National Basketball Association roundup

[May 12, 2015]  May 9 (The Sports Xchange) - Chicago Bulls forward Pau Gasol has a strained left hamstring, and his status for Sunday's Game Four against the Cleveland Cavaliers is uncertain, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Saturday.

Thibodeau said an MRI revealed the strained hamstring and that Gasol is still sore.

"(He's) day to day," Thibodeau said. "He didn't do anything today. We just did some walkthrough stuff. We'll see how he feels (Sunday)."

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Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James claims Bulls center Joakim Noah's trash talk has crossed the line and became "disrespectful."

Emotions ran high Friday in Chicago's 99-96 victory over the Cavaliers that allowed the Bulls to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.

Midway through the third quarter, Noah fouled James on a non-shooting play. Then, according to James, Noah made an offensive personal comment.

"I'm a father with three kids. It got very disrespectful," James said after the game.

"I'm OK with competing against Jo. I love the competitive nature, but we should leave it there. The disrespectful words that he said to me were uncalled for."

Less than 10 seconds later, with 8:33 remaining in the third quarter, James spun and drove for a dunk. Noah came over to help defense, but James had position and finished the play around Noah. James stared down Noah and the Bulls center responded by clapping forcefully and screaming toward James.

Official Tony Brothers called James for a technical foul for taunting and then stepped between the players. Noah came back at James and was also called for a technical.

"Disrespectful? I got mad respect for LeBron," Noah said. "We're just two players trying to win a game. That's all. I don't know what he's talking about."

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Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul played just 23 minutes in Friday's victory over the Houston Rockets because of the lingering effects of a hamstring injury, but he is expected to get more playing time in Game Four.

Coach Don Rivers said Saturday that Paul's hamstring is showing improvement. He said Paul will start Sunday's game and probably will play more minutes than he did on Friday, when he scored 12 points.

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Clippers forward-center Glen Davis was fined $5,000 by the NBA for violating the league's anti-flopping rules during Game Three against the Rockets.

(Editing by Andrew Both)

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