Suns scorch Mavs in opener; Heat smoke Sixers
Deandre Ayton scored a teamhigh 25 points and the Phoenix Suns dominated the visiting Dallas Mavericks on the boards en route to a 121-114 victory in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series late Monday night.
Devin Booker contributed 23 points to a balanced attack, with nine rebounds and eight assists. Chris Paul had 19 points, Cam Johnson 17, Mikal Bridges 13 and Jae Crowder 11 as the top-seeded Suns held serve in a best-ofseven that continues Wednesday in Phoenix.
Luka Doncic finished with 45 points – one shy of his postseason career-high – for the Mavericks, who were outrebounded 51-36 and lost despite outscoring the host 48-33 on three-pointers.
Coming off a hard-fought win over the New Orleans Pelicans in six games, the Suns wasted no time gaining the upper hand on the fourth-seeded Mavericks, scoring the game’s first nine points. Crowder contributed a three-pointer to cap the run.
Phoenix went on to lead by as many as 15 later in the first quarter, 18 in the third period and 106-85 on a dunk by JaVale McGee with 8:48 remaining before coasting home.
With Ayton hitting 12 of his 20 shots, the Suns outshot the Mavericks 50.5 percent to 47.1 percent. Phoenix led the NBA with a 52.3 percent shooting percentage in the first round, while Dallas allowed just 44.3 percent shooting, third-best in the league, in its opening-round win over the Utah Jazz.
The Suns also helped themselves with 13 offensive rebounds and a perfect (18-for18) at the free throw line, with Booker going 8-for-8.
Ayton picked up right where he left off in the first round, when he had four 20-plus-point games, with a high of 28. He and Crowder each had eight rebounds.
Doncic was the game’s leading rebounder with 12, completing his ninth double-double in 17 playoff games. He missed a fourth career postseason triple-double by two assists.
His 45 points gave him six 40-point playoff games. His postseason career-high of 46 came last year in Game 7 of Dallas’ opening-round loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Maxi Kleber chipped in with 19 points for Dallas, which also lost Game 1 in the Utah series before rallying to take four of the next five. Dorian Finney-Smith added 15 points and Jalen Brunson 13.
Heat 106, 76ers 92
Tyler Herro scored 25 points, Bam Adebayo added 24 points and 12 rebounds and host Miami defeated Philadelphia in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Miami’s Jimmy Butler contributed 15 points and nine rebounds, while P.J. Tucker and Gabe Vincent had 10 points apiece. Kyle Lowry sat out due to a strained left hamstring.
The 76ers played without Most Valuable Player candidate Joel Embiid, who is in the concussion protocol and also is dealing with an orbital fracture and a torn ligament in his right thumb.
Tobias Harris led Philadelphia with 27 points, and Tyrese Maxey added 19. James Harden had 16 points and nine rebounds.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played Wednesday in Miami.
The Heat led by 14 points in the first quarter and by 13 in the second before the 76ers rallied. Consecutive layups from Maxey and Harden gave Philadelphia a 51-50 advantage and that wound up being the score at halftime.
Herro and Adebayo each had 12 first-half points for the Heat, who managed only two points in the final 4:39 of the second period.
Harris paced the Sixers with 14 before the break, and Harden had 12.
After the Sixers went ahead 55-50, the Heat came back with a 20-6 run to take a 70-61 lead midway through the third.
Harris ended the run with a trey from the wing and added a short jumper to close the gap to 70-66.
The Heat led 80-72 at the end of the third and just extended the lead in the final frame to cruise to the series-opening victory. (Reuters)