Celtics, 76ers to meet in Eastern semifinals

Call him old.

Call him dirty.

It just fires up Kevin Garnett even more - and that didn't work out very well for the Atlanta Hawks in their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.

Upset by comments from a Hawks owner calling him "the dirtiest guy in the league," Garnett responded with 28 points and 14 rebounds to give the Celtics an 83-80 victory in Game 6 on Thursday night that eliminated visiting Atlanta.

"Thank you to their owner for giving me some extra gas tonight," Garnett said. "My only advice to him is next time he opens his mouth to know what he's talking about with X's and O's vs. checkbooks and bottom lines."

The Celtics will open the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday in Boston against the Philadelphia 76ers.

"At least we don't have to travel," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who had hoped to be playing a day or two later. “I’d rather be going to Game 1 here than Game 7 in Atlanta.”

Garnett topped his regular-season high of 25 points and had five blocks and three steals for Boston. Paul Pierce had 18 points despite playing with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, and Rajon Rondo had 14 points and eight assists.

But Garnett, who turns 36 this month, was the star, defying age and a reputation that led Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. to say within earshot of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “They are old. I know what happens when you play basketball, old guys foul. Garnett is the dirtiest guy in the league.”

Garnett responded on the court, hitting a jumper with 31 seconds left to give Boston the lead for good.

76ers 79, Bulls 78: Andre Iguodala made the go-ahead free throws with 2.2 seconds left and host Philadelphia rallied for a victory over top-seeded Chicago in Game 6, advancing to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time since 2003.

Omar Asik missed two free throws for the Bulls that would have sealed the win. Iguodala grabbed the second miss, sprinted the length of the court, and was fouled by Asik on the driving layup. He made both and 20,362 fans went absolutely wild.

The Sixers are the fifth No. 8 seed to win a first-round series against a No. 1 seed.

The Bulls lost reigning MVP Derrick Rose to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee late in their Game 1 win. Center Joakim Noah missed the last three games with a sprained left ankle.

Nuggets 113, Lakers 96: Ty Lawson scored 32 points, Corey Brewer added 18 and host Denver forced a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series with a win over Los Angeles.

The Nuggets are one win from running the lumbering Lakers right out of the playoffs. Game 7 in the Western Conference series is Saturday night at the Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant scored 31 points in 3½ quarters despite a sour stomach that prevented him from attending the Lakers’ morning shootaround and forced him to take intravenous fluids all day.

Harden named Sixth Man of the Year: Oklahoma City’s James Harden was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year after leading all bench players in scoring this season.

Harden averaged 16.8 points on career-best 49 percent shooting this season.

Lou Williams, who led Philadelphia in scoring despite not starting a single game this season, was second in the balloting.

Harden got 115 of the 119 first-place votes and three of the second-place votes.