Washington booked their place in the next round of the NBA playoffs with a victory on Tuesday, while Memphis and the Los Angeles Clippers moved to the brink of doing the same by taking 3-2 series leads.
Washington won 75-69 at Chicago in a dour defensive encounter to complete a 4-1 series victory. It is only the third time since the 1970s that the Wizards have gone beyond the first round of the playoffs.
Memphis and Oklahoma City went to overtime for the fourth straight game in the series, with the Grizzlies pulling out a 100-99 road win that put them within one win of reaching the last eight.
Photo: EPA
Washington’s John Wall finished with 24 points, while Nene scored 20 in the Wizards’ low-scoring win at Chicago.
Bradley Beal scored 17 points for Washington, who look like extending their stay in the playoffs in what is the team’s first postseason appearance for six years.
The Wizards turned a halftime tie into a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter and hung on.
Chicago’s comeback chances took a big hit early in the final quarter when Taj Gibson suffered a game-ending ankle injury with his team trailing by six points.
Wall and Nene, back from a one-game suspension, both had seven rebounds. Marcin Gortat had two points and 13 rebounds.
Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 21 points. David Lee and Andre Iguodala scored 18 apiece, while Stephen Curry had a mediocre game with 17 points, including four three-pointers.
Memphis prevailed in a thrilling finish at Oklahoma City to move to the verge of what would be a surprise series victory.
Oklahoma City called a timeout with the score at 100-99 and with 2.9 seconds remaining. Kevin Durant missed a long three-point attempt and teammate Serge Ibaka tipped the ball in on the rebound. The shot was reviewed and it was determined that it was released after the buzzer, ending the game.
Mike Miller scored 21 points, while Zach Randolph added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who are scheduled to host Game 6 today.
Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds for the Thunder, who trailed by 20 points in the third quarter, but trimmed their deficit to six by the start of the fourth quarter and finally took a 79-78 lead.
Consecutive baskets by Mike Conley put the Grizzlies up 87-82 with just under 4 minutes to play.
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS