Celtics’ losing streak reaches 18 in a thriller

The reeling Boston Celtics dipped lower on Sunday, not only because they lost their franchise-record 18th straight game, but because of how they lost it and to whom.

Former Celtic Ricky Davis’ jumper from the corner with 0.2 of a second left lifted the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 109-107 victory at Minneapolis.

Davis finished with 28 points, Kevin Garnett had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and another former Celtic, Mark Blount, had 20 points for Minnesota.

“It is tough, the guys played so hard and deserve to win,” said Paul Pierce, who scored 29 points. “We did everything we could. Down the stretch they made the last play.

“You can feel it in the locker room, each loss definitely hurts. These guys are going to keep playing hard. We just need to get it out of our head.”

After making the shot in front of the Celtics’ bench, Davis posed with his arm in the air, then got a bear hug from Blount.

“It’s special when you get traded together with a guy like Mark,” Davis said. “He feeds off me and I feed off him and it was just a great feeling for us to beat them. Mark came over and gave me that big hug, he got me going so it’s just a great feeling.”

The Celtics led by 10 points in the first half and 107-105 with 1:17 to play after Pierce fed Al Jefferson for a dunk.

But Garnett tied the score with two free throws, then got a steal on the defensive end to give Minnesota a chance to win it with 3.6 seconds left.

Miami 100, San Antonio 85 -- Dwyane Wade scored 18 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter at Miami and the Heat held the Spurs without a field goal for more than seven minutes down the stretch.

Wade also had two stellar blocks of Tony Parker layup attempts midway through the quarter.

Manu Ginobili had 26 points off the bench for the Spurs, who fell to 2-4 on their eight-game trip.

Portland 94, Washington 73 -- Gilbert Arenas, who vowed to score at least 50 points in retaliation for Trail Blazers Coach Nate McMillan’s involvement with him being left off the U.S. national team last summer, was held to nine points on three-of-15 shooting in the Wizards’ loss at Washington.

Arenas missed all eight of his three-point attempts. Jarrett Jack and LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points apiece for Portland.

Chicago 116, Phoenix 103 -- Kirk Hinrich scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter to help the Bulls end an eight-game losing streak at Phoenix dating to November 1996.

Luol Deng also scored 29 for Chicago.

The Suns, led by Leandro Barbosa’s 26 points, played without Steve Nash (shoulder) and Boris Diaw (back) in losing their third straight at home.

Atlanta 106, Golden State 105 -- Josh Smith scored 29 points to help the Hawks win their fifth straight road game for the first time since winning seven in a row in November and December 1993.

It wasn’t assured until Golden State’s Stephen Jackson missed a 19-footer from the baseline at the buzzer. Monta Ellis had 21 points for the Warriors.

Dallas 106, Philadelphia 89 -- Leading by as many as 30 points, the Mavericks saw their lead cut to eight with 8:40 left in the fourth quarter before prevailing at Philadelphia.

Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas. Andre Iguodala led the 76ers with 21 points.

Seattle 114, Sacramento 103 -- Ray Allen scored 25 points and made a three-pointer with 2:33 left to help the SuperSonics hold off the Kings in their second straight road victory after a franchise-record 15-game slide away from home.

Kevin Martin scored 24 points for the Kings, who had a five-game winning streak ended.