NBA Playoffs: Red-hot Heat bury Trae, Hawks to take Game 1

Miami reserve Duncan Robinson scored a career playoff high 27 points and the Heat defensively dominated Atlanta for a 115-91 victory in an NBA playoff series opener on Sunday.

Robinson sparkled by making 9-of-10 shots, including 8-of-9 from 3-point range, while Jimmy Butler added 21 points and P.J. Tucker contributed 16 for the Heat, who seized a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round series.

"We saw the confident Duncan," Butler said. "He doesn't care what anybody thinks. He saw some threes and he made them and that's what we need from him."

The Hawks and their star guard Trae Young suffered through a miserable night against Miami's defense.

Young went 1-of-12 from the floor, 0-of-7 from 3-point range, and had a season-low eight points.

"Just make it physical on him, challenge every shot, make him pass," Butler said of the Heat's strategy to shut down Young. "He can score in bunches and we don't want him to do that."

Atlanta opened with its worst-shooting quarter and worst-shooting half of the season. Although they started 3-of-17 from the floor, the Hawks trailed only 23-17 after the first.

Miami surged ahead in the second quarter to a 59-40 halftime lead. 

Young was only 1-of-9 in the first half as the Hawks went 11-for-38.

Asked if their defensive scheme had worked perfectly, Butler admitted, "We were really close. They missed a lot of shots."

The Hawks welcomed back forward John Collins, who missed the past 18 games with foot and finger sprains, but were without star big man Clint Capela, out with a right knee injury.

Later opening games Sunday found Brooklyn at Boston, Chicago at defending champion Milwaukee and New Orleans at Phoenix.

Agence France-Presse

76ers rally past Nets

Butler hits winning 3 Again

NEW YORK – Jimmy Butler made a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining to give the Philadelphia 76ers a 127-125 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.

Butler’s shot from the right wing, similar to the one that beat Charlotte in overtime on Nov. 17, capped Philadelphia’s rally from 20 points down in a game the Nets led nearly all the way.

Butler finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds, and Joel Embiid had 32 points and 12 boards for the 76ers.


D’Angelo Russell had 38 points, his highest total with the Nets, and added eight assists and eight rebounds. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 31 points off the bench.

In Los Angeles, Nikola Vucevic had 31 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists and Terrence Ross made a go-ahead lay-up with 34 seconds left to help Orlando beat Los Angeles, 108-104.

Ross scored 16 points as the Magic defeated the Lakers for the second time in eight days. Orlando won 130-117 at home on Nov. 17.

Aaron Gordon had 17 points and D.J. Augustin added 12 points and nine assists for the Magic.

LeBron James had 24 points and seven assists for the Lakers, who had won three straight games and six of their past seven. Kyle Kuzma scored 21 points and Brandon Ingram added 17.

In Toronto, Kawhi Leonard had 29 points and 10 rebounds, Kyle Lowry added 12 points and 10 assists, and Toronto won its fifth straight game, beating Miami, 125-115.

Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Pascal Siakam scored 21 points, two shy of his career high, as the Raptors improved their NBA-leading record to 17-4.

Dwyane Wade scored a season-high 35 points, the most ever by a Miami bench player. Josh Richardson scored 19 points and Bam Adebayo had 16 points and a career-high 21 rebounds, but the Heat lost for the seventh time in nine games.

Elsewhere, it was Knicks 103, Grizzlies 98; Clippers 104, Trail Blazers 100;  Pistons 118, Suns 107; Hawks 124, Hornets 123; Jazz 133, Kings 112.

source: philstar.com

Wolves top Rockets 121-105 in Game 3, cut series lead to 2-1

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s slow-to-develop, up-and-down defense has finally started to shine, against this high-octane Houston team no less.

There’s been no wait quite like the one for a win by the Timberwolves in the playoffs, though.

Jimmy Butler hit four 3-pointers among his 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns snapped back from a bad start to the series with 18 points and 16 rebounds, leading the Timberwolves past the Rockets 121-105 in Game 3 on Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) for their first postseason victory in 14 years.

“This city deserves being in the playoffs a little bit longer,” Butler said. “We’ll see what we have. But as long as we guard, as long as we defend, we’ll put ourselves in a good enough position to win.”

Jeff Teague scored 23 points and Andrew Wiggins pitched in 20 points with another four 3-pointers, helping the Timberwolves match the NBA’s best 3-point shooting team with 15 makes apiece from long range. Minnesota took 27; Houston launched 41.

“I tell everybody all the time, as long as you’re in rhythm, no matter if somebody’s in front of you or not, it’s a good shot for you because we think that you can make that,” Butler said after the Wolves shot 50 percent overall from the floor.

Not to be left out was Derrick Rose and his 17 points off the bench, including 10 points in nine minutes before halftime. The Wolves closed the third quarter with a 26-14 run and produced spurts of 15-3 and 11-2 in the final period, perfecting their plan to play at a faster pace.

“We’ve got to do a better job of imposing our will at the beginning of the game,” said James Harden, who led the Rockets with 29 points.

The Rockets made four 3-pointers on their last seven possessions of the first half to turn an 11-point deficit to just one in less than 3½ minutes up until the break. Butler twisted his left ankle during that stretch, causing him to clutch his foot in pain and create some brief anxiety in the arena, but he didn’t require, or at least accept, any medical attention. There was no hint that he was hurt in the second half.
“He’s the heart and soul,” said Teague, who made three 3-pointers himself. “When he’s out there competing, it rubs off on everybody.”

Taj Gibson hounded Harden and forced an airballed 3-pointer, prompting the apex of the noise throughout the night with the Wolves ahead 77-70. Towns powered his way past Ryan Anderson for a layup and a three-point play with 1:57 left in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 10 points, and he flexed his biceps to the crowd after the whistle as he walked like King Kong to the corner of the court in celebration. There was no letdown in the fourth quarter, either.

“Give them a lot of credit. A lot of their 3s were butt naked, too. We were giving them uncontested 3s, and you know we’ve got to be better,” said Chris Paul, who fouled out with 17 points.

For the first time since May 29, 2004, the fifth game of the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA playoffs descended on downtown Minneapolis. The shine of this long-awaited return to relevance by the 29-year-old franchise was dulled a bit by the team’s fade down the stretch to finish eighth in the conference and draw the most daunting matchup available against a Rockets team that won all four regular season games by an average of 16 points and took the first two games of this series in Houston.

The occasion was still plenty special, though, with the memory of late coach and executive Flip Saunders not far from the minds of the Target Center regulars, and the sellout crowd matched the moment to make the arena louder than it had been all season.

“It was crazy. All the fans were in the game the whole time,” Wiggins said. “They helped us gain momentum going forward.”

HARD FOR HARDEN

Harden, who had 44 points in Game 1 but lost his rainbow jumper in Game 2 and finished only 2 for 18 from the floor for 12 points, wasn’t a whole lot sharper in Game 3. He went 9 for 21, including 3 for 8 from 3-point range.

“We stooped to their level, playing slow,” said Rockets sixth man Eric Gordon, who went 5 for 16 from the floor. “We didn’t create.”

GOING TO TOWNS

After totaling only 13 points over the first two games, Towns was constantly double-teamed by the Rockets and didn’t attempt a shot in the first quarter. The 7-footer’s energy got going soon after that, though, with an emphatic dunk on Clint Capela after peeling away from the post-up to snag a high pass from Teague.

“You let the game tell you what to happen,” Towns said. “Just trying to find different ways to score.”

source: philstar.com