Xavier Tillman hits a big game-winner for the Celtics versus Kings.
The Boston Celtics may have secured home-court advantage, but they still have a significant impact on playoff seeding. Xavier Tillman hit a floater with seven seconds left to condemn the Sacramento Kings to their second straight loss, 101-100, on Friday.
Sacramento appeared to have the game in hand when Keegan Murray stopped Sam Hauser’s attempt with a one-point advantage late. But Hauser swatted the ball away from Murray, and Tillman took advantage of the defensive pandemonium to score.
The Celtics have a 14-game advantage over their nearest Eastern Conference challenger, but the Western Conference is much closer. The Kings fell to 44-33, just three games below last season’s pace. They finished third last year and are now in seventh place this year. The Kings now have the same record as the Los Angeles Lakers with five games remaining. That’s a significant difference between playing a 7-8 game with two opportunities to advance to the playoffs and facing two single-elimination games to secure the eighth seed.
In a game in which the Celtics were without Derrick White and Jaylen Brown, the Kings may have felt they had won when De’Aaron Fox banked in a go-ahead three. But Tillman’s heroics saved them from winning — and may doom them to a brief postseason appearance.