Doncic, Mavs even series as Suns cry foul
76ers also even their best-of-seven series, beat Heat at home
DALLAS — Luka Doncic scored 26 points and the Dallas Mavericks took advantage of foul trouble for Chris Paul to beat the Phoenix Suns 111-101 on Sunday, evening the Western Conference semifinal series at 2-2.
The 37-year-old Paul was out of Game 4 early in the fourth quarter, the period when he often dominated the Mavericks during an 11-game winning streak that ended with consecutive home victories for Dallas. Game 5 is Tuesday night in Phoenix.
Dorian Finney-Smith scored a playoff careerhigh 24 points on the most 3-pointers he’s had, regular season or playoffs. He was 8 of 12 from deep, including consecutive 3s for a 14-point lead midway through the fourth.
Dallas matched its 20 3s (20 of 44) from a Mother’s
Day rout of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2011, a win that completed on a fourgame sweep in the second round on the way to the championship. The Mavericks are playing beyond the first round for the first time since then.
Devin Booker scored 35 points for the Suns, who dropped two straight on road with a 2-0 lead just as they did in last year’s NBA Finals. Milwaukee won the last four to take the title. Top-seeded Phoenix lost consecutive games for the first time in the playoffs.
76ERS 116, HEAT 108: In Philadelphia, James Harden scored 31 points, Joel Embiid had 24 points and 11 rebounds and Philadelphia beat Miami in Game 4 to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Heat won the first two games in Miami with Embiid out with a right orbital fracture and mild concussion. The 76ers won Games 3 and 4 at home with Embiid and his mask in the lineup. Game 5 is Tuesday night in Miami.
The Heat pecked away at the lead and got within five until Harden sank his fifth 3-pointer of the game with three minutes left. Harden crushed the Heat on catchand-shoot 3s and hit one clutch shot after another in the fourth.
Jimmy Butler scored 40 points for Miami.
Morant likely out
Memphis guard Ja
Morant is unlikely to play in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against Golden State on Monday night after injuring his right knee on a play with Jordan Poole that the teams are debating from the Grizzlies’ 142-112 loss Saturday night.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said Sunday he doesn’t expect Morant to be available with Memphis trailing the Warriors 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
“As I said last night, just trying to be matter of fact here, and this is what Ja says, what our medical team has said after reviewing the play, Ja was playing great, feeling great all game and that the grab of the knee is what triggered the potential injury and why we took Ja out of the game. Nothing’s changed from there,” Jenkins said. “That’s the play that triggered this and he’s got further evaluation going on. … There’s probably a really good chance he doesn’t play tomorrow.”
Kings hire Brown
The Sacramento Kings have agreed to hire Golden State assistant Mike Brown as their head coach.
A person familiar with the decision confirmed on Sunday that Brown, who is the father of former UNM Lobos guard Elijah Brown, will take over the franchise with the longest playoff drought in NBA history. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t announced the hiring.