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 Rockets 111, Mavericks 99
Josh Smith put on a crowd-pleasing passing exhibition to help
Houston pull away from Dallas and claim a Game Two victory in their
Western Conference first-round series on Tuesday.
Smith finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and nine assists,
seven of which came in the fourth quarter.
During one decisive stretch, he fed Dwight Howard (28 points, 12
rebounds) on four alley-oop dunks that turned a three-point deficit
into a 94-86 lead with 7:39 remaining.
Smith also converted a driving layup in his dominant spell and
tallied the final basket for the Rockets with a thunderous dunk,
working the pick-and-roll with guard James Harden (24 points, six
assists).
The win gave the Rockets, who scored 60 points in the paint, a 2-0
lead in the best-of-seven series, which now heads to Dallas for Game
Three on Friday.
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Wizards 117, Raptors 106
Bradley Beal scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed five rebounds
as Washington took a 2-0 series lead with a comfortable win over
Toronto at Air Canada Center.
Wizards point guard John Wall added 26 points while setting a
franchise playoff record with 17 assists. Center Marcin Gortat had
16 points and eight rebounds, while forward Otter Porter added 15
points and eight rebounds off the bench.
The Raptors, who got 20 points apiece from Lou Williams and DeMar
DeRozan, face a tough road. Only three teams in NBA history have won
a best-of-seven series after falling behind 0-2 at home.
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Cavaliers 99, Celtics 91
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving combined to score all 24
fourth-quarter points as Cleveland survived a scare from Boston to
take a 2-0 lead in their opening-round series.
James scored 15 of his 30 points in the fourth and Irving added nine
of his 26 points in the same quarter. James also had nine rebounds
and seven assists, while Irving had five rebounds and six assists.
Center Timofey Mozgov scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds
and forward Kevin Love had 13 points and six rebounds while battling
foul trouble.
Boston guard Isaiah Thomas, who finished second this week in Sixth
Man of the Year balloting, finished with 22 points, including
10-of-10 shooting at the free-throw line on a night the Celtics'
bench out-scored the Cavs 51-7.
Game Three is in Boston on Thursday. (Editing by Cameron French/John
O'Brien)
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