NBA Playoffs 2015: Latest Round 1 Scores, Surprising Results and Best Highlights
The Houston Rockets pushed the Dallas Mavericks to the brink of being swept out of the first round of the NBA playoffs Friday night. Although the series shifted from H-Town to Big D for Game 3, James Harden made sure he and his teammates made themselves at home.
In the best game of the series thus far, Harden scored 42 points in leading his team to a 130-128 win...in regulation. Defense, smeefense.
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Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field, and the Rockets made 54 percent of their attempts from three-point range. Per the team's Twitter account, Harden talked about what it took to finish off a desperate Dallas team:
The Mavs have to find a way to curtail Harden but to also keep Dwight Howard off the glass. D12 had 26 rebounds in Game 3, with a remarkable 11 coming on the offensive glass. When a team shoots over 50 percent from the field, the last thing an opponent wants to do is give it second- and third-chance opportunities.
Howard added 13 points, three assists, two steals and two blocks to go with his stellar performance on the boards. Here's a look at two of his points from Houston's big win:
The Rockets will go for the series sweep Sunday.
The Washington Wizards kept pouring it on the Toronto Raptors on Friday. After taking Games 1 and 2 on the road in Toronto, the Wizards showed the Raps how to protect their home court with a 106-99 victory.
Toronto got off to a solid start. It led 35-33 after a high-scoring first quarter, but the Wiz's defense responded by holding the Raps to just 13 in the second quarter. Toronto held brief leads in the third and fourth periods, but it was Washington that properly closed the show.
Paul Pierce and Otto Porter both drained clutch threes in the last few minutes of the game, and the Wizards got double-doubles from John Wall (19 points and 15 assists) and Marcin Gortat (24 points and 13 rebounds).
Despite a 32-point performance from DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors are in a win-or-go-home predicament Sunday.
Newly crowned NBA Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard, the San Antonio Spurs' blistering defense and the Los Angeles Clippers' ice-cold shooting led to the most lopsided game thus far in the NBA playoffs this season. The Spurs won 100-73 to earn a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series against the Clippers.
Leonard had 32 points and four rebounds on an incredibly efficient 13-of-18 shooting night. As a team, the Spurs shot 52.6 percent from the field compared to just 34.1 percent for the Clippers. Chris Paul had been on fire in Games 1 and 2, but he was held to just seven points and four assists with six turnovers Friday.
Blake Griffin had a double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, but his scoring was way down from the pace he set in the first two games of the series. When the two teams meet again Sunday, Griffin and Paul will need to be the dynamic duo they were in Game 1 to even the series.
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