Pacers oust Wizards, get rematch with Heat in East
Pacers 93, Wizards 80: David West scored 29 points and visiting Indiana beat Washington last night to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year.
Lance Stephenson added 17 points and eight assists for the Pacers, who won the series 4-2. They will play host to Game 1 against the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat on Sunday. Indiana took Miami to seven games in the conference finals a year ago.
The Wizards took a one-point lead with 81⁄
2 minutes to play, but they made only two shots from the field the rest of the way as the Pacers closed with a 20-6 run.
Marcin Gortat scored 19 points for the Wizards, who ended their best playoff run in decades.
Notable
The San Antonio Spurs said point guard Tony Parker has a strained left hamstring and is listed as day-today.
Parker left the decisive Game 5 of a Western Conference semifinal series against Portland on Wednesday because of the injury. He has a Grade 1 strain, which is considered the least severe of the three grades. The Spurs next play Oklahoma City or the Los Angeles Clippers in the conference finals.
The NBA fined Clippers coach Doc Rivers $25,000 for publicly criticizing the officials after a one-point loss to the Thunder in Game 5 on Tuesday. Rivers was livid after the game, saying the Clippers were “robbed” after a late out-of-bounds call went against them. The call was upheld on replay, and the NBA said on Wednesday that “the play correctly stood as called with the Thunder retaining possession.”
Of the fine, Rivers said, “I thought it was deserved. It’s one of the rare times you actually earned one. I don’t mind that.”
Fresh off their surprising run in the playoffs, Portland signed coach Terry Stotts to a multi-year contract extension. Stotts led the Trail Blazers to a 54-28 regular-season record after going 33-49 in 201213, the biggest improvement in team history.
The NBA’s board of governors unanimously approved the sale of the Milwaukee Bucks to New York investment firm executives Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry, who pledged to keep the team in Milwaukee. Former U.S. senator Herb Kohl agreed to sell the team last month for about $550 million. The NBA said the transaction is expected to close soon.
Second round
Conference finals
Pacers 93, Wizards 80