NBA Playoffs Results

vs(From the Associated Press) - High-flying Josh Smith dominated on the inside. Joe Johnson stepped up from the outside when the Hawks needed him.

The result: Atlanta has a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series for the first time in 40 years.

Johnson took control in the fourth quarter to finish off a 27-point effort, Smith finished one assist shy of a triple-double and the Hawks ran away from the pesky but outmanned Milwaukee Bucks for a 96-86 victory in the Eastern Conference playoffs Tuesday night.

Smith played as though he’s still upset about being snubbed for the All-Star game, when teammates Johnson and Al Horford were selected but he stayed home. He’s certainly a player capable of taking control of a series in many ways, as he demonstrated with his 21 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, not to mention two blocks and two steals.

“There’s nothing he can’t do on the floor,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “We just have to keep him playing at a high level, keep his head in the game and we’ll be just fine.”

That applies to the team as a whole. Woodson was mindful of last season, when Atlanta blew out Miami in its playoff opener—then lost at home and had to go the full seven games.

This time, the Hawks took care of business on their home court. They’ll head to Milwaukee on Saturday night with a commanding lead, the first time they’ve won the first two in a best-of-seven series since the Western Division semifinals in 1970. That team went on to beat Chicago in five games, but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the division finals.

The current Hawks aren’t taking anything for granted, even though they’ve seemed capable of pulling away any time Milwaukee tries to make a run.

“We’re on edge,” said Horford, who teamed with Smith to give the Hawks a big edge in the lane. “We can’t take them lightly. We know it’s going to be tough up there.”

Again, the Hawks’ balance and size advantage on the inside were just too much for the Bucks, who knew they’d face a huge challenge in this series after 7-foot center Andrew Bogut took a hard fall late in the regular season and was done for the playoffs.

All five Atlanta starters reached double figures for the second game in a row, and the two guys on the inside sure took advantage of Bogut’s absence.

Smith had the crowd on its feet with four thunderous dunks and a couple more above-the-rim lay-ins. Horford was nearly as dominant, scoring 20 points, snatching down 10 rebounds and blocking three shots.

“We understand that we’ve got bigger guys down low,” Smith said. “When we miss a shot, we can usually get the putback or pass to a wide-open (Mike) Bibby or Joe. We want to make it easy for those guys.”

When Smith is really on his game, he fires up the home crowd with his gravity defying plays.

“He’s one of those players that can control the game without calling plays for him,” said John Salmons, who led the Bucks with 21 points.

Johnson took over in the fourth quarter. After Milwaukee had closed to single-digit range, he buried four straight jumpers, the last of them a 3-pointer from the corner after snaring a rocket pass from Smith, pushing the Hawks to an 87-74 lead that essentially finished off the Bucks.

“I felt like we were in a drought,” said Johnson, who scored 10 points in the final period and bolstered his all-around effort with six assists, two blocks and a steal. “I just wanted to be aggressive and make plays.”

Johnson also led the defensive effort against Bucks rookie star Brandon Jennings, who followed up a 34-point performance in Game 1 with just nine points on 3-of-15 shooting.

“All season long he’s been playing point guards, so he’s sort of used to it now,” Woodson said. “And Jennings is a tough cover because he is so quick, and he can shoot the outside shot as well as get to the rim.”

The Bucks head home, hoping to turn things around in the next two games. But they’ve led only three times in the series—never by more than two points—for a total of 1 minute, 32 seconds, looking very much like a team making its first playoff appearance since 2006.

“Our preparations have been great, but we’re having trouble taking it onto the game floor,” coach Scott Skiles said. “We knew it would be interesting to see how we would react in this type of environment. They outplayed us in almost every spot up and down the floor. We’ve got three days to get better.”

Ersan Ilyasova came up big off the bench with 13 points and 15 rebounds, but Jerry Stackhouse was the only other Milwaukee player in double figures with 15 points. The Bucks shot only 41 percent (37 of 90).

The Bucks grabbed their first lead of the series, 4-2, on Luc Mbah a Moute’s putback less than 1 1/2 minutes into the game. But Atlanta looked like it was headed for another first-half blitz, pushing out to 22-12 lead on Marvin Williams’ three-point play.

In Game 1, the Hawks led by 20 in the opening quarter and 22 at halftime.

