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76ers beat Celtics 92-83 in Game 4, tie series

Andre Iguodala snapped a tie game with five straight points in the final 90 seconds to help the Philadelphia 76ers storm back from 15 points down and stun the Boston Celtics 92-83 on Friday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Sixers were a team reborn in the second half and played like a squad that refused to roll over for the championship-tested Celtics. They tied the series at 2-2 and guaranteed a return home for one more game.

Iguodala, one of the more maligned athletes in recent Philadelphia history, put the Sixers ahead 85-83 and buried a 3-pointer for a five-point lead.

Game 5 is Monday in Boston.

— Reported by Dan Gelston of the Associated Press

The Celtics jumped out to a 14-0 lead in Game 4, silencing a Philadelphia crowd that was hoping their team would come out with a better focus in their attempt to even the series. Instead, the Sixers struggled to put the ball in the ocean. They shot 23 percent from the field in the first half, negating the benefit of 21 free throw attempts and failing to take advantage of a six-minute stretch in which the Celtics didn’t score a single point. Sixers guard Evan Turner was 2 of 14 before halftime.

But the Celtics went almost seven minutes without a field goal to start the third quarter, a drought that allowed the Sixers to get right back into it. The Celtics went 5 for 18 from the floor in the third and sent the Sixers to the line nine times. Philadelphia attempted 36 free throws Friday night after shooting 63 in the first three games of the series combined.

A four-point lead at the end of the third quarter quickly evaporated as the Sixers took their first lead of the game. Usually the better closing team, the Celtics were out-closed by the Sixers down the stretch as Andre Iguodala caught fire from the perimeter. Lou Williams chipped in his first big game off the bench with 15 points.

— Reported by Gary Dzen of the Boston Globe (Blog)

The game was nearly 4 minutes old before the Sixers scored their first points. Their offensive possessions appeared CYO-like, though that may be more of a knock on CYO teams (and a tribute to the Boston defense). The one bright spot was the Sixers’ ability to get to the foul line, as they did 21 times in the first half. But that was negated by the fact that they were only able to make 62 percent of them (13).

At least in Wednesday’s 16-point blowout loss, the Sixers scored 33 points in the first quarter. Friday, they scored 31 points in the first half.

The Sixers, though, thrillingly provided the crowd with the excitement they were aching for in the third quarter when they started it with an 18-8 run to close the gap to just 54-49 after a Lou Williams three-pointer with 4:42 remaining in the third. Four straight points by the Celtics upped the lead back to nine, but another Sixers spurt cut it to 58-54 on a conventional three-pointer by Williams. The lead stayed at four at the end of the third at 63-59.

— Reported by Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News

Spurs win 16th straight, lead Clippers 2-0

On his 30th birthday, Tony Parker first kept the San Antonio Spurs on pace for what might be another lopsided playoff sweep. Then the All-Star who’s always quick to needle Tim Duncan about his age finally acknowledged his own.

”I’m old. Used,” said Parker, laughing.

Chris Paul, meanwhile, isn’t acknowledging anything: Not his aching body that everyone but him is talking about, or the Los Angeles Clippers’ season careening toward the end this weekend unless things change fast.

Parker scored 22 points, Duncan had 18 and the Spurs beat the fading Clippers 105-88 on Thursday night, taking a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference semifinals and winning their 16th in a row with yet another playoff blowout.

For the 13th time in a winning streak that seldom run this long in the NBA playoffs, the Spurs won by double digits. Only two other teams have sustained a longer winning streak in the playoffs: the 2004 Spurs (17) and the 2001 Lakers (19).

”I think for us, is to not look at that,” Parker said about the streak. ”Concentrate on the task. We know Game 3 is going to be very, very hard. I think we should focus on that and not focus on the winning streak, or what we’re doing good.”

Paul responded to his awful Game 1 with only a slightly better encore, scoring 10 points as the Clippers now head home desperate to steer out of what’s starting to get the feel of a sweep.

Game 3 is Saturday in Los Angeles, and Game 4 is Sunday.

— Reported by Paul J. Weber of the Associated Press

Diaw, who went from late-March import to starting center in a French flash, scored 16 points and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor. Parker’s countryman, one month his senior, also added some surprisingly rugged defense on Blake Griffin, who again had to work for his 20 points, which came on 16 shots.

“He’s fit in pretty seamlessly,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Diaw.

