Lakers end disappointing season with win over Nuggets
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant combined with 55 points as the Brooklyn Nets held a rally of the Indiana Pacers on Sunday to seal seventh place in the Eastern Conference and gain home advantage for next week's play-ins.
The Nets' final regular-season game was a prolonged one as Brooklyn took an 18-point lead in the first half.
But with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter, a dogged Pacers unit drew level 89-89 before Brooklyn regrouped to pull clear and run out 134-126 winners.
The win means Brooklyn face a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday where a win will see them enter the playoffs as the seventh seed.
The Nets, buoyed by Irving and Durant's recent form, will join that showdown.
Irving finished Sunday with 35 points, seven rebounds and five assists, a 15-20 off the field.
Meanwhile, Durant completed a triple-double of 20 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 16 assists, while six Brooklyn players finished in double digits.
"The last few weeks have been ups and downs for us - winning some games, losing some games," Durant later said.
"I think we're figuring out who we are as a group and that's always a good thing."
Durant now eagerly awaits the end of the season's business, starting with the assignment against Cleveland on Tuesday.
"It's been a long year and it's the perfect time of year to play our best basketball," Durant said.
Milwaukee dropped to third in the Eastern Conference standings after their under-strength lineup was trampled 133-115 by the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Sunday.
Key players for the Bucks game were without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis, notable for a bizarrely fleeting cameo by another mainstay Jew Holiday.
Holiday came onto the court for a tipoff and immediately committed a foul after eight seconds before leaving the court without returning.
Reports said the brief appearance allowed him to appear in 67 games this season to collect the $255,000 bonus included in his contract.
Austin Reeves set a career-high of 31 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists and excelled in overtime as the Los Angeles Lakers posted a fourth of 17 points to register a 146-141 win over the hosts Denver Nuggets on Sunday night. Overcame quarterly losses.
Malik Monk scored a career-best 41 points and scored seven three-pointers for Los Angeles (33–49), his second straight after an eight-game slide to end one of the most disappointing seasons in NBA history. Won the game Wayne Ellington had 18 points in a game that was mainly fought with the second and third team.
Marcus Howard scored a career-high 25 points and Brian Forbes added 24 points for the Nuggets (48-34), who are the sixth-seeded team in the Western Conference and will meet the third-seeded Golden State Warriors in the first round. Playoff.
DeMarcus Cousins and Bones Hyland added 17 points for Denver, who missed their final 12 field-goal attempts, including all eight in overtime.
Reeves scored seven straight points for the Lakers in overtime, including a three-pointer, giving Los Angeles a 142–137 lead on the way to a comeback victory.
The Lakers played without LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard.