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Pistons, Mavericks seal playoff spots
NBA champions Detroit Pistons celebrated coach Larry Brown's return in style Friday clinching an Eastern conference playoff berth with 97-84 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
After missing 10 games due to complications from hip surgery, Brown was back behind the Pistons bench at the Palace at Auburn Hills as Detroit got double figure efforts from six players led by a 23-point performance from Tayshaun Prince.
Marco Jaric had 24 points for the Clippers and Elton Brand added 22 and 11 rebounds.
In Philadelphia, Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 29 points as the streaking Dallas Mavericks stopped the Philadelphia 76ers 100-83, to secure a Western conference playoff berth with their fourth consecutive win.
It was night of good news for the Mavericks who welcomed back Eric Dampier, who had missed 21 games with a foot injury. The big center logged 17 minutes of work contributing five points and 10 rebounds.
Keith Van Horn contributed 15 points to the Dallas cause while Jason Terry had 13.
The slumping 76ers played most of the game without their two top players. Allen Iverson, the NBA's leading scorer, contributed 22 points before leaving the contest in the fourth with a groin injury.
Philadelphia was also without Chris Webber who is sidelined with a sore shoulder.
In Orlando, Gilbert Arenas nailed 31 points and Larry Hughes chipped in with 30 to power the Washington Wizards past the Magic 111-102, extending their unbeaten run to four games.
In complete control the Wizards suffered a fourth quarter collapse as the Magic went on a 23-4 run to pull within five points with just over four minutes to play.
But the Wizards steadied themselves and restored a 10 point advantage with the help of an Arenas three-pointer.
In Atlanta, Ricky Davis scored a season-high 36 points as the Boston Celtics crushed the last place Hawks 116-100 to break out of four-game losing skid.
Davis had 20 points in the second quarter as the Celtics went into the intermission 68-46 lead before coasting home to hand the woeful Hawks their 11th straight defeat.
In Charlotte, Chris Bosh had 27 points and nine rebounds and Jalen Rose added 23 points helping the Toronto Raptors to a 119-197 win over the expansion Bobcats for just their ninth road win of the season.
Bobcats' rookie of the year candidate Emeka Okafor had another big night for Charlotte registering a game high 29 points and 14 rebounds.
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