Harden struggles, but Rockets roll
Chris Paul had 27 points and Gerald Green came off the bench to score 21 as the Houston Rockets used a huge second quarter to cruise to a 102-82 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night that gave them a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Houston fell behind early, but went on top for good with a 37-point second quarter, powered by four 3-pointers from Green, and the Wolves didn’t threaten again.
The top-seeded Rockets won the opener by three behind a 44-point performance from James Harden on a night when most of the team struggled offensively. Things were much different on Wednesday when Harden had just 12 points as one of four Rockets who finished in double figures.
Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns had another disappointing game, scoring all of his five points in the first quarter, after being criticized for finishing with eight in the series opener. The All-Star big man went to the bench with about seven minutes left in the third quarter and didn’t return. Jamal Crawford scored 16 points for the eighthseeded Timberwolves, who are in the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Paul had 15 points, three assists, two steals and a block by halftime.
Paul, who joined the Rockets in an offseason trade from the Clippers, finished with eight assists and three steals.
JAZZ 102, THUNDER 95 >> Rookie Donovan Mitchell scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as Utah won on the road to tie the Western Conference playoff series at one win game apiece.
Derrick Favors had career playoff bests of 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz, and Ricky Rubio had 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in the first playoff win of his seven-year career.
Russell Westbrook had 19 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds LeBron James drives past Indiana’s Myles Turner and to the basket as the Cavaliers evened their first-round playoff series, 1-1.
for the Thunder. Paul George, who scored 36 points in Game 1, finished with 18 on 6-for-21 shooting. Carmelo Anthony scored 17 points, but made just six of 18 shots.
Utah outrebounded Oklahoma City 56-46 to take homecourt advantage from the Thunder. Oklahoma City had two chances in the final minute to trim Utah’s lead with the Jazz leading 99-95, but Anthony missed 3-pointers on back-toback possessions.
Eastern Conference
LeBron James scored 46 points and added 12 rebounds as Cleveland bounced back from a poor performance in the opener to even the Eastern Conference series at one game apiece.
Dazzling from the start, James scored the game’s first 16 points and had 29 at halftime, dominating the way he has in so many previous postseasons. But in a season in which nothing has been easy for the Cavs, Cleveland was lucky that Indiana’s Victor Oladipo missed a wide-open 3-pointer that would have tied it with 27 seconds left.
Kevin Love scored 15, but Cleveland’s All-Star center injured his left hand, the same one he broke earlier this season, with 3:43 left. Love’s status could affect the remainder of this series — and perhaps Cleveland’s season.
Oladipo scored 22 — he was in early foul trouble — and Myles Turner 18 for the Pacers, who shocked the Cavs with an overpowering win in Game 1.