Davis steers Lakers to win over Blazers to even series

Anthony Davis scored 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers played to their credentials as the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs, earning a 111-88 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 2 of their first-round series.

LeBron James added a modest 10 points with six rebounds and seven assists in 27 minutes as the Lakers rebounded from a 100-93 defeat to the eighth-seeded Blazers in Game 1. It was his lowest point total in a playoff game since he had seven points for the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

The Lakers earned their first victory in the playoffs since Game 3 of the 2012 Western Conference semi-finals against the Oklahoma

City Thunder.

Blazers guard Damian Lillard was held to 18 points while CJ McCollum added 13. Portland was limited to 40 per cent shooting from the field and 27.6 per cent (8 of 29) from three-point range.

Milwaukee Bucks 111 Orlando Magic 96: Top-seeded Milwaukee held eighth-seeded Orlando to three first-quarter field goals en route to a double-digit lead, then rode Giannis

Antetokounmpo’s 28 points and game-high 20 rebounds to even their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series at one game apiece on Thursday.

Nikola Vucevic went for a gamehigh 32 points, but no other member of the Magic topped 12 as Milwaukee avenged a poor defensive effort in a 122-110 loss in Game 1 on Tuesday.

Miami Heat 109 Indiana Pacers 100: Duncan Robinson tied a franchise postseason record with seven three-pointers in just his second career playoff game, helping Miami take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series against Indiana.

Robinson finished with a gamehigh 24 points, Goran Dragic added 20 and Jimmy Butler had 18 in a balanced attack that allowed the fifth-seeded Heat to successfully follow up on their 113-101 triumph in the series opener. The Heat never trailed in the second half.

Houston Rockets 111 Oklahoma City Thunder 98: James Harden had 21 points and nine assists to power Houston past Oklahoma City for a 2-0 series lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Houston, who hit 19 three-pointers and had seven players in double figure, scored 17 straight points in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to win again without Russell Westbrook.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 31 points. Chris Paul shot just 6 of 15 from the floor and scored 14 points.