The Boston Celtics on Wednesday clinched the NBA’s best record this season and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with a 135-100 blowout over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 27 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Jayson Tatum added 24 points and Jaylen Brown contributed 23 points for the Celtics, who improved to an Eastern Conference-best 60-16.
Minnesota and Denver are next best and share the Western Conference lead at 53-23.
Photo: AP
Boston have six games remaining, but are guaranteed to enjoy home-court advantage throughout the playoffs as they chase an NBA-record 18th league crown.
“You learn to appreciate the process,” Tatum said. “All the while we want to hang a [championship] banner, we can’t skip steps. Winning 60-plus games and clinching the best record in the league, it’s a big deal, but you’re going to have to win some games on the road regardless in the playoffs to do what you want to do.”
The Celtics, who last won the NBA Finals in 2008, were back home after a 4-2 road trip. They blew open the contest by outscoring Oklahoma City 42-17 in the fourth quarter.
“Feels great,” Tatum said. “We had a long road trip, 13 days. It was definitely good to come back here, be around our fans and get a win. We really just picked up our intensity. That first game back after a long road trip can be kind of tough. We ended up finding our energy. It really showed in that second half — we started getting stops, playing faster, knocking down shots.”
Minnesota grabbed a share of the Western Conference lead alongside defending champions Denver with a 133-85 rout of visiting Toronto, stretching the Raptors’ losing streak to 15 games.
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 28 points, while Naz Reid added 23 points and Rudy Gobert had 11 points and 15 rebounds for the hosts.
At 53-23, the Timberwolves are level with the Nuggets and a game ahead of Oklahoma City.
Injury-hit Milwaukee played without Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton and Patrick Beverley and lost to visiting Memphis 111-101.
Jaren Jackson Jr scored 35 points to lead the Grizzlies, while G.G. Jackson had 15 points and 12 rebounds for Memphis.
Brook Lopez led the Bucks with 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Giannis Antetokounmpo added 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
Lillard was out with a groin strain, while Middleton and Beverley had ankle injuries.
Anthony Davis scored 35 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, while LeBron James added 25 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to power the Los Angeles Lakers to a 125-120 victory at Washington.
The Lakers, 44-33, are ninth in the West, two games ahead of Golden State in the penultimate play-in position.
Jalen Johnson posted his first career triple-double with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists to spark the Atlanta Hawks over visiting Detroit 121-113.
Reserve Malachi Flynn, averaging only 5.2 points a game, scored 50 points for the NBA-worst Pistons, just off the NBA record for points off the bench, 51 by Jamal Crawford in 2019.
De’Andre Hunter had 26 points, while Dejounte Murray added 24 for the Hawks, who clinched an East play-in berth and eliminated Brooklyn from playoff contention.
Phoenix’s Devin Booker scored 40 points and Kevin Durant added 32 to lead the Suns over visiting Cleveland 122-101 and into a West playoff position at 45-31.
Getting knocked down into the play-in zone were the New Orleans Pelicans (45-31), who lost at home 117-108 to Orlando, the Magic getting 32 points from Paolo Banchero and 24 from Franz Wagner.
Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas scored 27 points and rookie Noah Clowney had a season-high 22 off the bench to ignite the Nets’ 115-111 home victory over Indiana.
Bahamian center Deandre Ayton scored 24 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to lead Portland over hosts Charlotte 89-86.
Charlotte Hornets coach Steve Clifford said he would step down after the season. They are out of playoff contention at 18-58.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Steve Smith yesterday announced his retirement from one-day international (ODI) cricket after captaining Australia to a semi-final exit at the ICC Champions Trophy, bringing down the curtain on a career in the format that included two ICC World Cup wins. The 35-year-old batsman, who was his team’s top scorer with 73 as Australia lost to India by four wickets in Dubai on Tuesday, said he would still be available for selection for T20 internationals and Test matches. “It has been a great ride and I have loved every minute of it,” Smith said in a Cricket Australia statement. “There have been so
RSS