Celtics survive to remain atop East

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WASHINGTON -- Kyrie Irving scored 12 of Boston's last 17 points and finished with 28 to help the Celtics remain in sole possession of the Eastern Conference lead with a 110-104 overtime victory over the Washington Wizards on Thursday night.

Jaylen Brown added five of his 18 points in overtime for Boston. The Celtics have won five of six, and remained a game ahead of Toronto in the race for the East's top playoff seed after the Raptors win over New York earlier Thursday.

Otto Porter had 27 points and 11 rebounds for Washington, and Bradley Beal had 18 points and matched his career high with nine assists.

But as John Wall remains sidelined following knee surgery, the Wizards committed 22 turnovers and shot just 2 for 12 in the overtime period, dropping their second straight game after winning five straight.

Irving went 9 of 10 from the foul line in his second game back from a thigh injury. And after Boston allowed Washington to come back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, he tied it from the line in the late seconds on three made foul shots after luring Markieff Morris into a foul on a 3-point attempt.

That was part of 10 straight points for Irving before finding Brown for a layup that made it 105-103 with 2:32 left in overtime.

Brown stretched the lead to five when he hit a contested baseline 3-pointer about a minute later, and the Wizards failed to get within a possession after that (see full recap).

Valanciunas, Raptors crush shorthanded Knicks
TORONTO -- Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Pascal Siakam added 14 points and a career-high six assists and the Toronto Raptors beat the New York Knicks 113-88 on Thursday night.

New York played its first game since losing All-Star forward Kristaps Porzingis to a torn left ACL in Tuesday's loss to Milwaukee.

Serge Ibaka and Jakob Poeltl scored 13 points, Delon Wright and C.J. Miles each had 11 and Fred VanVleet 10 as the Raptors won their fifth straight home meeting with the Knicks.

The Raptors have won four straight and six of seven. Toronto is an NBA-best 23-4 at home.

Toronto won despite poor shooting performances from All-Star guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. DeRozan shot 2 for 11 and scored eight points, while Lowry shot 2 for 8 and finished with seven.

The Raptors outscored the Knicks 61-35 in bench points.

Michael Beasley scored 21 points and Trey Burke had 12 as the Knicks lost their fifth straight (see full recap).

Fournier leads Magic to 3rd straight win
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Evan Fournier scored 22 points, D.J. Augustin added 16 points and nine assists, and the Orlando Magic held on to beat the Atlanta Hawks 100-98 on Thursday night.

Marreese Speights added 14 points and Jonathon Simmons had 13 for the Magic, who won their third straight. It's only the second time this season the Magic have won three in a row.

Taurean Prince and Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with 19 points apiece. Tyler Dorsey and Malcolm Delaney each added 11.

The Hawks and Magic exchanged the lead seven times in the fourth quarter until Fournier scored eight straight points for Orlando to create the first separation of the second half. He started it with a three-point play, followed that with a 3-pointer, then drained a 15-foot jumper to make it 94-89 with 57 seconds left in the game.

Augustin and Simmons combined to go 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the final 39 seconds to keep Atlanta at bay.

The Hawks made three 3-pointers in the final 36 seconds, but Dewayne Dedmon missed one with just over 20 seconds left that could have tied the game at 98 (see full recap).

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