Clippers pull away from Blazers in 4th quarter
Chris Paul scored 25 points, J.J. Redick added 17 and the Clippers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 102-81 Wednesday night in Los Angeles for a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Blake Griffin had 12 points and nine rebounds and DeAndre Jordan had 18 rebounds for the Clippers, who shot 46 percent and topped 100 points for the second straight game.
The Clippers’ bench put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, stretching a six-point lead to 16 before Redick, Paul and Griffin returned with 7:38 to play.
Wesley Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a turnaround jumper, Austin Rivers hit a three-pointer, and Jamal Crawford benefited from a goaltending call.
LeBron James scored 27 points, J.R. Smith made seven of host Cleveland’s NBA playoff record-tying 20 three-pointers, and the Cavaliers opened a 2-0 lead in their series.
Andre Drummond scored 20 points and Reggie Jackson 14 for the Pistons, who have lost 10 straight playoff games against Cleveland.
Dwyane Wade had 28 points and eight assists, and Hassan Whiteside made all eight of his shots and finished with 17 points to help host Miami take a 2-0 series lead.
Boston head coach Brad Stevens said starting guard Avery Bradley is out for the next two playoff games against Atlanta with a right hamstring injury and is “very unlikely” to return in the first-round series. ...
Indiana starting center Ian Mahinmi said he’ll play in Game 3 on Thursday against the Raptors two days after a sore back forced him out of Monday night’s loss at Toronto, which evened the series at 1-1.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have hired former Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau to be the team’s head coach and president of basketball operations, a person with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday.