Celtics, Wizards in second round
Los Angeles, April 29: Avery Bradley led a balanced offensive attack as the Boston Celtics advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs with a 105-83 rout of the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
Bradley led the way with 23 points as all five Celtics starters scored in double figures to close out their best-of-seven Eastern Conference series in six games.
It was an emotional series victory for Boston. The Celtics had to win four straight after dropping the first two games of the first round matchup. In addition they had to rally around teammate Isaiah Thomas who lost his sister in a fatal car accident.
Gerald Green tallied 16 points for the Celtics, while Jae Crowder, Thomas and Al Horford each scored 12 in the series clinching victory.
Jimmy Butler scored 23 points for the host Bulls. Butler posted a team-high point total in game six despite being hampered by a knee problem. Robin Lopez also scored 10 points for the Bulls.
Bulls star Dwyane Wade appeared to aggravate an elbow injury he suffered late in the regular season.
In Atlanta, guards John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 73 points and the Wizards easily defeated the Hawks to also clinch their East series four games to two.
Wall scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 42 points, while Beal had 17 in the first half and finished with 31 points.
Washington’s Markieff Morris added 17 points and eight rebounds, and Bojan Bogdanovic scored 10 points off the bench.
Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Dennis Schroder had 26 points and 10 assists while Tim Hardaway added 13.
In the night game, the Los Angeles Clippers staved off elimination by beating the Utah Jazz 98-93 behind a 29point performance from Chris Paul.
DeAndre Jordan chipped in 13 points and 18 rebounds as the Clippers tied the series 3-3 with game seven set for Sunday in Los Angeles.