Basket Ball / Sports

Jayson Tatum scores 29 as Boston Celtics complete sweep of Brooklyn Nets

Jayson Tatum was stunned, yet certain. He disagreed with his sixth foul but had no doubt the Boston Celtics, with their rock-solid defense, would hold on without their scoring star.

“Couldn’t believe it at all, but I think that’s what we’re built for,” Tatum said.

They might be built for a championship.

Tatum scored 29 points, Jaylen Brown had 22 and the Celtics completed a four-game sweep of the Brooklyn Nets, becoming the first team to reach the second round of the playoffs with a 116-112 victory Monday night.

Marcus Smart added 20 points and 11 assists for the No. 2-seeded Celtics, who made easy work of what was thought could be a tough series. Boston will wait for the winner of the series between Milwaukee and Chicago, in which the defending champion Bucks hold a 3-1 lead.

The Celtics showed no fear of the Nets, who with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving didn’t have the profile of the typical low seed. Boston won on the final day of the regular season instead of losing to fall down the standings and avoid the matchup.

Turns out, there was no reason to worry.

“It’s funny to us, because we don’t duck and dodge anybody,” Smart said. “We knew what we were going to come in here and do.”

Durant had 39 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds, breaking free after the Celtics had defended him well in the first three games. But he couldn’t get the Nets the win they needed to extend what instead goes down as a massive failure of a season.

Expected to be an NBA Finals contender, the Nets needed a strong finish just to grab the No. 7 seed.

Seth Curry scored 23 points for the Nets. Irving, whose unavailability for home games much of the season because he isn’t vaccinated against the coronavirus contributed to the Nets’ performing so far below expectations, had 20 points.

“A lot of stuff that may factor into why we lose, but they were just a better team,” Durant said.…

Basket Ball / Sports

Jokic, Nuggets avoid sweep with Game 4 victory over Warriors

The Denver Nuggets aren’t fazed.

They realize no team has ever won four elimination games in a single postseason series. They also know they’re the only team in league history to overcome back-to-back 3-1 playoff deficits.

That’s where they find themselves after avoiding a sweep by the Golden State Warriors with a 126-121 win Sunday to send the rough-and-tumble series back to San Francisco.

”Can I say we want them right where we want them? No, but we’re alive,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. ”We live to fight another day.”

Game 5 is Wednesday night.

Although none of the 143 other teams who faced a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs ever bounced back to advance, the Nuggets became the league’s first team ever to overcome 3-1 deficits in consecutive series two years ago when they bounced the Jazz and Clippers in the Orlando bubble.

”The odds are against us,” said MVP favorite Nikola Jokic. ”But we’ve beaten the odds a couple of times, so why not?”

Jokic scored 37 points and fed Will Barton for a 3-pointer from the left corner with 8.3 seconds left after Monte Morris’ short jumper broke a 121-all tie and Austin Rivers stole Otto Porter Jr.’s pass.

It was a reversal of final-minute fortunes for the Nuggets, who faltered down the stretch in a five-point loss in Game 3.

”We felt like it could have been 2-2 if we didn’t drop that last game,” said Rivers, who noted the Nuggets finally matched the Warriors’ physicality, especially down the stretch.

Morris finished with 24 points. He hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter, the most in a quarter by any player in these NBA playoffs.

Aaron Gordon chipped in 21 points and helped stifle Jordan Poole, who came in averaging 28.7 points this series but was held to 11.

Steph Curry led the Warriors with 33 points despite missing 13 of 23 shots, going 3 for 11 from long range and missing four free throws for the first time in his career, whether in the …

Basket Ball / Sports

Jimmy Butler, Heat crush Hawks for 3-1 playoff series lead

Jimmy Butler erupted for 36 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead the Miami Heat to a dominant 110-86 win over the Atlanta Hawks and a 3-1 lead in the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

The top-seeded Heat led by as many as 27 points in the victory Sunday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

“I’m not the only one who is in rhythm,” Butler told reporters. “I feel like we are playing great basketball and getting stops whenever our spacing correct. This was a good one, but we have another one to get.”

With another win, the Heat can claim the best-of-seven series and advance to a second-round matchup with the No. 4 Philadelphia 76ers or No. 5 Toronto Raptors. Sunday’s Game 4 featured 10 lead changes and was tied five times. The Heat outscored the No. 8 Hawks 48-26 in the paint and 8-0 off fast breaks. The Hawks made just 40% of their field goal attempts. The Heat totaled just six turnovers, with zero in the first half.

The also Heat played without veteran guard Kyle Lowry, who is dealing with a hamstring strain.

“We just wanted to be organized,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of playing without Lowry. “We didn’t have our quarterback and Jimmy and Bam [Adebayo] allowed us to get settled, particularly in the first half. “We had to find a way to win this game. A lot of it was our defense and versatility.”

Forward De’Andre Hunter scored 11 points and went 3 for 3 on 3-point attempts to help the Hawks earn a 26-25 lead through the first quarter. The Hawks started the second on a 9-2 run, but the Heat responded with a 15-2 run to take a 44-37 lead 3:58 before halftime.

The Heat also scored 11 unanswered points to end the quarter for a 55-41 advantage at the break. Butler scored 13 points in the second. The Heat outscored the Hawks 25-20 in the third and took an 80-61 edge into the fourth. Butler scored a …

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Pelicans tie Booker-less Suns with 118-103 win in Game 4

Brandon Ingram scored 16 of his 30 points in the third quarter and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Phoenix Suns — playing without injured star Devin Booker — 118-103 in Game 4 on Sunday night to tie the first-round series.

Jonas Valanciunas reasserted himself in the middle with 26 points and 15 rebounds to help the Pelicans pull even heading back to Phoenix for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Booker strained his right straight after scoring 31 first-half points in the top-seeded Suns’ Game 2 loss. Deandre Ayton led the Suns with 23 points and eight rebounds, and fellow center JaVale McGee had 14 points.

Chris Paul, who had 19-point fourth quarters in the Suns’ two playoff wins, was held to four points in 35 minutes. He had 11 assists, but committed three turnovers.

The Pelicans led 89-85 with 8:05 left and used a 12-0 run to ice it. Valanciunas, limited to six points in a Game 3 loss, scored 10 points in a 3:34 span of the fourth quarter to help the Pelicans pull away. He punctuated his scoring spree with a 3-pointer from the left wing.

…
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Joel Embiid’s 3-pointer in final second leads 76ers past Raptors in OT

Joel Embiid made a 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left in overtime to give the Philadelphia 76ers a 104-101 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night and a 3-0 lead in their first-round series.

After 76ers coach Doc Rivers called timeout to save the possession as the shot clock was running down, Embiid took an inbounds pass from Danny Green and hit a turnaround shot from near the sideline before running back to his bench in celebration.

Toronto’s OG Anunoby couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.

Embiid had 33 points and 13 rebounds, helping the 76ers rally from a 17-point deficit. James Harden had 19 points and 10 assists before fouling out in the closing seconds of regulation.

Tyrese Maxey scored 19 points and Tobias Harris had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Sixers, who can wrap up the series in Game 4 on Saturday.

Anunoby scored 26 points, Gary Trent Jr. had a playoff-high 24, and Precious Achiuwa had 20 for the Raptors.

Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet each had 12 points. VanVleet shot 3 for 13, going 2 for 10 from 3-point range.

Philadelphia never held a lead in regulation, finally grabbing a 99-97 edge on Maxey’s shot with 3:27 left in overtime.

Anunoby’s 3 briefly put Toronto back on top, but Embiid’s basket with 2:36 left made it 101-100 for the Sixers.

Embiid fouled Anunoby with 26 seconds left, and the Toronto forward made the first but missed the second, knotting it at 101-all.

Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes sat for the second straight game because of the sprained left ankle that knocked him out of Game 1. Raptors coach Nick Nurse said Barnes is making progress and could return Saturday.

The 76ers, who shot at least 30 free throws in each of the first two games of the series, went 15 for 20 from the line in Game 3, with Embiid making six of nine attempts.

Trent was limited to 10 minutes of action in Game 2 because of illness, and didn’t play in …

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DeMar DeRozan scores 41, sends Bulls-Bucks back to Chicago tied at 1

DeMar DeRozan made sure the Chicago Bulls altered their painful recent history against the Milwaukee Bucks and gave this first-round series a fresh new start.

