CAVALIERS 99, CELTICS 91
CLEVELAND -- LeBron James scored 30 points, Kyrie Irving added 26 and the Cleveland Cavaliers finally shook off Boston in the fourth quarter, beating the Celtics 99-91 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their opening-round series.
James scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, moved past Hall of Famer Jerry West on the career playoff scoring list and made sure the Cavs didn't slip up at home. He and Irving combined for all of Cleveland's 24 points in the final period.
Timofey Mozgov added 16 points and Tristan Thompson had 11 rebounds for Cleveland, which has had a tougher time than expected with a young Boston team.
J.R. Smith went just 3 of 12 from the field.
Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points for the Celtics, who scrapped and clawed until the final minutes. Boston's bench outscored Cleveland's 51-7.
Game 3 of the best-of-7 series is Thursday night in Boston, where James had his first stint with Cleveland end with a playoff loss in 2010.
Leading by one at halftime, and playing as poorly as they have in weeks, the Cavaliers came out energized in the second half and used a 17-4 run to open a 14-point lead.
The spurt was capped with Irving tossing a lob pass to James who dunked and then swung on the rim like a little kid on a school playground. But the Cavs couldn't shake the Celtics, who pulled within 79-77 on a three-point play by Thomas.
However, James, as he has so often done in his brilliant career, made big shots down the stretch, none bigger than his driving layup with 1:13 left, giving the Cavs a 97-89 lead. Thompson grabbed three crucial offensive rebounds in the final 3 minutes to keep possessions alive for Cleveland.
Hoping to inspire his team, Celtics Coach Brad Stevens showed his players a videotape before the game of a runner stricken with muscular dystrophy who ran in Monday's Boston Marathon.
Maichel Melamed of Venezuela needed 18 hours to complete the 26-mile event and was the final racer to finish, but he persisted and Stevens wanted the Celtics to take the same mentality into Game 2.
They had it, but they didn't have James, who again showed why he may be in a class by himself.
Just as he did during the regular season, James is moving up several career postseason lists. He went past Michael Jordan in assists on Sunday, and now that he has passed West (4,457), Karl Malone (4,761) is next on the scoring list. Jordan is first (5,987).
When possible, Stevens said he would prefer players to pass up a 2-point shot for a 3-pointer. "They say the worst shot in basketball is the long 2," he said. "If it goes in, it's better than a miss."
Boston went 6 of 22 from 3-point range in Tuesday night's game.
Stevens canceled the team's morning shootaround in order to get his players some extra rest. "I'm big on fresh legs, clear mind," he said.
ROCKETS 111, MAVERICKS 99
HOUSTON — Dwight Howard scored 28 points and James Harden added 24 to help the Houston Rockets coast to a victory over the Dallas Mavericks to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference playoff series.
Howard and childhood friend Josh Smith dominated early in the fourth quarter to help the Rockets pull away. The Mavericks scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a three-point lead. But with Harden on the bench, Houston scored the next 11 points, powered by three alley-oop passes from Smith to Howard, to take a 92-84 lead with about 8 minutes left. Smith, who connected with Howard on six alley-oop passes, finished with 15 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Monta Ellis had 24 points for Dallas, but big men Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler combined for just 21 points. Game 3 is in Dallas on Friday night.
WIZARDS 117, RAPTORS 106
TORONTO — John Wall had 26 points and 17 assists, Bradley Beal scored 28 points and the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Marcin Gortat scored 16 points, Otto Porter had 15 and Paul Pierce added 10 for the Wizards, who host Game 3 on Friday night.
Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Sixth Man Award winner Lou Williams scored 20 points for the Raptors, who have lost four consecutive playoff games over the past two seasons.
Washington lost 15 of its final 19 regular season road games, but has won seven of eight away from home in the playoffs over the past two years. The Wizards won all three road games while beating Chicago in last year’s first round.
Sports on 04/22/2015