Thomas scores career-high 52

[caption id="attachment_109198" align="alignleft"] Boston Celtics’ guard Isaiah Thomas drives to the basket past Miami Heat’s Tyler Johnson during their NBA game at TD Garden in Boston Friday. — Reuters
[/caption] BOSTON — Isaiah Thomas scored a career-high 52 points including 29 in the fourth quarter as the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 117-114 Friday. Thomas’ performance eclipsed his previous single game high of 44, set 10 days earlier. “That fourth quarter, it just felt like I was out there by myself, working on my game in the gym,” said Thomas. “Throwing up everything and it was going in. It was a special feeling.” It was the fourth-highest scoring total in Celtics’ history, behind Larry Bird’s 60 in 1985, Kevin McHale’s 56 in 1985 and Bird’s 53 in 1983. Thomas, who outscored the entire Miami starting lineup 52-51, scored 29 of the Celtics’ 35 points in the final quarter, with the last basket coming on a three pointer from well behind the arc. He hit six three-pointers in the quarter and finished the game nine of 13 from three-point range and 13 of 13 from the foul line. Bird (1983) and Darren Daye (1995) had held the club record with 24 points in a fourth quarter. Warriors 108, Mavericks 99: Klay Thompson scored 17 of his game-high 29 points in a third-quarter runaway, propelling the Golden State Warriors to victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Kevin Durant posted his first triple-double as a Warrior with 19 points, 11 rebounds and a game-high 10 assists. Draymond Green flirted with a triple-double with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Stephen Curry added 14 points and five assists or the Warriors. Pacers 111, Bulls 101: Paul George scored nine of his 32 points during the final 4:07, while the Indiana Pacers recorded 14 of the game’s last 18 points to beat the Chicago Bulls. A Jimmy Butler basket tied the game at 97-97 but George was fouled in the act of shooting a three-pointer at the 4:07 mark and his three free throws gave Indiana the lead. Thaddeus Young added 17 points and Myles Turner had 15 points for Indiana while Jeff Teague finished with a career-best 17 assists. Butler led the Bulls with 25 points. Wizards 118, Nets 95: Trey Burke scored 20 of 27 his points in the first half as the Washington Wizards routed the Brooklyn Nets. John Wall had 19 points and 14 assists for the Wizards who were without second-leading scorer Bradley Beal. Marcin Gortat had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards. Hawks 105, Pistons 98: Forward Paul Millsap and guard Kyle Korver combined for 48 points as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons. Atlanta got 26 points, six rebounds and five assists from Millsap. Guard Kyle Korver knocked down three three-pointers and scored a season-high 22 points as Atlanta avenged an earlier 36-point loss to the Pistons. Pelicans 104, Knicks 92: Anthony Davis had 23 points and 17 rebounds and Tyreke Evans came off the bench to score a season-high 16 points to lift New Orleans to a victory over New York. In winning their fourth consecutive game and for the fifth time in six games, it was a team effort as the Pelicans placed six players in double figures, led by Davis, who had his 21st game this season of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds Jrue Holiday had a double-double of 12 points and 11 assists for the Pelicans. Timberwolves 116, Bucks 99: Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine, the Timberwolves took care of the visiting Bucks. Wiggins led all scorers with 31 points. LaVine added 24 points and Towns registered his 23rd double-double of the season. Towns finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Spurs 110, Trail Blazers 94: Tony Parker and Danny Green scored 18 points apiece and San Antonio had five players in double figures as it roared from behind and beat Portland. 76ers 124, Nuggets 122: Joel Embiid scored 23 points and Ersan Ilyasova had 23 points and 13 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets. — Agencies