This time, Milwaukee kept it respectable in the early going, ripping off an 8-0 spurt to get right back in the game. But the Hawks scored the final six points of the period in flamboyant fashion. Smith stole the ball in the defensive end and took off, going all the way to the hoop for a thunderous left-handed jam that brought the crowd to its feet.

After Salmons turned it over, the Hawks were running again. Jamal Crawford missed on an attempted slam, but Smith grabbed the rebound and put it back in while stumbling backward with 2 seconds remaining to put Atlanta ahead 28-20.

Milwaukee got off a quick start in the second quarter, starting with a 12-2 run that gave the visiting team another brief lead, 32-30. Again, the Hawks quickly reclaimed the upper hand, scoring the next six points and leading the rest of the period—though never by more than seven. Johnson finished off the half with a driving layup that sent Atlanta to the locker room with a 52-46 lead.

vs(From the Associated Press) - Even without Kevin Garnett, the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat.

Easily.

With the good-humored but hard-playing Glen Davis filling in while the Celtics’ emotional leader served a one-game suspension, Boston rolled to a 106-77 victory Tuesday night that Miami coach Erik Spoelstra called “embarrassing.”

It gave the Celtics a 2-0 lead in their playoff series and Davis a chance to reprise the nickname he hung on himself last year when he replaced the injured Garnett—known as the “Big Ticket”—in all 14 playoff games.

“The `Ticket Stub’ came,” Davis said. “Whenever they need the `Ticket Stub,’ he’ll be there.”

Davis had 23 points and eight rebounds, and Ray Allen heated up in the third quarter and scored 25 points. Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 29.

With Garnett serving a suspension for elbowing Quentin Richardson in Game 1, Davis started and went aggressively to the basket to grab missed shots and draw fouls.

“That’s a case of one man impacting the game simply with his effort. I don’t think they ran one play for him,” Spoelstra said. “You cannot let a man’s effort exceed yours. It’s as simple as that.”

The Heat took a 29-25 lead on a dunk by Jermaine O’Neal. But the Celtics used a 44-8 surge over the next 16 1/2 minutes to go ahead 69-37 with 5:38 left in the third quarter, capped by one of Allen’s five 3-pointers in the period.

“Once the ball started moving and we started getting multiple stops, we were off and running,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said.

The Celtics led by 25 to 33 points the rest of the way.

“Once we opened up Glen Davis (offensively), I thought they started to sink in a little bit more and it opened up Ray,” Paul Pierce said.

Game 3 is Friday night in Miami.

“This is an embarrassing loss,” Spoelstra said. “It is one loss. It is not four losses and what we can control right now is getting our minds right and taking care of the most important game on Friday.”

Tempers stayed under control throughout the game, just three days after a skirmish with 40 seconds left in Boston’s 85-76 victory led to Garnett’s suspension without pay and Richardson’s $25,000 fine. Garnett was hovering over Pierce, who had fallen near the Miami bench after hurting his shoulder.

Garnett held off Richardson as he came up from behind. They then exchanged words before the elbow hit the Heat forward in the face.

Garnett wasn’t allowed in TD Garden, but made a prerecorded appearance on the scoreboard above midcourt during a timeout after the Celtics scored 19 straight points to take a 44-29 lead with 2:56 left in the first half.

He encouraged the fans and when the scoreboard followed with a “Let’s Get Loud” message, they raised their voices.

Richardson was booed almost every time he touched the ball.

“We didn’t think that because Kevin was out it was going to be a walk in the park,” Miami’s Udonis Haslem said.

In the opener, the Heat led 61-47 with 7:03 left in the third quarter. Then Boston outscored them 34-10 to go ahead 81-71 with 1:46 to go in the game.

The Celtics started their spurt a lot earlier Tuesday.

“The first game, I thought we gave it away,” Wade said. “This time they took it. I thought they wanted it more than us.”

Trailing by four after O’Neal’s dunk with 10:10 left in the second quarter, Boston got started on a 3-pointer by Michael Finley. It took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Allen.

Then rarely used Shelden Williams, substituting for Davis, hit a field goal. Davis made two straight baskets, Allen connected on another 3-pointer, Pierce sank two free throws and Allen got a layup. Davis followed with two free throws, giving the Celtics 21 straight points.

Miami finally broke through on a 21-foot jumper by Michael Beasley. That made it 46-31 with 2:07 left in the half.

