NBA playoffs: Aaron Gordon beats clippers in the buzzer; Thunder grizzles; The riders take an advance of 3-0

THE NBA playoffs Following Saturday with four clashes in the first round, three in the Western Conference. To the east, the Cleveland Cavaliers took an advance in the 3-0 series on the heat of Miami.

In two games 4 on Saturday, Oklahoma City Thunder closed a scan on Memphis' grizzly girls, while the Los Angeles clippers could take a decisive advance in the 3-1 series on the Denver Nuggets.

The slate of the playoffs of the day ends with the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets who seek to take a 2-1 lead.

Discover Yahoo Sports' Predictions for each first -round seriesIn addition to Kevin O'Connor ranking of 40 best players in the NBA qualifiers.

Here are the results and key dishes for Saturday matches:

Nuggets 101, Clippers 99

There has never been a winning dunk so close to the buzzer.

With a fraction of a fraction of a second remaining, the Denver Nuggets striker Aaron Gordon lasted his teammate Nikola Jokic 3 points from the 3-point attempt, sealing a 101-99 victory against the Clippers of Los Angeles.

The victory spoiled the return of the 22 points of the Clippers, the fourth quarter and equalized the series, 2-2.

Thunder 117, Grizzlies 115

The Thunder finished the grizzly ones with a victory in match 4 on Saturday, and that did not take a return of 29 points this time.

With Memphis missing the leader of the stars Ja more, With a hip injury of match 3Oklahoma City was in control during most of the pinch and tuck match behind 38 points by Shai Gilgeous Alexander. Although Morant missed the match and Zach Eddey and Scotty Pippen Jr. incurring, the grizzly groves remained in a typing fork until the final possession.

All well considered, the grizzlies can at least say that this loss was the least embarrassing in the series.

The fight against thunder from a distance, but persevere

Oklahoma City did not have an offensive game on Saturday, has trouble finding the range of Beyond Arc – only 7 for 35 (20%) of 3 points as a team, one of the Worse, long -distance shooting performance in the history of the franchise eliminations.

The big teams have more than one way of winning, however … And if we have learned something this season, it is that thunder – the NBA Defense n ° 1and one of the best teams in the League Win the Battle of possession – are a very good team. And now they have gone around 2.

The MVP favorite rises

Gilgeous-Alexander, MVP finalist, scored his 38 points on a 13 shot for 24, crowned by a steps with 11 seconds to play, to help Oklahoma City to finish the scan of a team of Undermanned grizzly grizzlymen. Star striker Jalen Williams added 23 points, five assists and four rebounds for the seeded Thunder, who will face the winner of match 4 V.-5 between the Nuggets and the Clippers in the semi-finals of the West Conference.

With a bit unavailable, Memphis needed big games from Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane to extend his season. They combined for only 35 points out of 32 goals attempts on the ground, however, while they were struggling to both coarse troubles and a defense of rumbled OKC.

While this series opened its doors with the Thunder that blows the grizzlyans in matches 1 and 2 – and by surprising Memphis of 32 points in the second half of match 3 – the closing competition was a much closer affair, with seven head changes and none of the two teams capable of deviating more than the other. With his long -term outfit shooting, Oklahoma City largely relied on her defense, forcing the Grizz without more in 21 reversals, which led to 32 thunder points. Between all these errors of Memphis and OKC limiting his own mistakes (only eight reversals leading nine points of Memphis) and striking his failures (12 offensive rebounds, 15 second chance points), the Thunder ended up taking 14 More attempts in the field than the grizzly greeks – a major advantage of possession which has paid major dividends.

Memphis sought to bounce back on Thursday 29 -point devastating advance By taking a hot start, opening 8 for 12 from the ground to gain an early advantage. The Thunder followed the pace, however, thanks to Gilgeous-Alexander, finally started to thaw after an icy start for the playoffs.

After shooting just 35.3% of the ground and 25% out of 3 in the first three games in the series, Gilgeous -Alexander made his first seven shots on Saturday, pouring 16 points to the first quarter – the Most score after-season district of his career – And helping seven others, helping to spin OKC to an advance of 34-31 after 12 minutes.

But while Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams came out hot, the shot of the icy perimeter of Oklahoma City allowed a physique (sometimes sometimes Also physical) The Memphis team to stay in the fight. Mooring replacements at the leader (Scotty Pippen Jr.) and in the starting formation (Santa Aldama reserve striker) combined for 25 points on a shot of 8 for 15 in first half, sending the grizzly ones in a hindrance down only, 60-59.

Oklahoma City took control in the third, tearing a race at the start of 9-0 fed by – what else – his defense:

Scotty Pippen Jr. and Memphis Show Heart – But it's not enough

But Pippen Jr. – A revelation in place of Morant, marking a career in 30 -point playoffs to go with 11 rebounds and four assists – continued to make his way to the basket and keep the grizzlymen. But after a MEMPHIS race 10-0 stripped Pippen Jr. under the basket Before drawing a sixth fault which transformed the best offensive initiator of Memphis into a spectator for the balance of the game.

A pair of end 3 of Bane and Vince Wlliams Jr. had thunder sweat in the last seconds. But Thunder's head coach Mark Daignault did not let OK leave a potential 3-point attempt in overtime, making his players Failing with a three -point lead To preserve the advantage – and, a few ticks later, make Oklahoma City the first team to advance in the NBA 2025 qualifiers.

– Dan becomes

Cavaliers 124, heat 87

The heat needed a victory on Saturday to avoid late 3-0. They also probably had their best opportunity to obtain a victory with the riders missing the second scorer Darius Garland.

However, Miami did not play anything like a team whose season was at stake, exploding at home. It was the worst defeat in the playoffs in the history of the Heat and the third largest margin of victory in the playoff series for the riders.

Cleveland had a 20 -point lead and increased the margin to 22 points after three quarters. With five minutes remaining in the match, Heat Erik Spoelstra coach emptied his bench and decided to go to match 4, where Miami hopes to avoid a scan of the series.

De'Andre Hunter compensated for the absence of Garland

Sam Merrill took the place of Garland in the departure formation of Cleveland and did not provide much. But D'Andre Hunter has fulfilled the production of missing points with its best score performance of the playoffs. The sixth year veteran collected 21 points on the bench, pulling 3 out of 5 out of 3 points.

Many playoff series remains to be played, but Hunter has provided exactly the kind of boost that the riders hoped when They acquired it on the deadline for trade Atlanta Hawks. Cleveland now has the kind of depth that can help in a long eliminatory series against teams like the Indiana Pacers and the Boston Celtics.

Tyler Herro was “F *** Ing Around”

Tyler Herro did not like to be distinguished by Garland as a weak defender who could be “removed“By the riders, saying that it was not”f *** king around“In his match. Faced with a more in -depth examination after these comments, Herro did not shine under a severe projector.

The Heat Guard has only scored 13 points, harassed in a shooting performance of 5 out of 13 (including 1 of 3 out of 3) by a suffocated defensive effort from the rear area of the Cavs. (Perhaps the absence of Garland helped his team at this end of the soil.)

After a performance of 33 points in match 2, Herro probably needed to be even better. Instead, he recorded one of his worst games of the season. He had not scored less than 20 points in his last 15 games.

The front area of the riders has intensified

In addition to not having 24 points per game of Garland per match in alignment, Donovan Mitchell scored only 13 for the Cavs while pulling 4 out of 14 from the ground. Being upgraded by Max Strus (18 points) would probably not have been predicted as a key to victory by an observer.

However, the riders also caught up with the absence of Garland by picking up their game in the front area with a strong performance by Jarrett Allen. Allen collected 22 points and nine rebounds, responding to the identical numbers of Bam Adebayo for heat. He also helped limit Kell'el Ware to eight points and Andrew Wiggins at 10 in a clear victory on the front line for Cleveland.

– Ian Casselberry

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