Aaron Gordon slammed down a dunk as time expired to give the Denver Nuggets a dramatic and much-needed 101-99 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday in Game 4 of their first-round series at Inglewood, Calif.
Nikola Jokic airballed a 3-pointer as the clock wound down and Gordon leaped to catch the ball and released his dunk just before the red light came on the backboard. A replay review upheld the ruling and the basket allowed Denver to even the best-of-seven Western Conference series at two games apiece.
Jokic had 36 points, 21 rebounds and eight assists as the fourth-seeded Nuggets bounced back from a 117-83 pummeling in Game 3 on the road.
Kawhi Leonard registered 24 points and nine rebounds and Norman Powell scored 22 for the fifth-seeded Clippers.
Thunder 117, Grizzlies 115
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points to lead visiting Oklahoma City past Memphis to sweep their first-round Western Conference series.
Jalen Williams added 23 and Isaiah Hartenstein finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds for the top-seeded Thunder, who took the lead for good in the opening two minutes of the third quarter. Oklahoma City will next play the winner of the Nuggets-Clippers series.
Scotty Pippen Jr. paced Memphis with 30 points and 11 rebounds while Santi Aldama had 23 points and nine boards. The Grizzlies played without star guard Ja Morant, who suffered a hip contusion during a hard fall in Thursday’s Game 3 while attempting to finish a fastbreak dunk.
Cavaliers 124, Heat 87
Playing without Darius Garland did not slow down Eastern Conference No. 1 seed Cleveland, as it combined balanced offense and stifling defense to overpower host Miami to take a 3-0 lead in the series.
Garland was scratched due to a toe injury aggravated late in the Game 2 win on Wednesday. The Cavaliers also endured offensive struggles from star Donovan Mitchell, who followed up his two 30-point games to open the series by shooting just 4-of-14 from the floor en route to 13 points. Jarrett Allen led the Cavaliers with 22 points and 10 rebounds. He was tops among six Cleveland scorers in double figures, along with frontcourt mate Evan Mobley, who netted 19 points.
Bam Adebayo had 22 points and had nine rebounds, while Davion Mitchell added 16 points. No other Miami scorer posted more than Tyler Herro’s 13 points, though, and Andrew Wiggins saw his series struggles continue, as he finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Warriors 104, Rockets 93
Stephen Curry went for a game-high 36 points, Gary Payton II saved nine of his postseason career-high 16 for a late run and Golden State, despite missing injured Jimmy Butler III, rallied past visiting Houston to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series in San Francisco.
Buddy Hield bombed five 3-pointers to account for a majority of his 17 points and rookie Quinten Post, making his first postseason start, snatched a game-high 12 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Warriors, who can go up 3-1 in the best-of-seven with another home-court win Monday.
Fred VanVleet paced the second-seeded Rockets with 17 points, while Brooks had 13, Jabari Smith Jr. 12 and Amen Thompson 11. Jalen Green chipped in with nine points, six rebounds and a team-high five assists.
–Field Level Media
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