The Celtics have won the last three games they played against the Heat without Garnett. And Davis has proven to be a very capable replacement.

When Garnett missed last year’s playoffs with a knee injury, Davis averaged 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds before losing in the second round.

“When I stepped out there today and I saw the lineup, I was like, `This is the same lineup we had going into the playoffs last year that pushed Orlando to seven games with Glen out there,”’ Pierce said. “We all know what he’s capable of.”

Garnett had planned to watch the game at the home of team president Danny Ainge.

“I am the `Ticket Stub’ so I kind of know what (Garnett) wanted to happen tonight,” Davis said. “He told me before the game to make sure that I do what I had to do and be physical, be ferocious, and anything is possible.”



vs(From the Associated Press) - The Phoenix Suns finally broke away from the methodical style of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Boy, did they break away.

Jason Richardson scored 29 points, Grant Hill made 10-of-11 shots for 20, and the Suns routed the Blazers 119-90 Tuesday night to emphatically tie the first-round playoff series 1-1.

“The game just went by fast,” Portland’s Andre Miller said. “They hit us with the transition game. That’s what they’ve been doing all year.”

When the mercurial Richardson has a night like this, his team almost always wins. Phoenix is 27-4 this season when he scores at least 20.

Richardson could concentrate on scoring after being freed from the chore of guarding Miller. Coach Alvin Gentry turned to the 37-year-old Hill, and Miller managed just 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting after getting 31 in Portland’s 105-100 victory in Game 1.


“I just tried to make him work,” Hill said. “He’s a great player and I have a lot of respect for him. We’re close in age. He just had an off night tonight and I expect him to play better in Game 3.”

Richardson marveled at Hill’s performance.

“I don’t know how Grant guarded him. He did a good job on him tonight and scored 20,” Richardson said. “I couldn’t do it.”

Amare Stoudemire added 18 points for Phoenix. Steve Nash pushed the team from the start and finished with 13 points and 16 assists.

“We were just more aggressive getting the ball up the floor and moving bodies around so they weren’t set,” Nash said, “and they weren’t able to zone it up as well.”

The one-sided nature of the victory only slightly dampened the Blazers’ satisfaction at getting a split in Phoenix.

“We got a win but you don’t want to lose like that going home,” Miller said. “But we’re definitely still motivated. It’s a seven-game series.”

Portland coach Nate McMillan saw the blowout as a warning as his team returns home for Game 3 on Thursday night.

“We came in and got a split, but based on tonight’s game and that sense of urgency and understanding, it’s still a long ways to go,” he said. “You have to win four games. They came out and imposed their will on us from the start.”

Martell Webster led the Blazers with 16 points. Nicolas Batum also scored 12 before leaving with a right shoulder strain at the end of the third quarter. He said he was going to have an MRI on Wednesday but didn’t think the injury would keep him out of Thursday’s game. The injury-ravaged Blazers already are without leading scorer Brandon Roy for the series.

Roy or no Roy, no team was better than Portland all season in disrupting the Suns’ offense. But the Blazers didn’t do it this time.

Phoenix shot 52 percent to the Trail Blazers’ 38 percent. The Suns led by 14 at the half and blew it open in the third quarter.

The Blazers had won three of four meetings this season, counting their Game 1 victory that gave them home-court advantage, and didn’t allow more than 102 points in any of them. Phoenix, the No. 3 seed, faced the possibility of going to Portland down 2-0.

The concern didn’t last for long as the Blazers failed to slow down the NBA’s highest-scoring team. The Suns dominated the points in the paint 58-38 and had a 26-12 advantage in second-chance points.

“We didn’t give them a chance to get their defense established,” Gentry said. “They’re really good—I think they’re as good as anybody in the NBA if you get them in a halfcourt defense.”

Portland trailed 63-49 at the half, and any hopes for a comeback vanished in the Suns’ blistering third quarter.

Richardson had five as the Suns outscored Portland 13-4 to lead 78-58 with six minutes to go in the period. During the run, Nash provided the highlight of the night with a circus basket. The 36-year-old playmaker drove to the hoop and, with his back to the basket, banked the ball in with his left hand. Portland went nearly five minutes without a field goal while the Suns poured it on.

Nash started the game with seven assists on the first eight baskets, and he scored the other one. He had nine assists at the end of the first quarter and 12 at halftime.

