Lakers cruise past Blazers
The Los Angeles Lakers jumped out to an apt 24-8 lead on Kobe Bryant Day and dominated the Portland Trail Blazers the rest of the way, taking a 3-1 advantage in their playoff series with a 135-115 victory Monday night in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Lebron James had 30 points and 10 assists in 28 minutes before heading to the bench late in the third quarter. The Lakers led by as many as 38 points for their third straight win in the opening-round series, the team's first playoff appearance since 2013.
The Trail Blazers won the opener but have appeared gassed in the past two games. Damian Lillard, the MVP of the seeding games in the NBA bubble, had 11 points before leaving with a right knee injury in the third. Jusuf Nurkic had 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Anthony Davis added 18 points in 18 minutes for the Lakers before leaving the game midway through the third with back spasms.
The Lakers, the top seed in the Western Conference, can close out the series on Wednesday.
It was considered "Kobe Day" because Monday was 8/24, the two numbers Bryant wore during his 20-year career.
BUCKS 121, MAGIC 106: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, Khris Middleton finally came alive with a huge fourth quarter Milwaukee beat Orlando to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round series.
Middleton scored 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 rebounds after being held to one field goal in the first three quarters on 1-of-9 shooting.
Nikola Vucevic continued his strong play for the Magic, finishing with 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
THUNDER 117, ROCKETS 114: Dennis Schroder scored a career playoff-high 30 points, and Oklahoma City rallied to beat Houston and even the first-round Western Conference playoff series at two wins apiece.
Oklahoma City trailed by 15 points in the third quarter and was down a point heading into the fourth.
Chris Paul scored 26 points and Shai GilgeousAlexander added 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, who won despite allowing 23 three-pointers.
James Harden had 32 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds for Houston.
HEAT 99, PACERS 87: Goran Dragic scored 23 points and fifth-seeded Miami completed a firstround sweep of Indiana.
Tyler Herro had 16 points and Bam Adebayo added 14 points and 19 rebounds for the Heat, who made it out of the first round for the first time since 2016.
Miami's bench outscored Indiana's depleted reserves 38-3.
76ers fire Brown after sweep
The Philadelphia 76ers fired coach Brett Brown on Monday, a day after his seventh season ended in a first-round postseason sweep.
The 76ers were 43-30 this season and had woefully underachieved in a year when they were expected to be serious contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Instead, they weren't close, and the move was expected after the sixth-seeded Sixers were swept by the Boston Celtics.
Brown finished 221-344, though his record was never going to be pretty because the Sixers weren't trying to win when he was hired.