OKC rallies from 15 down to even series with Rockets
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. >>
Dennis Schroder scored a career playoff-high 30 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied to beat the Houston Rockets 117-114 on Monday and even the first-round Western Conference playoff series at two wins apiece.
Oklahoma City trailed by 15 points in the third quarter and was down a point heading into the fourth. But the Thunder led the league during the regular season with 17 wins after trailing heading into the final quarter. And they trailed going into the fourth on Saturday before winning in overtime.
“I always believe we can turn it around,” Schroder said. “Just bring a little bit of energy, get stops as a team, take the good shots and we’ll be in good shape. We’ve been doing it all season.”
Chris Paul scored 26 points and Shai GilgeousAlexander added 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, who won despite allowing 23 3-pointers.
James Harden had 32 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds for Houston. Eric Gordon scored 23 points, and Danuel House Jr. added 21 for the Rockets. Game 5 is Wednesday.
REAT 99, PACERS 87 >> Goran
Dragic scored 23 points, and fifth-seeded Miami completed a first-round sweep of Indiana.
Tyler Herro had 16 points, and Bam Adebayo added 14 points and 19 rebounds for the Heat, which made it out of the first round for the first time since 2016.
Victor Oladipo had 25 points and Myles Turner added 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Pacers, who have dropped four straight postseason series to the Heat since 2012.
Miami moves on to face the winner of the MagicBucks series.
BUCKS 121, MAGIC 106 >> Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, Khris Middleton
finally came alive with a huge fourth quarter, and Milwaukee took a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
Middleton scored 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 rebounds after being held to one field goal in the first three quarters on 1-of-9 shooting. The Bucks can close out the Magic on Wednesday.
Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Michael CarterWilliams (foot) have not played yet in the series. Their status for Game 5 is unclear.
76ERS FIRE COACR AFTER BEING SWEPT OUT OF PLAYOFFS >> The Philadelphia 76ers fired coach Brett Brown, a day after his seventh season ended in a postseason sweep.
The 76ers were 43-30 this season. The sixthseeded Sixers were swept by the Boston Celtics.
Brown finished 221-344, though his record was never going to be pretty because the Sixers weren’t trying to win when he was hired.
O’NEAL STICKS WITR TURNER SPORTS >> Shaquille O’Neal won’t be leaving “Inside the NBA” anytime soon. In fact, viewers are going to be seeing more of him across Turner’s many platforms. Turner Sports and WarnerMedia announced that they have
reached a multi-year extension with O’Neal, who joined Turner in 2011 after a 19-year Hall of Fame NBA career.
Besides his appearances on TNT’s NBA studio shows, the agreement includes O’Neal’s “The Big Podcast” moving to WarnerMedia next year, “Shaq Life” being renewed for a second season, and O’Neal appearing on CNN’s New Year’s Eve show mixing tracks as a DJ. It also includes him serving as an executive producer for some projects on Bleacher Report.
JAZZ 129, NUGGETS 127 >> Donovan Mitchell scored 18 of his 51 points in the fourth quarter, and the Utah Jazz withstood a 50-point night from Jamal Murray to beat the Denver Nuggets late Sunday and take a 3-1 lead in the playoff series.
Mitchell was 15 of 27 from the floor and went 17 of 18 from the free throw line. The 23-year-old Mitchell scored 57 points in Game 1. He’s averaging 39.5 points in the series. The Jazz can close it out in Game 5 today.
Murray had the mostever by a Denver player in a postseason game, surpassing Spencer Haywood’s mark of 45 in an ABA playoff contest on April 19, 1970. Murray also had 11 rebounds.