Nuggets defeat Clippers to stay alive in NBA playoffs
Paul Millsap scored 14 of his 17 points in the third quarter, Michael Porter Jr. made a late 3-pointer and the Denver Nuggets overcame a 15-point, second-half deficit to stun the Los Angeles Clippers 111-105 on Friday night in Game 5.
Denver — down 16 in the first half — trailed 61-46 with 9:42 remaining in the third before rallying behind the 35-year-old Millsap.
The Nuggets took their first lead on Nikola Jokic’s 3-pointer with 7:06 left and extended it to eight. After the Clippers pulled within a basket, Porter hit a deep 3-pointer with 1:11 remaining to all but wrap it up.
Jamal Murray finished with 26 points, and Jokic added 22 points and 14 rebounds to help the Nuggets pull to 3-2 in the best-of-7 series. Game 6 is Sunday.
This marked Denver’s fourth elimination-game win of this postseason, the team’s most since capturing six win-or-go-home games during the 1994 playoff run. The Nuggets came back from a 3-1 deficit to win their firstround series against Utah.
Kawhi Leonard scored 36 points and Paul George added 26 for the Clippers, who are searching for the franchise’s first appearance in a conference finals. They’re 0-6 in games where they could clinch a trip to the conference finals.
Golf
KORDA LEADS LPGA MAJOR BY TWO>>Nelly Korda carded an impressive 5-under 67 to build a two-stroke lead over Mirim Lee in the second round of the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage as she strengthened her bid for a maiden major title. BURNS TAKES LEAD IN SAFEWAY OPEN>>Sam Burns overcame an early double bogey and used steady iron play and strong putting to take the Safeway Open lead. Harry Higgs was right behind, cutting his deficit in half with his last swing.
Burns made nine birdies in a 7-under 65 to get to 15 under at at Silverado Resort in Napa, with Higgs two strokes back. Higgs closed with an albatross for a 62, the best round of the day in the PGA Tour’s season opener.
First-round leader Russell Knox (69), Cameron Percy (68) and D.J. Trahan (65) were 12 under. James Hahn (65) and Doug Ghim (66) were 11 under.
THREE IN LEAD IN PGA CHAMPIONS EVENT>>Miguel Angel Jimenez bogeyed the par-4 18th to fall into a tie with David Toms and Dicky Pride for the first-round lead in the rainy Sanford International, the first PGA Tour Champions’ event with fans since returning from a break because of the coronavirus pandempic.
The leaders were at 5-under 65 at Minehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, S.D., with Jerry Kelly, Paul Goydos, Paul Broadhurst and Steve Flesch a stroke back. GUERRIER LEADS BY 5 IN PGA EUROPEAN TOURNEY>> Julien Guerrier shot a 5-under 66 to take a five-shot lead entering the weekend at the Portugal Masters in VIlamoura.
Guerrier had seven birdies and two bogeys to follow a bogey-free 62 in his opening round at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course. The Frenchman was at 14 under at the tournament’s halfway point.
American Sihwan Kim shot a 5-under 66 to move into second place heading into the weekend.
Cycling
ROGLIC STRETCHES LEAD WITH TOUR STAGE WIN>>The slow-burning fight for the Tour de France’s yellow jersey erupted in earnest on the slopes of a once-giant volcano, with race leader Primoz Roglic using the punishing slopes to grow his overall lead.
One of the big losers of the day was Egan Bernal, last year’s champion from Colombia who was unable to match Roglic’s pace on the arduous ascent of the Puy Mary. He tumbled from second to third in the overall standings.
Tadej Pogacar, the only rider able to stay with Roglic on the last climb, vaulted to second overall. He trails Roglic by 44 seconds.
Bernal fell back to 59 seconds behind Roglic, the winner of last year’s Spanish Vuelta who is increasingly looking the firm favorite to win in Paris in eight days.
NHL
A WILD TRADE>>Minnesota acquired center Nick Bjugstad from Pittsburgh for a conditional selection in the 2021 draft, a swap that includes the Penguins covering an unspecified portion of Bjugstad’s $5.25 million salary next season.
Bjugstad has 97 goals, 110 assists and 681 hits in 439 career NHL games.
KINGS RE-UP WALKER>>The Los Angeles Kings signed defenseman Sean Walker to a four-year, $10.6 million contract extension.
LADY BYNG WINNER>> Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon won the Lady Byng Trophy, given for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with strong play. MacKinnon finished ahead of Toronto’s Auston Matthews and St. Louis’ Ryan O’Reilly in voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
CHANGING DATES>>The NHL moved its draft up to Oct. 6-7 and set an Oct. 9 start for free agency. The draft was originally scheduled for Oct. 9-10.
Motorsports
HAMLIN WANTS TO REGAIN MOJO AT RICHMOND>>Kevin Harvick grabbed the first win of NASCAR’s playoffs while rival Denny Hamlin finished 13th. Disgusted with his finish, Hamlin threw his water bottle in anger.
“I was so mad. I hate not finishing where I should finish or run,” Hamlin said. “I’m such a competitor, I want to win every week. I look at the top five and for 95% of the race we outran those guys and they go steal a win or a top five. It’s just so frustrating for me.”
The mediocre finish at Darlington Raceway didn’t harm Hamlin in the standings and he is still ranked second headed into Richmond Raceway for the second round of the playoffs. Hamlin has enough playoff points to easily advance into the next round.
He didn’t want to hear about the playoff points after Darlington.
“I just want to win every week,” Hamlin said. “We have this playoff cushion because we earned it during the regular season. It doesn’t make me get over it.”
The race tonight will be at his home track, where he has three career wins and 17 top-10s in 27 career starts. He has finished lower than sixth once in the last nine races at Richmond yet says he long ago lost the edge he held over his competitors on the 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval.
Hamlin says data sharing allowed his rivals to catch him at his favorite track.
“Basically I left my notebook on top of the car and it spread all over the racetrack and every driver picked it up,” Hamlin said. “(Data sharing’s) been a benefit for me at other racetracks. But certainly I felt like when I went to Richmond, went to Martinsville, I had a tremendous advantage over the field. Not an unfair advantage, just a skill advantage.
“Now we’ve had to rely on just putting a better race car on the racetrack than them, which is very, very difficult.” ALLGAIER TAKES XFINITY RACE>>Justin Allgaier caught front-running Justin Haley with 29 laps to go and held him off the rest of the way to win the NASCAR Xfinity race at Richmond.