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Wednesday May 2, 2018

BOSTON CELTICS’ substitute point guard Terry Rozier scored 29, and fi rst-year forward Jayson Tatum had a career-high 28 points to outplay redshirt rookie Ben Simmons on Monday night and lead Boston to a 117-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

With much of the attention focused on 76ers youngsters Simmons and Joel Embiid, Boston’s youth movement of Tatum and Rozier led the way. Two days after scoring a career playoff-high 26 points in Game 7 against Milwaukee, Rozier

topped it, while also adding eight rebounds and six assists.

“It’s been a dream come true. I want to keep going,” said Rozier, who was wearing a Drew Bledsoe Patriots jersey to milk one more chuckle out of his pseudo-feud with vanquished Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe. “I’m just a guy just living in the moment.”

Embiid scored 31 points with 13 rebounds for Philadelphia, which lost for just the second time in 22 games. Simmons, the likely rookie of the year, scored 18 with seven boards and six assists.

But with six days of rest since eliminating Miami, the 76ers missed 15 of their fi rst 20 shots and hit 5 of 26 from 3-point range to lose for just the second time since March 13.

“We’re NBA players and we have to be ready,” Embiid said. “We weren’t ready tonight.”

Al Horford had 26 points and seven rebounds for Boston. The Celtics are hoping to have guard Jaylen Brown back from a ham-string injury he sustained in the clincher against the Bucks, leav-ing him sidelined.

(SD-Agencies)

CHINESE snooker superstar Ding Junhui cruised into the quarterfi nals of the World Cham-pionship on Monday securing the one frame he required to thrash Anthony McGill 13-4 in their second round clash.

The 31-year-old, the losing fi nalist in 2016, is the new favorite after fi ve-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and defending champion Mark Selby went out.

Ding showed little sign of the favorite’s tag handicapping him as he wasted little time in secur-ing the one frame he needed in Monday’s third and fi nal session against his 27-year-old Scottish opponent.

“I was focused and relaxed and took every chance to make breaks,” said Ding.

“I feel good and I am playing well.”

Ding — bidding to become the fi rst Asian to be crowned cham-pion — will play Englishman Barry Hawkins in the last eight.

Hawkins beat Ding on his way to a surprise appearance in the 2013 world fi nal where he lost to O’Sullivan. The 39-year-old has since shown that was no fl uke by reaching the last four on three occasions.

(SD-Agencies)

NAPOLI’S Italian Serie A title hopes were dealt a severe blow with a 3-0 loss at Fiorentina on Sunday that leaves Juventus with a clear path toward a record-extending seventh straight championship.

Napoli played most of the match with 10 men after Kali-dou Koulibaly was sent off for a last-man foul on Giovanni Simeone, who went on to score a hat trick.

Napoli was left four points behind Juventus with three matches to play — the same gap that existed until the Partenopei beat Juventus a week ago.

Juventus produced two goals in the fi nal four minutes of a 3-2 win at 10-man Inter Milan on Saturday.

However, Juventus will have to overcome an injury to striker Mario Mandzukic, who had 10 stitches applied to a deep cut in his left ankle after getting stepped on by Matias Vecino against Inter.

AC Milan ended a fi ve-match winless streak with a 2-1 victory at Bologna to revive its pursuit of a Europa League spot.

Milan remained one point behind sixth-place Atalanta, which beat Genoa 3-1, in the fi ght for the last Europa League spot. Lazio won 1-0 at Torino to stay level on points with third-place Roma and on course for a Champions League berth.

Roma and Lazio are both four points ahead of Inter.

(SD-Agencies)

BARCELONA is celebrating yet another Spanish league title to cap a nearly perfect season.

Unbeaten Barcelona added to its domestic dominance by win-ning La Liga for the third time in the last four seasons Sunday, remaining unbeaten after 34 rounds. Lionel Messi scored a hat trick and Philippe Coutinho added a goal to give Barcelona a 4-2 win at Deportivo La Coruna and an insurmountable 11-point lead over Atletico Madrid.

“We know how diffi cult it is to win this league,” Messi said. “We were better than our rivals. There is a lot of merit to winning this title without any losses.”

Barcelona has won 26 league games and drawn eight, with four matches left.

It was Barcelona’s seventh league title in 10 seasons and 25th overall. Real Madrid, last year’s champion, leads with 33 La Liga trophies.

Barcelona has also thrived in the Copa del Rey, the country’s second-most important club competition, winning it for the last four seasons.

“The hardest thing is to keep winning,” said coach Ernesto Val-verde, who is celebrating his fi rst league title in his debut season with Barcelona. “You have to fi nd a way to keep coming back.”

Barcelona’s next goal is to try to fi nish the league unbeaten, something that has never hap-pened in the competition’s cur-rent format.

“It’s been an almost perfect season for us in the league,” midfi elder Sergio Busquets said.

Barcelona’s biggest setback this season came in the Champions League, when it was eliminated by Roma in the quarterfi nals

Barcelona wins 25th league title

after squandering a three-goal advantage from the fi rst leg.

Andres Iniesta, who last week announced he won’t return for a 17th season with the club, started from the bench but entered the match close to the end to applause from most of the crowd at Riazor Stadium.

Iniesta and Messi each have won nine Spanish league titles.

Sunday’s result relegated Clar-ence Seedorf’s Deportivo.

The hosts paid tribute to Bar-celona even before the match started with its squad lining up outside the tunnel and applaud-ing their rivals as they entered the fi eld. Most of the opposing fans at Riazor also applauded Barcelona’s players.

Coutinho opened the scoring

in the seventh minute with a well-placed shot into the top corner after a pass by Ousmane Dembele, and Messi added to the lead in the 38th with a strike from near the far post after a perfect cross by Luiz Suarez.

Deportivo pulled one closer with a goal by Lucas Perez in the 40th and equalized with Emre Colak’s shot from inside the area in the 64th.

Messi put Barcelona ahead in the 82nd from close range after exchanging passes with Suarez inside the area, then sealed the victory in a breakaway in the 85th.

Messi has 32 league goals, leaving him with eight more than Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for top scorer.

It has been yet another disap-pointing coaching stint for Seed-orf, the former Dutch midfi elder who earned only two victories in 13 matches since arriving to try to save Deportivo from relega-tion. The team has lost six times and drawn fi ve under his com-mand, returning to the second division for the fi rst time since 2013-14.

On Monday, Real Betis defeated last-place Malaga 2-1 to keep alive its hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

Betis’ seventh win in eight matches left the team eight points behind third-place Valen-cia with three matches left. The result secured Betis a place in the Europa League for the fi rst time in four years. (SD-Agencies)

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) goes to the basket against Philadelphia 76ers forward Dario Saric (9) during their game at TD Garden in Boston on Monday. SD-Agencies

Fiorentina’s Giovanni Simeone cel-ebrates his hat trick after the match against Napoli in Florence, Italy, on Sunday. SD-Agencies

Fiorentina stifles Napoli title chances

Gerard Pique waves as he and teammates celebrate with the La Liga trophy during a parade in Barcelona on Monday. SD-Agencies

Masterful Ding seals quarterfi nal spot

Ding Junhui

Rozier, Tatum help Celtics beat 76ers