CELTICS TURN SPRINKLERS ON THE HEAT IN EAST
Los Angeles, March 27: The Boston Celtics held off the Miami Heat 112-108 on Sunday to pull into a virtual tie atop the NBA’s Eastern Conference with the reigning champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Celtics’ fourth straight victory gave them one more win than the Cavs — who fell to the Washington Wizards on Saturday. But they also have one more defeat, leaving them technically just a few percentage points behind Cleveland.
Isaiah Thomas had 30 points while Jae Crowder scored 25.
The Celtics have a day off on Monday, when Cleveland face the dangerous San Antonio Spurs.
The defeat, and the Chicago Bulls’ 109-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, left Miami just a half-game ahead of Chicago for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.
The Bucks are in a threeway tie for fifth place in the East with the Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 107-94 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, while the reeling Hawks endured a seventh straight defeat — 107-92 to the Brooklyn Nets.
Rockets survive Westbrook blitz In Houston, the Rockets withstood Russell Westbrook’s 36th tripledouble of the season to silence the Oklahoma City Thunder 137-125.
The contest featured two top MVP candidates in Westbrook and Houston’s James Harden.
Westbrook, who scored 39 points with 11 rebounds and 13 assists, is within sight of legendary Oscar Robertson’s 41 triple-doubles of the 1961-62 season.
But the Rockets’ superior depth was on display. Harden delivered 22 points with 12 assists, engineering an outstanding offensive effort by the Rockets that included 31 points from Lou Williams and 24 apiece from Trevor Ariza and Eric Gordon.
Warriors too hot for Grizzlies Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors won their seventh straight, pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 106-94 home win over the Memphis Grizzlies. The Warriors took their record to 59-14 and pushed their lead over San Antonio atop the West to 2 1/2 games.
Klay Thompson led the Warriors with a gamehigh 31 points. Curry added 21 and Andre Iguodala had 20 points.
The Utah Jazz didn’t play Sunday, but they clinched their first playoff berth since 2012 when the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Denver Nuggets 115-90.
Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with 31 points and 15 rebounds.
One day after clinching an NBA post-season berth, the Los Angeles Clippers looked anything but playoff-ready in a shocking 9897 loss to the Sacramento Kings.