While the Spurs’ over-30 club was running amok — and getting four timely 3-pointers from 24-year-old guard Danny Green — Paul again looked like an AARP member shuffling to the earlybird dinner.

The 27-year-old All-Star muddled through a second-straight disaster, balancing his 10 points and five assists with a career-worst eight turnovers. In two games to start the series, the Clippers’ All-Star point guard is 7 of 21 from the field with 16 points and 14 turnovers.

Blame a strained hip flexor and bum groin, which have clearly limited Paul’s effectiveness. But also credit Parker.

— Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News

“They pass the ball so well that you can’t just key in and clog the paint,” forward Blake Griffin said. “They run their offense to a ‘T’ every single time, and that’s what makes them so difficult.”

Chris Paul, still fighting through injuries to his hip flexor and groin, struggled for the second game in a row. After committing five turnovers in the Clippers’ Game 1 loss, Paul turned the ball over a career-high 8 times Thursday.

“It’s just bad decisions,” Paul said. “…I just have to make better passes.”

In the playoffs, Paul’s turned the ball over 38 times – most in the NBA.

The Spurs continued to showcase all of their weapons, with Tony Parker leading five Spurs in double figures with 22 points. Tim Duncan added 18, and Boris Diaw scored 16, making all seven shots he took.

The Spurs hit 53.2 percent from the field and 76.5 percent of their shots in the third quarter, when the Spurs scored 32 points to blow the game open.

— Reported by Dan Woike of the Orange County Register

D-Wade struggles, Pacers beat Heat 94-75

Dwyane Wade lashed out in frustration during the worst playoff game of his career.

His target wasn’t wearing an Indiana uniform. Wade confronted his coach as the Miami Heat melted.

The star had an animated exchange with Erik Spoelstra on the sideline in the third quarter, a disturbing low point on a night when nothing went Miami’s way, and the Heat were throttled 94-75 by the Pacers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Indiana center Roy Hibbert had 19 points and 18 rebounds, George Hill scored 20 and Danny Granger 17 as Indiana, pushed by a crowd that stood and chanted ”Beat The Heat” at every opportunity, took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Game 4 is Sunday at raucous Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Before then, the Heat need to locate their missing shooting touch and figure out how to attack Indiana’s superior defense. More than anything, Wade needs to shake off a startling 5-point, 2-of-13 shooting performance he made worse by challenging Spoelstra…

James scored 22 – 16 in the first half before wearing down – and Mario Chalmers made up for Wade’s abysmal night by adding 25 for Miami, which again played without All-Star forward Chris Bosh, who is out with a strained abdominal muscle and is not expected to return for this series…

Indiana outscored Miami 51-32 in the second half, when the Pacers could do no wrong.

— Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

“Obviously I’ll go back to the film and look at it,” Wade said of his performance. “I missed some shots early, then missed some shots later. I’ve got to be a little more aggressive. Give them some credit. They did a good job when I got to the basket.”

As for James? The heavy lifting of the series’ first two games and then the first half of this one seemingly exacted too much of a toll. He scored 11 of his 22 points in the first quarter.

“We’re not scoring the ball,” James said after the Heat shot .372 from the field and 4 of 20 on 3-pointers. “This is the result of us not making as much shots as we’re accustomed to make.”

In other words, there is plenty of reason for Vogel’s optimism.

“I’ve seen it coming from the first day of training camp,” he said. “This is who we’ve been all year. We’re a balanced team . . . not two guys trying to create all the time.”

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

George Hill led the way with 20 points, while Roy Hibbert had 19 and Danny Granger added 17. Hibbert also grabbed a game-high 18 boards.

Mario Chalmers had 25 to lead the Heat, while MVP LeBron James added 22. Heat All-Star guard Dwyane Wade was held scoreless in the first half, the first time that happened in 95 career playoff games. He wasn’t much better the rest of the way, and he finished with only five points.

The Heat struggled from the floor all evening, shooting just 37 percent from the field. Indiana shot 43 percent, including 57 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

— Reported by Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star

Thunder rally to edge Lakers, take 2-0 lead

Even down late, the Oklahoma City Thunder are showing that they are never out.

Kevin Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline runner with 18 seconds left, and the Thunder scored the final nine points to rally for a 77-75 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night.

Oklahoma City trailed by seven with 2 minutes left before surging back with a series of defensive stops by its stars to claw back from that deficit in the closing stages of a game for the second time this postseason. The Thunder were also seven down with 2 1/2 minutes left in Game 1 against defending NBA champion Dallas in the first round.

