San Antonio/Utah
- The top-seeded Spurs advanced to the conference semifinals against the winner of the Memphis-Los Angeles Clippers series that could go until Sunday.
- Parker had 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting, Tim Duncan added 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, and starters Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diawand Danny Green combined for a total of eight points.
- The Spurs’ bench picked up the slack, outscoring Utah’s reserves 57-10 and finishing with 27 more points than their own starters.
- Facing elimination, the Jazz started their Big 3 lineup, with Derrick Favors at power forward, Al Jeffersonat center and Paul Millsap moving to small forward.
- Gordon Hayward, who in the last 13 games of the regular season shot 50 percent overall and 49 percent from 3-point range, went 0 for 7 Monday. For the series, he shot just 18 percent (6 of 33).
- Manu Ginobli hit consecutive 3-pointers after the Utah Jazz had pulled within 61-58 late in the third quarter in Game 4 of the first-round Western Conference series.
- And after the Jazz rallied from 21 points down to get within four in the final minute, Ginobili turned a steal by Tony Parker into a layup that sealed an 87-81 victory and series sweep.
Clippers/Grizzlies
- Paul scored eight of his 27 points in overtime, and the Clippers moved to the verge of their second playoff series victory in 36 years with a 101-97 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night, taking a 3-1 series lead.
- Blake Griffin had 30 points and seven assists before fouling out with 2:26 left in overtime for the Clippers.
- The Clippers blew an 84-74 lead over the final 4½ minutes of regulation before Paul took charge in the overtime.
- Paul hit consecutive jumpers to put the Clippers ahead 99-93 with 44 seconds left, Mike Conley‘s layup with 8.1 seconds which brought the Grizzlies within two points.
- Mo Williams hit two free throws with 7.2 seconds left and the Rudy Gay missed a meaningless 3-pointer sealing the victory for Los Angeles.
- Conley scored a career playoff-high 25 points, and Gay had 23 on 8-of-25 shooting for the Grizzlies.
- Caron Butler, playing with a broken bone in his left hand, scored 14 points for the Clippers
- The Clippers have seven technical fouls in the series to the Grizzlies’ six.
|
Share the Love
|
Breaking News
|
[...] Post Game Notes and other News from around the NBA: May 8, 2012. [...]