The Houston Rockets avoided elimination from the NBA playoffs and trimmed their series deficit against the Portland Trail Blazers to 3-2, while the San Antonio Spurs and the Toronto Raptors pulled off home-court victories on Wednesday to claim 3-2 leads in their series.
The Spurs led throughout in beating the Dallas Mavericks 109-103, led by Tony Parker who played despite the early-morning birth of his first child, while the Raptors blew a big lead against Brooklyn, before recovering to edge the Nets 115-113 and Houston pulled out the win they needed to stay alive, beating Portland 108-98.
Parker scored 23 points and Manu Ginobili had 19, while Tiago Splitter added 17 points and 12 rebounds for San Antonio, which will host Game 7 if Dallas manage to square it 3-3 at home today.
Photo: EPA
Tim Duncan added 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Kawhi Leonard had 15 points for the Spurs.
Vince Carter scored 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting from the field for Dallas, while Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points to better by 10 his previous average in the series.
Carter’s three-pointer with three minutes left pulled Dallas within 98-94, but Parker followed a minute later with his only three-pointer of the game.
Photo: USA Today
Toronto appeared to be cruising to victory when they led Brooklyn by 26 points, but saw that lead evaporate and needed a three-pointer from Kyle Lowry to get back ahead and win 115-113.
Lowry scored a career playoff-high 36 points, while DeMar DeRozan had 23 points, Jonas Valanciunas scored 16 and Greivis Vasquez added 15 for the Raptors, who would advance to face Miami in the second round with a victory in Game 6 today in Brooklyn, New York.
Joe Johnson scored 30 points and Mirza Teletovic had 17 for the Nets, who scored 44 points in the fourth quarter, but lost their final chance when Andray Blatche fired a pass well over Deron Williams’ head into the backcourt for a turnover.
Toronto led 94-72 with 11 minutes, 23 seconds remaining, but Brooklyn scored 15 of the next 18 points, including a four-point play by Alan Anderson, to make it 97-87 with 7:15 remaining.
Johnson later converted a three-point play, then made a three to tie it 101-101 with 3:16 left.
It was still tied at 106-106 with 1:23 left, but Lowry made a three-pointer, then followed a layup by Blatche with a driving hook shot, putting the Raptors up 111-108 with 27 seconds remaining.
Houston’s Dwight Howard had 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Jeremy Lin came off the bench to score 21 points as the Rockets beat Portland.
A basket by Damian Lillard got the Trail Blazers within two points, before James Harden stepped back and swished a three-pointer to make it 103-98 with about three minutes left.
Harden’s shot was the start of Houston’s 12-0 run to close it out. He finished with 17 points and seven assists.
Houston finally slowed down LaMarcus Aldridge, limiting him to eight points after he averaged 35.3 points in the first four games of the series.
Wesley Matthews had 27 points and Lillard added 26 for the Trail Blazers, who can clinch the series with a win at home today.
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