NBA playoffs:
Boston tops Chicago and Washington beats Atlanta to take 3-2 leads in their Eastern Conference series.
The Celtics and Bulls found another thing to argue about after Game 5 of their spirited first-round playoff series: Was Avery Bradley more impressive on offense or on defense?
“Everyone knows he’s a good defender. Tonight, he got his offensive game going,” Chicago’s Dwyane Wade said after Bradley scored 24 points to lead Boston to a 108-97 victory Wednesday and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
After the road team won each of the first four games, the Celtics won at home in Game 5 to earn a chance to eliminate the Bulls on Friday night in Chicago. It’s the first time Boston has led in a playoff series since 2012.
Bradley’s 24 points were a career playoff high, but after watching him hold Bulls star Jimmy Butler to 14 points — and just one foul shot — Celtics head coach Brad Stevens praised Bradley’s defense.
“Jimmy Butler’s a hard guy to guard. Dwyane Wade’s a hard guy to guard. You’re not going to stop those guys, but you just try to make it as hard as possible,” Stevens said. “Avery ... has done a really good job.”
Butler, who shot 23 free throws in Game 4 and made 19, was 0-for-1 on Wednesday.
“I was trying to eliminate letting Jimmy Butler get to the free throw line. That was my goal this game, and I feel like I did it,” Bradley said.
Isaiah Thomas also scored 24 points for the Celtics, the top seed in the East. Wade had 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for the Bulls.
Wade and Robin Lopez were called for technical fouls 32 seconds apart with just under five minutes left, helping the Celtics to a 20-5 run that turned an 84-84 game into a 15-point Boston lead.
Wizards 103, Hawks 99: Back at home, and back in charge, Bradley Beal scored 27 points, and John Wall added 20 points and 14 assists, leading Washington over Atlanta for a 3-2 lead in the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
The odd manner in which Atlanta handled the final halfminute or so of the game — not fouling Washington and then passing the ball around instead of shooting it as the clock headed toward zero — left the Wizards on the verge of closing out the series.
“I thought they were going to play the foul game — or at least try to trap. But they let us run the clock down,” Wall said.
Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with 29 points, making a career-high-tying five threepointers, and 11 assists. But after his basket from beyond the arc pulled Atlanta to 101-99 with 70 seconds left, Wall responded with a 21-foot pull-up jumper. Neither team would score the rest of the way.
“It was right there,” Schroder said. “We’ve just got to be better in crunch time.”
Briefly: A former Milwaukee Bucks cheerleader who claimed in a lawsuit that she and her colleagues were underpaid has reached a settlement with the team. The Bucks will pay $10,000 to Lauren Herington and $115,000 for her attorneys’ fees and will set aside $125,000 that can be divided among other cheerleaders who make a claim . ... Houston owner Leslie Alexander has been fined $100,000 by the NBA for confronting a referee during Game 5 of the Rockets’ series with Oklahoma City on Tuesday. Alexander got out of his courtside seat and walked toward Bill Kennedy, saying something to the ref.