Bojan Bogdanovic scored 30 points
Korey Toomer Color Rush Jersey , leading the Indiana Pacers back from a 17-point halftime deficit for a 92-90 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night for a 2-1 lead in their first-round series.
Cleveland was 39-0 during the regular season when leading after three quarters and kept that perfect mark intact with a Game 2 win.
The incredible second-half charge came exactly one year after Indiana blew a 26-point halftime lead in a historic playoff collapse against the Cavs.
This time, the Pacers delivered a devastating blow to the three-time defending Eastern Conference champs – on a night LeBron Jones joined Michael Jordan as the only players in playoff history to record 100 double-doubles. James finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Cleveland from losing its first game this season after leading following the third quarter.
WIZARDS 122, RAPTORS 103
WASHINGTON (AP) – Bradley Beal heeded his coach’s plea to ”do his job” by scoring 21 of his 28 points in the first half, his All-Star backcourt running mate John Wall delivered 28 points and 14 assists, and Washington beat Toronto in an occasionally heated game to cut its Eastern Conference first-round playoff series deficit to 2-1.
After letting the Raptors grab the first 2-0 series lead in franchise history, the Wizards came home and checked off every box coach Scott Brooks presented. They got Beal more involved after he made only three shots in Game 2; they actually led after the first quarter, 30-29; they played with enough defensive focus to get produce 19 turnovers by Toronto, leading to 28 points for Washington.
Add it all up, and it was a rare recent victory for Washington, which had lost seven of eight games dating to the regular season.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 23 points on 10-for-22 shooting one game after scoring 37
Domingo Santana Milwaukee Brewers Jersey , and Kyle Lowry had 19 points and eight assists.
BUCKS 116, CELTICS 92
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Khris Middleton scored 23 points, Giannis Antetokounmpo added 19 and Milwaukee used a dominating first half to overwhelm Boston, narrowing its deficit in the first-round playoff series to 2-1.
Eric Bledsoe and Jabari Parker each added 17 for the energized Bucks, who held the Celtics without a field goal for nearly an 11-minute stretch of the first half.
Backup center Thon Maker scored 14 points and blocked five shots. Pesky guard Matthew Dellavedova, a veteran of a championship run with the Cleveland Cavaliers, helped hold young Celtics point guard Terry Rozier to nine points on 2-of-7 shooting.
Al Horford scored 16 for the Celtics, who fell behind by 23 at halftime and got no closer than 76-62 with 3:06 left in the third quarter on Jayson Tatum’s 3-pointer.
Terry Rozier and Eric Bledsoe spent seven games trash-talking through the media and pretending not to know each other’s names.
When it was over, they gave each other a quick hug – and a smile.
”Just respect,” Rozier said after scoring a career playoff high 26 points in Game 7 against Bledsoe’s Bucks on Saturday night to help the Celtics beat Milwaukee 112-96 and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second straight year.
”You’ve got two guys that want to win, two chippy guys
http://www.bengalsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-billy-price-jersey , two short point guards,” Rozier said. ”We were just out there having fun. If it takes for us to go back and forth, jawing back and forth to battle, push each other, that’s just part of the game. We talked after the game, no stuff.”
Rozier added nine assists, Al Horford had 26 points and eight rebounds, and even Giannis Antetokounmpo tipped in a basket for the Celtics, who will meet the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round.
Game 1 is in Boston on Monday night.
”We’re going to have to play great,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens, who was already without would-be starters Gordon Heyward and Kyrie Irving when Jaylen Brown left Saturday’s game with a hamstring injury. ”That’s just another thing. Somebody else is going to have to step up and play great. But we’ll get ready.”
Khris Middleton scored 32
http://www.billsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-taron-johnson-jersey , Bledsoe had 23 and Antetokounmpo had 22 points and nine rebounds for the Bucks. Milwaukee has advanced from the first round of the playoffs just once since 1989, losing nine straight playoff series since Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell brought George Karl to the Eastern Conference finals in 2001.
Jayson Tatum added 20 points for the Celtics, who rode the home-court advantage to win all four games in Boston.
”Wasn’t able to win on the road, but we pushed the series to Game 7,” Antetokounmpo said. ”A lot of the guys in the locker room have never been in Game 7s. It’s a new experience. Now we know now what it takes to win a Game 7. You’ve got to come out, hit first.”
Playing in their NBA-record 31st Game 7, the Celtics improved to 20-4 at home and 23-8 overall in best-of-seven clinchers. It was the second Game 7 at the TD Garden this week, with the Boston Bruins beating the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night to advance in the NHL playoffs.
”It’s more than you can imagine, just a great feeling,” Horford said. ”Our fans really gave us that energy. This is why you work so hard in the regular season
http://www.49ersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-mike-mcglinchey-jersey , to put yourself with home-court advantage.”
BLEDSOE AND BLEDSOE
When he was at Louisville, Rozier was compared to Bledsoe, who had left Kentucky a few years earlier. But the two did their best to work up a friendly hatred during the series.
It started when Rozier referred to his Bucks counterpart as ”Drew Bledsoe” – confusing him with the former New England Patriots quarterback. Since then, Bledsoe has pretended he doesn’t know who Rozier is.
Celtics fans joined in by chanting ”Who is Bledsoe!” in the first half. And during a fourth-quarter break, the scoreboard showed a video of Drew Bledsoe holding up one of his Patriots jerseys and proclaiming himself ”the original Bledsoe.”
”Man, that was special,” Rozier said. ”I don’t know who thought of that, but that was nice.”
FIRST HALF RUNS
Tatum had nine points in the first, when the Celtics scored 15 straight points – including a tip-in by Antetokounmpo into the Boston hoop – and 20 of the last 22 to end the quarter with a 30-17 lead. Milwaukee scored 11 in a row at the beginning of the second to make it a two-point game, but Boston answered with nine in a row to make it 41-30.
The Celtics led 50-42 at the half despite going 1-for-12 from 3-point range. Horford had 14 points and seven rebounds at the break, and Bledsoe had 12 points for the Bucks. But both Antetokounmpo and Bledsoe had three fouls at halftime.
Milwaukee cut the deficit to three points early in the third but Boston scored 11 of the last 15 points in the quarter. The Bucks never got within single digits in the fourth.
HAMMY TIME
Jaylen Brown limped off to the locker room late in the second quarter
Logan Paulsen Color Rush Jersey , then came out to test his sore right hamstring just before the start of the second half. But he left the floor and went back into the tunnel; after riding the stationary bike for a few minutes and getting checked out in the locker room, the team said he was available to return, but he did not.
”I was told that if we got in a pinch he could play,” Stevens said. ”I decided that’s not going to happen. With hamstrings – let’s see how he feels tomorrow.”
Brown said it was diagnosed as a Grade 1 sprain. He will have an MRI tomorrow.
”Whatever it takes. I wouldn’t miss this series for the world,” he said, vowing to be back for Game 1. ”That’s my goal.”
TIP-INS
Bucks: Have an 0-18 record in playoff series in which they’ve lost the first two games. They are 2-8 in Game 7s. … Bledsoe picked up a technical foul in the first quarter after complaining about a foul call. … C John Henson missed his fifth straight game with a sore back. … Scored zero points on fast breaks.
Celtics: Hayward, Irving and Daniel Theis were all at the game. Theis, who has been out since March 11, recovered enough from left knee surgery to ditch his crutches for the first time on Friday. … Also in the crowd: Red Sox owner John Henry and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. … Red Sox manage.
