NBA Roundup : It’s 40-1 for Celtics at Home

The Boston Celtics owned the regular season, but they know the season is far from over.

There was no celebration after the Celtics completed the fourth-best record in NBA history with a 135-107 rout of the New Jersey Nets Sunday at Boston.

“This team and this town don’t consider it a good season unless we win everything,” center Robert Parish said.

The Celtics finished the regular season with a 40-1 record at home, shattering the record of 33-1 set in 1949-50 by the Rochester Royals. They led the league with a 67-15 record, second-best in club history.

Boston, which begins postseason play Thursday night at the Boston Garden against Chicago, stretched its one-season NBA mark for consecutive home victories to 31. Three of them came in Hartford. The 28 at Boston Garden tied a team record.

“Right now, I just think about the games we lost that we should have won,” Bill Walton said.

The defeat, coupled with Washington’s victory over Philadelphia, dropped the Nets from the sixth to the seventh Eastern Conference playoff spot. They will play Milwaukee in the first round whereas Washington plays Philadelphia. The Bullets and Nets were 39-43, but Washington won the season series, 4-2.

The score was tied, 51-51, at halftime, but Boston exploded for 46 third-quarter points, including 16 by Larry Bird, en route to an 84-point second half.

Bird scored 26 points and also edged Golden State’s Chris Mullin for the NBA free-throw shooting title. Mullin, out with an injury, had a percentage of .89573 to Bird’s .89484 at the start of the day. Bird needed to make 5 of 5 foul shots to overtake Mullin. He hit 7 of 7 to finish the season at .89634.

Bird’s biggest threat came from teammate Danny Ainge.

Ainge needed to sink 13 free throws against the Nets to qualify for the title with 125 free throws made. He tried his best but fell just two short by making 11 of 12.

“Danny was deliberately trying to get fouled,” Parish said with a smile.

He didn’t get fouled enough and ended the season with 123 successful foul shots in 136 attempts for a .904 percentage.

Washington 98, Philadelphia 97--Cliff Robinson scored 30 points and set up Darren Daye’s basket with two seconds to play to give the Bullets a victory over the 76ers in a preview of their first-round playoff matchup.

Washington (39-43) will face the 76ers (54-28) starting Thursday at Philadelphia.

Charles Barkley scored 10 of his 25 points in the final 5:09 to lead a 76er rally. He missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer and claimed he was fouled by Gus Williams.

San Antonio 123, Portland 118--Mike Mitchell scored 40 points, and the Spurs beat the Trail Blazers at Portland.

The Spurs finished the worst season in their history at 35-47, but still qualified to meet the Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The Blazers (40-42) play the Denver Nuggets in the first round.

Cleveland 104, Chicago 97--World B. Free scored 31 points, and the Cavaliers got past the Bulls at Richfield, Ohio.

The Bulls overcame the Cavaliers in the season’s final week to win the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.

Michael Jordan scored 29 points for the Bulls.