LOS ANGELES — The Boston Celtics completed a four-game sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs Sunday afternoon, using key baskets from Marcus Morris and Gordon Hayward to hold on for a 110-106 victory in Indianapolis.
The fourth-seeded Celtics advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, where they will face the winner of the Milwaukee-Detroit series.
Meanwhile, the loss ended Indiana’s season in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year. The Pacers, who also were swept by Cleveland in 2017, took the Cavaliers to a Game 7 in the opening round last year.
The fourth quarter featured four ties, the last of which occurred at 82-all when Jayson Tatum made the first of two free throws with 6:45 remaining after a flagrant foul on Cory Joseph.
Tatum also made the second shot for a one-point lead, and the Celtics never trailed again.
The lead was just 84-83 before Morris connected on a 3-pointer to create a four-point margin.
Hayward followed with a three-point play, pushing the margin to 90-83 with just 4:24 to go.
Indiana never got closer than four the rest of the way.
Seven Celtics scored in double figures, paced off the bench by Hayward, who had 20 points.
Morris and Tatum finished with 18 points apiece, while Al Horford and Kyrie Irving had 14 each, Jaylen Brown 13 and Terry Rozier 11 for the Celtics, who recorded their first series sweep since rolling past the New York Knicks in the first round in 2011.
Horford completed a double-double with 12 rebounds.
The Celtics outshot the Pacers 46.2 percent to 40.9 and outscored Indiana Pacers 33-30 on 3-pointers.
Bojan Bogdanovic was the game’s top scorer with 22 points for Indiana, which topped 100 points for the first time in the series.
Tyreke Evans had 21 points, Darren Collison 19, Domantas Sabonis 14 and Myles Turner 13 for the Pacers, who entered the postseason as the fifth-seeded team in the East.
WARRIORS 113, CLIPPERS 105
Kevin Durant scored 33 points and visiting Golden State held on to beat Los Angeles in Game 4 of a Western Conference first-round series. After winning both games in Los Angeles, the Warriors own a 3-1 series lead heading to Game 5 on Wednesday night in Oakland, Calif.
Klay Thompson scored 27 of his 32 points in the first half for the Warriors. Stephen Curry went 3-for-14, including 1-for-9 from 3-point range, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a season-high 25 points for the Clippers.
RAPTORS 107, MAGIC 85
Kawhi Leonard scored 34 points — 12 in the third quarter — as visiting Toronto defeated Orlando to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round playoff series. The Raptors can clinch the best-of-seven series Tuesday by winning Game 5 in Toronto.
Pascal Siakam added 16 points for Toronto, while Norman Powell had 16 points and Serge Ibaka had 13 points and gathered eight rebounds. Kyle Lowry contributed nine points and nine assists.
Aaron Gordon scored 25 points and had seven rebounds for the Magic. Evan Fournier added 19 points, while Nikola Vucevic scored 11 points.
TRAIL BLAZERS 111, THUNDER 98
C.J. McCollum scored 27 points and Damian Lillard added 24 as visiting Portland beat Oklahoma City.
The win gave the Blazers a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference playoff series. Portland has a chance to finish off the series at home Tuesday.
The win snapped an eight-game road playoff losing streak for the Blazers and gave the road teams an 8-0 record over the weekend in the NBA playoffs. — Reuters