Now it’s the defending champion Bucks who are suddenly hurting as the teams head to Chicago all tied up.

DeRozan scored a career playoff-high 41 points and the Bulls outlasted the Bucks 114-110 on Wednesday night in Game 2. Nikola Vucevic added 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Zach LaVine had 20 points as the sixth-seeded Bulls beat the third-seeded Bucks for just the second time in their last 19 meetings.

“No matter what you did in the regular season, this is a brand new start and new mindset,” DeRozan said. “You could see it in all the guys. It doesn’t matter if we’d lost 20 times to those guys. This is an opportunity for us to compete. We’ve got to take advantage of it.”

The big question now is what shape the Bucks will be in when this series resumes Friday.

Bobby Portis left the game with a right eye abrasion after the first quarter and Khris Middleton exited with 6:49 left after his left leg gave out while he tried to plant on a spin move.

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game that Middleton has a sprained medial collateral ligament and will undergo an MRI exam on Thursday.

“He’s always been positive and he knows the type of team that we are and how resilient we are,” Bucks guard Jrue Holiday said. “We just want him to get back as quickly as possible and be healthy so he can come out here and help us win games.”

Budenholzer said that Portis “should be fine with some time.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 33 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists, putting him one assist from his second career playoff triple-double. Antetokounmpo increased his career postseason point total to 1,715 to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,692) for the most in Bucks history.

Brook Lopez had 25 points for the Bucks. Middleton scored 18 …

Basket Ball / Sports

Pelicans stun Suns, 125-114, as Devin Booker gets injured

The New Orleans Pelicans’ shocking run to the 2022 NBA Playoffs took another turn Tuesday evening against the NBA-best Phoenix Suns.

Down 1-0 in the first-round playoff series after a blowout Game 1 loss, New Orleans put up a shocking performance. With a Devin Booker third quarter hamstring injury acting as a backdrop, New Orleans came out on top by the score of 125-114 in Phoenix.

It’s hard to describe exactly what happened inside Footprint Center in Arizona Tuesday evening. Losers of 46 regular-season games, New Orleans went into Phoenix and defeated the 64-win Suns by 11 points.

Former Los Angeles Lakers lottery pick Brandon Ingram put up a career-defining performance — scoring 37 points on 13-of-21 shooting. A top-10 NBA Rookie of the Year candidate, Herbert Jones added 14 points. Meanwhile, trade deadline acquisition C.J. McCollum continued his stellar performance after being obtained from Portland. The guard scored 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from distance.

Having scored 31 points in the first half, one of the NBA’s best players in Devin Booker exited the game with hamstring tightness. At that point, it was a close affair. With Booker sidelined, Phoenix yielded 35 fourth-quarter points. As double-digit underdogs heading into the game, the New Orleans Pelicans absolutely shocked the world. They won 28 fewer games than the Suns during the regular season. They have now just taken home-court advantage from a team that many expected to be odds-on favorites to win the title.…

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Jimmy Butler puts Heat up 2-0 on Hawks with playoff-high 45 points

Jimmy Butler walked off the floor when his night’s work was complete, lifted his arms in the air and heard a sold-out arena serenade him with screams.

That didn’t happen in the bubble two years ago, since nobody was there.

But Butler was every bit as good Tuesday night as he was during that bubble run — and the Miami Heat needed all his heroics.

Butler scored a playoff career-high 45 points, including a personal 7-0 run down the stretch to decide the game, and the Heat held off the Atlanta Hawks 115-105 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday night.

“We go as he goes,” Heat guard Gabe Vincent said.

Butler was 15 of 25 from the floor, 11 for 12 from the line and 4 of 7 from 3-point range. As such, the top-seeded Heat are going to Atlanta with a 2-0 lead.

Tyler Herro scored 15 for Miami, while Max Strus scored 14 and Vincent added 11 for top-seeded Miami.

Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 19 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter for Atlanta. Trae Young got his scoring touch back — he had 25 points in Game 2, after being held to eight in Game 1 — but also had a career-worst 10 turnovers for the eighth-seeded Hawks.

Jimmy Butler goes up for a shot while being fouled during the Heat’s Game 2 win over the Hawks.
USA TODAY Sports

“If the refs are going to let them be as physical as they are and not call fouls, it’s going to be hard to really do anything anyways,” Young said.

