(The Sports Xchange) – Avery Bradley scored 23 points and all five Boston starters reached double figures as the Celtics blew out the Chicago Bulls 105-83 in Game 6 to close out their Eastern Conference playoff series Friday night.
The Celtics advance to face the Washington Wizards, who eliminated the Atlanta Hawks with a 115-99 victory.
Gerald Green scored 16 points for the Celtics, who also got 12 points from Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford.
Jimmy Butler, hobbled by knee soreness, led Chicago with 23 points. Robin Lopez also scored 10 points for the Bulls, who dropped the final four games of the best-of-seven series after grabbing a 2-0 lead with a pair of lopsided victories in Boston.
Wizards 115, Hawks 99
John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 73 points and Washington defeated Atlanta to win their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
Washington took the series four games to two and advances to the second round to meet Boston, which eliminated Chicago in six games.
Wall scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 42 points on 16-of-25 shooting from the field. Beal had 17 in the first half and finished with 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Wall also had eight assists.
Atlanta was led by Paul Millsap, who totaled 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Dennis Schroder had 26 points and 10 assists, his second straight double-double.
Clippers 98, Jazz 93
Chris Paul scored 29 points while DeAndre Jordan added 13 points and 18 rebounds to help the Los Angeles Clippers stave off elimination with a 98-93 victory over the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of their Western Conference first-round series on Friday night.
The series is tied at 3-3, with Game 7 scheduled for Sunday in Los Angeles.
With Los Angeles ahead by three points, Utah’s Joe Johnson had a chance to tie it in the closing seconds, but he missed a 3-pointer with about six seconds remaining.
Paul hit a pair of free throws with 1.0 second left to clinch the win.