”They won’t quit. That’s not in their DNA,” coach Scott Brooks said. ”They’re not wired that way and if they were, they wouldn’t be here. We’re not going to win every game but we’re going to fight to the last second of the game and we did that tonight.

”If we would have gotten down on ourselves with 2 minutes to go, we would have lost by 12 and we would go to L.A. 1-1.”

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

But what Oklahoma City did in those final 120 seconds was nothing short of sensational — especially given the style of play this ballgame had been in the first 46 minutes.

The Thunder stormed back from a late seven-point deficit to steal a 77-75 win in Game 2 on Wednesday night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. With the narrow victory, the Thunder preserved home-court advantage and took a 2-0 series lead as this Western Conference semifinal now shifts to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4.

Maybe by the time the team lands in L.A., the Thunder will have regained a morsel of its offensive rhythm from Game 1.

— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman

The Thunder hounded Kobe Bryant into a miserable night, nine of 25 shooting. Kobe credited the Thunder defense for pushing him too far from the basket, sometimes starting out 25 feet away.

The Thunder also made Andrew Bynum labor for his 20 points.

The Thunder MVP was Kendrick Perkins. Gran Torino, playing with that sore hip, bodied and bullied Bynum into an 8-of-19 shooting night.

— Reported by Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman

The Lakers didn’t survive the late-game mistakes by Kobe Bryant and Steve Blake. They had back-to-back turnovers in the final stretch, with Bryant missing two shots and Blake the potential winning 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left.

Bryant said his struggles stemmed from Oklahoma City’s defense pushing him too far from the basket, leaving him “trying to create something — and it just didn’t work out.” …

But Bryant finished with 20 points on 9-of-25 shooting and missed all six of his 3-point shots. Lakers center Andrew Bynum had 20 points and nine rebounds but could be seen laughing on the court on separate occasions in the final seconds.

— Reported by Kevin Ding of the OC Register

Celtics rise on road, beat 76ers, take 2-1 lead

Kevin Garnett scored 27 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and used a dominant second quarter to help the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 107-91 on Wednesday night and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Whistled for a costly illegal pick late in a Game 2 loss, Garnett crushed the Sixers early and never let them think about a fourth-quarter rally.

Garnett scored 13 of Boston’s 32 points in the second quarter and the Celtics became the first team to win by double digits. Game 1 and Game 2 were each decided by one point.

Rajon Rondo had 23 points and 14 assists. Paul Pierce [stats], playing with a banged-up knee, had 24 points and 12 rebounds.

Game 4 is Friday in Philadelphia.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Their old legs may still cost the Boston Celtics this series against the younger, fresher Sixers. For a night, though, old heads prevailed over young legs in a big way.

“This was a team that you could see did not want to be down two (games) to one, playing Game 4,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said. “You could just see. They’ve been in a lot of these kinds of games. They know how important a swing game is to get that home court back. And they played great.”

The Celtics may have knee problems and foot problems and ankle problems. They may be sore and achy and stiff-legged. But they are still a team with a championship pedigree, a team with legitimate superstars. They were not about to panic after two close games in Boston. If anything, they looked annoyed as they swatted the Sixers, 107-91, Wednesday night.

It was just one basket among many. But everything about this game was in a dunk by Paul Pierce in the first quarter. The Celtics’ mainstay had missed a couple of layups. His sore knee had left him looking slow and old through the first two games. Now he came driving down the lane, fire in his eyes, and slammed the ball angrily.

“That’s who he is,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.

— Reported by Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Spurs beat Clippers in Game 1 of 2nd round, reach 15 straight wins

The San Antonio Spurs had just taken Game 1, and Manu Ginobili didn’t want to hear another word about winning 15 in a row or not losing in more than a month.

”I don’t even want to know about that,” Ginobili said.

