Cavaliers:
Guard Isaiah Thomas scored 53 points, nine in overtime, to help the Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards 129-119 on Tuesday night and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.
Fiddling with the mouth guard he began using after losing one of his front teeth in Game 1, Thomas became the fourth player in the history of the NBA’s most-decorated franchise to score 50 or more points in a postseason game. It was also a career best for Thomas in a playoff game.
John Wall had 40 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards.
The series moves to Washington for Games 3 and 4 on Thursday and Sunday.
Rockets 126, Spurs 99:
Trevor Ariza scored 23 points and James Harden added 20 points and 14 rebounds as visiting Houston routed San Antonio in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, the Spurs’ worst loss in a series opener under Gregg Popovich.
The Rockets were 22 for 50 on 3-pointers, the most 3s attempted and made against the Spurs in their postseason history.
Houston had six players in double figures, including 20 points and 13 rebounds from Clint Capela. Game 2 is tonight in San Antonio. LeBron James will save Dahntay Jones some money again. After Jones was assessed two technical fouls and ejected from Monday’s series opener between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, James said he planned to pay the automatic $6,000 fine ($2,000 for each technical, $2,000 for the ejection) that accompanied the penalties.
Last year, after Jones was fined for punching Toronto’s Bismack Biyombo in the groin and was suspended, James paid for his teammate’s misbehavior. Jones signed with Cleveland on the final day of the regular season and is earning only $9,127 in salary — the prorated amount of the minimum contract.
Jones dunked with 18.7 seconds left in Game 1 and then was slapped with the technical for taunting Norman Powell, who earlier had delivered a shot to Kevin Love’s groin.
Blake Griffin underwent surgery to repair an injury to the plantar plate of his right big toe that knocked him out of the playoffs. Griffin was hurt April 21 in Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs against Utah.
Mark Jackson signed a multiyear deal with ESPN to continue calling NBA games. Jackson and partners Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy will work the Finals in June for the eighth time, extending their own record for a TV team.
Clippers: Media: