By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In the best game of the night Spanish star Marc Gasol hit a 12-foot floater with 0.7 seconds left in overtime, and the Grizzlies beat the Spurs 110-108 on Saturday night to even up their Western Conference first-round series at 2-2.
The Grizzlies won despite blowing a 10-point lead with 7:38 left in regulation and franchise postseason-high 23 turnovers that San Antonio turned into 31 points. Gasol finished with 16 points after shooting 5 of 12 for the game. He also had 12 rebounds, while for the Spurs another postseason personal best was registered by Kawhi Leonard, who had 43 points.
French guard Tony Parker scored 22 points after being shut out in Game 3, Spaniard Pau Gasol had 8 points and 11 rebounds and Latvian Davis Bertans added 3 points for the Spurs.
Playing without both Kevin Durant and coach Steve Kerr, Steph Curry scored 34 points — including a 3-pointer with just about a minute left that all but sealed the victory — and the Golden State Warriors overcame a slow start to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 119-113 and take a 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series. Portland saw the return of Bosnian big man Jusuf Nurkic after he missed the final seven games of the regular season and the first two playoff games at Golden State because of a non-displaced fracture in his right leg. He finished with two points and 11 rebounds. For the winners, Georgian Zaza Pachulia added 5 rebounds and one assist.
At Milwaukee DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points, and Kyle Lowry had 14 of his 18 points in the second half of Toronto’s 87-76 victory over the Bucks to tie the Eastern Conference series at 2-2. The Greek freak Giannis Antetokounmpo was held to 14 points on 6-of-19 shooting, while also committing seven turnovers and Tony Snell led Milwaukee with 19 points, including five 3-pointers, both playoff career highs. For the winning side Spaniard Serge Ibaka flirted with the double-double (10 p. 8 r.) and Lithuanian Jonas Valanciunas came from the bench and had 12 points.
Paul Millsap scored 29 points, German Dennis Schroder had 27 and Atlanta delivered an early knockout blow in a 116-98 victory, slicing the Wizards‘ lead to 2-1. Turk Ersan Ilyasova and Spaniard Jose Calderson added 4 points each for the winners, while for the losing side Polish Marcin Gortat finished the game with 2 points and 8 rebounds, Czech Tomas Satoransky added 2 assists and Croatian Bojan Bogdanovic scored 11 points.