BOSTON (AP) — Expectations are nothing new for the Boston Celtics.

Not living up to them despite having such a stacked roster the past two seasons was a little tougher to digest.

BOSTON (AP) — Change is everywhere for the Boston Celtics this season. And it's noticeable in many ways, big and small.

Point guard Kyrie Irving is gone and has been replaced by another...

SHANGHAI (AP) — The U.S. finally got to enjoy an easy night at the World Cup.

There might not be many more of those.

Jaylen Brown scored 20 points, Kemba Walker added 15 and the U.S....

Red, white and blue. The colors of USA Basketball.

Except this summer, green — Celtics green, to be precise — would work on that palette as well.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — USA Basketball's national team roster under consideration for the FIBA World Cup lost another name Saturday when New York's Julius Randle pulled out, citing a family...

Boston Celtics (49-33, fourth in the Eastern Conference during the regular season) vs. Indiana Pacers (48-34, fifth in the Eastern Conference during the regular season)

Indiana Pacers (48-34, fifth in the Eastern Conference during the regular season) vs. Boston Celtics (49-33, fourth in the Eastern Conference during the regular season)

Miami Heat (38-38, eighth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Boston Celtics (45-32, fourth in the Eastern Conference)

Boston Celtics (43-31, fifth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (19-55, 14th in the Eastern Conference)

BOSTON (AP) — What looked like an easy day for the Boston Celtics turned into a fight to the finish.

It's something they've got to clean up heading into the postseason.

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics are running out of time to work out their kinks with the postseason a month away.

For the second time in just over a week, they needed some late-game heroics...

BOSTON (AP) — Some late defense helped the Boston Celtics snap a four-game losing streak.

Kyrie Irving had 13 points and 12 assists, Al Horford scored 18 points and the Celtics shut down the...

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics haven't played as well as they've expected at times this season.

They're hoping the games they've put together over the last six weeks are a sign of better things to come after the All-Star break.

Jayson Tatum scored 19 points and Gordon Hayward finished with 18 to help the Celtics hold off the Detroit Pistons 118-110 on Wednesday night.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Gordon Hayward finally got some closure at Quicken Loans Arena.

He walked off the floor.

Making his first visit to Cleveland since suffering a horrific broken left ankle in his debut for Boston in 2017, Hayward scored 18 points as the Celtics beat the Cavaliers 103-96 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight victory despite missing All-Star guard Kyrie Irving.

BOSTON (AP) — With Kyrie Irving again stuck to the sideline, Terry Rozier and his Celtics teammates enjoyed another run as the featured act.

The talented young cast stole the show again.

Rozier had 17 points and 10 assists, Jaylen Brown added 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Jayson Tatum scored 20 points to help Boston roll over the Charlotte Hornets 126-94 on Wednesday night despite Irving's absence.

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics blocked out an emotional loss to the Golden State Warriors over the weekend.

They swatted away a franchise record-tying number of shots, too.

Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart each scored 21 points, and the Celtics beat Brooklyn 112-104 on Monday night to snap the injury-riddled Nets' six-game winning streak.

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics had a little tuneup before their big mid-winter test.

Terry Rozier scored 22 of his 26 points in the first half and the Celtics coasted to their fifth straight victory with a 123-103 win over the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

Now, they look ahead to a showdown with defending champion Golden State at TD Garden on Saturday night.

ATLANTA (AP) — Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics found a way.

Not bad for the second part of back-to-back games.

Irving scored 32 points and the Celtics rallied to beat the Atlanta Hawks 113-105 on Saturday for their third straight win.

After trailing for most of the night, Boston took the lead with a 9-0 fourth-quarter run, including a go-ahead 3-pointer by Jaylen Brown, who had 14 points.

BOSTON (AP) — Gordon Hayward followed up his top scoring game of the season with his best overall performance since coming to the Boston Celtics.

Gordon Hayward had 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for the short-handed Celtics in a 114-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Al Horford will miss at least another few games for the Boston Celtics because of an injured left knee.

The Celtics were also without Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward for their game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night because of illness.

That absent trio ranks Nos. 4-6 in scoring for Boston this season.

The game against Washington was Horford's third in a row on the sideline. He said the pain in his knee has not been getting better.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Boston Celtics turned in a record-setting performance in their steady climb in the Eastern Conference.

Jaylen Brown scored 23 points off the bench, Daniel Theis added a career-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the Celtics routed the Chicago Bulls 133-77 on Saturday night for their fifth straight win.

BOSTON (AP) — The Celtics returned from a dreadful road trip with a resounding rout.

Kyrie Irving had 17 points and seven assists and Jaylen Brown scored 18 as Boston beat the Chicago Bulls 111-82 on Wednesday night.

"One of the toughest things to do in this league is to come off a road trip, good or bad, and play well in front of the home fans," Irving said. "For us it was a conscious effort to be more aggressive and kind of play the game out as it came."

PHOENIX (AP) — When their shots finally started to fall, the Boston Celtics couldn't be stopped.

Kyrie Irving scored 18 of his season-high 39 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Boston rallied from a 22-point deficit for a 116-109 win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.

Irving scored Boston's first six points in the extra period, and Marcus Morris finished with 17 against his former team — including the tying 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left in regulation off a feed from Irving.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Victor Oladipo heard the final buzzer and pranced to the sideline, pointing both index fingers to the floor, and mouthing, "My city."

Oladipo's 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds remaining Saturday night gave Indiana a 102-101 comeback victory over the Boston Celtics and was yet another example of his increasingly routine heroics at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The All-Star guard, who was battling bronchitis, finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds and said he envisions his heroics.

BOSTON (AP) — After averaging 14 points through the first six games, Kyrie Irving knew he was due to start hitting some shots.

Irving broke through Tuesday night with a season-high 31 points and led a third-quarter surge that put Boston in command of a 108-105 win over Detroit, handing the Pistons back-to-back losses after a 4-0 start.

DETROIT (AP) — With Jaylen Brown struggling offensive so far this season, Brad Stevens still asked him if he wanted a shot at defending one of the NBA's hottest players.

Not only did Brown slow down the much bigger Blake Griffin, his offense also perked up in the process.

Brown scored 19 points and Marcus Morris added 18 for the Boston Celtics in a 109-89 victory on Saturday night over the Detroit Pistons, who lost their first game of the season.

DETROIT (AP) — With Jaylen Brown struggling offensive so far this season, Brad Stevens still asked him if he wanted a shot at defending one of the NBA's hottest players.

Not only did Brown slow down the much bigger Blake Griffin, his offense also perked up in the process.

Brown scored 19 points and Marcus Morris added 18 for the Boston Celtics in a 109-89 victory on Saturday night over the Detroit Pistons, who lost their first game of the season.

BOSTON (AP) — The band is back together in Boston.

Or, at least, it's healthy again.

Hopes were high for the Celtics going into last season thanks to a revamped roster that included All-Star additions Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.

Everything changed five minutes into the season with Hayward's gruesome leg injury. Expectations changed again late in the season when Irving was also lost for the year following a pair of knee surgeries.

WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) — Danny Ainge tore apart the team that made the Eastern Conference finals last year, and then put together a new roster that came one victory from playing for an NBA title.

This summer may present him with an even bigger challenge: standing pat.

BOSTON (AP) — Boston's Marcus Morris and Cleveland's Larry Nance Jr. had to be pulled apart in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday night after a hard defensive play by Morris sent Nance to the floor.

Morris and Nance both went up for a pass, and the Cavaliers forward wound up crashing into the first row of seats. Morris appeared to wander over and say something, prompting Nance to jump up and body check him; Morris responded with a one-handed shove to the face.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Celtics were loose, smiling and laughing. They weren't straining to hear each other speak and there were no obnoxious Cleveland fans heckling them.

All was quiet as Boston worked out Sunday.

Practice isn't an issue on the road in the postseason. Playing games is the problem.

Less than 24 hours after a 30-point bludgeoning at the hands of LeBron James and the Cavaliers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics did some film study and critical evaluation.

CLEVELAND (AP) — J.R. Smith reached out, placed his hands on Al Horford's back and shoved Boston's big man out of bounds.

It was the only time Smith was on target.

Smith's shoddy performance in Game 2 — he missed all seven shots and committed a flagrant 1 foul in 27 forgettable minutes — underscored a startling disparity between Cleveland's and Boston's starting backcourts that allowed the fearless Celtics to withstand a brilliant, 42-point effort by LeBron James and take a 2-0 series lead.

BOSTON (AP) — The Celtics punched the Cavaliers first and never looked back in rolling to a Game 1 rout.

LeBron James took a literal shot to the jaw in Game 2 but kept right on scoring.

So did the Celtics.

Jaylen Brown scored 23 points and Boston withstood a 42-point night by James to beat Cleveland 107-94 on Tuesday and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

BOSTON (AP) — The assignment for Boston Celtics forward Marcus Morris in his first start this postseason was easy to explain but nearly impossible to execute.

His job: Guard LeBron James, and keep the four-time NBA MVP from running the Celtics out of their own gym in the Eastern Conference finals for the second year in a row.

"He's obviously the best player in the game," said Morris, who during the week boasted that he was up to the challenge and on Sunday explained why he wanted it.

BOSTON (AP) — With 2.4 seconds left and the Boston Celtics leading by one, Marcus Smart had a chance to all but clinch Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals and eliminate Philadelphia by making a pair of free throws.

He missed the first.

He could have made things more difficult for the 76ers by missing the second one on purpose, and forcing them to go the length of the court with the clock running. He chucked it against the rim; it went in.

Injuries are having a major impact on the NBA playoffs.

A tweak, turn or strain to this or that has sidelined or limited players from All-Stars to reserves — and that has influenced the early outcomes of Round 2.

After Jaylen Brown strained his right hamstring in Boston's Game 7 win over Milwaukee, he all but begged the Celtics doctors and trainers to let him suit up for the start of their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with Philadelphia.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo chased down the Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown from behind and swatted what would have been a momentum-swinging layup against the backboard with 53 seconds left in a tight game.

An official first ruled goaltending. A replay review overturned the call into a blocked shot.

The Milwaukee Bucks held on for a 106-102 win on Tuesday night, getting a confidence boost against a short-handed opponent they could face in the first round of the playoffs.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Jaylen Brown's 3-pointer gave the short-handed Boston Celtics more than just a perfect road trip.

It gave him some much-needed rest.

Brown's basket with 0.3 seconds left gave the Celtics a 97-94 victory Wednesday night over the Utah Jazz.

"I was just hoping it went in there, man," Brown said. "I had nothing left for OT, so I'm just happy to win."

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns scored a franchise-record 56 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for his league-leading 63rd double-double, leading the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 126-114 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.

Towns was 6 of 8 from 3-point range for Minnesota, which recovered after a disappointing loss Monday to Memphis.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Terry Rozier had no idea he was so close to claiming a spot in the Boston Celtics' record books for 3-pointers when he tossed up a hurried shot beyond the arc with the shot clock winding down in the fourth quarter and watched it bounce off the rim.

"If I knew that I would have shot five more for sure," Rozier said.