Heat complete sweep of Pacers to advance; Thunder level series with Rockets; Bucks beat Magic to earn 3-1 lead
Tuesday 25 August 2020 10:27, UK
LeBron James scored 30 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a dominant 135-115 Game 4 win over the Portland Trail Blazers as the NBA remembered Kobe Bryant on Mamba Day.
LeBron James scored 30 points on 10-of-12 shooting and also had 10 assists and six rebounds to help the Los Angeles Lakers steamroll the Portland Trail Blazers 135-115 in Game 4 of the Western Conference first-round series on Monday night.
Anthony Davis had 18 points, five rebounds and five assists in 18 minutes before exiting in the third quarter due to back spasms as Los Angeles took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Portland star Damian Lillard also departed in the third quarter with a right knee injury and had just 11 points in 27 minutes.
Kyle Kuzma scored 18 points and Danny Green added 14 as the Lakers cruised to the dominating wire-to-wire victory. Dwight Howard had 13 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 12 for Los Angeles.
Jusuf Nurkic recorded 20 points and 13 rebounds and CJ McCollum scored 18 for the Trail Blazers. Carmelo Anthony tallied 16 points, Gary Trent Jr added 13, Mario Hezonja and Hassan Whiteside had 11 apiece and Wenyen Gabriel scored 10.
Los Angeles shot 56.3 per cent from the field, including 17-of 39 from three-point range.
The Lakers rolled from the outset by scoring the first 15 points. The lead reached 20 for the first time when Kuzma drained a three-pointer to make it 30-10 with 3:42 left and it was at 24 later in the quarter before the Lakers settled for a 43-25 advantage heading into the second quarter.
James buried a three-pointer to make it 76-46 with 1:05 remaining in the half before Los Angeles took an 80-51 lead into the break. He connected on a three-pointer from 36 feet to cap an 11-0 run to increase the score to 91-53 with 9:21 left in the third quarter.
Dennis Schroder converted a key turnover into a lay-up as the Oklahoma City Thunder evened their Western Conference first-round series with a 117-114 victory in Game 4 over the Houston Rockets.
After Danilo Gallinari picked off an errant pass from Rockets guard James Harden with 53.4 seconds left, Schroder scored to extend the Thunder lead to 111-108 with 35.9 seconds remaining.
Oklahoma City erased a 15-point, third-quarter deficit to post a second consecutive victory and square the series at two games apiece with Game 5 set for Wednesday at The Field House.
Schroder scored 30 points off the bench to lead the Thunder, while Chris Paul added 26 points, six rebounds and three steals. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander paired 18 points with 12 boards for the Thunder, who survived a three-point onslaught from the Rockets that opened the second half.
Houston started the third quarter 8-of-8 from behind the arc and led 88-73 when Jeff Green scored off a Harden assist with 5:51 left in the period. But the Rockets then went ice cold, missing 20 of their ensuing 23 from deep as Oklahoma City roared back, starting with a 12-0 blitz to end the third, punctuated by a Schroder 31-foot buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Harden led Houston with 32 points, 15 assists and four steals while Eric Gordon added 23 points. Houston attempted an NBA postseason record 58 shots from three-point range, converting 23.
Bam Adebayo collected a game-high 19 rebounds to go with 14 points in a double-double performance, leading the fifth-seeded Miami Heat to a 99-87 victory over the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers and a four-game sweep of their first-round playoff series.
Kelly Olynyk's lay-up gave the Heat the lead for good in the fifth minute of the second quarter and Miami went on to lead by as many as 13 points in completing their first-ever playoff sweep of Indiana.
The Heat advance to the Eastern semi-finals, where they will await the winner of the first-round match-up between top-seeded Milwaukee and eighth-seeded Orlando.
Indiana trailed by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter before making a late run, getting within 91-85 on a four-point play by TJ Warren with 3:36 to play.
Miami then missed their next three shots, but retrieved all three offensive rebounds, leading to a back-breaking lay-up by Tyler Herro with 2:44 to go. The Pacers got as close as six on one other occasion, but ran out of time.
Six of Adebayo's 19 rebounds came on the offensive end as the Heat crushed the Pacers on the boards, 60-34. He also found time for a team-high six assists. Goran Dragic paced Miami with 23 points, while Herro added 16 and Jae Crowder 10.
Victor Oladipo had a game-high 25 points to lead the Pacers, hitting 5-of-11 on three-pointers. Myles Turner had a 22-point, 14-rebound double-double for the Pacers, while Warren dropped in 21 points and Malcolm Brogdon 13 to go with a game-high seven assists.
Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo supplied 31 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, while fellow All-Star Khris Middleton caught fire late to push the Milwaukee Bucks to a 121-106 victory over the Orlando Magic to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
It was the most competitive the Magic have been since their Game 1 upset. Orlando hung around until the fourth quarter, when Milwaukee opened on a 20-5 blitz to open up a 102-83 advantage. Middleton scored 13 of his 21 points during the stretch, including three three-pointers.
The Magic made one last surge when Nikola Vucevic hit back-to-back three-pointers and sank two free throws to cut the Bucks' lead to 109-102 with 4:02 to play.
But Kyle Korver answered with a three-pointer to push Milwaukee's advantage back to double digits. Antetokounmpo followed with a finish through contact to seal the win.
Vucevic finished with 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Markelle Fultz added 15 points (including three go-ahead buckets in the third quarter), seven assists and five rebounds.
