Derrick Rose finished with a career-high 39 points and Kirk Hinrich added 30 as Chicago beat Boston 101-93 on Tuesday to boost their National Basketball Association playoff chances.
“I thought we played hard in stretches,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Rose was spectacular tonight. Him and Hinrich single-handedly carried the game for them.”
The eighth-place Bulls lead Toronto by a game in the Eastern Conference and will make the playoffs as long as they finish with a better regular season record.
The Bulls needed to beat Charlotte yesterday or for the Raptors to lose to New York.
The Celtics, who got Kevin Garnett back on Tuesday, lost their sixth game in the past nine and now have no hope of catching third seed Atlanta.
Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 28 points, and Ray Allen scored 25. Garnett finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. The coaching staff decided to rest him in the last game.
“One game left and we’ve got everyone healthy going into the playoffs, which was the No. 1 goal of the season,” Pierce said.
The Bulls seized control with a 14-4 run to start the final quarter.
Rose finished with 17 points in the fourth. Hinrich chipped in 10, including a jumper that made it 95-88 with 43.7 seconds left.
Chicago trailed 68-67 entering the fourth, but scored the first six points.
LAKERS 106, KINGS 100
At Los Angeles, Pau Gasol had 28 points and eight rebounds, Shannon Brown scored 24 points and Kobe Bryant rested as the Lakers finished their regular-season home schedule with a 106-100 win over the Sacramento Kings.
Sasha Vujacic scored 13 points for the Lakers, who had lost six of nine heading into Tuesday’s game.
“Pau and Shannon led us in scoring and we had some help off the bench,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
Tyreke Evans scored 10 points before his superb rookie season ended with a third-quarter ejection.
Sacramento wrapped up their fourth straight losing season with their 11th defeat in 12 games.
Bryant sat out with a sprained ankle and a broken finger. Lakers giant center Andrew Bynum missed his 12th straight game with a strained Achilles’ tendon. Both players should suit up this weekend when the top-seeded Lakers open defense of their NBA title.
JAZZ 103, WARRIORS 94
At Oakland, California, Mehmet Okur had 23 points and seven rebounds, and Paul Millsap grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds as Utah swept the three-game season series against Golden State despite losing leading scorer Carlos Boozer to an early injury.
Boozer strained his right ribcage while playing all 12 minutes of the opening period. He was taken to the locker room for X-rays at the start of the second quarter, but didn’t return. He had five points and four rebounds before departing.
The Jazz were to wrap up the season yesterday at home against Phoenix in a game that will determine both teams’ playoff seedings. Utah, riding a 10-game home winning streak, could be as high as the No. 2 seed or fall to fifth.
SUNS 123, NUGGETS 101
At Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire scored 26 points, and Steve Nash had 18 points and 10 assists before sitting out the fourth quarter as Phoenix completed a rout of Denver to earn homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Suns made 14 of 24 3-pointers, 11 of 17 in the first three quarters. Phoenix jumped to an 18-2 lead and the Nuggets never cut it to single digits after the first quarter.
The Suns can finish no worse than No. 4 in the West and would be No. 3 if they won at Utah yesterday. Denver, which finished its regular season, would get the No. 4 spot and a first-round homecourt edge if Phoenix beats the Jazz.
Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points to lead the Nuggets.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS