Boston: The Boston Celtics shook off a scary fall for swingman Jaylen Brown to punch their ticket to the NBA play-offs with a 117-109 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.
Kyrie Irving, back from a one-game absence with a sore knee, scored 23 points with eight assists and seven rebounds and Al Horford added 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the Celtics won for the sixth time in seven games.
They remained two games behind Eastern Conference leaders Toronto — who booked their play-off berth on Wednesday.
The Celtics led by as many as 18 points early in the third quarter. But they got a jolt with 1:31 left in the period when Brown drove for a dunk and upon letting go of the rim fell hard on his shoulders, neck and head.
He lay on the court for several minutes as medical staff attended to him and the Timberwolves’ Target Center arena went quiet.
When he finally rose from the floor — passing on the stretcher that had been rolled out — fans stood and cheered.
“I was right there,” Horford said of Brown’s fall. “It was tough to see. I was just happy he was able to get up and walk off because that was one of the worst falls I’ve seen.”
In Oakland, Kevin Durant scored 37 points and Draymond Green notched a triple-double of 11 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists as the Golden State Warriors shook off the early exit of Stephen Curry with an ankle injury to beat the San Antonio Spurs 110-107.
Curry turned his right ankle after a drive to the basket early in the first quarter and didn’t return.
The Warriors said only that Curry “tweaked” the ankle, the same one he sprained on December 4, leading to a total of 13 missed games.
The Miami Heat, battling for playoff position in the East, earned a valuable 108-99 victory over Philadelphia, moving within one game of the 76ers for sixth place in the East
