Spurs move into postseason position

DeMar DeRozan made two free throws with a second to play, giving the San Antonio Spurs a 108-106 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies Sunday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., that moved them into ninth place in the Western Conference.

“He’s a superstar in this league, one of the top players in this league,” the Grizzlies’ Ja Morant said about DeRozan. “I feel like that’s a good job. I’m not surprised at all that he goes out and delivered for his team late in the game at all.”

DeRozan brought the ball down after Jaren Jackson Jr. had tied it for Memphis with a corner 3pointer with 10.6 seconds to play. DeRozan pumpfaked Dillon Brooks into the air and drew a foul, then converted the free throws. Jackson missed a long 3 on the final possession.

“We just kept playing,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We went to the next play, and that was the best part of [it]. We made it tough on ourselves in several different ways ...”

The Spurs are trying to qualify for the postseason for an NBA-record 23rd consecutive season. They arrived at Walt Disney World in 12th place in the West, but after wins against Sacramento and Memphis are just two games behind the eighthplace Grizzlies.

Celtics

Jayson Tatum scored 34 points, Jaylen Brown added 30 and Boston built a big early lead before holding on for a 128-124 victory against the Portland Trail Blazers. Tatum, who added a career-high eight assists, rebounded from a terrible performance Friday in a loss to Milwaukee when he scored just five points on 2of-18 shooting.

Nets

Caris LeVert scored 14 of his 34 points in the final seven minutes to help the Brooklyn Nets beat the Washington Wizards, 118110, and move closer to a playoff berth. The Nets moved seven games ahead of ninth-place Washington in the Eastern Conference standings, and now the Wizards’ hopes of forcing a play-in series are fading. They need to be within four games of eighth place to force the series, and they have just six games left.