NBA: Kyrie Irving, Mavericks edge Kings to tie for 10th in West

Kyrie Irving hit three late 3-pointers and teamed with Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr. for 84 points Wednesday night, helping the host Dallas Mavericks move into a tie for 10th place in the Western Conference with a 123-119 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Irving finished with a game-high 31 points, Doncic 29 and Hardaway 24 for the Mavericks (38-42), who snapped a three-game losing streak. Dallas caught the Oklahoma City Thunder (38-42) for the West’s last play-in spot with just two games remaining.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Irving said. “We’ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep maintaining the poise and mentality and the results will come.

“We don’t control our own destiny but we can control our effort out here right now.”

Four clubs advance to the play-in mini-tournament to determine the final two teams that join the top six finishers in each conference.

The Thunder, who own the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage, close out the season at the Utah Jazz and at home against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Mavericks conclude with home games against the Chicago Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs.

De’Aaron Fox had a team-high 28 points and Domantas Sabonis a 19-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double for the Kings (48-32). Sacramento failed to pick up a game on the Memphis Grizzlies (50-30), a loser at New Orleans, in their duel for the No. 2 seeding in the West.

The Grizzlies have road games against the Milwaukee Bucks and the Thunder remaining on the schedule. The Kings will host the Golden State Warriors before visiting the Denver Nuggets.

After the Mavericks used two 3-pointers apiece from Doncic, Irving and Hardaway in the third quarter to erase a 13-point deficit, the clubs entered the fourth period tied. The teams traded leads 10 times before Irving hit consecutive 2- and 3-point hoops for a 111-107 advantage with 6:10 to go.

The imported star then almost singlehandedly held off the Kings down the stretch, hitting two more threes and a free throw, helping Dallas go up by as many as nine in the final minute.

Irving shot 6-for-10 from 3-point range, Hardaway 5-for-8 and Doncic 3-for-11 as the Mavericks beat the Kings at their own game, making 20 of their 44 3-point attempts (45.5 percent). The visitors went just 12-for-37 (32.4 percent).

Irving also found time for a team-high eight assists.

Doncic completed a double-double with a team-high 10 rebounds, while Christian Wood and Josh Green chipped in with 14 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench.

Harrison Barnes (16 points), Kevin Huerter (14), Malik Monk (13) and Keegan Murray (11) also scored in double figures for the Kings, who split games on a trip that began Tuesday night with a win at New Orleans.

-reuters

NBA Playoffs: Tatum beats buzzer, as Celtics escape Nets in Game 1

Jayson Tatum spun in for a buzzer-beating layup to give the Boston Celtics a dramatic 115-114 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in the first game of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series.

Tatum scored 31 points to lead the Celtics, who thwarted a fourth-quarter comeback bid by the Nets to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Tatum added eight assists and two blocked shots, Jaylen Brown added 23 points and Al Horford and Marcus Smart scored 20 apiece for Boston, who took a 96-85 lead into the fourth quarter but trailed 114-111 with less than a minute to play.

Former Celtic Kyrie Irving, booed throughout by Boston fans who still resent his departure for Brooklyn, led the Nets with 39 points. Kevin Durant was the only other Nets starter in double figures with 23.

Irving will no doubt hear from the NBA after a middle-finger salute to heckling fans in the third quarter, but he saved his best gesture for the fourth period, when he scored 18 points to key the Nets' comeback bid.

Irving's long three-pointer over Smart put Brooklyn up 114-111 with 1:04 to play.

But the Celtics clamped down defensively and pulled within one on Brown's driving layup. After Durant missed a three-pointer, Tatum, fed by Smart from across the lane, willed his way through traffic for the game-winner.

A first half that featured 17 lead changes ended with the score knotted at 61-61, but the Celtics, who had been idle since their last regular-season game as the Nets battled through the play-in tournament, pulled away with a 39-24 third quarter.

"Our aggressiveness was great," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said of his team's third-quarter performance. "It was different from the first half. I felt like, offensively, we got going as well, knocked a little bit of the rust off in the first half."

Agence France-Presse

Kyrie Irving gets cheers and a win at MSG as Celtics beat Knicks

NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving heard the “We want Kyrie! We want Kyrie!” chants that echoed through Madison Square Garden.

He seemed more annoyed than flattered.


“It’s nothing but a distraction at this point,” he said.

Irving and the Boston Celtics handled it as easily as they handled the overmatched Knicks, winning 113-99 on Friday night in the first game since New York traded Kristaps Porzingis.

Irving had 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists before a crowd eager to start the free agent wooing five months early.

The trade to Dallas gave the Knicks money to chase two top free agents this summer and fans showed Irving that they want him to be one of them, cheering him before and during his return from a two-game absence with a hip injury.

