The Suns avoid play in

Bradley Beal scored 36 points, made all six of his three-point shots and the Phoenix Suns beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 125-106 to avoid the Play In tournament, so both teams will meet once more in the first round of the playoffs. the NBA.

Devin Booker added 23 points and Grayson Allen had 20 for the Suns (49-33). They built a 22-point lead at the end of the first quarter and never let the lead shrink to single digits following that.

Phoenix finished the regular season on a 10-4 run in sixth place following the loss to New Orleans. After a three-way tie for the lead in the Western Conference with Denver and Oklahoma City, Minnesota took third place following the victories of the Nuggets and the Thunder.

The “Wolves” will be home in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series next weekend. They lost all three games to the Suns this season.

Rudy Gobert had 21 points and seven rebounds and Mike Conley scored 17 for the Wolves, who matched their season-high 24 turnovers and allowed 13 offensive rebounds to the Suns.

The Timberwolves (56-26) finished with the second-best record in their 35-year history.

DE’AARON FOX scored 24 points and the Sacramento Kings made sure they played at least one more game at home by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 121-82.

Sacramento heads to participate in the play-in tournament on Tuesday night, hosting the Golden State Warriors, in the duel between ninth and tenth in the Western Conference. The New Orleans Pelicans will face the Los Angeles Lakers, in the game between seven once morest eight.

After breaking a 16-year playoff drought last season, an NBA record, the “Kings” were in good position to finish in the top six and return to the postseason this year before losing five of six games before the end of the season. They now must get through the Play In tournament without injured key players Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter.

JALEN BRUNSON wrapped up one of his best regular seasons in franchise history with his 11th 40-point game and led the New York Knicks to second place in the Eastern Conference with a 120-119 overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls.

The Knicks finished 50-32, their best season record since going 54-28 as the second seed in 2012-13. They beat Milwaukee following the Bucks lost to Orlando and now await the winner of the mini-tournament series between Philadelphia and Miami on Wednesday to meet their next opponent.

THOMAS BRYANT scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Mexican Jaime Jáquez Jr. added 18 points and the Miami Heat gets ready for a trip to the mini-tournament following beating the Toronto Raptors 118-103 without problems.

Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro each scored 17 points for Miami, while Jimmy Butler added 15, Caleb Martin 12, and Delon Wright added 11 for the Heat.

Wright also had five steals for Miami, which finished 46-36 — good for eighth place in the East. The Heat will travel to Philadelphia to begin the mini-tournament on Wednesday, with the winner securing the seventh seed.

PAYTON PRITCHARD scored a career-high 38 points and the NBA-leading Boston Celtics rested their entire starting squad in a 132-122 victory over the Washington Wizards.

Svi Mykhailiuk added 26 points and Sam Hauser had 16 for Boston, which left out Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday, as well as backup Al Horford.

SHAI GILGEOUS Alexander scored 15 points in a busy half and the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled past the Dallas Mavericks 135-86 to secure first place in the Western Conference playoffs.

Oklahoma City finished with the same 57-25 record as the Denver Nuggets, but they have the tiebreaker in their favor. The Thunder had not finished as the best team in their conference since the 2012-13 season.

NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic and teammate Kyrie Irving were among the four starters the Mavericks rested.