On Tuesday night, Devin Booker scored 38 points and made nine assists, helping the Phoenix Suns even their first-round Western Conference playoff series at one game apiece with a 123-109 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Kevin Durant added 25 points, six rebounds, and five assists for the Suns, who bounced back from a Game 1 home loss. Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard recorded 31 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and three steals, and Russell Westbrook added 28 points for the Clippers. The third game of the best-of-seven series will be on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Although the Clippers trailed by 13 points early in the fourth quarter, they managed to reduce the gap to 115-109 with 3:13 left in the game thanks to Leonard’s 3-pointer and Westbrook’s two free throws. However, Los Angeles failed to score again. Chris Paul scored a high-arching jumper, fed Deandre Ayton for a layup. And drilled a jumper from the top of the key to give the Suns a 121-109 lead with 2:01 remaining. Bismack Biyombo scored on a tip-in with 31.8 seconds left. Extending the Suns’ lead to 14 points as they closed the game.
In another playoff game, the Boston Celtics defeated the visiting Atlanta Hawks 119-106. Taking a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Jayson Tatum led five scorers in double figures with 29 points. Adding ten rebounds and six assists to lead the Boston offense. Derrick White added 26 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter. Although Dejounte Murray led Atlanta with 29 points on seven 3-pointers. And Trae Young scored 24 points, the Hawks could only make 16 of 48 3-point attempts.
Lastly, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley posted double-doubles. While Darius Garland helped trigger a decisive second-quarter surge for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They evened their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the New York Knicks after a 107-90 victory in Game 2. Mitchell had 17 points and a career-high 13 assists, while Mobley had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Garland scored 32 points, including 26 in the first half. Julius Randle scored 22 points for the Knicks, but they only shot 36.7 percent from the field (29-for-79), including 24.1 percent (7-for-29) from 3-point range. The teams Devin Booker traded runs in the first quarter, with the Knicks taking an early 12-4 lead. However, Cleveland responded with a 15-3 surge, and they took the lead for good at 25-22 on LeVert’s 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left in the quarter.
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