BOSTON - Jason Terry’s nose still hurt. He wasn’t about to let his pride suffer as well.
Two days after being smacked by J.R. Smith’s elbow, the guard the Boston Celtics count on for his shooting scored their last nine points and kept their season going.
The Celtics beat the Knicks 97-90 in overtime on Sunday to avoid a first-round sweep and force a fifth game in New York on Wednesday night. Avoiding elimination provided all the motivation Terry needed.
“It wasn’t really the elbow,” he said. “It was more (like) this is it. I mean, the season’s over. You can leave it all out here tonight and go home for a long summer or you can live to play another day.”
But, he conceded, his nose “still hurts right now. As long as I feel that, I guess I’ll be thinking about it.”
The NBA suspended Smith for the game, and the Knicks could have used his shooting. Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points and Raymond Felton picked up the slack with 27, but New York made just 28.9 percent of its shots in the first half as Boston took a 54-35 lead.
New York had tied the game 84-84 after trailing by 20 points early in the third quarter. It was 88-all before the Celtics regained control and took the lead for good on a three-pointer by Terry. Anthony hit a short jumper, but Terry connected on a 15-footer with 50 seconds remaining for a 93-90 lead.
After Anthony, who shot 10 for 35 for the game, missed a three-pointer with 21 seconds to go, Terry was fouled by Steve Novak and made both free throws. He added a layup to close out the game.
But the Celtics still have a huge deficit in trying to become the first team to win after trailing a series 3-0 in the NBA playoffs. The Knicks are trying to win their first playoff series in 13 years.
Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 29 points, Jeff Green added 26 and Terry finished with 18.
With leaders such as Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the Celtics have “tremendous” pride, Terry said. “Getting swept is something that no man that’s been in this league that long wants to do. It’s disheartening.
“Now we have to go into a hostile environment and they’re going to be trying to get it over with. They don’t want to come back here, but we do.”
HEAT 88, BUCKS 77
MILWAUKEE - Miami’s Big Three finally have their sweep.
LeBron James scored 30, Ray Allen had another big game against his old team and the Miami Heat advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals with an88-77 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday. It’s the first time the Heat have swept a playoff series since James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in Miami three years ago.
And the Heat didn’t even need Wade to do it. The guard missed a postseason game for the second time in his career and first since 2005 due to three bone bruises on his right knee.
But the Heat still advanced handily, winning their fourth straight game by double digits. Wade will get plenty of time to rest now, too. The Heat will face the winner of the Brooklyn Nets-Chicago Bulls series - Chicago leads 3-1 - but the next round won’t begin until next Saturday.
Allen had 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4 of 7 from three-point range. Udonis Haslem added 13 points and five rebounds, and Mario Chalmers kicked in eight rebounds and six assists.
Monta Ellis led the Bucks with 21 points, and Larry Sanders had 11 rebounds to go with seven points.
SPURS 103, LAKERS 82
LOS ANGELES - Tony Parker scored 23 points, and the San Antonio Spurs completed their first-round sweep of the injury-plagued Los Angeles Lakers with a 103-82 victory in Game 4 on Sunday night.
Tim Duncan had 11 points and six rebounds for the second-seeded Spurs, who will face the winner of Denver’s series with Golden State in the second round. They’ll get plenty of rest after flattening the Lakers, who finished without three regular starters in their first opening-round exit since 2007.
In his final game before unrestricted free agency, Dwight Howard scored seven points before getting ejected early in the third quarter for arguing.
Pau Gasol had 16 points for the Lakers, who were swept from the postseason for the second time in three years.
WARRIORS 115, NUGGETS 101
OAKLAND, Calif. - Stephen Curry shook off a sore left ankle to score 22 of his 31 points in the third quarter, leading the Golden State Warriors past the Denver Nuggets for a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Curry shot 10 of 16 from the floor and added seven assists. His five three-pointers in the third quarter lifted Golden State to a 20-point lead and its third consecutive victory.
Jarrett Jack added 21 points and nine assists and Andrew Bogut broke out in the first half with 12 points and five rebounds for the sixth-seeded Warriors, who can close out the Nuggets in Game 5 on Tuesday night in Denver.
Ty Lawson scored 26 points and Andre Iguodala had 19 for the third-seeded Nuggets.
Sports, Pages 18 on 04/29/2013