Celtics complete record turnaround

Posted April 05, 2008 11:00 pm

Associated Press

Even without the Big Three, the Boston Celtics had enough firepower to make history.

Leon Powe had 22 points and 9 rebounds, leading a makeshift lineup of Celtics who were never threatened in a 101-78 win over the host Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday that not only clinched homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, but set the NBA record for biggest single-season turnaround.

Boston's trio of stars, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, didn't play, but it didn't matter. The Celtics improved to 61-15, 37 more wins that last season's 24-58 disaster.

"If you could write a script on the way to clinch home-court, this would probably be it," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.

The previous best turnaround was San Antonio going from 20-62 to 56-26 in 1997-98, the year they got Tim Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

Magic 101, Cavaliers 86: Hedo Turkoglu scored 23 points, Rashard Lewis added 21, and Orlando locked up the Eastern Conference's No. 3 playoff seed with a victory over host Cleveland. Orlando's defense was the difference. The Magic held Cleveland to 14 points in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers' LeBron James finished with 17 points on 6-for-22 shooting with 9 assists and 7 rebounds.

Hawks 92, Sixers 85: Joe Johnson scored 22 points, Josh Smith added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Atlanta built a big lead and held off host Philadelphia. Marvin Williams contributed 18 points, Al Horford had 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Mike Bibby had 10 points for the Hawks.

Nets 99, Raptors 90: Vince Carter scored 21 of his 32 points in the second half, and hsot New Jersey beat struggling Toronto, snapping a four-game losing streak and keeping alive its faint playoff hopes. Despite the win, the Nets' magic number for being eliminated from postseason contention for the first time in seven years was reduced to 2 when Atlanta beat Philadelphia earlier.