Irving is one of the headline names in the 2019 free agent class, and though he said at a Celtics fan event last fall that he intended to re-sign in Boston, that may be no guarantee. He told reporters at the morning shootaround to “Ask me July 1” if his plans had changed.

Discouraged earlier this season by the play of some of his younger teammates, his frustration now is with the talk about matters beyond basketball, with the trade deadline less than a week away and his name being tied to Anthony Davis’ future as he seeks a trade from New Orleans.

So the former New Jersey high school star figured it would be a scene when he was back in the area.

“Like I said, I’m appreciative of the fan support I get in any arena, but of course coming back home,” he said. “Obviously what’s going on in terms of that noise and commentary is just a bunch of nonsense right now. Can’t do anything about it so I’m just accepting, I’m appreciative, but at the same time I’ve got a game to focus on.”

Marcus Morris added 18 points for the Celtics, who won for the eighth time in nine games and remain supportive of Irving.

“He’s a guy that’s very polarizing in the NBA and the world so everything he says, even if it’s not really that serious, it’s going to be taken out of proportion,” Morris said. “But like I said, he still comes in, he’s a professional. We all love him, we all want him here.”

Damyean Dotson scored 22 points and Kevin Knox had 21 for the Knicks, who dropped their 12th straight.

The Knicks dealt Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee and Trey Burke to Dallas along with the injured Porzingis, getting Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan and Wesley Matthews in return, plus two future first-round picks.

The new players weren’t available, so the Knicks started with a backcourt of Dotson and Kadeem Allen.

The short-handed lineup hung around into the fourth quarter before opening February with a loss after going a combined 3-24 in December and January.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Al Horford and Gordon Hayward each had 14 points. … Irving gave his jersey to his father after the game.

Knicks: Coach David Fizdale said the new players had been in the arena Friday before the game. … Luke Kornet started at center and scored nine points after missing the last five games with a sprained left ankle.

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK

Fizdale said he and Porzingis had a nice chat Thursday, wishing each other and joking about never getting onto the court. He said he didn’t question whether there was more he could have done to keep Porzingis happy in New York. 



“I can’t think that way. He’s obviously been here and has dealt with whatever he’s had to deal with throughout the course of his career. I can’t personalize that and put that on me,” Fizdale said. “Obviously I really worked hard to build a great relationship with him, going over to Latvia and everything, and really trying to involve him in a lot of the stuff that we’re doing.”

KYRIE’S CHEERS

Fizdale, on the chants for Irving: “You know, I am on a whole other planet when it comes to that stuff. I am just constantly into how do I help these guys win the next play, how do I get them past the last play?”

UP NEXT

Celtics: Host Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Knicks: Host Memphis on Sunday.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Kyrie Irving gets season-high 43 points as Celtics overcome Raptors

BOSTON — Kyrie Irving had 11 straight Boston points down the stretch and scored 17 in all in the last 8:06 of the fourth quarter.

Then in overtime, he really turned it on.


The Celtics guard made or assisted on every basket in the extra period, finishing with 11 assists and a season-high 43 points on Friday night to lead Boston to a 123-116 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

“Man, he made some shots tonight where you’re just like, ‘Wow,'” forward Gordon Hayward said. “You catch yourself being a fan. When he gets into that mode, the whole arena knew where we were going, and so did the Raptors. They just couldn’t stop him.”

It was the first time Irving has scored at least 40 points with 10 or more assists in a game. He was the first player do it in the NBA this year, and the first Celtics player since Antoine Walker in 2001.

“Kyrie did a great job in the fourth quarter knocking down shots,” said Kawhi Leonard, who scored 31 points and had a season-high 15 rebounds for Toronto. “We fought hard tonight, they played a better game and we’ve just got to keep playing better.”

Jayson Tatum had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Celtics, who evened the season series at one game apiece against the only team to finish above them in the Eastern Conference last season. The home team has won nine straight matchups.

Serge Ibaka scored 21 and Pascal Siakam had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost three straight since opening the season with 12 victories in their first 13 games. Toronto never led in overtime.

“It was just a veteran game out there, just great competition for a Friday night in the NBA,” Irving said. “You’ve got to appreciate that, two great teams going at it. And I’m pretty sure we’ll see them down the road.”

HEY, HEY!

Hayward scored 15 points and had five rebounds and five assists in a team-high 39 minutes — by far his biggest workload since the injury that knocked him out in the first quarter of the first game last season.

“I was wondering if they were going to take me out of the game,” he said. “Happy that he left me in. It felt good to play that many minutes. It’s been such a long time. It was a good confidence-builder.”

