LeBron’s buzzer-beating three sinks Pacers
Rockets close out T'Wolves • Westbrook leads Thunder season - saving rally • Raptors go up 3-2 on Wiz
LeBron James sank a three-pointer at the buzzer on Wednesday night, lifting the host Cleveland Cavaliers to 98-95 victory and a 3-2 first-round series lead over the Indiana Pacers.
James scored 44 points, hitting 14-of24 field-goal attempts and all 15 free throws. He contributed 10 rebounds, eight assists and a huge blocked shot on the Pacers’ final possession just before his game-winner.
“As a kid, you always have those ‘three-two-one’ moments and being able to have one of those moments, that’s what it kind of felt like,” James said. “Felt like I was a kid all over again. Just playing basketball at my house, makeshift hoops and my socks as a basketball. Making the swish noise.”
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said of the winning shot, “As soon as it left his hand, it looked perfect. On target and it looked good. Another big shot he made for us. So we needed that.”
Kyle Korver hit 5-of-9 three-point attempts en route to 19 points for the Cavaliers, who shot 41.3 percent from the floor. Kevin Love contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavs.
Cleveland would advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a win in Game 6 at Indianapolis on Friday night.
Domantas Sabonis led the Pacers with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting. The offensive struggles of Indiana’s leading regular-season scorer, Victor Oladipo, continued as he put up 12 points on 2-of-15 shooting. Oladipo is 12-of-50 from the field in the past three games.
Thaddeus Young scored 16 on 8-of-9 shooting for the Pacers. Lance Stephenson had 12 points off the bench for Indiana, which shot 47.9 percent from the floor. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 11 points, and Oladipo pulled down 12 rebounds.
The Cavaliers hit their first 21 free throws before finally missing late in the third quarter. Cleveland finished 26-of-27 from the foul line. Indiana was 21-of-27 from the foul line.
Cleveland outscored Indiana 32-17 in the third quarter to turn a seven-point halftime deficit into an 81-73 lead. The Pacers were 5-of-16 from the field while committing seven turnovers in the third.
The Pacers used a 6-0 run to tie it at 95-all with 14-foot jumper by Sabonis with 33.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. James then turned the ball over with 26.3 seconds left, but James blocked Oladipo’s shot at the rim with three seconds left.
Despite Oladipo’s 2-for-9 shooting performance, the Pacers hit 21 of 38 shots (55.3 percent) to lead 56-49 at halftime.
Cleveland played without George Hill (back spasms) for the second consecutive game, but the presence of James was too much for Indiana to overcome.
“He really did impose his will throughout the game,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. “We weren’t doing a good job of holding our ground against him.”
Rockets 122, Timberwolves 104
James Harden and Clint Capela recorded double-doubles, and Houston used another third-quarter blitz to top visiting Minnesota and complete a 4-1 victory in a Western Conference firstround playoff series.
Harden scored 15 of his 24 points in the third quarter and added 12 assists on the night. Capela capped a strong series with 26 points and 15 rebounds. All five Houston starters scored in double figures while Eric Gordon chipped in 19 points off the bench.
Harden said of dominating the third quarter for a second consecutive game: “Just being a little bit more aggressive with my shot. In the first half tonight I wasn’t really aggressive. I missed a couple layups, but I knew that Minnesota wasn’t just going to go away. We had to make sure that we did the right things in order to put them away.
“Offensively we were aggressive, defensively we were active. They only had 15 points in that third quarter. As much as we talk about our offense, defensively we picked it up and that led to easy transition threes and layups and things like that. Credit our defense.”
The top-seeded Rockets will await the winner of the Utah-Oklahoma City series.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 23 points and 14 rebounds.
Thunder 107, Jazz 99
Russell Westbrook recorded 45 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists, and Oklahoma City recovered from a 25-point, third-quarter deficit to stay alive in its first-round series against visiting Utah.
Paul George added 34 points and eight rebounds as Oklahoma City cut Utah’s lead in the best-of-seven series to 3-2.
Jae Crowder made six three-pointers and had 27 points and eight rebounds for the Jazz. Donovan Mitchell tallied 23 points, Joe Ingles had 16, Rudy Gobert added 11 points and 10 rebounds and Ricky Rubio had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Raptors 108, Wizards 98
DeMar DeRozan put his team on his back, pouring in 32 points for host Toronto against Washington to give the Raptors a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series.
In a close, back-and-forth affair, the Raptors led 79-78 heading into the fourth quarter. Kelly Oubre Jr. converted a three-point play off a dunk that gave the Wizards an 87-82 lead with nine minutes to play.
Toronto answered with eight consecutive points, capped by a dunk from DeRozan, to regain the lead.
Kyle Lowry had 17 points and 10 assists for the Raptors, who got 14 points and 13 rebounds from Jonas Valanciunas.
John Wall paced the Wizards with 26 points, and he added nine rebounds and nine assists.