NBA playoff scores 2015: Cavaliers, Rockets, Wizards take 2-0 series leads ~ NEWS SPORT

mercredi 22 avril 2015

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NBA playoff scores 2015: Cavaliers, Rockets, Wizards take 2-0 series leads

The Cavaliers and Rockets picked up wins at home while the Wizards left Toronto with a 2-0 lead.

If the Cleveland Cavaliers have a Big Three, it might actually be LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Timofey Mozgov. That trio led the team to a 99-91 Game 2 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night, and seems like the driving force behind the team's chances of making a run to the Finals this spring.

No offense to Kevin Love, who continues to be productive in his own right, but Game 2 underscored why the other three players are so important to the Cavaliers' title chances. James and Irving were electric creators on offense, especially in the fourth quarter, and Mozgov anchored the defense just like the team envisioned when he was acquired.

The result is a 2-0 series lead for Cleveland, largely because of what those three players bring to the table. The young, hard-working Celtics have put together a pair of decent efforts so far to begin the postseason, but clearly can't match the talent of their higher seeded opponent.

Once the Cavaliers turned to James and Irving in the fourth quarter Tuesday, it proved too much for Boston to keep up with. The Celtics had rallied from a 14-point third quarter deficit to trail by just two with less than seven minutes left in the game, but couldn't take the lead.

James and Irving scored all of the Cavaliers' 24 points -- 15 for LeBron, nine for Kyrie -- in the fourth quarter, and took all but two of the shots. J.R. Smith scored the team's last bucket by any other player with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers have always been top heavy, but this was the most obvious example yet. The team's five starters -- James, Irving, Smith, Mozgov and Love -- combined to take 72-of-77 shots. That's stunning compared to the Celtics, who had nine different players take at least six shots and more than half of them come from the bench.

Cleveland's best players are a class above Boston's, though, and that seems to be where this series will ultimately be defined. The Celtics can keep things close for a while, but once LeBron and Kyrie decide they want to take over, they don't have enough to punch back.

With things heading back to Boston's arena, this series is firmly in Cleveland's court.

3 things we learned

Josh Smith can still play

It's been a long time since we marveled at how good Josh Smith can be, but the Rockets forward reminded us with a vintage performance in a 111-99 Game 2 win over Dallas. Smith recorded 15 points on 7-of-15 shooting, nine assists and eight rebounds over 26 minutes, filling up the box score like we used to see regularly during his peak with the Atlanta Hawks. Now the Hawks are a No. 1 seed and Smith is coming off the bench in Houston to do stuff like this:

If Houston can depend on Smith as a contributor off the bench, he could make an already strong team that much harder to eliminate.

It's looking good for the Wiz

The Washington Wizards are bringing a 2-0 series lead back to the nation's capital after beating the Toronto Raptors, 117-106, in Game 2 on Tuesday night. The series hasn't been all that close so far despite being a No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup, and now the Wizards will get a chance to put things away at home. Washington's star backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal lived up to the hype in Game 2, combining for 54 points and 19 assists, plus Otto Porter Jr. came off the bench to add 15 points and nine rebounds. If those three are on their game, Washington can be a dangerous team. The Wizards went 29-12 at the Verizon Center during the regular season, so they'll be heading into some favorable conditions in Game 3.

The Mavs are in trouble

Dallas badly missed forward Chandler Parsons in a 111-99 Game 2 loss, and if he misses any more time in the series, it could spell trouble. Between the lack of production from Rajon Rondo, who played just 10 minutes Tuesday, and the injuries to Parsons and Devin Harris, the Mavericks are looking like a much different team than they had imagined. With Monta Ellis, Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler only capable of so much, Parsons' status for the series will be big news as things head to Dallas.

Play of the night

You'd think it would be LeBron getting up for the slam on a sweet alley-oop involving him and Kevin Love, but it's actually the Cavaliers' power forward who completes the highlight this time around.