BOSTON — Sasha Pavlovic scored 12 of his of his season-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, leading a group of Boston Celtics reserves in a 78-66 victory against the Miami Heat as both teams rested their top players Tuesday night.
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were out for the Heat. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo didn’t play for the Celtics. The teams had much more to lose in potential injuries than they could gain with another victory in the second-to-last game of the regular season.
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The result was a season-low point total for the Heat, who scored the first 11 points but couldn’t stop Pavlovic down the stretch.
Dexter Pittman had 12 points, James Jones scored 11 and Udonis Haslem grabbed 13 rebounds for the Heat, whose 25 turnovers were a season high. Miami failed to score 20 in any quarter and had just 16 in each of the final two periods.
Marquis Daniels finished with 13 points, and Brandon Bass had eight points and eight rebounds for the Celtics. Paul Pierce of Boston finished with eight points. He started the game but sat out the fourth quarter as the Celtics improved to 3-1 against the Heat this season.
Anyone who bought a ticket to this game months ago, anticipating an Eastern Conference showdown, was disappointed.
Bosh didn’t dress again because of a left hamstring strain. James and Wade were still in warmups and didn’t come to the bench until after the starting lineups were announced.
Allen was out already with bone spurs, Rondo has a sore back an Garnett’s hip flexor has been bothering him.
The Celtics had almost as many turnovers (7) as points (10) in the first quarter and failed to score until a little past the midpoint of the opening period.
But after the sloppy start, Boston’s patchwork lineup came together in the third quarter, tying it with a 10-0 run late and then outscoring the Heat 10-4 to start the fourth.
Sean Williams hit two free throws to put Boston up 58-54, then Pavlovic pulled up with a baseline jumper for a 60-54 lead with 6:35 remaining and Miami called a timeout.
Pavlovic continued to pick apart the Heat, driving for a dunk that put the Celtics up 62-56, then hitting a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to nine with 4:45 left.
THUNDER 118, KINGS 110: Kevin Durant scored 32 points, reserve Daequan Cook had all 19 of his points in the fourth quarter and Oklahoma City won at home.
HAWKS 109, CLIPPERS 102: Joe Johnson scored 28 points, including a wild 3-pointer in the final minute, and Atlanta held on at home.
RED CLAWS: Philadelphia signed former Maine guard Xavier Silas for the remainder of the season. Silas averaged 9.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 39 games for the Red Claws.
NOTES
Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace was suspended seven games by the NBA for elbowing James Harden of Oklahoma City – meaning he could miss at least six playoff games. Harden hasn’t been cleared to play after suffering a concussion. Kings center DeMarcus Cousins played after the NBA rescinded one of his technical fouls. New York promoted Glen Grunwald to executive vice president and general manager after he assembled numerous pieces of a playoff roster this season. Golden State promoted Bob Myers to general manager to replace Larry Riley.
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