NBA: Bogdanovic, Pacers cruise by Magic

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 26 points and the visiting Indiana Pacers cruised to an easy 112-90 win over the Orlando Magic on Friday night.

Cory Joseph scored 15 points off the bench, and Thaddeus Young added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Pacers, who have won back-to-back games after dropping two in a row last week.

The win was Indiana's eighth straight against Orlando and the 15th in the last 16 meetings.

Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Aaron Gordon added 20 points and 14 rebounds for Orlando. The Magic have lost 4 of their last 6 games.

Indiana took an early lead when it scored 12 straight in the first quarter and never trailed in the game again.

Orlando trimmed the deficit to 63-59 early in the third quarter, but the Pacers responded with a 15-2 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Tyreke Evans. Indiana led 86-70 after 3 quarters and led by as much as 27 in the fourth.

Bogdanovic had 21 points in the first half to lead the Pacers to a 57-45 lead at halftime. Bogdanovic scored eight during the 12-0 Pacers' run in the first quarter.

Orlando received a scare in the first quarter when Vucevic sprained his right ankle, coming down on the foot of Myles Turner with 2:44 left. 

X-rays came back negative, and Vucevic returned to the game in second quarter with tape on the ankle.

Indiana played without two of its top scorers. Domantas Sabonis wasn't fit to play after suffering from food poisoning, and Victor Oladipo missed his ninth straight game with a knee injury. 

Kyle O'Quinn recorded his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds filling in for Sabonis.

The Pacers are 5-4 without Oladipo, who leads the team with 21.4 points per game. He did participate in an optional shootaround early Friday, but there is no timetable for a return.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pacers send Nets to seventh straight loss

Victor Oladipo scored 25 points as the Indiana Pacers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 108-103 Wednesday night at Barclays Center in New York.

Oladipo shot 9-of-24 from the floor but made enough plays to help Indiana win for the 14th time in the last 20 games. He pushed the Pacers ahead 101-97 by converting a layup with 50.5 seconds remaining, and the Nets never came closer.

Cory Joseph added 15 and 11 rebounds while former Net Bojan Bogdanovic contributed 14 as Indiana beat Brooklyn for the seventh straight time, in a game that featured 29 lead changes and 17 ties.

Thaddeus Young, who also used to play for Brooklyn, added 13, as did Al Jefferson. Myles Turner totaled 11 points and 14 rebounds, helping Indiana to a 52-44 edge on the glass.

Allen Crabbe scored 24 points for the Nets, who dropped their season-high seventh straight game and lost for the 11th time in 12 games since Jan. 21. DeMarre Carroll added 21 while D'Angelo Russell contributed 18 as Brooklyn shot 42.2 percent and missed nine consecutive shots from the field in the final four minutes before a 3 with 25 seconds left.

A tight first half featured 12 ties and 20 lead changes as neither team held more than a four-point lead. The half ended with Bogdanovic hitting a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left for a 54-54 deadlock.

Oladipo was 3-for-9 in the first half but scored nine straight points to give Indiana a 67-61 lead with 6:07 remaining in the third. The lead grew to 71-63 on a dunk by Young two minutes later but the Nets scored the next eight points and forged a 71-71 tie on Carroll's 3-pointer with 2:12 remaining.

After Oladipo missed a 3-pointer, Russell drove through the lane for a 73-71 lead with 1:36 left. Following another Oladipo miss, Harris hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:03 left and another Carroll 3-pointer with 31.1 seconds left capped a 16-2 run and gave Brooklyn a 79-73 lead heading into the fourth.

The Nets held a 95-93 lead on Crabbe's 3-pointer with 4:09 left before going cold.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

NBA: Pacers kick off 5-game trip with rout of Suns

Indiana guard Darren Collison scored 19 points to lead seven Pacers in double figures in a 120-97 rout of the Phoenix Suns at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix on Sunday.

