Suns, 76ers advance ’Canes finish best regular season
Chris Paul went 14-for-14 in the best shooting night in NBA playoff history, Devin Booker returned from a hamstring injury to hit a late 3-pointer and the Phoenix Suns beat the New Orleans Pelicans 115-109 on Thursday night to finish off the firstround series in six games.
Paul had the most field goals without a miss in a playoff game, hit all four of his free throws and had eight assists as the top-seeded Suns overcame a 10-point halftime deficit.
Phoenix will face the Dallas-Utah winner in the second round.
Paul helped put the Suns up for good, at 102-101, on an assist on Deandre Ayton’s dunk with 2:12 left. Ayton had 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
The Suns erased the 10point halftime deficit by making 13 of their first 14 shots in the third quarter.
Booker played for the first time in nine days since injuring his right hamstring after scoring 31 points in the first half of Game 2. He scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting and had five rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes.
Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans with 21 points.
76ers 132, Raptors 97 — Joel Embiid had 33 points and 10 rebounds, James Harden added 22 points and 15 assists and Philadelphia beat Toronto in Game 6 to end the first-round series.
Philadelphia will face topseeded Miami in the second round.
Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points and Tobias Harris had 19 points and 11 rebounds, to help the 76ers finish off the Raptors with a blowout after losing the past two games.
Chris Boucher had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto, Pascal Siakam fouled out with 24 points.
Toronto played without allstar guard Fred VanVleet. He missed his second straight game because of a strained left hip flexor.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a goal and two assists and the Carolina Hurricanes closed out a record-setting season with a 6-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
The Hurricanes, who clinched the Metropolitan Division title two nights earlier, added to their franchise records for wins (54) and points (116) in a season.
The Hurricanes will carry a six-game winning streak into the playoffs.
Wild 3, Flames 2 — Kirill Kaprizov scored a power play goal 44 seconds into overtime to give Minnesota a win over Calgary.
Jonas Brodin and Frederick Gaudreau also scored for Minnesota.
Johnny Gaudreau scored his 40th goal of the season for the Flames.
Blue Jackets 5, Lightning 2 —
Oliver Bjorkstrand led Columbus with a goal and an assist in the win over Tampa Bay, keeping the Lightning from clinching the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Division.
Jakub Voracek, Cole Sillinger, Jack Roslovic and Andrew Peeke also scored in the Blue Jackets’ final home game of the season.
Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry scored for Tampa Bay.
Panthers 4, Senators 0 —
Carter Verhaeghe scored twice and Spencer Knight stopped 27 shots for his second career shutout as Florida beat Ottawa.
Islanders 5, Capitals 1 —
Brock Nelson and Anders Lee scored first-period goals, Mathew Barzal had three assists and Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves as New York routed playoffbound Washington.