The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Thomas, Celtics down Heat
BOSTON » Isaiah Thomas scored 30 points, including 20 in the second half, and the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 112-108 on Sunday night for their fourth straight victory.
The win moved Boston within percentage points of Cleveland for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics have one more victory than the Cavaliers, but also one more loss. Boston (48-26) also equaled its win total from last season.
Jae Crowder added 25 points and six rebounds for the Celtics.
Tyler Johnson had 24 points and James Johnson scored 20 for the Heat, who are a half-game ahead of the Bulls for the final playoff spot in the East. Chicago beat Milwaukee earlier in the day.
Hassan Whiteside had 19 points and 15 rebounds for Miami.
Boston led by 10 entering the final period before allowing Miami to get back into the game with an 8-0 run.
James Johnson hit one of two free throws to get the Heat within two with less than a minute to play. Then the Celtics’ Marcus Smart got the benefit of a goaltending call on the second of his free throw attempts to put Boston up four with 20.1 seconds left.
The Celtics trailed by five at halftime, but outscored the Heat 32-17 in the third quarter.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens was critical of his team’s defensive effort late in a win over Phoenix on Friday, when Devin Booker scored 70 points for the Suns.
At one point in the second quarter Sunday, Stevens chastised his team’s performance on the defensive end again as the Celtics fell into a 15-point hole. backup plan right now. We’re just lucky we have some pretty good pitching,” Collins said.
A prolonged injury to Matz, the lone lefthanded starter, would create at least one spot for either Robert Gsellman or Seth Lugo. Those righties have been mentioned as a replacement for Zack Wheeler, who is also an option in his return from Tommy John surgery in 2015. for New York. Bird, who will start at first base on opening day after being injured all last season, is hitting .447 for the spring.
Brad Miller had a tworun single for Tampa Bay. METS 8, BRAVES 2 » Matt Harvey threw six solid innings, allowing two runs, and Jose Reyes tripled, doubled and singled for New York.