Leonard leads Clippers past Mavs to win series and set up showdown with Jazz
Trae Young leads Atlanta Hawks to Game 1 win over Philadelphia 76ers
Kawhi Leonard scored 28 points, Marcus Morris added 23 and the Los Angeles Clippers finally won at home, finishing off the Dallas Mavericks 126-111 on Sunday in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series.
Playing in front of a small but noisy mix of masked fans and cardboard cutouts, the Clippers did what neither team had been able to pull off in the first six games — win at home. It was the first time in NBA history the road team won the first six games of a playoff series.
The fourth-seeded Clippers advanced to the Western Conference semifinals for the second straight year. They'll play the top-seeded Utah Jazz starting Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.
Luka Doncic had 46 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds to lead the fifth-seeded Mavs, who have yet to win a playoff series since capturing the NBA championship in 2011. He finished the series with 250 points, 55 rebounds and 72 assists.
Paul George added 22 points, 10 assists and six rebounds for the Clippers. Their backups outscored Dallas' reserves, 27-6, getting crucial contributions from Terance Mann (13 points) and Luke Kennard (11 points).
Trailing by eight at halftime, the Mavs outscored the Clippers 19-6 to open the third and take an 81-76 lead. Doncic had just two points in the run, with Dorian Finney-Smith hitting two 3-pointers and Tim Hardaway Jr. adding another. Finney-Smith finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
The Clippers responded with a 24-4 spurt — including 12 in a row — to lead 100-85 going into the fourth. Morris made three 3-pointers and Kennard hit a pair. Leonard scored seven points, highlighted by a dunk off George's pass. Defensively, Leonard came up with a big block and Mann helped contain Doncic, who had the Mavs' only points over the end of the third.
Dallas cut its 19-point deficit early in the fourth to seven points on Doncic's fifth 3-pointer of the game with just under 3 minutes remaining. But the Clippers' own long-range prowess carried them, with Reggie Jackson and Morris connecting on back-to-back 3s for a 120-107 lead.
Doncic matched his points total from Game 6 with 29 points in the first half on 10 of 14 shooting.
The Clippers produced a 19-13 run, with four players other than Leonard scoring, to go into halftime leading 70-62.
Hawks beat 76ers
Trae Young put an early smackdown on Philly and again rose to the occasion in the playoffs for a Hawks team that wasted no time grabbing control of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Young scored 25 of his 35 points in the first half as Atlanta shook off Joel Embiid and a hostile crowd and held on to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 128-124 Sunday in Game 1.
Embiid raised a sledgehammer as he returned from a one-game absence with a cartilage tear in his right knee. He walked out with WWE star Triple H to a roaring ovation.
Young and the Hawks had the Sixers down for the count from the jump.
The Sixers' rally came too late as they pulled within three with 1:01 left on consecutive baskets from Embiid. Atlanta's Bogdan Bogdanovic put his fingers to his lips and shushed the raucous crowd when he hit a 3 that sealed the win.
Going off as five-point underdogs, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Hawks made 14 of their first 18 shots from the floor and were the aggressors eagerly seizing their moment on national television. Young, much like he did in five games against the Knicks when he averaged 29.2 points, thrived in the spotlight. For all the focus on Embiid, All-Star Ben Simmons and the top-seeded Sixers, Young was the can't-miss player in Game 1 — as in, he rarely did with the ball, and all eyes were on him.
The Hawks used a 17-0 run in the first half that quickly made it a rout and Young was there shaking, saluting and toying with the Sixers and the crowd. Young bowed during the clincher to the New York crowd that had jeered him in every game. He stuck a pose in Philly — he held his right arm high and pointed toward the basket for several seconds that followed a 27-footer he buried to close the first half.
Danny Green could not hang as the primary defender on Young instead of Simmons, an NBA defensive player of the year candidate.
The 6-foot-1 Young led the Hawks to the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and has craved the pressure that comes with playing big postseason games in bigger cities.
Harden to miss Game 2 against Bucks
James Harden will miss Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Monday night because of right hamstring tightness.
Harden left Brooklyn's 115-107 victory over Milwaukee in Game 1 on Saturday night after just 43 seconds because of an injury that troubled him during the latter part of the regular season.
He grabbed at the upper part of his right leg on a drive to the basket on Brooklyn's opening possession and checked out after the Nets had to take a timeout.
The All-Star guard missed 18 straight and 20 of 21 games late in the season. He missed games on April 1 and 4 with what was called tightness, then returned April 5 but made it through just four minutes before leaving again, with that injury termed a strain. He didn't play again until May 12, missing two losses to the Bucks during that time.
The Nets said further updates on his status would be provided as appropriate. Coach Steve Nash said Harden's recent troubles with the injury made his availability for later in the series hard to predict.
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