The Los Angeles Clippers trounced the Portland Trail Blazers 93-77 on Tuesday for their sixth straight victory, on a night that saw the Celtics-Indiana Pacers game in Boston cancelled in the wake of Monday’s deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Caron Butler scored 18 of his 22 points in the third quarter, Blake Griffin added 16 points and DeAndre Jordan had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Pacific Division champion Clippers, who finished their home schedule with a 32-9 record. They end the regular season on Wednesday at Sacramento, and another win would ensure the Clippers have home-court advantage to start the playoffs.
Will Barton scored 17 points and Joel Freeland added 13 points for the Blazers, who never led while losing their 12th in a row.
The Toronto Raptors downed the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks 113-96 after DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points and Rudy Gay added 22.
The Raptors made two-thirds of their shots in the first half, sprinting to a 68-51 lead as DeRozan scored 19 points and Gay chipped in with 17. Atlanta went mostly with backups, showing no sense of urgency to claim the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta fell into a share of fifth spot with Chicago. The teams finish the regular season Wednesday, with the Hawks traveling to New York to face the Knicks, while the Bulls are home against lowly Washington. Chicago holds the tiebreaker.
Kyle Korver led the Hawks with 13 points, extending his 3-point streak to 73 consecutive games.
