The New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz banned a total of five fans from their respective arenas and issued apologies Thursday for incidents during playoff games, and the NBA said that rules surrounding fan behavior will be “vigorously enforced” going forward.
Anthony Davis had 34 points and 11 rebounds, LeBron James added 21 points and nine assist and the Los Angeles Lakers celebrated their first home playoff game in more than eight years with a 109-95 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night in Game 3.
Damian Lillard had 38 points to lead Portland to a 106-101 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night that gave the Trail Blazers the tiebreaker over their Western Conference foe as the regular season winds to a close.
The Los Angeles Lakers were reeling late in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night. The Phoenix Suns had made a big run, their home crowd was in a frenzy and the defending NBA champions were in danger of going down two games to none in the first round.
Brooklyn is more than just its Big Three. There’s also Joe Harris and his 3s.
A familiar face sat behind the Dallas Mavericks’ bench. Dirk Nowitzki, who led the franchise to its only championship in 2011 during his 21 seasons, came to see his old franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series since its title.
Even a few members of the Boston Celtics couldn’t quite believe they pulled off their latest comeback.
“Obviously, we don’t want to go that route,” Davis said of the play-in. “But if it happens, it happens.”
The Lakers’ final five games could include as many as four matchups against teams playing for something. Phoenix visits Los Angeles on Sunday, New York comes in Tuesday and lottery-bound Houston visits Wednesday. The Lakers end the regular season with a road back-to-back against Indiana and New Orleans — both play-in hopefuls — next weekend.
The Phoenix Suns had their All-Star backcourt on the court and playing well. As for the Utah Jazz, their All-Star backcourt was injured and on the bench.
