Raptors, Spurs Pick Up NBA Playoff Wins

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Published on April 28 2017 6:19 am
Last Updated on April 28 2017 6:19 am

By ESPN

The crowd on the road was rowdy. The 25-point lead was gone. The Toronto Raptors were frazzled, in danger of losing a Game 6 in the playoffs again.

This time, Toronto found a way to win.

DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points, Cory Joseph had five points in a 9-0 run in the final 2 minutes to answer a furious rally by the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Raptors held on for a 92-89 victory Thursday night to take their first-round playoff series in six games.

The Raptors move on to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, a series that starts Monday.

"We lost our composure a little bit," coach Dwane Casey said. "Again, we found a way to (hold on). That's what good teams do."

Toronto snapped a five-game losing streak in Game 6s, earning a couple extra days off to rest for the Cavaliers. The Raptors also need to work on finishing off opponents in the second half.

Joseph's 3 with 1:27 left put Toronto up for good, 85-82. Two foul shots from Joseph with 33.9 seconds extended the lead to seven.

The Raptors could finally breathe easy after DeRozan went 2 of 2 from the foul line with 3.1 seconds to play for a three-point lead. Tony Snell's inbounds pass on the ensuing possession was intercepted by DeRozan.

"We stayed calm. We knew they weren't going to give up," DeRozan said.

Jason Terry's 3 with 3:06 left had given the Bucks an 80-78 lead, completing an unlikely comeback from the 25-point deficit with 5:16 left in the third quarter. The Raptors looked as if they were on cruise control after DeMarre Carroll's 3 gave them the 71-46 advantage.

Giannis Antetokounmpo spearheaded the second-half rally for Milwaukee. He had 34 points.

But the Bucks finished one comeback short.

A 9-of-18 showing from the foul line in the fourth quarter hurt, too.

"We always talk about the little things, and when we look at this it comes down to just free throws," coach Jason Kidd said. "We don't need to overanalyze it. We got to the stripe and we just couldn't capitalize on that."

Khris Middleton added 19 points for the Bucks after missing practice time this week because of illness.


Spurs 103, Grizzlies 96

The San Antonio Spurs wanted no part of playing a seventh game against the Grizzlies, not with the Houston Rockets looming in the next round.

Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, and the Spurs advanced to the Western Conference semifinals by beating Memphis 103-96 on Thursday night to take the series 4-2.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich congratulated Memphis on a great year, especially rookie coach David Fizdale.

"I'm seriously thrilled that we were able to get through that first round," Popovich said. "That's the good news. The bad news is that now we have to go play Houston."

The Spurs now have beaten Memphis four of the five playoff series between these teams, and this was San Antonio's second straight win over the Grizzlies in the first round. But this was the first time all season that the visiting team won.

"It's huge for us," Spurs guard Tony Parker said. "Memphis, you have to give them a lot of credit. They played unbelievable. They're a great team, and they made it hard on us and so we didn't want to come back for Game 7. We treated this game as if it was Game 7. We wanted those days off before playing Houston because it's going to be a fast-paced game against them."

Parker added 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting, while LaMarcus Aldridge had 17 points and 12 rebounds. San Antonio outrebounded Memphis 46-28, with 16 of those offensive boards. That led to 17 second-chance points.

Fizdale said rebounds, points in the paint and who pressured the best impacted each game in the series.

"I kept stressing that to our guys," Fizdale said. "To their credit, (the Spurs) won it more games than we did. But it definitely wasn't from a lack of competition on our part. I can sleep at night knowing my guys battled and competed their tails off."

The Spurs' semifinal with Houston will start Monday night in San Antonio.

Mike Conley scored 26 points, leading the five Memphis starters in double digits. Marc Gasol added 18.

The Grizzlies fell to 3-10 in elimination games, losing six straight.

This was a taut game with 16 ties and nine lead changes, especially with four ties in the fourth quarter.

The Spurs took control after the Grizzlies went up 88-81 on three free throws from Conley with 6:29 left. Then Leonard scored eight straight for San Antonio, starting a 22-8 run to finish the game.

"The guys were amazing in the fourth quarter," Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. "Huge plays. Great defense too. So, happy to go back home with a win and win the series."

Even with Conley and Gasol a combined 2 of 10 in the first quarter, the Grizzlies trailed only 24-22 after Conley knocked down a 3 at the end of the quarter for his first bucket of the game. Conley hit another 3 for the final shot in the second quarter, putting Memphis up 50-45. The team that led at halftime won each of the first five games.

Parker hit his first six shots before finally missing his seventh with 29 seconds left in the first half.

The Grizzlies took their biggest lead at 57-47 on a 3-pointer by James Ennis III. That gave Memphis as many made 3s (9 of 17) as the Spurs had attempted (3 of 9) at that point. Randolph's layup with 7:19 left matched that 10-point lead at 63-53.

Then the Spurs went on a 13-3 run over a 4-minute span to erase that lead on Aldridge's three-point play at 67-66. Aldridge finished with nine points in helping the Spurs lead 75-74 at the end of the quarter.


Thursday, April 27 Scoreboard

Toronto 92, Milwaukee 89

Eastern Conference 1st Round -- Game 6

San Antonio 103, Memphis 96

Western Conference 1st Round -- Game 6

 

Friday, April 28 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m.

Eastern Conference 1st round -- Game 6

Boston at Chicago, 7 p.m.

Eastern Conference 1st Round -- Game 6

Los Angeles Clippers at Utah, 9:30 p.m.

Western Conference 1st Round -- Game 6

 

Saturday, April 29 Schedule (All Times Central)

No games scheduled


Sunday, April 30 (All Times Central)

Chicago at Boston, TBD

Eastern Conference 1st Round -- Game 7 if necessary

Utah at Los Angeles Clippers, TBD

Western Conference 1st Round --  Game 7 if necessary

Atlanta at Washington, TBD

Eastern Conference 1st Round -- Game 7 if necessary