De’Andre Hunter had 16 and John Collins finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks.

Butler’s previous playoff best was 40, done twice, both in the bubble when the Heat made the 2020 NBA Finals. The Heat needed all of his heroics then, and they needed them all on Tuesday as well.

Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer with 3:15 left got Atlanta within 104-101.

From there, it was all Butler.

“Big-time basketball from a …

Basket Ball / Sports

Things get chippy as Sixers cruise to 2-0 series lead over Raptors

 

Coming into the 2022 NBA playoffs, the sentiment was that the series between the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors would be a close one. Through two games, it has been anything but.

Joel Embiid had 29 points and 11 rebounds, while Tyrese Maxey added 21 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, leading the Sixers to 112-97 win over the Raptors to take a 2-0 series lead.

After a close first quarter that saw Toronto hold a one-point advantage, Philly dominated the rest of the way. The Sixers outscored the Raptors 35-19 to take a 15-point lead at half-time and never looked back.

This was the second-straight blowout win for the Sixers, who have looked like the much sharper team on both ends of the floor. Philly shot 52.2 percent from the field, while its defense was stellar once again. Toronto could not get consistent penetration, and the Sixers held the Raptors to just 34.4 shooting from outside.

Pre-game

  • It is LOUD at the Center. The fans went crazy when North Philly’s Dawn Staley was introduced as tonight’s bell ringer. The South Carolina women’s basketball coach just led the Gamecocks to their second national title in the last six seasons.
  • After his dynamite performance in Game 1, Tyrese Maxey gets an appreciative roar from the crowd when he’s introduced as part of the starting lineup.
  • Scottie Barnes is out with an ankle injury, but Gary Trent Jr. and Thad Young are playing.

First quarter

  • The Raptors came out hot to begin the game. They connected on two three-point attempts and jumped out to an early 8-0 lead.
  • There is a ton of intensity to start. Embiid and Anunoby got into it, and the refs gave them each a technical foul.
  • Philly got buckets from Embiid and Harden to get on the board. Then, Joel was absolutely mauled by Pascal Siakam during this play:
  • That play seemed to wake the Sixers up. After being down 11-2, Philly went on an 11-2 run to tie up. Harden found Embiid in transition for
…
Basket Ball / Sports

Warriors’ lethal three-guard lineup overwhelms Denver in Game 2 rout

Here are three takeaways from Game 2 on Monday night, when the Warriors cranked up their crazy show, tossed in a little Harlem Globetrotters flair and rolled to a 126-106 victory over Denver to take a 2-0 series lead:

• The lethal lineup: Once again, head coach Steve Kerr closed the first half with his small-ball, three-guard lineup of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole with forwards Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins.

Once again, this quintet made Denver head coach Michael Malone’s head spin.

The Warriors trailed 43-35 when Thompson replaced Otto Porter Jr. with 6:02 left in the second quarter. Soon, the game exploded into a blur of wide-open driving lanes, crazy passes and acrobatic layups.

Here’s the thing: The Warriors didn’t blitz the Nuggets with an avalanche of 3-point shots. They spread the court and scared the Nuggets with the threat of an avalanche of 3-point shots — and then scurried to the basket, time after crowd-energizing time.

Kerr’s lethal lineup outscored Denver 22-7 over a span of five-plus minutes. The Warriors led 57-50 when Kevon Looney subbed out Green with 46 seconds left before halftime (between Nikola Jokic free throws). One key to the equation, as Green pointed out after Sunday’s practice: This lineup must get stops on defense. And that’s exactly what happened Monday night. He made sure Curry and Co. were engaged defensively — Green tends to demand his teammates’ attention — and those stops sparked the game-turning run.

If the lethal lineup keeps playing defense like this, well, we’re going to see more of it. A lot more.

• Steph the enforcer: Curry added a new skill to his repertoire late in the first quarter when he got in Jokic’s face. No, really, he did.

Blame it all on Gary Payton II. He blocked one of Jokic’s shots in the lane — the third Payton block of Jokic this season, despite their eight-inch height disparity — and animatedly posed in celebration. Ten seconds later, when the Nuggets called timeout, Payton and Jokic crossed

…
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Young, Hunter lead Hawks to 132-103 play-in rout of Hornets

For one night, at least, the Atlanta Hawks looked like the team that made a stunning run to the Eastern Conference final last summer.

Trae Young bounced back from a sluggish start to score 24 points and De’Andre Hunter led a third-quarter surge Wednesday that carried the Hawks to a 132-103 rout of the Charlotte Hornets in a play-in game.

We’re definitely confident right now,” Hunter said. “But we’ve got a lot more work to do. We’re not satisfied yet.”

The Hawks were a bit of a disappointment during the regular season, finishing ninth in the East after their surprising playoff success in 2021.

They’ve still got to win one more play-in game just to make the playoffs, heading to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers on Friday night. The winner claims the No. 8 seed in the East and will face the top-seeded Miami Heat in the opening round of the playoffs.

The season is over for the Hornets, who were overwhelmed in the 9-10 play-in game for the second year in a row and haven’t made the playoffs since 2016.

Still, coach James Borrego called it another step forward for a rebuilding team.

“A lot of good things have happened for this franchise based on where we’re at today compared to where we were two or three years ago,” he said.

Miles Bridges was ejected in the fourth quarter and could be facing additional punishment from the league office after he appeared to strike a young fan with his mouthpiece.

All five Atlanta starters scored in double figures, as did Bogdan Bogdanovic off the bench. It was Hunter who came up big in the decisive third period, bursting out with 16 points after being held to 3 in the first half.

“I think I’m a big part of this team,” Hunter said. ”Me being aggressive, scoring and defending, helps this team a lot.”

Hunter finished with 22 points, while Danilo Gallinari added 18 and Clint Capela 15. Kevin Huerter and Bogdanovic chipped in with 13 apiece.

The Hornets closed …

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CJ McCollum leads Pelicans past Spurs in play-in game

CJ McCollum got New Orleans going early and Brandon Ingram took over late to send the Pelicans to Los Angeles for a chance at the final playoff spot.

McCollum scored 27 of his 32 points in the first half to carry the young Pelicans to a 113-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. New Orleans will face the LA Clippers on Friday night for the eighth playoff seed.

“He was great,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said of McCollum. “He set the tone early. He understood the moment, and it sort of calmed the rest of the guys down. We just got the ball to him and he made play after play, score after score, and then the rest of the guys that just started to feed off CJ.”

Playing in his 57th playoff game, McCollum displayed a calming presence to his younger teammates. Rookies Herb Jones, José Alvarado and Trey Murphy played large chunks of the fourth quarter.

“I was just trying to be locked in and aggressive early,” McCollum said. “The playoffs is a lot of antics, a lot of momentum plays, a lot of back and forth. You’ve got to be stable and mentally locked in to withstand a certain level of (chaos). … There’s going to be a lot of winning in our future.”

McCollum wasn’t alone. Ingram shook foul trouble to add 27 points and center Jonas Valanciunas added 22 points and 14 rebounds as the Pelicans’ stars delivered under pressure of New Orleans’ first postseason game since 2018.

“The three best players for New Orleans all played great, and if that happens, you’re going to lose,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his team’s inability to contain McCollum, Ingram and Valanciunas. “We stayed in it and got back in it, but then we made the same mistakes as we did in the first three quarters – non physical defense.”

“We’re just playing for each other,” Valanciunas said of combining for 81 points with McCollum and Ingram. “When things struggle, we need somebody …

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Nikola Jokic becomes 1st player in NBA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in season

Denver’s superstar big man Nikola Jokic makes history as he continues a statistical dominance the league has never seen before.

Nikola Jokic has crossed a statistical threshold not even Wilt Chamberlain has touched.

With a fourth-quarter basket over a double-team in Friday’s win over Memphis, Nikola Jokic became the first player in NBA history to accumulate at least 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a single season.

The crowd recognized the achievement with a standing ovation chants of “M-V-P” for the league’s reigning Kia Most Valuable Player, who accomplished the statistical feat despite taking a blow to the head earlier in the game that drew blood and saw him don a headband.

“Dude is really great at basketball,” teammate Bones Hyland said.

Chamberlain came up short by eight points of that specific combination in the 1967-68 season, the year he led the league in assists. He won the league’s MVP award that season, an honor Jokic is jostling to earn for the second straight season despite impressive campaigns from Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.

“I mean, it’s cool,” Jokic said afterwards. “I like it. Hopefully I can do it a couple of more times.”

Jokic’s late-season surge also saw him become the first player since Chamberlain to register at least 35 points and 12 rebounds in five straight games since Chamberlain.

His big night came after taking an inadvertent elbow from Jaren Jackson Jr. to the right forehead and temple that drew blood in the opening minute.

After having to retreat to the bench twice to stop the bleeding, Jokic donned a red headband for the remainder of the game as he helped the Nuggets (48-33) overcome a shaky start to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Grizzlies.

Jokic was hit in the head on the Grizzlies’ first bucket, a drive by Jackson Jr., and retreated to the bench for treatment. He wasn’t back on the court for long before returning to the sideline for more treatment and a red headband.

“My first …

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Sixers sweep Cavs to clinch playoff berth, Embiid drops 44

The Philadelphia 76ers are in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.

Philadelphia clinched a postseason berth Sunday with a 112-108 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage Field House. A 44-point performance from Joel Embiid helped the Sixers hold off a late push from the Cavs.

This was a different route to the playoffs for the Sixers than it was in the previous four years.

All of the headlines coming into the season revolved around Ben Simmons’ future with the team. The three-time All-Star requested a trade in August during a meeting with Sixers management.

It took until the Feb. 10 trade deadline, but Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey took advantage of James Harden’s unhappiness with the Brooklyn Nets to add the former NBA MVP in a blockbuster trade involving Simmons.

Even before the trade was made, Philadelphia was firmly in playoff contention thanks to Embiid.

Embiid remains the center around whom everything works. He is having an MVP-caliber season, entering Sunday averaging 30.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 49.4 percent from the floor and 36.4 percent from deep.

Tyrese Maxey is in the midst of a breakout season as the starting point guard. The second-year standout entered Sunday putting up 17.2 points and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 41.6 percent from three-point range. And Matisse Thybulle has solidified himself as one of the best wing defenders in the NBA.

After missing eight straight games with a hamstring injury, Harden’s debut for the 76ers was a massive success. He dropped 27 points and dished out 12 assists in a 133-102 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Feb. 25.

That was probably the most wide-open I’ve ever been in my career,” Embiid joked with reporters after that game, in which he scored 34 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Bringing in Harden is supposed to be the next step in the process for a 76ers team that is trying to get over the hump in the playoffs.

The Sixers haven’t advanced past …

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Phoenix Suns tie franchise record for wins with nail-biter over Warriors

One down, one more to go to make history and make a case for the best to ever play basketball in the Valley.

The Phoenix Suns are a win a way from setting the franchise record for victories in a single season after Wednesday’s 107-103 triumph at Golden State before a sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center.

“I’m unbelievably proud of our players and our staff and I’m proud to be a part of Suns history in this way,” Suns coach Monty Williams said.

Devin Booker scored 22 points on 5-for-21 shooting on as his two free throws with 34.2 seconds left put Phoenix up 102-101.

Then after Draymond Green was called for traveling, Chris Paul scored to make the difference three, 104-101, with 13.1 seconds left.

“We feel like we’ve been here before,” Paul said. “Obviously, it’s an exciting environment. playing in here, crowd going crazy and all that, but we’ve played a ton of games like that this year, last year. That trust is what helps us.”

Paul finished with 15 points as all five starters reached double figures with Mikal Bridges scoring 22, Deandre Ayton posting 16 points and 16 boards and Jae Crowder adding 10 points.

“We just stayed together,” Bridges said. “We just stayed together throughout the whole thing. We’ve got CP and Book. That’s how I always feel during those times. They’re going to take us home and we’re going to go out there there and get stops and fight all the way to the end.”

Winners of nine straight, Phoenix (62-14) tied the franchise record for wins set by the 1992-93 team led by Charles Barkley and the 2004-05 “Seven Seconds or Less” squad orchestrated by Steve Nash.

“It means a whole lot,” Booker said. “Being here seven years now and just learning more and more about the franchise and the organization and the people that have came before us and now to be up there with those ones, it feels good.”

The Suns will look to break the record Friday at …

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Ball scores 33 points, Hornets spoil Irving’s home debut

Kyrie Irving waited all season for a chance to play in front of his home fans, and this sure wasn’t the way he envisioned it going.

“Not the result we wanted, I didn’t shoot as well as I wanted,” Irving said. “Basically none of the things I had hoped for going well tonight just didn’t happen, and that’s just the flow of basketball.”

It went much better for the other point guard.

LaMelo Ball had 33 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and the Charlotte Hornets spoiled Irving’s first home game of the season by beating the Brooklyn Nets 119-110 on Sunday night.

Irving misfired for 3 1/2 quarters, finally warmed up to give the Nets the lead, and then the Hornets regained control with clutch 3-point shooting to give them a victory that tied them with Brooklyn for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Irving finished with 16 points and tied his season high with 11 assists but shot 6 for 22 from the field. He hadn’t been able to play at home this season until Mayor Eric Adams last week exempted athletes and performers from the New York City’s coronavirus vaccine mandate.

“It was great to see him out there, good to see the fans excited for him,” Kevin Durant said. “Unfortunately we took the ‘L’ though, but we move forward knowing that we have him here and build on what we have and try to get a win next game.”

Miles Bridges scored 24 points and PJ Washington had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Hornets, who won for the seventh time in eight games. They beat the Nets for the second time in three meetings this season, clinching a potential head-to-head tiebreaker.

Durant had 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, playing the entire second half on the second night of a back-to-back. He shot just 9 for 24. Andre Drummond had 20 points and 16 rebounds.

Irving missed 15 of his first 17 shots, but then made two layups and a short jumper to …

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Bey scores career-high 51 points, Pistons beat Magic 134-120

Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 51 points and the Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 134-120 on Thursday night to end a four-game losing streak.

Bey tied the franchise record with 10 3-pointers in 14 attempts. He was 17 for 27 overall.

Two nights after being torched for 16 points in the first quarter by Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving on his way to a 60-point game, the Magic gave up 21 points in the first quarter to Bey.

“I saw those highlights and it was just very efficient. It was within the flow of the game,” Bey said. “That was a great performance to watch, and I think just throughout the NBA there’s been a lot of great performances in the past two weeks. I’m just grateful to be in this league to have the opportunity.”

Marvin Bagley III added 20 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit in the matchup of the bottom two teams in the Eastern Conference. Franz Wagner led Orlando with 26 points.

“Rebuilding is always ugly,” Detroit coach Dwane Casey said, “but there’s a lot of beautiful moments like tonight.”

Bey finished the first half in spectacular fashion, scoring five points in less than five seconds. He hit a 20-footer while falling out of bounds with 8.8 seconds left, came up with a back-court steal and made a 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left, leaving the Pistons with a 73-62 lead.

“He had 30 points at half so we were definitely expecting 50,” said Pistons center Isaiah Stewart, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Magic scored the first nine points of the game, but that lead was quickly erased by Bey. The Pistons moved ahead for keeps on a dunk by Stewart that broke a 50-50 tie midway through the second quarter.

“I think it was just the flow of the game,” Bey said. “I didn’t come into the game saying this is what I’m going to do, but you catch a rhythm and you get in a zone. My teammates did a great job of …

Basket Ball / Sports

Durant, Nets rout 76ers in Simmons’ return to Philadelphia

The 76ers fans came to boo Ben Simmons. They left booing their own team.

Kevin Durant scored 18 of his 25 points in Brooklyn’s dominating first half in the Nets’ 129-100 blowout victory over the 76ers on Thursday night in Simmons’ much-hyped return to Philadelphia.

Seth Curry added 24 points, and Kyrie Irving had 22 for the Nets. They entered in eighth place in the East, but looked like a legitimate conference contender while badly outplaying the third-place 76ers.

Joel Embiid had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the 76ers, and James Harden finished with just 11 points. It was the first loss for Philadelphia in six games with Harden in the lineup.

The game was dubbed as ”Boo Ben” night, but the raucous fans instead turned their displeasure on the home team when the 76ers went to the locker room trailing 72-51 and again when Brooklyn built a stunning 32-point lead in the third quarter.

”I think all of us look at Ben as our brother,” Durant said. ”We knew this was a hostile environment. It’s hard to chant at Ben Simmons when you’re losing by that much.”

