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Pacers, Thunder win on road to go ahead
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INDIANA and Oklahoma City won road games in contrasting styles on Friday to take 2-1 series leads in the second-round National Basketball Association playoffs, with the Pacers putting the clamps on Washington and the Thunder over-running the Los Angeles Clippers in a free-flowing contest.
Indiana won 85-63, holding the Wizards to their lowest playoff score in franchise history.
Paul George had his best game of the series with 23 points and eight rebounds while Roy Hibbert was again a factor for Indiana with 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks.
Washington made only 24 field goals, another team postseason worst, on 73 attempts, 32.9 percent. That included 4 of 16 on 3-point attempts, and it didn’t get much better on free throws, where the Wizards were 11 of 21.
The Wizards’ final total of 63 points was well below their previous playoff worst of 75, established just 1-1/2 weeks ago in Washington’s Game 5 victory that eliminated the Chicago Bulls in the first round. It’s also tied for the fourth-lowest total by any club since 1954-55.
Wizards point guard John Wall had turnovers to go along with 15 points and six assists, while Bradley Beal scored 16 points but shot 6 for 19. Trevor Ariza had 12 points, but zero in the second half. Marcin Gortat scored just four points after having 21 in the previous game. And Nene had eight points on 3-of-14 shooting and only three rebounds.
There was more entertainment in Los Angeles where Oklahoma City won 118-112, with Kevin Durant scoring 36 points and Russell Westbrook adding 23.
Serge Ibaka added 20 points and Westbrook had 13 assists for the Thunder in a game that neither team ever led by double digits.
Blake Griffin scored 34 points, and Chris Paul added 21 points and 16 assists for the Clippers, who saw their four-point lead disappear for good early in the fourth quarter. Jamal Crawford added 20 points.
Oklahoma City shot 56 percent, and controlled the paint and fastbreak points against a Clippers team that never got into their favored run-and-gun mode.
Meanwhile, the NBA has chosen Dick Parsons, a former Citigroup chairman and former Time Warner chairman and CEO, as interim CEO of the Clippers.
Parsons will oversee the franchise while the league tries to force owner Donald Sterling to sell it following his lifetime ban for racist remarks.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on Friday in a statement that Parsons “will bring extraordinary leadership and immediate stability to the Clippers organization”.
“Dick’s credentials as a proven chief executive speak for themselves and I am extremely grateful he accepted this responsibility,” Silver added.
With Sterling banned from anything to do with the team or league, and president Andy Roeser on indefinite leave of absence, the league and Clippers worked to find someone to lead the team along with coach Doc Rivers.
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