Hayward hit a pair of free throws to open the overtime, Ibaka answered with a jumper and from there it was all Celtics. Hayward scored on a pass from Irving, then Irving rescued Tatum from a near-turnover and drove for the layup to give Boston a 113-109 lead.

The Raptors never got closer than three points after that.

“Not too often during the regular season we get to have games like this,” Irving said. “A great test for your team on both ends of the basketball floor, a great player in that other locker room, the competition and the level of play raises and you’ve just got to appreciate that.”

END OF REGULATION

Toronto led by eight early in the fourth quarter and still had a 107-103 lead with 90 seconds left. But Tatum dunked to cut the deficit to two points and Siakam was called for pushing while going for a rebound, sending Hayward to the line for the game-tying free throws.

Leonard had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but his long jumper went off the rim.

“The main thing is we’re going to hold it until the very last shot so that nothing bad happens and they can’t get a rebound and call a timeout,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “It’s just man on man and you hope your guy can make the basket and we have a lot of faith in him that he can.”

DUCK

Late in the third quarter, Kyle Lowry got Tatum in the air with a fake and then tried to duck under him as the Celtics forward came over the top. But Tatum wound up kicking him in the head as he came back down.

Lowry went to the floor but remained in the game and made both free throws to give Toronto a 78-68 lead their first double-digit advantage of the game.

TIP-INS

Irving surpassed the 10,000 point and the 2,500 assist milestones. … After going 1-4 on a road trip, the Celtics have won two in a row at home. … Toronto’s OG Anunoby left the game in the third quarter with a sprained right wrist. … The Raptors already beat Boston 113-101 on Oct. 19. The teams, which have won 11 of the last 12 Atlantic Division championships, will play twice more.

UP NEXT

Raptors: Visit the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.

Celtics: Host the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Aldridge, Ginobili rescue Spurs against Celtics

SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining and the San Antonio Spurs overcame Kyrie Irving’s 36-point effort to beat Boston 105-102 on Friday night, snapping the Celtics’ four-game winning streak.

Ginobili set up the winning basket by sneaking into the paint for an offensive rebound with 25 seconds left.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio.

Irving, who scored a career-high 57 points against San Antonio in 2015 while with Cleveland, created havoc again at the AT&T Center. Irving finished 13 for 21, including 6 for 10 on 3-pointers, but missed his final two 3s. His final 3-pointer rattled in and out as the buzzer sounded.

The Spurs, already without Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Anderson, lost Danny Green in the first half. Green left with tightness in his left groin. There was no update on the severity of the injury.

Pau Gasol had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Rudy Gay had 15 points, and Tony Parker added 11 for the Spurs. The Spurs are undefeated with Parker in the lineup through six games.

San Antonio held Boston to one field goal in the opening four minutes of the final quarter to erase a five-point deficit to set up the last-second dramatics.

Jayson Tatum had 20 points, and Jaylen Brown added 15 for the Celtics.

Boston scored the game’s first 11 points, prompting San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich to call a timeout and make mass substitutions during the run. Irving hit two more 3-pointers after the initial run, and Popovich drew a technical foul.

The Spurs’ first lead on a fallaway 3-pointer by Ginobili at the close of the first half for a 56-55 advantage.

Brown had 10 points in the third, including two monstrous dunks late in the quarter that awed the crowd.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Forward Marcus Morris was listed as questionable while rehabilitating his left knee, but felt comfortable enough during pre-game warmups to play. Morris finished with five points in 25 minutes after being listed. … Boston suffered its first loss to a Western Conference after winning eight straight. … The Celtics are 10-3 on the road, trailing only Houston (11-1) and Golden State (11-3) for the league’s best road record.

Spurs: Popovich would not confirm a report by the San Antonio Express-News that Leonard will make his season debut Saturday in Phoenix. “Sooner rather than later,” Popovich said, repeating the answer he has given all season about the All-Star forward’s return. … Parker has played 36,000 career minutes as a starter, 24th in league history. … Ginobili has played 26,000 minutes in his career, all with the Spurs, the fourth most in franchise history behind Tim Duncan, Parker and David Robinson. … Green has 500 steals and 401 blocks in his career. Green, LeBron James and Kevin Durant are the only players since 2009 with 500 steals, 400 blocks and 800 3-pointers.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Visit Detroit on Sunday night in a battle between two of the top four records in the Eastern Conference.

Spurs: Visit Phoenix on Saturday night in what could be Leonard’s season debut.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Kyrie Irving’s late flurry helps Celtics top Heat

MIAMI — Kyrie Irving has done a lot of things in Miami: relaxation, offseason workouts, even the filming of an “Uncle Drew” commercial.

Something he hadn’t done there? Win.

