edwards.
Elsewhere, the Warriors defeated the Lakers 128-112, the Hornets stung the Magic 128-101 and the Pelicans thrashed the Trail Blazers 127-94.
Additional reporting by staff writer
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS