Celts top Knicks before playoff matchup (AP)

BOSTON (AP)—Avery Bradley(notes) scored a career-high 20 points as Boston’s “B”
team beat the Knicks’ second string 112-102 on Wednesday night in a
regular-season finale both teams used to rest their starters, instead of as a
tuneup for their first-round playoff matchup.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Sasha Pavlovic(notes)
added a season-high 19 points as the Celtics snapped a two-game losing streak
despite resting their starters for the second straight game.

Amare Stoudemire(notes) played 20 minutes and scored 14 points for New York, which
will return to Boston to open the Eastern Conference postseason on Sunday night.

A crowd of 18,624 that came to see Kevin Garnett(notes), Paul Pierce(notes) and Ray Allen(notes)
instead got Von Wafer(notes), Carlos Arroyo(notes) and Pavlovic. The Knicks sat Chauncey
Billups(notes) and Carmelo Anthony(notes), though Stoudemire played the entire first quarter
and eight more minutes in the third.

Boston’s first-round draft pick who had scored a total of 32 points in 30
games this season, Bradley shattered his previous career high of five points.
Wafer and Jeff Green(notes) had 14 points apiece, and Nenad Krstic(notes) had 13 for the
defending Eastern Conference champs.

Boston (56-26) finished the regular season with the No. 3 seed in the East.
The Knicks (42-40) made the playoffs for the first time since 2004, finishing
sixth in the conference.

Boston led 84-74 before the Knicks scored eight straight points near the end
of the third quarter. But the Celtics scored the first 11 points in the fourth
to pull away.

Notes: The Celtics were wearing special warmups to acknowledge Monday’s
Boston Marathon. … Celtics who didn’t dress: Allen, Garnett and Shaquille
O’Neal(notes). Knicks who didn’t dress: Billups, Anthony and Andy Rautins(notes). Pierce and
Rajon Rondo(notes) sat on the bench in uniform but did not play. … Green gave the
pregame fan appreciation talk usually given by Pierce. … Pavlovic drew a
technical in the third quarter for his response to Bill Walker’s(notes) flagrant foul
on a 3-pointer. Pavlovic, who made the basket, got two shots to make one free
throw.