DETROIT — The Philadelphia 76ers are rolling right along without Joel Embiid.
JJ Redick scored 25 points, and the 76ers won their 12th straight game, eliminating Detroit from playoff contention with a 115-108 victory over the Pistons on Wednesday night. Embiid missed a fourth straight game because of a concussion and orbital fracture.
“Everyone in this room has stepped up since Joel went down, and we know we’re capable of winning games without him,” guard Ben Simmons said. “We told him to get ready for the playoffs and that we’ll take care of everything else. Now we’re showing that we can do that.”
The Pistons had their five-game winning streak snapped, and their defeat clinched a postseason spot for the Milwaukee Bucks. The Eastern Conference playoff field is now set, although there’s still plenty of uncertainty over the actual matchups. Philadelphia pulled even with Cleveland for third place in the East.
RAPTORS 96, CELTICS 78
TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors turned up the defensive pressure and tightened their grip on first place in the Eastern Conference.
DeMar DeRozan scored 16 points, Fred VanVleet and Serge Ibaka each had 15 and the Raptors moved closer to clinching the top seed in the East by beating the Boston Celtics 96-78 on Wednesday night.
“We had to rely on our defense tonight,” DeRozan said. “We missed a lot of shots but, with that, we played extremely hard defensively and made up for the low percentage that we shot from the field.”
Toronto, which made 40 of 92 attempts, increased its lead over second-place Boston to three games. Both teams have four games remaining.
PELICANS 123, GRIZZLIES 95
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Pelicans’ playoff hopes got a lift from E’Twaun Moore and Anthony Davis’ return to form.
Moore scored 30 points, and Davis had 28 points and 12 rebounds to help the Pelicans rout the Memphis Grizzlies 123-95 on Wednesday night.
Davis struggled in the previous two games after twisting an ankle in a loss to Portland on March 27. In subsequent losses to Cleveland and Oklahoma City, he averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds while making 39 percent of his shots. For the season, Davis has averaged 28.1 points and 11.1 rebounds while making 53.5 percent of his shots.
HEAT 115, HAWKS 86
ATLANTA — With an extra $1 million in his pocket, Kelly Olynyk could have afforded a spending spree.
“Instead, I just made it rain,” he said.
One 3-pointer at a time.
Olynyk scored 19 points, including 15 on five 3-pointers when Miami took the lead for good in the second period, and the Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks 115-86 on Wednesday night, capping a sweep of back-to-back games between Southeast Division rivals.
By logging his first two minutes in the game, Olynyk earned a $1 million bonus for reaching 1,700 for the season.
(Associated Press)
