Wizards, Celtics set to renew feisty rivalry

Coach Brett Brown’s team made some big shots late, including Nik Stauskas’ 3-pointer with 38.8 seconds left, to topple the Celts 105-99 on Sunday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center. He said there was no limit on his minutes. They played their second straight game without All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas, who rested a sore right knee.

Boston now holds a 1.5-game lead over Washington for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference standings. He did all that while making half of his 20 field goals and half of his four three-point attempts. Nowitzki had 20 points in the first three quarters when the Mavericks took an 82-72 lead. “I got 16 years in the league, and you’re bound to make some friends and I have many friends in the league, either GMs or coaches. Just two teams that (are) playing physical, fighting for a seeding, know where they want to be and just playing hard”.

Neither team played well enough to win, but the Charlotte Hornets converted enough easy looks to regain the lead after halftime and close out 96-93 over the Wizards on Saturday night.

Jae Crowder and Al Horford each had 16 points and nine boards.

Thomas, who leads the National Basketball Association in fourth-quarter scoring, sat out Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers with a sore right knee.

“We just haven’t had a ton of time with ourselves fully healthy”, he said.

The Wizards trailed by 15 with just more than four minutes left, but closed to 106-100 on Kelly Oubre Jr.’s steal and breakaway dunk with 2:05 to play. “I mean, they’re missing Embiid and Ben Simmons and they’re really on their way”.

Celtics: Marcus Smart scored eight points starting for Thomas. He tossed in a nifty layup, which cut the Celtics lead – which had been seven points just seconds earlier – to 79-76. Horford said the Celtics have no choice but to “regroup”.

“Philadelphia has been one of the funnest teams to watch this year for me”, Carlisle said. “I look at this year’s team as a team that has far more capable bodies and players that can move forward next year as a cultural piece, as a corporate knowledge piece.”. But if this team ever does manage to stave off the bad juju for a whole season, you’ve gotta feel good now that we’ve got the guy in place to get them in position to be pretty good pretty quickly. G Justin Anderson (gastroenteritis) sat out.

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They finish their season series at TD Garden on Monday night fighting for the second (and perhaps even the first) spot in the Eastern Conference – and again ready to do something to make the other side angry. He’s a consistent rebounder, an improving playmaker and driver, and after a brutal early-season stretch, he’s shot his way back up to near his career averages. The Sixers also play Oklahoma City, Chicago, Indiana and Brooklyn.