Simmons, wearing a designer hockey jersey and flashy jewelry, watched from the bench, likely taking delight in the vitriol deflected away from him. The three-time All-Star is continuing to recover from a back injury that has sidelined him since being swapped for Harden in a blockbuster deal at the trade deadline.

”We definitely felt like Ben was on our heart,” Irving said. ”If you come at Ben, you come at us.”

While Simmons hasn’t taken the floor yet, Harden had been a boon for the 76ers unlike his time in Brooklyn, where the so-called Big 3 of Harden, Durant and Irving managed to play just 16 games together following Harden’s trade to Brooklyn last January that was billed as a potentially championship move. Harden exchanged fist bumps with Nets staff members just before tip before a shockingly poor performance from the 10-time All-Star and former MVP.

Harden missed 14 of 17 …

Basket Ball / Sports

Tatum dominates as Celtics fend off Hornets

ayson Tatum scored 16 of his 44 points in the fourth quarter, and the Boston Celtics defeated the Charlotte Hornets 115-101 on Wednesday night for their fourth straight win.

Tatum, coming off a 54-point performance against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, made 16 of 24 shots from the field and 6 of 9 from beyond the 3-point arc. He also made all six free throws.

He was also effective on defense, helping limit the red hot Terry Rozier to just 14 points on 5-of-17 shooting.

The Celtics are looking like a championship contender, having won 15 of their past 17 games as they continue their rise up the Eastern Conference standings.

“Defense, defense, defense — that’s been the key,” Tatum said.

Jaylen Brown had 15 points, while Robert Williams chipped in with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Al Horford added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics (40-27), who were in control most of the game.

Miles Bridges and P.J. Washington each had 17 points to lead the Hornets, who fell to 1-12 on the second night of back-to-back games.

It was the second straight night the Hornets have been victimized by a star player on their home court. They allowed Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving to score 50 points in a 132-121 loss on Tuesday night.

“He made six highly contested 3s,” Hornets coach James Borrego said of Tatum. “We double-teamed him, we trapped him. He is a hell of a player and is playing as well as anyone right now.”

Tatum began to got hot at the end of the third quarter, helping Boston build an 87-78 lead.

Tatum opened the fourth quarter with a fall-away 3 from the right corner and a long 3 from right wing as the lead increased to 18 points. A few minutes later he canned another 3 from the other wing, even as his body was shifting to the left.

The Hornets mostly played zone against the Celtics in an effort to contain Tatum, but it didn’t work.

“Not be stagnant and …

Basket Ball / Sports

Suns drop Heat, become 1st team to clinch playoff spot

Not that there was any doubt about this, but the Phoenix Suns are going to the playoffs.

The Suns didn’t leave any doubt in a matchup of conference leaders, either.

Devin Booker scored 23 points, Mikal Bridges added 21 and the Suns shook off a slow start to beat the Miami Heat 111-90 on Wednesday night — becoming the first team this season to clinch a postseason berth.

“I told the guys it was one of the best defensive performances I’ve ever seen,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “I’ve been around for a little bit.”

Booker, returning from a four-game absence for virus-related issues — he said he was asymptomatic and didn’t have any problems — flirted with a triple-double, finishing with nine assists and eight rebounds.

His first trip to the playoffs last season ended with a loss in the NBA Finals. He’s looking for a bit more this time.

“We know what we’re working for,” Booker said.

Phoenix improved the NBA’s best record to 53-13, and the reigning Western Conference champion Suns have now beaten all other 29 teams this season — the first time they’ve done that since 2006-07.

The Suns also avenged a 23-point loss to Miami in January.

“I’m sure they remembered that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They wanted to really make a statement tonight. They just outplayed us.”

Coming off a victory Tuesday night at Orlando, Phoenix improved its NBA-best road mark to 25-6. The Suns have an 8 1/2-game lead over Memphis and are nine games ahead of Golden State and East-leading Miami.

Deandre Ayton had 19 points on 9-for-10 shooting and 10 rebounds for the Suns, who got 11 points and 15 rebounds from JaVale McGee, and 11 points apiece from Jae Crowder and Cameron Payne.

Duncan Robinson scored 22 points for Miami, which lost for just the third time in its last 15 games.

“They were first to the ball a lot,” Robinson said about the Suns. “They were the aggressor. … Unacceptable.”

Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro each scored …