Celtics cool Heat to join Cavs atop East
LOS ANGELES: The Boston Celtics held off the Miami Heat 112-108 on Sunday to pull into a virtual tie atop the NBA’s Eastern Conference with the reigning champions the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Celtics’ fourth straight victory gave them one more win than the Cavs — who fell to the Washington Wizards on Saturday. But they also have one more defeat, leaving them technically just a few percentage points behind Cleveland.
Knowing plenty can happen with just over two weeks left in the regular season, the Celtics weren’t getting too excited.
“I mean, it’s nice. It’s just a tie though. So it’s not that cool,” said Isaiah Thomas, who led the Celtics with 30 points.
“We hear it, but that wasn’t our focus tonight,” said Boston’s Jae Crowder, who scored a season-high 25 points and grabbed six rebounds. “Our focus was to come in, get another game, keep that momentum going before we start the play-offs.”
The Celtics have a day off on Monday, when Cleveland face the dangerous San Antonio Spurs. The Celtics and Cavaliers will meet one more time in the regular season, on April 5 in Boston.
The defeat, and the Chicago Bulls’ 109-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, left Miami just a half-game ahead of Chicago for the eighth and final play-off spot in the East.
The Bucks are in a three-way tie for fifth place in the East with the Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 107-94 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, while the reeling Hawks endured a seventh straight defeat — 107-92 to the Brooklyn Nets.
In Houston, the Rockets withstood Russell Westbrook’s 36th triple-double of the season to silence the Oklahoma City Thunder 137-125.
The contest featured two top MVP candidates in Westbrook and Houston’s James Harden.
Westbrook, who scored 39 points with 11 rebounds and 13 assists, is within sight of legendary Oscar Robertson’s 41 tripledoubles of the 1961-62 season.
But the Rockets’ superior depth was on display. Harden delivered 22 points with 12 assists, engineering an outstanding offensive effort by the Rockets that included 31 points from Lou Williams and 24 apiece from Trevor Ariza and Eric Gordon.
Houston made 63.3 percent of their shots and 20 three-pointers and are third in the West compared to the Thunder’s sixth place.
“It’s important to have depth, and the fact that we have so many versatile guys or guys that can put the ball in the basket, that’s a big, big key,” Ariza said.