Celtics sweep Nets, advance in playoffs
Jayson Tatum scored 29 points, Jaylen Brown had 22 and the Boston Celtics completed a four-game sweep of the Brooklyn Nets, becoming the first team to reach the second round of the playoffs with a 116-112 victory Monday night.
Marcus Smart added 20 points and 11 assists for the No. 2-seeded Celtics, who made easy work of what was thought could be a tough series. Boston will wait for the winner of the series between Milwaukee and Chicago. The defending champion Bucks hold a 3-1 lead in that series.
The Celtics showed no fear of the Nets, winning on the final day of the regular season instead of losing to fall down the standings and avoid them.
Turns out, there was no reason to worry.
“It’s funny to us, because we don’t duck and dodge anybody,” Smart said. “We knew what we were going to come in here and do.”
Kevin Durant had 39 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, breaking free after the Celtics had defended him well in the first three games. But he couldn’t get the Nets the win they needed to extend what instead goes down as a massive failure of a season.
RAPTORS 103, 76ERS 88 »
Pascal Siakam scored 23 points, Precious Achiuwa had 17 and Toronto forced a return home for Game 6 against Philadelphia.
The Raptors moved within 3-2 in their Eastern Conference first-round series. Game 6 is Thursday night in Toronto. The Raptors have won the last two games in the series.
Joel Embiid had 20 points and 11 rebounds playing with a thumb injury. James Harden scored 15 points.
The Raptors opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run to take control. The 76ers were booed off the court at halftime and throughout their latest lackluster postseason effort.
MAVERICKS 102, JAZZ 77 » Luka Doncic had 33 points and 13 rebounds in his first home playoff game coming off a calf injury and Dallas routed Utah for a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Doncic made his series debut in Game 4 at Utah, when the Jazz scored the last five points in the final 31 seconds for a one-point win that evened the series.