Pritchard’s career-high 38 fuels Celtics in finale

Payton Pritchard scored a career-high 38 points and the Nba-best Boston Celt- ics rested their entire start- ing lineup in a 132-122 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday in the teams’ regular-season finale.

Svi Mykhailiuk added 26 points and Sam Hauser 16 for Boston, which sat Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White and Jrue Holi- day along with top reserve Al Horford.

Pritchard added 12 assists with nine rebounds. In last year’s final regular- season game, the 6-foot-1 Pritchard had a triple-double with 30 points, 14 re- bounds and 11 assists, join- ing Larry Bird and John Havlicek as the only Celtics with at least 30 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in a game.

The Celtics (64-18) finished their 15th season in club history with 60 or more wins, the most recent in 2008 when they captured the NBA title.

PACERS 157, HAWKS 115

Myles Turner had 31 points and Pascal Siakam scored 28 as Indiana beat Atlanta and avoided falling into the play-in tournament.

Indiana secured at least the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference with a dominant regular-season finale. The Pacers shot 65% and made 19 of 36 3-pointers.

The 157 points matched the Pacers’ highest-scoring game since they joined the NBA in 1976.

Dejounte Murray scored 32 points for the Hawks, who finished the regular season 10th in the East at 36-46 and visit the ninthplaced Chicago Bulls on Wednesday to open the play-in tournament.

KNICKS 120, BULLS 119, OT

Jalen Brunson capped one of the best regular seasons in franchise history with his 11th 40-point game, carrying New York into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with an overtime victory over Chicago.

The Knicks finished 5032, their best season since going 54-28 and also earning a No. 2 seed in 2012-13. They moved past Milwaukee after the Bucks lost earlier Sunday in Orlando, and will await the winner of the play-in game between Philadelphia and Miami on Wednesday.

Brunson finished with 40 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and tied Patrick Ewing for the secondmost 40-point games in one season by a Knicks player.

HEAT 118, RAPTORS 103

Thomas Bryant scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 18 points and Miami tuned up for a trip to the play-in tournament by beating Toronto.

Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro each scored 17 for Miami, while Jimmy Butler scored 15, Caleb Martin 12 and Delon Wright 11 for the Heat.

Wright also had five steals for Miami, which ended 46-36 — good enough for only the No. 8 spot in the East. The Heat will go to Philadelphia to open the play-in tournament on Wednesday, with the winner securing the No. 7 seed.

Gary Trent Jr. scored 18 points for Toronto. Jordan Nwora and Gradey Dick each scored 14, Kelly Olynyk scored 11 and Ochai Agbaji added 10

HORNETS 120, CAVALIERS 110

Nick Smith Jr. scored a season-high 24 points and Steve Clifford won his coaching farewell as Charlotte rallied to beat playoffbound Cleveland.

Max Strus had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for his first career tripledouble for Cleveland, which rested All-star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, point guard Darius Garland and sixth man Caris Levert.

The Cavaliers will have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs against Orlando.

Georges Niang scored 16 points, Jarrett Allen posted 14 points and seven rebounds, and Evan Mobley had 14 points for Cleveland.

76ERS 107, NETS 86

After eight straight wins to end the regular season, Philadelphia is set for their first play-in tournament after a win over Brooklyn.

The Sixers won their eighth straight game and appeared to fall just shy of earning the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, meaning they are set to host the Miami Heat in the playin tournament Wednesday in Philadelphia.

The 76ers expect to have Embiid, the two-time NBA scoring champion, in the lineup for the postseason.

Even with seeding that could have reached as high as fifth in the Eastern Conference at stake, the Sixers rested Embiid as a precaution, the team said.

MAGIC 113, BUCKS 88

Paolo Banchero had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Jonathan Isaac had 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in his second start of the season and Orlando avoided a play-in spot with a win over Milwaukee, which left them in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis scored 17 points each for the Bucks. Damian Lillard scored 16 points on 2 for 14 shooting for Milwaukee, who earned the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 Indiana in the first round

The Bucks played again without Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has a lower leg strain that’s left his availability for the playoffs in question.

ROCKETS 116, CLIPPERS 105

Cam Whitmore scored 21 points and Houston beat playoff-bound Los Angeles to salvage a .500 season.

Amen Thompson had a triple-double of 18 points, 11 rebounds and a careerhigh 10 assists for the already eliminated Rockets, who finished 41-41 after losing six of their last nine games.

The Pacific Division champion and fourthseeded Clippers are headed to the playoffs, where they’ll meet Luka Donic and the Dallas Mavericks in the first round next weekend.

Terance Mann scored 24 points and Amir Coffey added 18 for the Clippers in their last regular-season game at Crypto.com Arena.

SPURS 123, PISTONS 95

Sandro Mamukelashvili had 18 points and San Antonio routed Detroit to close disappointing seasons for both franchises.

Blake Wesley added 17 points for San Antonio. Zach Collins had 17 points and nine rebounds before injuring his shoulder early in the second half.

The Pistons (14-68) finished with the worst record in franchise history. The previous worst was 1666 in 1980.

THUNDER 135, MAVERICKS 86

Shai Gilgeous-alexander scored 15 points in one half of action, and Oklahoma City rolled past Dallas to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Oklahoma City finished with the same 57-25 record as the Denver Nuggets but own the tiebreaker. The Thunder hadn’t finished as the top seed since the 201213 season.

Aaron Wiggins scored 14 points and Chet Holmgren had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder.

WARRIORS 123, JAZZ 116

Klay Thompson scored 25 points with six 3-pointers, Andrew Wiggins added 19 points, and Golden State beat Utah in the regularseason finale and wound up with the 10th spot in the Western Conference.

With the Lakers winning at New Orleans and the Kings beating Portland at home, Golden State will head to Sacramento on Tuesday as the No. 10 seed to face the ninth-seeded Kings in the Play-in Tournament.

Steve Kerr rested Draymond Green and Stephen Curry, whose 74 regularseason games and 2,421 total minutes are both the two-time MVP’S most since 2016-17.

SUNS 125,

TIMBERWOLVES 106

Bradley Beal scored 36 points on 6-for-6 shooting from 3-point range and Phoenix beat Minnesota to stay out of the play-in tournament and set up a rematch in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Devin Booker added 23 points and Grayson Allen had 20 points for the Suns (49-33). They built a 22-point lead by the end of the first quarter and never let the deficit drop into single digits after that.

Phoenix finished the regular season on a 10-4 surge and seized the No. 6 seed when New Orleans lost. After entering the final day in a three-way tie for the Western Conference lead with Denver and Oklahoma City, Minnesota took the No. 3 seed when the Nuggets and Thunder each won.

KINGS 121, TRAIL BLAZERS 82

De’aaron Fox scored 24 points and Sacramento assured themselves of at least one more home game by beating Portland in the teams’ regular-season finale.

Sacramento will head into the play-in tournament on Tuesday night, hosting Golden State in the ninth versus 10th-place game in the Western Conference. The New Orleans Pelicans will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the No. 7 versus No. 8 matchup.