He’s now crossed that off the list as well.

Irving took over down the stretch, scoring nine of his 24 points in the final 2:03 and the Boston Celtics extended their winning streak to four games after holding on late to beat the Heat 96-90 on Saturday night.

It was Irving’s eighth time playing at Miami, and the first time he walked off the Heat home floor a winner.

“Just big possessions down the stretch (and) understanding you have to stay poised,” Irving said. “It’s unwavering in those situations like that. Winning time — so it’s pretty simple.”

Jayson Tatum scored 20 and Marcus Smart added 16 for the Celtics, who beat Miami for the eighth consecutive time. And afterward, Tatum marveled at Irving’s closing flurry.

“It was weird because I’ve seen it on TV so many times,” Tatum said. “And I just saw it in person. I liked it.”

Goran Dragic scored 22 points for Miami, which got 16 apiece from Josh Richardson and James Johnson. Former Boston forward Kelly Olynyk had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Heat, who were 7 for 31 from 3-point range.

At 2-3, and mindful of how last season’s 11-30 start cost Miami a playoff spot, the Heat already sound anxious to get things fixed.

“I don’t want to have a season like last year, when it’s late and we figure out things,” Dragic said. “We’ve got to do it now, because it’s important.”

Miami was down 11 going into the fourth, then got within two on a pair of occasions late — when Irving got rolling.

He hit a short floater to put Boston up 88-84, and after Dragic scored to cut the Celtics’ lead to two again, Irving pulled off one of his acrobatic reverse layups to restore the four-point edge.

And on a possession extended by a Boston offensive rebound, Irving’s 3-pointer with 57 seconds left made the margin 93-86.

“That’s what he is,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s a great closer in this game.”

TIP-INS

Celtics: Boston has won five straight in Miami, matching the longest such streak in franchise history. … The Celtics aren’t sure if Marcus Morris (sore left knee) will be able to play when they return home Monday, but coach Brad Stevens thinks Morris will be ready sometime in the coming week. Morris has already missed as many games this season — six — as he did in the previous four seasons combined.

Heat: C Hassan Whiteside (bruised left knee) missed his fourth consecutive game, and the Heat still aren’t sure when he’ll return. … Miami had what became a five-point possession late in the second quarter, when Richardson made two free throws after a Flagrant-1 on Al Horford — followed by a three-point play from James Johnson. … Dion Waiters didn’t play in the fourth quarter and scored only five points.

HELLO, AGAIN

Stevens keeps a close eye on former players, and Olynyk and Jordan Mickey — former Celtics now with the Heat — are no exception. “I really root for everybody,” Stevens said. Same goes for Spoelstra, who texted injured Celtics forward Gordon Hayward words of support after the All-Star’s grotesque ankle injury in Cleveland in the season opener. Hayward considered signing with Miami as a free agent this past summer.

SCORING DROUGHT

Miami was held under 100 points for the first time this season. Boston outscored Miami 53-37 in the middle two quarters — holding the Heat to 39 percent shooting from the field and 19 percent from 3-point range during that 24-minute span. But the big problems that Spoelstra was unhappy about postgame were Boston’s edges in points off turnovers (21-13) and second-chance points (21-9).

UP NEXT

Celtics: Host San Antonio on Monday, looking to snap an 11-game losing streak to the Spurs.

Heat: Host Minnesota on Monday, the fifth game in this six-game homestand.

source: sports.inquirer.net

NBA: James shines as Cavs withstand big night from Wiggins

MINNEAPOLIS, United States — LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each scored 25 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers withstood a huge night from Andrew Wiggins to record a 116-108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Canada’s Wiggins finished with a game-high 41 points for the Timberwolves which equaled his second-highest point total this NBA season.

James also had 14 assists for Cleveland who sealed their 38th win of the season with 1:39 remaining when ex-Timberwolves player Derrick Williams finished off a fast break layup. The layup came just moments after James nailed a step back three pointer.

Wiggins had help from Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Gorgui Dieng added 12 points, but no other Timberwolves player reached double figures in scoring.

Wiggins got the Timberwolves back in the game Tuesday, sparking a rally after Irving hit a three pointer halfway through the third quarter to give Cleveland a 14-point lead.

Wiggins tallied 19 points in the third quarter.

Cleveland had to make due without forward Kevin Love, who had surgery on his left knee on Tuesday and will be sidelined for six weeks. Love was averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Channing Frye helped fill the void by chipping in with 21 points. Tristan Thompson also contributed to the offence by adding 14 points and 11 rebounds.

This is the Cavaliers’ second win over Minnesota in a two-week span. The Cavaliers beat the Timberwolves 125-97 on February 1. CBB

source: sports.inquirer.net