Pacers roll over Cavaliers to open series
George, Thunder hold off Jazz Harden scores 44 as Rockets top T'Wolves Celtics edge Bucks in OT
Victor Oladipo scored 32 points, hitting 6-of-9 attempts from three-point range, to power the Indiana Pacers to a 98-80 victory over the host Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in Game 1 of an opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
Oladipo, who sank 11-of-19 shots overall, also contributed six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Myles Turner scored 16 points, and Bojan Bogdanovic had 15 points for Indiana.
The Pacers, who dominated most of the game, shot 45.6 percent while holding the Cavaliers to 38.5 percent.
LeBron James contributed a triple-double for the Cavaliers with 24 points on 7-of17 shooting, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. J.R. Smith scored 15 points off the bench, and Kevin Love had nine points and teamhigh 17 rebounds for Cleveland.
Trailing 69-50 in the third quarter, Cleveland used a 13-1 run, capped by Love’s deep three-pointer, to trim the deficit to 70-63. The Pacers, who led by as many as 23 in the quarter, had to settle for a 73-65 advantage after three quarters.
After the Cavaliers closed the margin to 76-69 with a driving layup by James, the Pacers answered with a 12-2 run, including three-pointers by Oladipo and Bogdanovic, to take 88-71 lead with 7:28 to go in the fourth quarter.
James-led teams had won 21 consecutive first-round games with the Miami Heat and Cavaliers. The Cavaliers swept the Pacers in last year’s first round.
The teams will play Game 2 on Wednesday night in Cleveland.
Thunder 116, Jazz 108
Paul George drained a franchise playoff-record eight three-pointers while scoring 36 points to lead Oklahoma City to a victory over visiting Utah in the opening game of their Western Conference firstround playoff series.
George was 13-of-20 from the field, and he missed only three of his 11 three-point attempts, but was getting his hip and lower back worked on while watching the final 62 seconds as the Jazz staged a frantic rally. Russell Westbrook contributed 29 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Thunder, and Carmelo Anthony added 15 points.
Rookie Donovan Mitchell had 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz despite being hobbled in the final quarter by a sore left foot. Utah’s Rudy Gobert scored 14 points.
Utah trimmed an 18-point deficit with 3:20 left down to six behind torrid play from Alec Burks.
The Thunder were 14-of-29 (48%) from three-point range and shot 48.2 percent overall while making 20-of-23 free-throw attempts. Utah shot 47.1 percent from the field, including 11-of-28 (39%) from long distance, and hit 15-of-20 foul shots.
Utah was within three early in the third quarter before George connected on backto-back threes to give the Thunder a 62-53 lead with 8:53 remaining.
George knocked down another triple to give Oklahoma City a 79-66 lead with 1:48 remaining in the third.
The Jazz answered with six in a row before George drained a buzzer-beating 21-footer to give the Thunder an 81-72 advantage entering the final quarter.
The Thunder’s lead looked secure after Adams scored two inside hoops and Anthony buried a three-pointer during a 7-0 push that increased the advantage to 109-91 with 3:20 left.
However, the Jazz crept within eight on a three by Burks with 1:02 left. Another three-pointer by Burks moved Utah within 114-108 with 40.8 seconds remaining before Oklahoma City closed it out.
Rockets 104, Timberwolves 101
James Harden delivered a virtuoso performance, aided significantly by a Clint Capela double-double, and Houston Rockets survived Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series, earning a tight victory over visiting Minnesota.
Harden finished with 44 points and eight assists, carrying the Rockets to a 1-0 series lead. Capela chipped in 24 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.
Houston overcame its own ineffective perimeter shooting (10-of-37 – 27% – from three-point range) and a game effort from the Timberwolves, who had five players score in double figures, paced by Andrew Wiggins with 18 points.
Minnesota, dominated by the Rockets during the four-game season series, led 86-85 on two free throws from Jamal Crawford (15 points) with 6:49 remaining. Harden followed with a driving bank shot off the glass, a layup and a pair of three-pointers to push the Rockets to a 97-88 lead.
Harden finished 15-of-26 from the floor, 7-of-12 from behind the arc, to counter poor shooting from the trio of Chris Paul, Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza, who were a combined 9-of-30. Paul was uncharacteristically erratic, posting six turnovers while scoring 14 points.
Jeff Teague flirted with a triple-double (15 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) while Derrick Rose added 16 points off the bench for Minnesota. The Timberwolves got eight points and 12 rebounds from Karl-Anthony Towns.
Celtics 113, Bucks 107 (OT)
Al Horford had a double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds, and host Boston edged Milwaukee in overtime in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals series.
Terry Rozier finished with 23 points, Marcus Morris had 21, Jaylen Brown scored 20 and Jayson Tatum added 19 to become the first Celtics rookie since Brian Shaw in 1989 to score 15 or more in his playoff debut. Tatum also pulled down 10 rebounds.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a gamehigh 35 points and 13 rebounds and Khris Middleton scored 31 for Milwaukee, which hasn’t advanced past the first round in seven straight postseason appearances dating back to 2003.
Antetokounmpo and Middleton were the first pair of Bucks teammates to score 30 apiece in a playoff game since Bob Dandridge and Brian Winters did so in 1976.
Malcolm Brogdon hit a three-pointer for the Bucks to tie the game at 96 with 10.3 seconds to go in regulation before Rozier’s go-ahead trey with 0.5 seconds on the clock.
Middleton hit a desperation three-pointer from near mid-court as time expired to send it to overtime. (Reuters)