Miami ground down Brooklyn, while San Antonio were in control throughout to beat Portland as the two experienced outfits won on Thursday to take 2-0 leads in their NBA second-round playoff series.
Miami’s LeBron James scored 22 points and Chris Bosh added 18 as the Heat beat Brooklyn 94-82, while San Antonio’s players shared the scoring load in a 114-97 win over Portland.
Miami tied a franchise record by notching an eighth straight playoff win, with Dwyane Wade contributing 14 points and Ray Allen 13.
Photo: AFP
Mirza Teletovic set a Nets playoff record with six three-pointers, on his way to a 20-point night off the bench. Shaun Livingston scored 15, Paul Pierce had 13 and Joe Johnson added 13 more for the Nets.
Game 3 is scheduled for tomorrow in Brooklyn.
Miami led by only two points midway through the fourth quarter, but back-to-back threes opened some breathing space. And then a marathon possession for an NBA team — 100 seconds — sealed the deal for Miami.
Photo: AFP
The Nets did not get the ball back until 1 minute, 59 seconds remained, after the Heat got three offensive rebounds to extend the possession and build their lead to 10 points to effectively seal the game.
Miami were scoreless for the game’s first 3 minutes, 32 seconds, the longest Heat drought to open a home game since 2005. That set the tone for some serious offensive struggles in the early going, with the Nets scoring only 21 points in the first quarter, yet still leading by six.
San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points, while Tony Parker had 16 points and 10 assists as the Spurs won with some comfort against the Trail Blazers.
Manu Ginobili added 16 points, Marco Belinelli scored 13, and Tiago Splitter had 10 points and 10 rebounds in the Spurs’ second convincing victory to open the best-of-seven series.
Nicolas Batum scored 21 points for Portland. Damian Lillard had 19 points, and LaMarcus Aldridge added 16 points and 10 rebounds, but the Blazers again struggled to score against San Antonio’s suffocating defense.
Portland are to host Game 3 today.
The Blazers seemed rattled in the first half before finding their footing in the fourth quarter, and they closed within eight points with 5m, 37s remaining.
Lillard, Leonard and Ginobili hit back-to-back threes to put San Antonio up 110-93, and send the game out of reach.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
RSS