On the other side of the AT&T Center, Clippers’ All-Star Chris Paul needed no reminder that his wretched performance contributed to the Spurs’ 108-92 victory over Los Angeles in the opener of the Western Conference semifinals on Tuesday night…

Tim Duncan had 26 points and 10 rebounds following an eight-day layoff for the top-seeded Spurs, who wore down Los Angeles in what was the sixth game in 11 day for the Clippers. Game 2 on Thursday night will make it seven in fewer than two weeks…

The Spurs have won 15 in a row, haven’t lost since April 11 and are winning by an average margin of nearly 17 points during that span. It’s the longest winning streak in the NBA playoffs since the 2004 Spurs carried 17 straight wins into the second round that season…

Blake Griffin scored 15 points in 28 minutes a day after estimating his sprained left knee had him feeling ”80 percent” at best. The All-Star said he became tired quicker than usual, and also turned his left ankle early in the game…

Paul, who ended the first round with an aching hip, scored just six points and didn’t make a single basket in the second half. Parker was barely any better, putting together seven points and 11 assists, and didn’t talk to reporters after the game…

— Reported by Paul J. Weber of the Associated Press

One sign the Spurs had their legs: They made 13 of 25 on 3-pointers, tying a franchise playoff record, including three apiece from Kawhi Leonard (16 points), Danny Green (15) and Ginobili.

During the break between the end of the first round and start of the second, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich fretted the extended time off might discombobulate the rhythm his team had gained in the first round.

He paced his team through every-other-day practices, including full-squad scrimmages, trying to keep his players sharp.

“You’ve got to do whatever you think is necessary to try to keep your rhythm, keep your conditioning and not get anybody hurt,” Popovich said.

After some early struggles — such as nine first-half turnovers — the Spurs rounded into form. Up by eight at intermission, the Spurs put together a 26-11 run in the third quarter to build a lead that got as large as 19 points.

— Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News

Thing is, the Spurs just keep coming after you in waves while pulling player after player out of their deep pool of reserves. Each one of them is effective and makes and not impact in their own right, with some as good or better than the starter they are replacing.

When someone is struggling, as Parker did while scoring just seven points on 1-of-9 shooting, Ginobili can pick up the slack with 22 points and Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green can combine to hit six 3-pointers and score 31 points.

“Everyone else got it going, and they’ve done that before,” Paul said. “And Tony is such a great player he’s still going to get everyone involved.”

When Popovich eventually found the right mix of personnel, the Spurs dropped a 26-15 hammer on the Clippers to build a 19-point third-quarter lead.

Meanwhile, the Clippers were left to look around wondering what the heck just happened.

“We were scrambling around a little bit at that point,” Griffin said. “And you just can’t do that against a good team like the Spurs.”

— Reported by Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News

Pacers beat Heat 78-75, tie series 1-1

No Big Three meant one big problem for Miami, and one very big win for Indiana.

David West scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, George Hill added 15 and the Indiana Pacers took home-court advantage away from Miami by beating the Heat 78-75 in Game 2 of the teams’ Eastern Conference semifinal series Tuesday night.

LeBron James scored 28 points for Miami and Dwyane Wade finished with 24, but both missed big chances for the Heat late. James missed two free throws with 54.3 seconds left and Miami down one, and Wade was short on a layup that would have tied the game with 16 seconds remaining.

Mario Chalmers’ 3-pointer to tie bounced away on the final play, and the series was tied 1-1.

Danny Granger scored 11 points and Paul George added 10 for Indiana, which took advantage of Heat forward Chris Bosh’s absence and outrebounded Miami 50-40.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Still unknown is whether Bosh can make it back from his lower-abdominal strain during this series or during the postseason at all.

In his absence, LeBron James against continued with the heavy lifting, with 28 points Tuesday, again playing the entire second half, with Heat guard Dwyane Wade adding 24 in a largely uneven performance. James also had six steals, a personal postseason high, and the most ever by a Heat player in a playoff game.

Beyond that, there was precious little for the Heat, who eventually ran out of gas on a night they shot 20 of 29 from the foul line and 1 of 16 on 3-points.

In the end, the Pacers had greater balance and a few more free throws when needed, led by the 16 points and 10 rebounds of forward David West, on a night the Pacers outrebounded the Bosh-less Heat 50-40.

The game ended with Heat point guard Mario Chalmers off on a 3-pointer.

The third quarter was an exercise in misery for the Heat, opening the second half 1 of 12 from the field, as the Pacers used a 16-3 run to move to a 53-46 lead.

It set up the ugly finish.

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Indiana used a 12-0 run in the second quarter to get back into the contest, then a 28-14 advantage in the third to seize control. The Heat would close the gap in the fourth quarter and eventually take a 71-70 lead.

But Indiana, displaying the grit and late game poise that eluded them in Game 1, used a key bucket from David West, a timely block from Paul George and the misses of Wade and Chalmers to finish the job.

James had 28 to lead the Heat, while Wade added 24, but no other Heat player reached double digits.

— Reported by Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star

Thunder clobber Lakers 119-90 in Game 1

Russell Westbrook had 27 points and nine assists, Kevin Durant added 25 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder blasted the weary Los Angeles Lakers 119-90 on Monday night in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Thunder took a 15-point halftime lead, then opened the third quarter with a 15-2 blitz filled with crowd-pleasing 3-pointers and dunks.

Oklahoma City led by as many as 35 points, getting a measure of vengeance for the elbow Metta World Peace delivered to the head of the Thunder’s James Harden three weeks earlier – and without needing dirty tactics to do it.

Thunder starting center Kendrick Perkins limped off after aggravating a hip injury from the first round.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points each for the Lakers and Bynum had 14 rebounds.

The Thunder committed a franchise-record four turnovers…

Both coaches started going to their benches with 8 1/2 minutes left, and Los Angeles reserve Devin Ebanks ended up getting ejected with 2:18 to play after walking up to a scrum for the ball after the whistle. Official Greg Willard said at the scorer’s table that he was ejected for ”what he said” in drawing a technical foul…

If the Lakers’ legs were weary, it showed most on the defensive end. Oklahoma City shot 53 percent and the league’s most turnover-prone team committed only one – Harden’s failed alley-oop pass for Durant that banged off the glass and was grabbed by World Peace – while building a 59-44 halftime lead.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

76ers even series with 82-81 win over Celts

Evan Turner made the go-ahead layup with 40.4 seconds left and Philadelphia held off Boston the rest of the way with six straight free throws as the 76ers evened the second-round Eastern Conference series with an 82-81 victory Monday night.

Turner finished with 10 points, including his layup that put the Sixers up 76-75. He added two free throws with 12 seconds to go.

Jrue Holiday scored 18 points and Andre Iguodala added 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Sixers, who blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter as the Celtics won Game 1.

Kevin Garnett had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Ray Allen scored 17 points for the Celtics.

Game 3 is Wednesday in Philadelphia…

Brandon Bass had 12 points for the Celtics, who couldn’t quite repeat their comeback in the series opener. The Sixers led by 10 points early in the fourth quarter of Game 1 before the Celtics rallied for a 92-91 victory…

Fans grew restless as the second half opened with sloppy, choppy play by both teams. Boston led 38-36 at halftime and nearly 7 minutes into the third quarter the score was just 43-41 with the Celtics still ahead.

When the shots finally started falling, they were all for Philadelphia.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Heat beat Pacers in Game 1 of Round 2

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade carried the Miami Heat offense in the second half. With Chris Bosh gone, they had no other choice.

And if Bosh doesn’t return soon, it may have to become a trend.

James accepted his third MVP trophy from Commissioner David Stern before the game, then scored 26 of his game-high 32 points while playing every second of the second half – adding a season-high 15 rebounds as well – to help the Heat survive some rough stretches and pull out a 95-86 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Sunday night.

Wade scored 29 points for the Heat, but the concern level was ramped up considerably afterward because of Bosh, who did not play in the second half because of a lower abdominal strain. The Heat expected to learn results of an MRI exam on Monday…

David West and Roy Hibbert each scored 17 points and combined for 23 rebounds for the Pacers, who got 10 points each from Darren Collison and George Hill. Indiana controlled long stretches of the first half and didn’t trail by more than two points at any time until the fourth quarter, when it was outscored 25-16. Wade and James scored 42 points in the second half, while Indiana’s entire roster managed 38…

James scored 16 points alone in the fourth, matching Indiana’s total. Nonetheless, the Pacers sounded confident for days leading up to the start of the series, and left Sunday night sounding the same way…

Bosh caught a pass from James near the foul line late in the first half, took one dribble to start a drive past Hibbert, got down the lane and dunked the ball hard with his left hand while the Indiana center appeared to hit his right arm. Bosh fell forward as he landed, resting on his hands and knees for about 15 seconds before getting up slowly. He made his free throw, and as he headed back the other way he grimaced and grabbed at his midsection…

Danny Granger shot 1 for 10 in the game, scoring only seven points…

Everything was undecided until the final moments. Hill made a 3-pointer with 4:51 left, getting Indiana within 86-85. But the Pacers went cold from the field, James had a dunk in transition to make it 90-85 with 4:10 left, and his jumper with 31.8 seconds remaining wrapped up the Heat win.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press