Rockets are up 2-0 after a jam session
Dwight Howard scored 28 points, James Harden added 24 and the Houston Rockets had 15 dunks in a 11199 victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference playoff series.
Howard and childhood friend Josh Smith dominated early in the fourth quarter to help the Rockets pull away.
The Mavericks scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a three-point lead. But with Harden on the bench, Houston scored the next 11 points, powered by three alley-oop passes from Smith to Howard, to take a 92-84 lead with about eight minutes left.
Smith, who connected with Howard on six alleyoop passes, finished with 15 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
Howard, who missed more than two months late this season with swelling in his right knee, played only 17 minutes in Game 1 because of foul trouble. On Tuesday night he played more than 33 minutes, showing that he might be back to form after an injury-plagued regular season. He had 12 rebounds and two blocks.
Monta Ellis had 24 points for Dallas, but Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler combined for only 21 points and Rajon Rondo, who got into foul trouble early, finished with only four points.
at Cleveland 99, Boston 91: LeBron James scored 30 points, Kyrie Irving added 26 and the Cavaliers finally shook off the Celtics in the fourth quarter to take a 2-0 lead in their opening-round Eastern Conference series.
James scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, moved past Jerry West on the career playoff scoring list and made sure the Cavaliers didn’t slip up at home. He and Irving combined for all of Cleveland’s 24 points in the final period.
“I’ve been in this moment before, and a lot of our guys haven’t,” said James, who had nine rebounds and seven assists. “I thought it was important for me to put a stamp on this game.”
Timofey Mozgov added 16 points, Kevin Love had 13 and Tristan Thompson had 11 rebounds for Cleveland, which has had a tougher time than expected with a young Boston team.
Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points for the Celtics, who scrapped and clawed until the final minutes. Boston’s bench outscored Cleveland’s 51-7, but the Celtics couldn’t stop James and Irving when it mattered most.
“We made those guys earn everything they got,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said, “and that’s a step in the right direction. We were in a three-possession game and we shot 38%.”
Washington 117, at Toronto 106: John Wall had 26 points and 17 assists, Bradley Beal scored 28 points and the Wizards won their second game in a row on the road.
Marcin Gortat scored 16 points and Otto Porter had 15 for the Wizards, who host Game 3 on Friday night.
Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 10 rebounds and sixth man of the year Lou Williams scored 20 points for the Raptors, who have lost four straight playoff games over the last two seasons.
Washington lost 15 of its final 19 regular season road games, but has won seven of eight away from home in the playoffs over the last two years.