West finals:
Isaiah Thomas scored 29 points and had 12 assists and Kelly Olynyk scored a career-playoff high 26 as the Boston Celtics used a big fourth quarter to outlast the visiting Washington Wizards 115-105 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Monday night.
Boston advanced to the East finals, where it will host the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 on Wednesday.
Led by Olynyk, the Celtics got a huge lift from their bench, outscoring their Wizards’ counterparts 48-5. Boston also connected on 11 3-pointers, including 8 of 13 in the second half.
“Everyone gave their best tonight and it turned out well,” Olynyk said. “It was a team effort, hard work. It was a tough seven-game series. Both teams played hard, we outlasted them there. They are a great team.”
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 38 points, including 24 in the second half. Otto Porter added 20 points. But Washington also had 15 turnovers, leading to 17 Celtics points.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ruled Kawhi Leonard out for Game 2 of the Western Conference finals with a sprained left ankle after what Popovich described as a “dangerous” and “unsportsmanlike” move by Golden State’s Zaza Pachulia.
Leonard had an MRI on Monday and Popovich had no timetable on when he’d be able to return to action. “We’ll see what the MRI says, but obviously he won’t play tomorrow,” Popovich said.
Leonard left Game 1 on Sunday after re-injuring his left ankle in the third quarter when Pachulia’s foot slid under Leonard’s following a jumper by the star forward.
The play happened in front of the Spurs bench and Popovich was angry at the time and even more upset a day after San Antonio’s 113-111 loss to the Warriors.
“A two-step, lead-withyour-foot closeout is not appropriate,” he said. “It’s dangerous (and) it’s unsportsmanlike.”
Draft lottery:
The Celtics are trying to go from No. 1 seed to No. 1 pick. The Lakers don’t need to be first, but they sure hope to be no worse than third in the NBA draft lottery tonight.
Boston will have a 25 percent chance of landing the top pick, thanks to a trade with Brooklyn in 2013.
The Lakers enter in the No. 3 spot, and if they fall lower — there’s about a 53 percent chance they will — the pick goes to Philadelphia.