The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Paul's stellar fourth propels Suns to win, 2-0 series lead
Chris Paul scored 28 points, including 14 in another spectacular fourth quarter, to lead the Phoenix Suns over the visiting Dallas Mavericks 129-109 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Paul — a 12-time All-star who turns 37 years old on Friday — almost single-handedly turned a tight game into a comfortable victory, the Suns’ 11th win in a row against the Mavericks counting regular-season games.
The Mavs led 60-58 at halftime but the Suns quickly recaptured the lead after Devin Booker hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third. The Suns took an 89-83 advantage going into the final quarter and it looked like a tough fight was coming.
But that’s about the time Paul decided the game was his to control, hitting six shots in a row on everything from 3-pointers to mid-range jumpers to layups. The feisty Mavericks finally didn’t have an answer. Booker hit a pair of 3s midway through the fourth to give the Suns a 114-95 lead.
Booker led the Suns with 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range. The Suns shot 64.5% overall and made 52% of their 3-pointers.
Game 3 is Friday in Dallas. The Mavericks will go home in a 2-0 hole, desperately needing contributions from someone other than Luka Doncic, who scored 35 points on 13of-22 shooting two nights after a 45-point performance in Game 1. Reggie Bullock added 16 points.
The Suns jumped out to a 9-0 lead for a second straight game, but the Mavericks had a better response than in Game 1.
Dallas slowly fought back and Spencer Dinwiddie hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 38. Davis Bertans followed with a 3-pointer with 7:56 left in the second quarter to give the Mavs a 41-38 advantage and their first lead of the series.
HEAT 119, 76ERS 103 >> Bam Adebayo scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler had 22 points and 12 assists, and host Miami beat Philadelphia for a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Victor Oladipo scored 19 points on his 30th birthday for the Heat, the East’s No. 1 seed. He had 10 of those points in the fourth quarter.
Tyrese Maxey scored 34 points for Philadelphia, which also got 21 from Tobias Harris and 20 from James Harden.
A 10-0 run in the fourth turned an eight-point Miami lead into an 18-point edge, sealing the win and ensuring the Heat would hold home court before the series shifts north. Game 3 is Friday in Philadelphia.
And now, the Heat will hope history holds — and the 76ers will hope it doesn’t.
Miami has taken a 2-0 lead in 18 previous series, including the first round this season against Atlanta, and won the matchup every time. The 76ers’ franchise has dropped the first two games of a matchup on 19 other occasions, never recovering to win the series.
The question going into Game 3 will revolve around whether Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid could be ready. The league’s scoring champion and MVP finalist has, not surprisingly, been big-time missed by the 76ers.
“We don’t have a big man right now,” Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers lamented.
Adebayo surely isn’t complaining. He was 8 for 10 from the field and 8 for 8 from the line in Game 1; he followed that up with a 7-for-11 night from the floor on Wednesday.
It wasn’t just the absence of Embiid, though, that hurt Philadelphia. The 76ers were awful again from 3-point range, shooting 8 for 30.