CELTICS COMPLETE RARE SWEEP BY BEATING PACERS 110-106

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Gordon Hayward scored 20 points and Marcus Morris started a decisive 3-point flurry late in the fourth quarter Sunday to give the Boston Celtics a series-clinching 110-106 victory at Indiana.

It’s the first four-game sweep for the Celtics since 2011 and their second since 1986-87, becoming the first team to reach the second round of the playoffs.

Bojan Bogdanovic finished with 22 points and Tyreke Evans finished with a playoff career-high of 21 to lead the Pacers. It still wasn’t enough to prevent Indiana from enduring its second first-round sweep in three years — the only two best-of-seven sweeps in franchise history.

This game, unlike the previous three, did not turn on Boston’s suffocating second-half defense. Instead, it was a flagrant foul called on Indiana’s Cory Joseph with 6:45 to play.

Jayson Tatum took advantage by making both free throws to give the Celtics an 83-82 lead. Al Horford sank 1 of 2 on Boston’s next possession and then Morris started the decisive flurry with a 3-pointer with 5:08 to play. Hayward’s three-point play with 4:24 left made it 90-83 and Boston made three more 3s over the next three minutes to take an insurmountable 102-90 lead.

Twice in the first half, it looked like Boston might run away with the victory.

But the Pacers charged back to take a 49-47 halftime lead and extended it to 56-49 in the third quarter.

That’s when Boston rallied, closing a methodical comeback with the final four points of the third to take a 73-72 lead and then put it away behind the shooting of Hayward and Morris, who had 18 points and eight rebounds.

Kyrie Irving had 14 points and seven assists for Boston.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Closed out the series with their seventh straight win against Indiana this season. … Tatum also had 18 points and rebounds while Al Horford finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. … Jaylen Brown added 13 points and Terry Rozier had 11 off the bench. … Boston was 10 of 28 on 3s, 5 of 7 in the fourth.

Pacers: Darren Collison had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists while Thaddeus Young added nine points and nine rebounds. … Domantas Sabonis scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Myles Turner had 13 points and seven rebounds…. The Pacers shot 40.9 percent in the game. … Victor Oladipo made his first public appearance at Bankers Life Fieldhouse since suffering a season-ending right knee injury in January.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Will wait to find out who they play in the second round.

Pacers: Head into the offseason contemplating how they can improve next season.

WARRIORS BEAT LA 113-105, TAKE 3-1 SERIES LEAD TO BAY AREA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 33 points, Klay Thompson added 32 and the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 113-105 Sunday to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Stephen Curry was in foul trouble for the second straight game and finished with 12 points. Andrew Bogut fouled out with 5:50 remaining in the game with eight points and 10 rebounds.

The Warriors were 17 of 19 from the free throw line. They controlled the boards, 49-33, led by Curry and Bogut with 10 rebounds apiece.

Coming off a 27-point loss in Game 3, the Clippers played tougher defensively and hung in after trailing by 11 in the second quarter.

They outscored Golden State 30-25 in the third when they rallied to take a five-point lead. But Curry scored seven of the Warriors’ final 10 points to send them into the fourth ahead 87-84.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Oakland, when the two-time defending champions could close out the series.

The Clippers narrowed it to 87-86 early in the fourth, but Thompson sank his sixth 3-pointer and the Clippers never got close the rest of the way.

Rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Clippers with a career-high 25 points. Danilo Gallinari added 16 points but was just 5 of 20 from the floor. Patrick Beverley had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Super subs Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell were held to 12 and 10 points, respectively. They were limited to a combined eight points in the second half.

After a quiet 12 points in Game 3, Thompson broke out for 27 points by halftime. He hit 6-of-9 3-pointers in the game.

The Clippers opened the second on a 13-3 run to tie it 35-all, but Thompson made two free throws that put Los Angeles down 10 later in the quarter. TIP-INS

Warriors: Their streak of having at least 30 assists in three straight playoff games, which tied a franchise record, ended. They had 27 assists.

Clippers: C JaMychal Green started in place of rookie Ivica Zubac. Green scored a career playoff-high 15 points in Game 3, but had just six points. … Retiring Hall of Fame announcer Ralph Lawler turned 81. … The anthem singer was 7-year-old Malea Emma Andrawidjaja.

