NBA Playoffs Results

vs(From the Associated Press) - LeBron James better make sure his new MVP trophy isn’t missing. The Boston Celtics stole everything else.

Rajon Rondo tied a team playoff record with 19 assists, Ray Allen scored 22 points and the Celtics, playing with renewed confidence and looking very dangerous despite their years, opened a 25-point lead in the fourth and then survived Cleveland’s comeback for a 104-86 victory on Monday night to even their semifinal series at 1-1.

An underdog coming in, the Celtics left town with a split.

“We did everything we set out to do,” Allen said. “We’ve talked all year about closing out games. When we do that, we’re pretty good.”

After blowing an 11-point lead in the third quarter of Game 1, the Celtics almost squandered a much bigger one. They led 91-66 with 9:08 left before the Cavaliers, who have been outplayed in both games, scored 15 straight and pulled within 93-83 on James’ basket with 3:13 left.

Boston, though, closed with an 11-3 spurt and then packed up and headed home for Friday’s Game 3 thinking it can oust the Cavs.

“They believe,” Cleveland’s Antawn Jamison said.

James, who seemed to be favoring his injured right elbow, scored 24 and Jamison 16 for Cleveland, outscored 31-12 in the third.

“I’m going to continue to try to be the player I am and not use this elbow as an excuse,” James said. “I’d never use an injury as an excuse. It’s just two games. I understand the burden and the pain Cleveland fans have. I don’t feel pressure at all. I’m looking forward to Game 3.”

The Celtics seemed in control with their 25-point bulge, but they got complacent and found themselves having to scramble down the stretch when they could have been resting their starters. Boston went nearly six minutes without scoring.

“I don’t know that we handled it very well,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “We were stuck on 91 for what felt like an hour. I kept telling our guys the clock was still moving. I kept telling them we just need one bucket. We need one guy to make a shot and it loosens back up.”

Up 93-83, the Celtics finally regrouped. Rondo and Allen scored, then Kevin Garnett completed a three-point play to make it 100-84, allowing Rivers to relax after watching his club play inspired ball most of the way before letting up.

Garnett finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Paul Pierce scored 14.

Rasheed Wallace, called out by Rivers after a lousy opener, added 17 points off the bench as the Celtics stripped the Cavaliers of home-court advantage in the series and gave them four days to think about went wrong.

Two years removed from their 17th NBA title, the Celtics were given little chance of getting past James and the top-seeded Cavs. Despite beating Miami in the first round, Boston was thought to be too old, too slow and too reliant on the aging Big Three of Allen, Garnett and Pierce.

But the trio combined for 54 points with Rondo, the Celtics’ jitterbugging point guard, setting them up with passes from impossible angles. Rondo matched the club’s postseason record for assists first set by Hall of Famer Bob Cousy.

“I give credit to my teammates, they made the shots,” Rondo said. “I tried to give them as easy looks as possible.”

Allen said the Celtics bought into some of the criticism that they were past their prime and their championship window had closed.

“I think people said it to try and jab at us,” Allen said. “We heard it on the road and from our own media at home. But we didn’t worry about it. I saw guys come to the gym every single day getting their shots up, working on their bodies. Everybody was ready for the challenge.”

Mo Williams, who scored 20 and led the Cavs’ Game 1 comeback, had just four on 1-of-9 shooting.

Afterward, Cleveland coach Mike Brown tore into his players.

“We did not fight back until late,” a livid Brown said, his voice rising. “We’ve gotta decide if we’re going to take the fight to them and take these games. Nothing is going to be given to us at all. Ain’t a … damn thing going to be given to us at all in this series.

“We’ve got to fight better than what we did tonight. Coming from behind in the first game, coming from behind in the second game, that’s not good enough. That’s not good enough for me or anybody in that locker room. If we expect to win that series, we’ve gotta bring more of a sense of urgency than what we brought tonight. Plain and simple they kicked our behinds.”

Up by four at halftime, the Celtics wasted no time pushing their lead to double digits in the third.

Pierce and Allen hit 3-pointers, and with James tentative—perhaps because of the elbow—and the Cavaliers unable to get anything going on offense or contain Rondo, the Celtics’ lead ballooned to 74-57 on Kendrick Perkins’ basket underneath.

At that point, Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao showed his frustration by blatantly slamming into Allen on a baseline drive. Boston’s guard was sent sprawling and Varejao was assessed a flagrant foul. Allen split the free throws, but on Boston’s next trip, he drained a 3-pointer from deep in the corner to make it 78-57.

Anthony Parker threw up his hands in disgust as the Cavs were unable to stop the Celtics’ surge.

The Cavs weren’t done, though. James finally shifted into attack mode, and Cleveland held Boston without a field goal for 5:39 as the Cavs crept back into it.

But Pierce’s basket with 3:29 ended the Celtics’ long dry spell and Boston managed to do enough to prevent a historic meltdown.

James was presented with his second straight MVP trophy before the game by NBA commissioner David Stern, who would like to see the superstar re-sign in Cleveland since it would validate the spirit of the collective bargaining agreement he helped negotiate.

However, James didn’t appear to be himself, and in the third quarter he looked over at Cleveland’s bench and complained about his elbow.

He’s got more to think about now.

vs(From the Associated Press) - Sore hip? What sore hip?

After resting his strained right hip for three days, Steve Nash had 33 points and 10 assists, and the Phoenix Suns broke their Game 1 curse against the San Antonio Spurs with a 111-102 victory on Monday night in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series.


Any doubt that Nash would be slowed by the injury ended in the early minutes of the game, when he made his five shots, including an array of twisting, swiveling drives to the hoop. He had 17 points by the end of the first quarter.

“He ran it down our throat,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

“He kind of just picked us apart,” added San Antonio’s Tim Duncan.

Jason Richardson scored 27 and Amare Stoudemire had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Suns.

Manu Ginobili, tape across his broken nose, scored 27, Tony Parker 26 and Duncan 20 for the Spurs, who had won three straight Game 1s against the Suns, two of them in Phoenix. Both of those times, in 2005 and 2007, the Spurs went on to win the NBA title.

“You can’t get too excited,” Stoudemire said. “They’re a team with a great pedigree that knows how to come back in a series.”

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night in Phoenix.

In the second half, the situation seemed ripe for another of those San Antonio daggers to the Suns’ heart.

Twice San Antonio rallied from 14 back, with a 12-0 run in the third quarter and a mighty 13-0 outburst that sliced Phoenix’s lead to 94-93 on Ginobili’s 7-foot runner with 4:26 to go in the game.

These Suns had whatever it took to withstand the charge.

“That’s really frustrating when that happens,” Ginobili said, “especially the second time. … Against these guys, with the level of confidence they’re playing at, you just can’t blink.”

Stoudemire sank two free throws, then after Keith Bogans and Parker missed 3-pointers, Grant Hill made two from the line to put the Suns ahead 98-93.

Parker’s 19-footer cut it to 98-95 with 3:38 left, then Richardson brought the house down with a 3-pointer to make it 103-95 with 1:23 left. After Parker’s two free throws cut it to 103-97, Hill made a 13-foot jumper with 51 seconds left, and the Suns put it away by making six of eight free throws from there.

“When we did get back into it, we gave up a bunch of points in transition,” Duncan said, “and that’s the best transition team in the league.”

Nash hurt his hip in a shootaround before Game 3 of the first-round series against Portland, and the injury bothered him greatly in the deciding Game 6 last Thursday. The team had Friday off, then he sat out practice Saturday and Sunday.

The rest did wonders.

“You never know what the game is going to present,” Nash said. “You have to be willing and aggressive and do whatever you can. For me, I didn’t know how I was going to feel physically, but dragging my leg around in Game 6 in Portland wasn’t very fun and it was great to get out there and feel like I could do something.”

The Spurs had to rely on their veteran big three, without much help, to stay in the game. George Hill managed just nine points on 2-of-9 shooting and struggled defensively. Richard Jefferson had five points and three rebounds in 33 minutes.

The Spurs had never led before that 12-0 outburst put them up 67-64 with 7:25 left in the third quarter. Ginobili, his nose broken by an elbow from Dirk Nowitzki in Game 3 of the first round, started and ended the run with 3-pointers.

Richardson responded with a 3 and it was 67-all. After two more ties, Nash scored on a squirming inside move, then handed out assists on the next three baskets in a 10-0 Phoenix run that put the Suns ahead 83-73. It was 85-75 entering the fourth.

Stoudemire scored the first four points of the final quarter to stretch the lead to 89-75 and it was 94-80 with 8:10 to go after Lou Amundson made one of two free throws. Yet here came the Spurs again, this time led by Duncan.

He scored seven in the 13-0 surge that almost caught Phoenix.

Nash dominated immediately after the opening tip, making his first five shots, dribbling around George Hill repeatedly for layups. He finished with 17 first-quarter points on 7-of-10 shooting. Nash wrapped up the quarter with a pair of three-point plays.

“We came in the mindset that we were going to push the basketball,” Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry said, “and that if we pushed the basketball like we thought we could, Steve would get the ball to the basket.”

Phoenix outshot San Antonio 56 percent to 42 percent in the first half yet the Spurs were lurking within striking distance, down 57-47.