Richardson, 4 of 12 from the field in the first game, scored 15 in the first quarter, one more than he did in all of Game 1, and had 20 at the break. Hill, who shot 2 of 9 in Game 1, made his first 10 shots, most of them mid-range jumpers, before finally missing one.

vs(From the Associated Press) - Kobe Bryant had been waiting for a breakout game, the kind of high-scoring effort he’s made his reputation on. He got it just in time.

Playing with a broken finger, sore knee and bum ankle, Bryant scored 39 points, carrying the Lakers in the fourth quarter when they lost the lead three times, and Los Angeles beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 95-92 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.

“What did Mark Twain say? Rumors of my demise or whatever,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who predicted before the game that Bryant would strongly return to form.

Bryant was 13 of 15 from the free throw line, but just 12 of 28 from the floor in front of his dad Joe, who sat next to the Lakers’ bench.

“My free throws felt good,” Bryant said. “I put in a lot, a lot of work over the last month fine-tuning my stroke and trying to get it back to being consistent.”

Beforehand, Jackson said he wanted Bryant to shoot better or take fewer shots. The NBA finals MVP made just 30 percent of his shots over his previous five games, having missed four of the final five of the regular season and hearing all the doubters.

“After 13 years, you’d think they’d know better,” Bryant said.

Bryant ran off eight straight points the first time the Lakers fell behind by one, with the referees turning a 3-pointer into a 2-pointer that put them back in front by three.

“He made the tough shots. He got to the free throw line and that’s what great players do,” said Kevin Durant, who led the Thunder with 32 points but had eight turnovers.

Russell Westbrook added 19, making all eight of his free throws.

The Thunder packed the paint and disrupted Lakers’ big men Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, who had combined for 32 points and 25 rebounds in Game 1.

This time, Gasol had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Bynum six points and 10 boards for the defending champions, who failed to sustain their strong start for the second straight game.

“That was about as well as we can play and we came up a little short,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “Two games in a row we gave the effort defensively. We’re still trying to figure out how to win these close games.”

Game 3 is Thursday in Oklahoma City. The Lakers are 39-1 all-time when winning the first two games of a best-of-seven series.

“That place is going to be rocking and rolling,” Bryant said. “The last time we were there they did a number on us.”

The Thunder’s defense kept them in the game, with 17 blocked shots. Serge Ibaka had seven, with six other players getting at least one.

“Our effort was phenomenal, how hard we played on the defensive end,” Durant said. “A lot of people didn’t even think we could play with these guys.”

Bryant scored 15 points in the fourth, but sent the crowd into an anguished groan when he missed the first of two free throws with 15 seconds left. He made the second to keep Los Angeles ahead 94-92.

Durant missed a 3-pointer and Gasol got fouled, but he also missed the first with 7 seconds left, keeping the Thunder’s hopes alive. Gasol hit the second, and then Jeff Green, who had 12 points, missed a 3-pointer as time expired.

“We were right there,” Green said. “We haven’t had our best offensive game or defensive game, still allowing second-chance points, but we’re still there when it comes to the last few minutes.”

The Thunder led three times, but Bryant twice brought the Lakers back, the last time tying the game at 88 on two free throws. The game was decided at the line over the final 2:20, with the Thunder forced to foul while missing from the perimeter.

The Lakers shot 37 percent, a stat Jackson called “horrendous.”

“We still have to shoot much better to beat them in Oklahoma,” he said.

The Lakers regained the edge in the third quarter, although not by much. Their largest lead was six and it dwindled to 73-69 going into the final 12 minutes. Durant was called for goaltending on the Lakers’ last basket or the Thunder would’ve trailed by two.

With every starter except Bynum on the bench to start the second quarter, the Lakers extended their lead to 37-26. But the Thunder outscored them 21-8 to lead 47-45 going into halftime, despite Westbrook picking up his third foul midway through the period.

Durant had nine points in the spurt, with he and Green hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. The Lakers were limited to 33 percent shooting, with Bryant going 2 of 7. The Thunder had nine blocked shots in the half.

Bryant’s jumper hit the rim and went in to tie the game at 45 before Eric Maynor beat the shot clock on a fadeaway jumper, giving Oklahoma City its first halftime lead of the series.

The Lakers owned the first quarter in a repeat of their strong start to Game 1. They outscored the Thunder 26-18, with Bryant scoring eight of their first 13 points. The Thunder shot 29 percent from the floor.