Jimmy Butler yesterday scored 30 points as the Philadelphia 76ers turned the tables on hosts the Toronto Raptors with a 94-89 victory that knotted their NBA playoff series at one game apiece.
The Sixers, beaten 108-95 in the opener of the Eastern Conference second-round series, thwarted the Raptors’ second-half comeback bid, notching their first win in Toronto since November 2012 to head home for Game 3 tomorrow all square.
Butler added 11 rebounds and handed out five assists for the Sixers, who led 51-38 at halftime, despite 13 first-half turnovers.
Photo: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY
The Raptors closed the deficit to 61-60 late in the third quarter.
However, they missed six of their first seven shots in the final period and the Sixers held on for the win.
Butler scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. That included a three-pointer off an assist from center Joel Embiid that put the Sixers up 88-81 with 2 minutes, 14 seconds to play.
“My team had a lot of faith in me tonight,” said Butler, who scored just 10 points in Game 1. “I told them I had to come out and redeem myself.”
Embiid, battling a stomach ailment, scored just two baskets.
The second could not have been better timed as he drove to bank in a shot that put the Sixers up 92-89 with 24.3 seconds remaining.
Toronto’s Danny Green then missed a potential game-tying three-pointer and Philadelphia’s Tobias Harris grabbed the rebound.
Harris was fouled and sealed the win with two free throws.
Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard led all scorers with 35 points, while Pascal Siakam added 21 and Kyle Lowry scored 20.
However, the five points from Toronto’s reserves were dwarfed by the production of Philadelphia’s bench: 13 points from James Ennis, 10 from Greg Monroe and three from Jonah Bolden.
The Denver Nuggets, two days removed from their first-round Game 7 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, opened their Western Conference second-round series with a 121-113 home victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Serbian center Nikola Jokic scored 37 points, pulled down nine rebounds, handed out six assists and blocked two shots.
Both teams came out firing, the Trail Blazers connecting on 63.6 percent of their first-quarter shots and Denver making 61.9 percent of their shots as the first period ended tied 32-32.
Denver, up 58-55 at halftime, pulled away after the break, taking a 93-84 lead into the final period.
Portland — led by 39 points from All-Star guard Damian Lillard — trimmed a 12-point deficit to 101-96 with 8:02 left in the game.
Denver responded with an 8-0 scoring run, ignited by Mason Plumlee’s dunk.
Plumlee slammed home a miss by teammate Malik Beasley, and Beasley rebounded another miss and made a layup as the Nuggets seized a 109-96 lead with 6:11 left to play.
Denver were in control from there, although Jokic and coach Mike Malone said that they had plenty of room for improvement before they host Game 2 today.
“We kind of went into the game a little sloppy, slow. We didn’t play a lot of defense,” Jokic said.
“We got the win, and when you know you haven’t played your best basketball, that’s a good feeling,” Malone said.
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