Donovan Mitchell scores 29 as Jazz defeat Grizzlies to take series lead

Donovan Mitchell scored 10 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and the top-seeded Utah Jazz beat the Memphis Grizzlies 121-111 on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.

Mike Conley, in Memphis where he started his career, matched his regular-season and playoff career highs with seven 3-pointers and finished with 27 points.

Rudy Gobert had 15 points and 14 rebounds, Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson added 15 apiece, and Royce O'Neale had 12.

Game 4 is Monday night in Memphis.

Brooks scored the first six points of the fourth, starting Memphis on a 13-2 run. Morant gave the eighth-seeded Grizzlies their first lead at 107-105 with two free throws with 5:00 left, and his jumper with 4:28 made it 109-107.

That's when Mitchell scored on a three-point play to put the Jazz ahead to stay at 110-109. He added a 3-pointer and Utah finished on a 14-2 run.

Memphis increased capacity to 55% inside FedExForum, and the approximately 10,000 fans were very loud for the franchise's first home playoff game since April 27, 2017, when Conley was the Grizzlies' point guard for a seventh straight postseason berth.

After three people were banned by the Jazz for racist and sexist comments to Morant's family during Game 2, the Memphis fans booed every member of the Utah starting lineup except for Conley — playing his first postseason game against the team that drafted him at No. 4 overall in 2007.

Valanciunas, who averaged 17.1 points and 12.5 rebounds during the regular season, didn't score his first backet until early in the third quarter. He scored the first 10 of the quarter pulling Memphis to 68-61, and the Grizzlies got within four on a pair of free throws by Morant with 4:05 left.

The Jazz answered with eight straight and led 96-85 after the third quarter.

Embiid, 76ers push Wizards to brink of elimination

The "M-V-P!" chants came not from the home crowd saluting Bradley Beal but rival 76ers fans for Joel Embiid, who put on another valuable performance to push the Wizards to the brink of elimination.

Embiid set a career playoff high with 36 points and Philadelphia routed Washington 132-103 on Saturday night to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round series.

His signature moment of this victory came seconds after he missed a monster dunk, going back down the floor and connecting on his next attempt while drawing a foul. Embiid then cupped his hands to his ears to encourage the crowd of over 10,000, which was the largest to attend an indoor sporting event in the nation's capital in 14 months.

The reaction was mixed then and throughout as the 76ers kept the Wizards at arm's length before pulling away. Beyond seven minutes in, it was never closer than four points, and Philadelphia led by as many as 31 on the way to the franchise's first 3-0 series lead since 1985.

The 76ers took advantage of the Wizards' biggest stars nursing injuries, though they still produced. Russell Westbrook had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for the triple-double after being a game-time decision with a sprained right ankle, and Beal had 25 as he continues to get back to full health from a strained left hamstring.

Ben Simmons scored 14 and had nine assists, but Philadelphia was far from a two-man show. Tobias Harris had 20 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, and Danny Green made five 3-pointers to finish with 15.

The Wizards planned to get Westbrook treatment in the locker room each time he checked out of the game. Problem was, they couldn't afford to play without him, even as the ankle was bothering him.

Westbrook played almost 21 minutes in the first half and over 34 total before heading to the locker room late in the blowout. It was no surprise he played through pain given Washington's hole in the series, and Philadelphia wasn't expecting Westbrook to sit out.

"We'll do our thing, coach Doc Rivers said. "That should not change how we play."

Powell leads Blazers past Nuggets to tie series

Norman Powell matched his career playoff high with 29 points and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 115-95 on Saturday in Game 4 to even the first-round series.

Powell made four 3-points and was 11 of 15 from the floor, and CJ McCollum added 21 points for the sixth-seeded Trail Blazers.

Nikola Jokic finished with 16 points and nine rebounds for third-seeded Denver before sitting out the final quarter. He was the Nuggets' top scorer.

Portland star Damian Lillard was 1 for 10 from the field but finished with 10 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. He also sat for the final quarter after the Blazers led by as many as 33 points in the third.

The Nuggets downed the Blazers 120-115 at the Moda Center on Thursday night. In that game, Denver had 20 3-pointers and got a boost from four straight 3s from Austin Rivers during a key stretch in the fourth quarter. On Saturday, Rivers had eight points.

It was imperative for Portland that big man Jusuf Nurkic — probably Portland's best defense against Jokic — stay out of trouble after fouling out in the previous two games. Portland's bench, with the exception of Carmelo Anthony, had also been struggling, outscored in Game 3 24-19 by Denver.

Nurkic finished with 17 points, and Anthony had 12.

Bucks complete sweep of Heat

Turns out, there was a reason the Milwaukee Bucks weren't worried about a playoff rematch with the Miami Heat in Round 1 this year.

The last four games proved why.

Bryn Forbes scored 22 points, Khris Middleton had 20, Bobby Portis 13 and Jrue Holiday 11 for Milwaukee, which outscored Miami by 24 in the second half.

Bam Adebayo scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Miami, which got 18 points from Kendrick Nunn, 14 from Tyler Herro, 13 from Goran Dragic and a triple-double — 12 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists — from Jimmy Butler.

The Heat became the second team in this playoff format to go from sweeping in the first round one year to being swept in the first round the next. The only other team to endure that: the then-New Jersey Nets, who swept New York in 2004 and lost 4-0 to Miami in 2005.

Once Milwaukee grabbed the first three games, history said the result was inevitable. NBA teams with 3-0 series leads are now 141-0 all-time in those matchups, with these Bucks becoming the 88th of those teams to finish off matters with a sweep.

Their reward: a week off, at least.

The third-seeded Bucks won't play again until at least next Saturday. Their East semifinals series against either second-seeded Brooklyn or seventh-seeded Boston will start on June 5 if the Nets advance in five games; in any other scenario, the Bucks will next play on June 7.

After a pair of Milwaukee romps by a combined 63 points in Games 2 and 3, this one immediately took on a different feel.

Yet there were signs that the Bucks had to like: Antetokounmpo was 1 for 7 with three fouls in the first half, Milwaukee had only two points off the first seven Heat turnovers, and despite all that, Miami's lead was merely 64-57 at the break.

And, sure enough, the third quarter was all Milwaukee.

The Heat couldn't make anything; they shot 8 for 24 in the quarter. Bobby Portis' 3-pointer late in the third put Milwaukee up by 12, and the lead was 91-85 going into the fourth.

WATCH | Importance of Andrew Wiggins joining Team Canada:

Andrew Wiggins commits to Team Canada, but who else will be on the qualifying tournament roster?

4 years ago

Duration 19:33

This week on North Courts, Vivek, Meghan and Jevohn discuss the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournament in Victoria, and their favourite Canadian playoff moments.