Westbrook scores 45 points as Thunder thwart Jazz
OKLAHOMA CITY — Russell Westbrook scored 45 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied from 25 points down in the second half to fight off elimination and beat the Utah Jazz 107-99 on Wednesday night.
Westbrook also had 15 rebounds and seven assists. Paul George added 34 points and eight rebounds.
Oklahoma City took advantage after Utah's post players, Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, got into foul trouble. Both finished with five fouls, and Oklahoma City was able to get to the basket consistently for the first time in the series.
Jae Crowder had a career playoff-high 27 points for Utah.
CAVALIERS 98, PACERS 95
The game, the series, the season and perhaps Cleveland’s future were in jeopardy. LeBron James saved everything.
James dropped in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Cleveland a victory over visiting Indiana in Game 5, putting the Cavaliers within a victory of advancing in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Moments after blocking Victor Oladipo’s possible go-ahead layup — a play the Pacers thought was goaltending — James caught the inbounds pass, took two dribbles and hit his winner over Thaddeus Young. As Cleveland’s sellout crowd exploded, James hugged rookie teammate Cedi Osman before jumping on the scorer’s table to celebrate another of those moments that will define his career.
“He does it at both ends every single night,” Cavs forward Kevin Love said. “That’s why he’s the best player in the world.”
James finished with 44 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and went 15 of 15 from the line.
“He really did impose his will throughout the game,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said.
Kyle Korver added 19 points and Cleveland’s defense tightened just in time as the Cavs seized their first lead in the first-round series after being down 1-0 and 2-1.
With his 21st 40-point game in the playoffs, James tied Jerry West for the second-most all-time. Michael Jordan scored at least 40 in 38 postseason games.
Domantas Sabonis scored 22 points, and Young had 16 for the Pacers.
RAPTORS 108, WIZARDS 98
DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points, Kyle Lowry had 17 points and 10 assists, and Toronto beat visiting Washington in Game 5 of their firstround series.
Toronto rebounded after losing games 3 and 4 in Washington to take a 3-2 series lead back to Washington for Game 6 on Friday night.
The only team in the NBA to avoid a threegame losing streak this season, the Raptors went 5-0 following back-toback losses during the regular season, and have not lost three straight since last year’s secondround sweep against Cleveland.
John Wall had 26 points for the Wizards.