UP NEXT

Game 5 is Wednesday at Oracle Arena.

LEONARD SCORES 34, RAPTORS TOP MAGIC 107-85 FOR 3-1 LEAD

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 34 points and the Toronto Raptors beat the Orlando Magic 107-85 on Sunday night to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Pascal Siakam and Norman Powell each scored 16 for the Raptors, who can advance with a home win in Game 5 on Tuesday. Toronto has now won three consecutive postseason games, only the third time that’s happened in franchise history.

Aaron Gordon scored 25 for the Magic, making his first seven shots of the second half. Evan Fournier scored 19 and Nikola Vucevic added 11 for the Magic, who committed 17 turnovers that became 21 Toronto points.

And now the Magic’s season is squarely on the brink. There have been 11 teams to successfully rally from a 3-1 series deficit in a best-ofseven NBA series, and of those, only three pulled it off by winning a Game 7 on the road.

So it’s not impossible — just highly improbable.

And with the way Leonard looked in Game 4, the Magic hopes seem particularly slim.

“It’s fun,” said Leonard, who didn’t appear in last season’s playoffs while dealing with injury and discontent in San Antonio before his offseason trade to Toronto. “This is what you play for all season long. And I’m just grateful to be out here on the floor again. I’m feeling good. It took a long time for me to get healthy but I’m happy with the way things are turning out now.”

The 2014 NBA Finals MVP made 12 of 20 shots, added six rebounds and scored his 34 points in 35 minutes. He was in total control on both ends, and the Raptors shot 53 percent — a franchise record for a road playoff game. Serge Ibaka scored 13 and Kyle Lowry had nine assists for the Raptors.

A flurry at the end of the first half, led by Leonard and Siakam, put Toronto up by double digits and the margin stayed there the rest of the way.

Vucevic missed from close range — the Magic argued that Leonard was guilty of goaltending, the referees disagreed — with about 2:45 left in the half, a disputed play that could have gotten Orlando within seven.

Instead, they went into the break down by 16.

Toronto closed the half on an 11-1 run, with Leonard scoring the first five and Siakam hitting a pair of 3s for the final six. The last of those 3s by Siakam came with 4.5 seconds left, and the Raptors headed into intermission with a 58-42 cushion.

And it seemed like whenever Orlando flashed some hope in the third quarter, Leonard immediately snuffed it out.

A dunk by Gordon cut the lead to 13? Leonard made a 3.

A 3-pointer by Fournier to get within 12? Leonard made a pullup.

A stepback by Gordon to get within 12 again? Leonard split defenders, absorbed contact and laid the ball in to start a three-point play. And before long, there was no more doubt about the outcome.

TIP-INS

Raptors: Toronto is 28-2 this season (and 16-0 on the road) when leading by at least 10 points at the half. … Leonard’s teams are 60-31 when he plays in the postseason. Among players in this year’s playoffs with at least 60 postseason wins, only Draymond Green, Shaun Livingston, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry — all Golden State Warriors — have a better winning percentage.

Magic: Orlando, which fell behind 11-0 in Game 2 and 10-0 in Game 3, started Game 4 on a 7-0 run. The Magic started 6 for 6 from the field, and then missed 26 of their next 38 shots — going 1 for 13 from 3-point range during that drought. … Terrence Ross beat the buzzer for the second straight game; it was a midcourt shot to close the first half of Game 2, and this time it was a 35-footer to end the third quarter.

VIRAL MOMENT

Raptors coach Nick Nurse was trending on social media for much of the game, after a fairly nondescript 3-second call on Fred VanVleet with 2:12 left in the opening quarter elicited quite the reaction from him. Nurse stood almost perfectly still on the sideline after the call, his mouth agape for about 15 seconds in some sort of disbelief.

UNTIMELY

Orlando has dropped three straight, its longest slide since losing four in a row from Jan. 23-29. The Magic have also been held under 100 points in three straight games for the first time since Jan. 6-9.

NO CHANGES

The starting fives for both teams have remained the same for all four games in this series. Boston-Indiana (which is now complete, the Celtics sweeping) and Portland-Oklahoma City are the other matchups that have seen the same starters in every game; the other five first-round series have featured different lineups at the start of games.

UP NEXT

Game 5 is Tuesday in Toronto.