NBA ROUNDUP : Celtics Hold a Going-Away Garden Party

The present-day Celtics watched generations of Boston basketball glory walk across the Garden parquet at halftime Friday night.

Somehow, it wasn’t inspiration enough.

Even though the Celtics couldn’t beat the New York Knicks in the last regular-season game at the Boston Garden, the Cleveland Cavaliers made sure at least one more basketball game will be played in the venerable building. Shortly before the end of the Knicks’ 99-92 victory, Boston secured the Eastern Conference’s last playoff berth when Cleveland beat Milwaukee, 103-92.

The Celtics will meet Orlando next Friday in the first round of the playoffs and will be back at home for Game 3 of the best-of-five series.

“I don’t like the way we got in,” said the Celtics’ Sherman Douglas, who with Dee Brown scored a team-high 22 points. “We should have won.”

Patrick Ewing, the Knicks’ leading scorer, and Derek Harper, their starting point guard, watched the game in street clothes. Ewing has a strained left hamstring, and Harper was put on the injured list earlier Friday with an ankle injury.

After a halftime ceremony honoring the 67-year-old Garden’s illustrious past and the Celtics greats who played there, the game was almost an afterthought. The building will be replaced in September by the $160 million FleetCenter.

Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Tommy Heinsohn, John Havlicek and Bob Cousy were among the former players honored at halftime, along with former coach Red Auerbach.

In the highlight of the ceremony, the ex-players passed a ball through the Celtics generations. Bird finished it off with a bank shot that drew a standing ovation from the capacity crowd of 14,890.

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Cleveland 103, Milwaukee 82--Practicing on the Bucks at Cleveland, the Cavaliers played the kind of defense they want to play in the playoffs.

Cleveland clinched the sixth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and the Cavaliers will play the Knicks in the first round beginning Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

Mark Price returned to the Cleveland lineup after missing three games because of a left heel injury. He made only two of nine shots from the field, both three-pointers, but had nine assists.

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Sacramento 105, Seattle 97--Walt Williams had 27 points at Sacramento as the Kings kept their playoff hopes alive and ruined Seattle’s bid for the Pacific Division title.

The Kings, trying to make the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons, pulled within half a game of idle Denver in the battle for the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.

No matter what the Nuggets do today at Golden State, the Kings can make the playoffs by winning Sunday in a showdown at Denver.

Seattle, which got 26 points from Detlef Schrempf, failed to win its second consecutive Pacific Division crown. Phoenix, which defeated Dallas, holds a one-game lead over the SuperSonics. Even if Seattle wins Sunday at Phoenix, the Suns would win the title because they have clinched the season series over the Sonics.

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Phoenix 110, Dallas 99--Charles Barkley had 22 points and 17 rebounds at Phoenix. The victory, Phoenix’s 58th, guaranteed the second-best record in franchise history and coupled with Seattle’s loss gave the Suns the Pacific Division title. The 1992-93 team won 62 games, and the 1980-81 squad was 57-25.

Kevin Johnson led three other Phoenix players in double figures with 15.

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Philadelphia 113, Miami 106--It was the same Philadelphia story all season--Dana Barros, leading scorer. But Barros, after tallying 21 points at Philadelphia, gave some credit to Shawn Bradley.

Bradley had 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots. He has averaged 9.3 points a game this season while enduring boos from the home crowd.

In the last 15 games, he has averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds, and this time, he was cheered by fans when he fouled out of the game.

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New Jersey 107, Washington 106--Out of the playoffs and with their key players injured, the Nets had every reason to keep losing but one: Their opponent at East Rutherford, N.J., was the Bullets.

The Nets snapped a five-game losing streak behind Armon Gilliam’s 28 points and 17 rebounds.

Chris Webber sprained his left ankle in the first minute and did not play after intermission.

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Orlando 110, Indiana 86--Shaquille O’Neal and Horace Grant each scored 20 points as the Magic geared up for the playoffs at Orlando, Fla. The Magic gained a split of the four-game series between the two division winners in the Eastern Conference.

The Magic improved to 39-2 at Orlando Arena, the NBA’s best regular-season home record since the Boston Celtics posted the same mark in 1986-87.

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Atlanta 128, Detroit 111--Coach Lenny Wilkens is liking the Atlanta Hawks’ backcourt combination more and more. Steve Smith scored 23 points and Mookie Blaylock 18 at Atlanta as the Pistons lost their 10th consecutive road game.

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Utah 99, Minnesota 96--At Salt Lake City, John Stockton went over 1,000 assists for the seventh time as the Jazz sent the Timberwolves to their NBA-record fourth consecutive 60-loss season.

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Western Conference Playoffs

A look at the first-round matchups for the Western Conference playoffs :

* San Antonio vs. Denver/Sacramento

* Phoenix vs. Portland

* Utah vs. Houston

* Lakers vs. Seattle