The Denver Nuggets on Saturday bounced back with a vengeance, powering to a 110-101 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers to even their NBA playoff series 1-1.
It was all-square between the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics, too, after the Raptors notched a second straight win, 100-93, to knot their Eastern Conference semi-final series 2-2 in the NBA’s quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida.
The Nuggets, routed 120-97 in game one of the Western Conference series on Thursday last week, turned the tables with a blistering first half in which they led by as many as 23 points.
Photo: AP
“Game one, we were tired. I hate to admit it, but we were tired,” said guard Jamal Murray, who led Denver with 27 points. “We came out sloppy, came out exhausted, fatigued. We didn’t make any shots, we didn’t get back on defense.”
“Tonight we just upped the energy, and that’s all it took to win,” he added.
Nikola Jokic added 26 points and 18 rebounds for Denver, who had rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Utah Jazz in seven games in the first round.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The two — who combined for 27 points in game one — had a total of 26 between them by the end of the first quarter as the Nuggets took a 44-25 lead.
It was 72-56 at half-time, and the Nuggets were up by 12 going into the final quarter.
The Clippers managed to cut the deficit to five early in the fourth and they got it to seven on Marcus Morris’s three-pointer with two and a half minutes remaining. Murray promptly answered with a three-pointer and the Nuggets were away again.
“I thought tonight we were a noticeably different team than we were in game one,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Paul George scored 22 points for the Clippers and Ivica Zubac added 15 points.
Two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard finished with 13 points on four-of-17 shooting with 10 rebounds and eight assists.
“They were the aggressor tonight,” Leonard said. “A few easy ones didn’t fall early, and that was it from there.”
The NBA champion Raptors, who won game three against the Celtics on Thursday on OG Anunoby’s buzzer-beating three-pointer, clamped down defensively to win again, holding the Celtics to 20 percent, shooting from three-point range while draining 17 three-pointers themselves.
Pascal Siakam shook off a slow start to score 23 points as the NBA champion Toronto Raptors leveled the series.
Kyle Lowry scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds with seven assists for the Raptors, who won their second straight game and will try to gain the upper hand in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series for the first time in game five today.
“Feels like we’re starting over,” Siakam said.
“It’s a great team we’re playing against. It’s not going to be easy. We know that,” he added.
HSIEH ADVANCES: In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei was to play in the second round last night, but Taiwan’s Ray Ho exited in the men’s doubles It is more than 10 years since Grigor Dimitrov reached his sole Wimbledon semi-final and back then it still seemed a reasonable bet that the Bulgarian once dubbed “Baby Federer” would win a Grand Slam title. There were semi-final runs at the US Open and Australian Open after that, but it has never quite happened and despite him still being ranked No. 21, it most likely never will. Dimitrov, 34, remains one of the most stylish players on the circuit though, with his elegant single-handed backhand and smooth all-court game a rare reminder of how tennis was before the power merchants turned
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
TAIWANESE WIN: Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien and their partners won their first-round matches in the women’s doubles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club Late-night finishes and five-set matches are becoming a habit for Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon this year. On Wednesday, he wrapped up his win over Gabriel Diallo before the match was suspended — making sure the fifth-seeded American would not have to come back on court for a fourth straight day. Fritz overcame a bloodied elbow to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 6-3 on No. 1 Court a day after he finished off another five-set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a match that was halted on Monday at about 10:15pm after Fritz forced a fifth set with Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew looming. He
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
RSS