Victor Oladipo had 17 points and Bojan Bogdanovic had 14 for the Pacers (23-20), who overcame a 22-point deficit to beat Cleveland on Friday but were never in danger against the slumping Suns.

Reserve guard Cory Joseph scored 16 points and center Domantas Sabonis had 14 rebounds for the Pacers, who led by 33 points late in the third period and turned to the bench the rest of the way.

Collison played 27 minutes and forward Thaddeus Young played 25, the only starters to play as much as the half the game in the first of the Pacers' five-game road trip that includes two sets of back-to-back games, including one Monday in Utah.

Forward Josh Jackson lead the Suns (16-28) with 21 points in his first game back after missing two with a hip injury. The Suns have lost four of five.

Devin Booker, who averages 24.4 points per game, had 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Reserves Troy Daniels and Isaiah Canaan had 13 points apiece and Alex Len had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

   
Indiana committed only six turnovers and shot 54.5 percent from the floor while making 11-of-23 3-pointers. Oladipo, Young, Bogdanovic and Joseph made two apiece.

The Suns did not lead after the first three minutes, and reserve forward T.J. Leaf's dunk with 8:20 remaining in the first half enabled the Pacers to double the Suns, 42-21.

Indiana led by 20 at halftime, and Leaf's 3-pointer with 1:55 remaining in the third quarter gave the Pacers a 33-point lead, 92-59.

The Suns shot 41.2 percent from the floor and made 9-of-37 3-point attempts.

Suns forward Dragan Bender, who had 34 points and made 9-of-14 3-point attempts in the past two games, did not score in 30 minutes. He was 0-for-7 from the field, 0-for-6 on threes. He started for the second straight game in place of injured Marquese Chriss.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Raptors pummel Hawks, extend win streak to 6

TORONTO -- DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry combined for 38 points as the Toronto Raptors routed the Atlanta Hawks 128-84 on Saturday to stretch their winning streak to a season-best six games.

Lowry also had eight assists and Patrick Patterson tallied 17 points for Toronto who moved into a tie with Cleveland for first place in the NBA's Eastern Conference.

It was the sixth loss in a row for the Hawks (10-11), who also have dropped nine of their last 10 games.

The Raptors (14-6) led by as many as 21 points during the first half, were ahead by 15 points at halftime and by 16 after three quarters before running away with the contest in the fourth quarter.

Pascal Siakam contributed 12 points and DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph each had 10 for the Raptors.

Dennis Schroder and Tim Hardaway each scored 15 points for the Hawks, whose biggest lead was five points. Dwight Howard and Kris Humphries both had 10 points.

Howard said the Hawks have been blaming each other during the losing skid.

"We just have to stop getting frustrated at each other. We need to get out of our own heads," he said.

There were only two lead changes and three ties in the game.

A dunk by Lucas Nogueira gave Toronto a 23-point lead with just under 10 minutes remaining.

The Raptors got the lead to 34 with 5:57 to play on a three-pointer by Terrence Ross, who finished with 15 points.

Ross then hit a field goal to give Toronto a 38-point lead and Siakam's dunk extended the lead to 44 late in the game.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Raptors get on the board with Game 3 win over Cavaliers

The Toronto Raptors got their first win of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday with DeMar DeRozan scoring 32 points in a 99-84 Game 3 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Raptors led by as many as 18 in the second quarter, were ahead by 13 at halftime, and were up by 15 early in the fourth.

The Cavaliers, who did not lose a game in the first two rounds of the playoffs, cut the deficit to eight before Raptors center Bismack Biyombo made six successive points to increase the lead to 14 with 3:38 to play.

Kyle Lowry added 20 points for the Raptors, Cory Joseph had 14, DeMarre Carroll 10, and Patrick Patterson 10. Biyombo grabbed a franchise playoff record 26 rebounds and added seven points and four blocks.

LeBron James scored 24 points for the Cavaliers, who won the first two games of the series in Cleveland. J.R. Smith added 22 for Cleveland while Kyrie Irving had 13 and Channing Frye 11.

DeRozan's apparent 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter was waved off after a review showed time had expired. Toronto settled for a 27-24 lead entering the second quarter.

Lowry picked up his third foul of the game with 8:07 left in the second quarter.

Joseph's 3-pointer with 4:09 to play in the second quarter gave the Raptors a 49-37 lead. After a Cavaliers' miss, Carroll made a 3-point shot for a 15-point Toronto lead. Patterson's layup with 1:22 to play boosted the advantage to 18.

James closed the half with a 3-pointer and the Raptors led 60-47.

Biyombo had no points but grabbed 16 first-half rebounds for Toronto. DeRozan led all scorers in the first half with 21 points. James led Cleveland with 14.

The Cavaliers opened the second half on a surge and had the lead down to six with 9:44 to play in the third quarter when James made a free throw after he was fouled making a layup.

After the Raptors went up by 11, Smith hit two straight 3-pointers to trim the lead to five with 4:20 to play in the third.

Joseph hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter to give Toronto an 80-70 lead.

The Raptors scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to go up by 15.

Richard Jefferson made a layup with 6:38 to play to cut Toronto's lead to 10.

Biyombo's hook shot put Toronto ahead by 12 points with 4:39 to play and his layup extended the lead to 91-77.

Biyombo was called for a flagrant foul on James and the two free throws cut the lead to 12 but the Cavaliers could not take advantage of their possession awarded after the foul shots.

Joseph's pullup jumper with 1:38 to play restored Toronto's 14-point lead.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Raptors hold off Pistons to stretch record streak to 11 wins

DeMar DeRozan scored 29 points as the Toronto Raptors held off a late charge by the Detroit Pistons to improve their franchise-record winning streak to 11 games with a 111-107 home victory on Saturday.

The Raptors (32-15) concluded a seven-game home stand with the triumph over a Pistons team coming off a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday to move further clear of their previous best winning streak of nine set in 2002.

"This was positive, the whole thing, taking care of business at home," Raptors coach Dwane Casey told reporters. "That's very important. As much as the winning streak or anything like that, we have to make sure we treat our fans to quality basketball, but that last quarter wasn't quality."

Guard Kyle Lowry added 18 points for Toronto and guard Cory Joseph provided 16 points off the bench.

Raptors reserve center Bismack Biyombo scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked three shots, forward James Johnson added 11 points and forward Luis Scola had 10.

"We took advantage of (the homestand)," guard DeRozan said. "Now it's time to go on the road and do what we have to do there. We dropped a couple of home games early in the season and the coaching staff stressed that we have to be more conscious of taking advantage of home court."

Never led
Guard Brandon Jennings scored a season-best 22 points off the bench to lead Detroit (25-23).

Guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 15 points, forward Marcus Morris and guard Reggie Jackson each contributed 13 points, while reserve forward Stanley Johnson scored 12 and forward-center Aron Baynes had 11.

Pistons center Andre Drummond scored 11 points and nabbed 12 rebounds before fouling out of the game with 6:37 left in the fourth. It was his league-leading 39th double-double.

The Pistons, who are only the fourth team in a playoff position the Raptors have played on their winning streak, never led but did get as close as two points during the second and third quarters.

The Raptors opened a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter before the Pistons cut it to six on a three-pointer by Jennings with 8.9 seconds left.

Swingman Darrun Hilliard trimmed the lead to four after a steal but DeRozan hit two free throws with 5.5 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

"It's definitely frustrating, a couple of calls didn't go our way," Jennings said. "We fought."

Jennings had eight points in the fourth quarter, in which he made two of his five three-pointers.

"The toughest thing is coming off the bench," Jennings added. "I've got to try and find that rhythm. Usually in those first two minutes, I'm kind of passive but I was trying to be more aggressive."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com