The Boston Celtics swept aside the New York Knicks to move ominously into the second round of the playoffs after a 101-89 victory on Sunday.
Kevin Garnett scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds, while Rajon Rondo recorded 21 points and 12 assists as the veteran Celtics completed their 4-0 best-of-seven rout over the Knicks.
Meanwhile, the second-seed Miami Heat had their series advantage cut to 3-1, while the Atlanta Hawks took a 3-1 series lead over Orlando and the New Orleans Hornets leveled their match-up at 2-2 with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Having reached the NBA Finals in two of the past three seasons, Boston produced a business-like win as they nearly led from start to finish.
The revamped Knicks, who signed All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire in the off-season and traded for All-Star Carmelo Anthony at mid-season, suffered a disappointing exit from the playoffs.
“They’re going to be good,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said of the Knicks. “They’re just going to be able to keep building. As long as everyone stays patient with them, it will work out.”
Anthony finished with 32 points and nine rebounds, while New York got 19 and 12 rebounds from Stoudemire.
Knicks starting point guard Chauncey Billups also injured his knee in Game 2 and was sidelined for the rest of the series.
Miami attempted to punch their ticket to the second round, but were stalled by Philadelphia 76ers, who pulled off a gritty 86-82 win to avoid a first round sweep.
Philadelphia’s Lou Williams had 17 and made the go-ahead three-pointer with eight seconds for the winning margin, while LeBron James scored 31 and Dwyane Wade had 22 for the Heat.
Game 5 is tomorrow in Miami.
In New Orleans, Jarrett Jack made a clutch jumper to put the home team up by four points with nine seconds left, while Chris Paul had a triple-double of 27 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds as the Hornets outlasted the Lakers in a 93-88 win.
Kobe Bryant, who exchanged words with Paul throughout the testy affair, shook off a slow start and a sore ankle to finish with 17 points and eight assists.
Los Angeles stayed close, but never led in the second half and will try to regain control of the series in Game 5 today in Los Angeles.
Atlanta led Orlando by as much as 16 in the second quarter, but still had to hold on late to fend off the Magic in an 88-85 win.
Orlando forward Hedo Turkoglu missed a three-pointer attempt at the buzzer to seal his team’s fate as the Magic wasted Dwight Howard’s dominance of 29 points and 17 rebounds.
Jamal Crawford had 25 points off the bench to lead the Hawks, who will try to close the series in Game 5 today.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite