By Field Level Media
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Stephen Curry went for a game-high 36 point and the Golden State Warriors, despite missing injured Jimmy Butler III, rallied past the visiting Houston Rockets 104-93 on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series in San Francisco.

The Warriors’ Gary Payton II saved nine of his postseason career-high 16 points for a late run and Buddy Hield bombed five 3-pointers to account for a majority of his 17 points. Rookie Quinten Post, making his first postseason start, snatched a game-high 12 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Warriors, who can go up 3-1 in the Western Conference best-of-seven series with another home-court win Monday.

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“This series, no game is going to be pretty,” Curry said after the game on the ABC broadcast. “You just kinda have to grind it out. We had 22 points halfway through the (second quarter). You wonder: How are we going to score? You just stick with it and make the right plays.”

The Warriors learned after the pregame warmup that Butler would not be able to go because of a glute contusion suffered in the Game 2 loss at Houston.

“Everybody just stepped up and played for Jimmy,” Curry said. “Hopefully, he’s back soon.”

After the Rockets held the Warriors to 18 points in the first first quarter, Golden State scored the final nine points of the second quarter to get within 49-46 at the break and set up a tightly contested second half.

A 3-pointer by Dillon Brooks with 5:47 remaining in regulation gave the Rockets their last lead at 84-83 before Payton, who went scoreless in the Warriors’ Game 2 loss, shockingly took over the game.

With his Hall of Fame dad watching from the stands, Payton gave Golden State the lead with a layup with 5:27 to go, then added another layup, a 3-pointer and a dunk in a personal nine-point run that opened a 92-86 lead with 3:42 to go.

“Everybody has confidence. That’s the beauty of our team,” Curry said. “Gary was unbelievable — taking advantage of the double-teams up top, getting into the paint, finishing at the rim, the big 3 in the corner, obviously the defense … He’s been around, too. He was part of the championship team in 2022. He knows what it takes.”

Curry bottomed his fifth 3-pointer of the night and Payton added a dunk down the stretch to help Golden State hold the visitors at bay.

Curry’s 30-point night was the 60th of his postseason career. He also found time for seven rebounds and a game-high nine assists.

“We’re not going to hold him to three points every time we play him. We have to understand that,” Houston’s Fred VanVleet said. “He’s one of the all-time greats. I thought our coverages were a little slow tonight. Some of the switching, some of the physicality was a touch down from what we had it ramped up to last game.”

Curry and Hield each drilled five 3-pointers, helping Golden State outscore the Rockets 42-33 from beyond the arc.

Draymond Green contributed seven points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks to the cause, while Brandin Podziemski added 10 points.

VanVleet paced the second-seeded Rockets with 17 points, and Alperen Sengun had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Brooks scored 13 points, Jabari Smith Jr. 12 and Amen Thompson 11. Jalen Green chipped in with nine points, six rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Gordon’s dunk at buzzer lifts Nuggets over Clippers

Aaron Gordon slammed down a dunk as time expired to give the Denver Nuggets a dramatic and much-needed 101-99 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday in Game 4 of their first-round series at Inglewood, Calif.

Nikola Jokic airballed a 3-pointer as the clock wound down and Gordon leaped to catch the ball and released his dunk just before the red light came on the backboard. A replay review upheld the ruling and the basket allowed Denver to even the best-of-seven Western Conference series at two games apiece.

“You could say it was a lucky play but Aaron is a big athletic man,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “He met the ball early. I couldn’t tell if it was good or not. I was preparing for overtime. …

“That’s going to be on NBA TV someday and I’m glad we won the game. I’m glad it will be on Nuggets Day and not Clippers Day.”

Jokic had 36 points, 21 rebounds and eight assists as the fourth-seeded Nuggets bounced back from a 117-83 pummeling in Game 3 on the road.

Kawhi Leonard registered 24 points and nine rebounds and Norman Powell scored 22 for the fifth-seeded Clippers.

“This was really big for us,” Gordon said. “We did what we came here to do and that was get homecourt advantage back.”

Game 5 is Tuesday at Denver.

Los Angeles trailed by 22 in the fourth quarter before making a 32-9 charge to take its first lead of the contest with 1:11 left in the game.

“We picked up our intensity and were being more aggressive,” said Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. “… We kind of got them off-guard and surprised them and took advantage of that. The fourth quarter is when we really executed and did what we were supposed to do.”

Powell hit consecutive 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 96-95 with 1:55 remaining before Bogdan Bogdanvoic scored on a putback to cap a 12-0 run and put the Clippers ahead for less than 13 seconds.

A short time later, Jokic swished a turnaround jumper to give Denver a 99-97 edge with 16.1 seconds remaining. Los Angeles tied it up on Ivica Zubac’s tip-in with eight seconds to go.

“It was tough,” Leonard said. “I’m glad we fought. We didn’t lay down. We rallied back. This is the NBA. They made a great play.”

Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun added 17 points for the Nuggets and Gordon added 14. Jamal Murray had 13 points but was just 5 of 17 from the field.

Zubac had 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for Los Angeles. James Harden added 15 points and 11 assists for the Clippers, who shot 44.3 percent from the field and 10 of 30 from 3-point range.

Denver’s Russell Westbrook (left foot) missed the contest. He was injured in Game 3.

The Nuggets shot 46 percent from the field and were 10 of 30 from behind the arc.

Denver outscored the Clippers 35-17 in the third quarter to open up an 85-65 lead.

Braun hit a 3-pointer to cap a 9-0 burst as the Nuggets led 76-60 with 1:58 left in the third. Murray’s layup with 3.1 seconds to go gave Denver the 20-point advantage.

Jokic scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to give the Nuggets a game-high 22-point lead.

But the Clippers answered with an 18-4 surge and Leonard’s steal and dunk brought Los Angeles within 91-83 with 4:51 left.

Denver led 96-85 on a 3-pointer by Murray with 3:42 left before the Clippers went on the 12-0 spurt.

Jokic had 15 first-half points as the Nuggets led 50-48 at the break.

Shai Gilgeous- Alexander, Thunder close out Grizzlies in 4-0 sweep

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points to lead the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder to a 117-115 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday and a sweep of their first-round Western Conference series.

Jalen Williams added 23 and Isaiah Hartenstein finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, who led throughout the second half except for the opening minute of the third quarter.

Scotty Pippen Jr. paced Memphis with 30 points and 11 rebounds, Santi Aldama had 23 points and nine boards and Desmond Bane scored 23 with five assists. Pippen tied his career high before fouling out with 1:01 to go. Big man Zach Edey blocked seven shots.

The Grizzlies played without star guard Ja Morant, who suffered a hip contusion during a hard fall in Thursday’s Game 3 while attempting to finish a fastbreak dunk.

The Thunder, the top seed in the West, will play the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Denver Nuggets series in the conference semifinals.

Oklahoma City breezed to victories in Game 1 (by 51 points) and Game 2 (by 19) before encountering resistance from the Grizzlies during Game 3 in Memphis. The Grizzlies built a 29-point first-half lead, but it evaporated after Morant was injured late in the second quarter and did not return. Oklahoma City outscored Memphis 63-31 in the second half to pull out a 114-108 win.

The Thunder led by only three (88-85) entering the fourth quarter Saturday as a Morant-less Memphis team stayed close. Oklahoma City enjoyed its largest lead at 108-96 with 3:37 remaining following a 3-pointer by Gilgeous-Alexander, but the Grizzlies battled back and made it a two-point game 116-114 with eight seconds left on a deep 3-pointer by Bane.

A free throw by Williams put the Thunder up 117-114 with six seconds to go. Bane added a free throw with 0.2 seconds and his intentional miss on his second attempt did not result in a Memphis shot attempt.

Gilgeous-Alexander spoke about the team’s clutch baskets.

“It’s something we work on all year, being able, at the end of the day, to just generate good looks down the stretch when the game gets tight,” he said. “Defenses are more locked in, the game slows down and it’s a little bit harder to get quality possessions. We were pretty good at it (today).”

The Grizzlies played even with the Thunder throughout the first half. Memphis led by seven on several occasions in the first quarter and never trailed by more than six in the half. There were 13 lead changes in the opening half and seven ties.

“We fought,” said Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo. “There was zero quit in this team. Guys had every reason to just let this one slip away, but they didn’t and that says a lot about the character in this group and what type of guys they are.

Cavaliers overpower Heat to lead series 3-0

Playing without Darius Garland did not slow down the Eastern Conference’s No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, as they combined balanced offense and stifling defense to overpower the host Miami Heat in Saturday’s Game 3 matchup, 124-87, to take a 3-0 lead in the series.

Shortly before Cleveland tipped off, Garland was announced as a scratch from the lineup due to a toe injury aggravated late in the Game 2 win on Wednesday.

The Cavaliers also endured offensive struggles from star Donovan Mitchell, who followed up his two 30-point games to open the series by shooting just 4-of-14 from the floor en route to 13 points.

But with others stepping up, including De’Andre Hunter coming off the bench to score 16 of his 21 points in the first half, Cleveland moved within one win of advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“Phenomenal on both ends of the ball and on the glass,” Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome said of Hunter, who was a University of Virginia teammate before the two began playing together in Cleveland. “That’s who he is. That’s why we got him. I’ve seen that for the last 10 years.”

The Cavaliers withstood an initial charge from the Heat. Miami jumped out to a quick 15-6 lead less than six minutes into the first quarter, but Cleveland responded with an 18-0 onslaught that gave the Cavaliers the lead for good.

The Heat opened the second half with a brief threat, cutting a 20-point lead at intermission to 15 when Davion Mitchell followed up a layup with an assist to set up Kel’el Ware 3-pointer.

Any hope of a Miami comeback was quickly squashed, however.

Cleveland answered with a 13-5 run and rolled from there.

Jarrett Allen led the Cavaliers with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

He was tops among six Cleveland scorers in double figures, along with frontcourt mate Evan Mobley, who netted 19 points.

Mobley, named Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday, also added a blocked shot and a steal.

Max Strus shot 4-of-9 from 3-point range on the way to 18 points, and Ty Jerome posted a double-double off the bench, logging some of Garland’s missing point-guard minutes, at 13 points and 11 assists.

Bam Adebayo matched Allen’s 22 points and had nine rebounds, while Davion Mitchell added 16 points.

No other Miami scorer posted more than Tyler Herro’s 13 points, though, and Andrew Wiggins saw his series struggles continue, as he finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.

“He’s really important,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Wiggins.

“He has to be assertive, has to be aggressive. I have to do a better job of getting the spots where he can really produce for us.”