Cavs sweep Pacers
Los Angeles, April 24: LeBron James scored 33 points and made key plays late on Sunday to give the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers a 106-102 victory at Indiana and a sweep of their playoff series.
The Cavaliers defeated the Pacers 4-0 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round matchup and will next face the winner between the Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks.
In the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets got a huge boost from their bench to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder 113-109 and seize a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Over in the Eastern Conference, Isaiah Thomas is playing with a heavy heart due to the recent death of his sister but he still managed to score 33 points as the Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 104-95.
James sank a 3-pointer to give Cleveland a 103102 edge, made a steal, then missed another 3point shot, but Kyrie Irving grabbed the rebound and Kyle Korver was fouled, hitting two free throws to stretch the Cavaliers lead to 105-102.
In the dying seconds, Indiana’s Paul George missed a 3-pointer and James grabbed the rebound. Fouled with one second remaining, he sank a free throw to create the final margin.
At Oklahoma City, Eric Gordon and Lou Williams scored 18 points each and Nene delivered a team-high 28 as the Rockets now have a chance to close out the series on Tuesday at home.
Houston won despite an off night from superstar James Harden, who missed seven threepoint attempts in a row and shot only 5-of-16 overall from the floor.
It is a different story for the Thunder. They appear to be unable to score if Russell Westbrook sits on the bench or hits a dry scoring patch.
In Chicago, Thomas led the charge as Boston levelled their series with a Bulls at 2-2. The Celtics have now won two games in a row after falling behind in the series with back-to-back home losses.
In Salt Lake City, Rudy Gobert returned from injury to deliver 15 points and 13 rebounds as the Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Clippers 105-98.