After record-setting road trip, the Boston Celtics head home to face red-hot Miami Heat

BOSTON – The Boston Celtics are one of the few National Basketball Association (NBA) teams with a better record on the road than at home this season, but they have a chance to narrow that gap on April 2 (April 3, Singapore time) when they host the red-hot Miami Heat.

Boston (56-19) are coming off a 6-0 road trip that raised the team’s road record to 32-7.

It marked the longest road trip without a loss in franchise history, topping a 5-0 trip by the Celtics in February 1973.

Boston won all six games by double digits, with an average victory margin of 17.8 points.

“It’s special any time you make history in this league,” Jayson Tatum said, following Boston’s 117-103 victory on March 31 against the Memphis Grizzlies. “You have to enjoy that. Six games; 12 or 13 days away from home.

“Just a mindset of what we did last year,” he added. “We won a championship and the idea that regardless of your record or your seed, you have to win some games on the road in the play-offs if you want to be a champion. Kind of establish that mindset throughout the regular season.”

Boston will enter the April 2 matchup on a nine-game winning streak, with victories in 14 of their last 15 games.

“I just think we’ve been very focused,” said veteran centre Al Horford. “I feel like even last year, we were good and especially in the play-offs, we did a really good job on the road, controlling the tempo, being able to play a certain way. It’s pretty special the way that we’re playing and some of the things we’re doing here.”

Miami (34-41) have regrouped since losing 10 straight in March and will attempt to extend a five-game winning streak.

The Heat beat Washington 120-94 on March 31 without Andrew Wiggins (hamstring), Duncan Robinson (back), Kevin Love (personal reasons) and Davion Mitchell, who was a late scratch because of a stomach illness.

Wiggins, Robinson and Love will all sit out on April 2.

Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo have each led the team in scoring twice in the last four games. Herro has scored 29, 20, 36, 30 and 27 points in his last five outings.

“The team is gaining a lot of confidence,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said after the March 31 win. “We have a lot of guys out right now.

“We’re thinking about everybody who’s (home) in Miami, then Davion gets sick and everybody’s just ready. It’s really a collective energy pouring life into each other following Tyler and Bam, and other guys are contributing.”

Miami have won their last five games by an average of 20.4 points, but the Heat are 0-3 against Boston this season. The Celtics won 108-89 the only time the teams met in Boston.

“I think we’ve been doing all the karma things, as (Spoelstra) likes to say, that are putting us in a good position,” said Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr, who contributed 14 points in 24 minutes off the bench on March 31.

“Taking each game seriously. This is all to prepare for a game like we have Wednesday against Boston.

“That good karma should be paying off, and I know everyone is going there confident and in good spirits. I think that’s more important than anything. We’re looking forward to it.”

In NBA action on April 1, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 37 points and dished 11 assists to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 133-123 victory over the visiting Phoenix Suns and former coach Mike Budenholzer.

Ryan Rollins added a career-high 23 points as Milwaukee (41-34) snapped a four-game losing streak. Devin Booker amassed 39 points and 11 assists for Phoenix (35-41), who lost their fourth game in a row.

In Denver, Nickeil Alexander-Walker hit two free throws with 0.1 of a second left in double overtime, and the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves overcame a 61-point triple-double from Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 140-139.

Jokic never sat after half-time en route to the first game with at least 60 points in his career. His 61 topped De’Aaron Fox’s 60 for the most in a game this season. Jokic also had 10 rebounds, 10 assists and two steals.

Also racking up the points was Stephen Curry, who scored 52 with Draymond Green adding a triple-double as the Golden State Warriors clinched a crucial 134-125 victory over Memphis.

Curry, the NBA’s all-time leader in three-point shooting, once again demonstrated his long-range prowess, draining 12 of 20 attempts from outside the arc at FedExForum.

Meanwhile, the NBA suspended five players involved in the brawl between the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota in Minneapolis on March 30 with a ruling delivered on April 2.

Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart received a two-game suspension without pay, based on “his repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts”, read the media statement from NBA head of basketball operations Joe Dumars.

Four others involved in the incident were each suspended one game without pay: forward Ron Holland II and guard Marcus Sasser of the Pistons, and forward Naz Reid and guard Donte DiVincenzo of the Timberwolves. REUTERS