NBA

NBA Playoffs 2019: Scores, news, stats and highlights from Celtics-Pacers, Warriors-Clippers, Raptors-Magic, Thunder-Blazers

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Four games on Easter with one series potentially wrapping up.

The Indiana Pacers will try to avoid being swept on their home court when they take on the Boston Celtics. The Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers will all try and take a commanding 3-1 series lead by securing road wins in their respective Game 4s. 

Only 11 teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 series deficit. The Cleveland Cavaliers were the last to do it in the 2016 NBA Finals.

Follow along below for all the actions from the day's games.

Blazers 111, Thunder 98 (Portland leads series 3-1)

It was one-way traffic in the third quarter as the Blazers pulled away, but the Thunder responded in the fourth after falling behind by as many as 17.

They cut the margin down to seven as the crowd roared back to life and the hopes of a comeback grew, but the Blazers responded and closed it out.

Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum combined to lead their squad to the victory with 51 points on 17-39 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds and 11 assists.


End of third quarter: Blazers 79, Thunder 68

The clock struck Dame and the Thunder went cold. Lillard was feeling it in the third quarter as he dropped back-to-back deep bombs.

Portland turned the screws on the Thunder defense and made them pay on the other end of the floor.


End of second quarter: Blazers 50, Thunder 46

The Oklahoma City Thunder had the crowd going wild as they pushed the pace and had the Blazers on the ropes. But Damian Lillard and his troops responded.

An 11-0 run to close the quarter saw them silence the crowd. Russell Westbrook leads the way for the Thunder with 13 points, CJ McCollum has 12 for the Blazers.


End of first quarter: Blazers 26, Thunder 24

The intensity in this series has not relented since the ball was tipped in the first game and Game 4 is no different.

Russell Westbrook has his shooting stroke on point in the early going with 8 first quarter points.


Pregame: Dame gets loose as the Blazers look to take the 3-1 lead


Raptors 107, Magic 85 (Toronto leads series 3-1)

Toronto are now just one win away from the second round after making it three straight wins.

Kawhi Leonard was an unstoppable force on both ends of the floor as he led the Raptors to the win behind 34 points on 12-20 shooting which included 2-5 from deep.

Normall Powell and Serge Ibaka provided quality minutes off the bench, while Aaron Gordon did all that he could for the Magic. Finishing with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.


End of third quarter: Raptors 82, Magic 70

Kawhi Leonard continues to impose his will on Game 4 as the Raptors seek the 3-1 series lead. The Klaw is up to 30 points on 11-17 shooting from the field.

But the Magic refuse to let them go away. As soon as the Raptors look like they're pulling away the Magic reel them in. Also helps when Terrence Ross can bury these:


End of second quarter: Raptors 58, Magic 42

Remember when Kawhi Leonard struggled in Game 3? He's up to 18 points in the first half of Game 4 on 6-for-9 shooting from the field.

Pascal Siakam is also playing well for the Raptors, scoring 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting in the first half. He hit a big three in the closing seconds of the quarter to extend Toronto's lead to 16 points entering the half.


End of first quarter:  Raptors 28, Magic 26

Michael Carter-Williams drains a pull-up at the buzzer to make it a one possession game after the first quarter.


The Magic got off to a hot start, but Kawhi Leonard got the Raptors back in the game with nine points in the opening frame. Fortunately for Orlando, Nikola Vucevic had another strong quarter, this time with a team-high eight points.

The Magic will need much more of that from the All-Star in this game to tie the series at 2-2.

Warriors 113, Clippers 105 (Golden State leads series 3-1)

Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson lead the Warriors to a Game 4 victory with a combined 65 points.

The Warriors also got some strong bench play from Andre Iguodala, who finished with 10 points, three rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes of action.


Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was terrific all game long for the Clippers, scoring a playoff career-high 25 points. He was one of four Clippers to score in double figures, but the only one to score 20-plus.

End of third quarter:  Warriors 87, Clippers 84

The Clippers are making things interesting. They managed to take a five-point lead in the third quarter, which was their largest lead of the series.

The Warriors, however, regained the lead thanks to a combined 14 third quarter points from Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.

Landry Shamet and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, each scored nine points for the Clippers in the third quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander is now up to a team-high 25 points.

 

A big 12 minutes coming up for the Clippers with an opportunity to tie the series at 2-2 on the line.

Halftime: Warriors 62, Clippers 54

After the two teams traded baskets, the Clippers jumped out to an11-0 run. Their first 13 points in the second came from the bench and none of those points were from Lou Williams.

Williams did, however, get on the board, finishing the half with eight points on 2-for-5 from the field.

SGA leads the way for L.A. with a team-high of 16 points, but it hasn't been enough so far for the home team. Klay Thompson is still hot and is now up to 27 points. Kevin Durant has added 19 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field.

End of first quarter: Warriors 32, Clippers 22

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander started off the game hot, leading the way for the Clippers with 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field. The only problem for L.A. is that Klay Thompson had one of those quarters as well, going for 17 points hitting his first seven shots as the Warriors take a 32-22 lead into the break.

The Clippers starters played most of the first period and will be on the bench as their second unit takes over the second. It will be up to Lou Williams and company to try and dig themselves out of the 10-point hole in the second.


Celtics 110, Pacers 106 (Boston wins series 4-0)

With 7:06 left in the fourth period, the Pacers led 82-80 — that would be their last lead of the game and eventually the series as Boston exploded with a 15-3 run to complete the sweep.

Without Victor Oladipo in the lineup, the Pacers didn't have a run stopper or closer when they needed it all series long. After struggling earlier in the game to make triples, Boston knocked down five threes in the fourth. The Celtics' bench provided a punch with 49 points led by Gordon Hayward, who finished with a team-high 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field.

The Celtics will now have some time off and will face the winner of the Bucks/Pistons series in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.


End of third quarter: Celtics 73, Pacers 72

Indiana is only shooting 36 percent from the field but are still in the game, only down one point heading into the fourth.

Bojan Bogdanovic has a game-high 16 points and will need to continue being aggressive if the Pacers plan on extending the series. Despite the poor shooting, Indiana has been able to get to the line 18 times; Bogdanovic has five of those attempts.

Boston has to do a better job of limiting the Pacers' second chance opportunity. Indiana has 11 offensive boards so far.


Halftime: Pacers 49, Celtics 47

Both teams have struggled from 3-point range so far in the game with Boston shooting just 20.0 percent and the Pacers not much better at 28.6 percent.

Indiana will be kicking themselves for missing a lot of close-range shot in the paint, but they closed the half on a 10-2 run and take a two-point lead into the break.

Darren Collison leads the way for the Pacers with 11 points shooting 3-for-8 from the field. Jayson Tatum leads the way for Boston with nine points.

The Pacers have led at the half three out of the four games in this series.


End of first quarter : Pacers 23, Celtics 21

Looking to try and throw the knockout punch early in Game 4, the Celtics started the game on an 8-0 run, but the Pacers responded with 13 straight points.

Turnovers have allowed the Pacers to get out and score in transition. Boston committed six turnovers in the first period. Gordon Hayward came off the bench with energy for the Cs in the first quarter helping them stay close.

Hayward had five points off the bench in six minutes.


Pregame

The Pacers will start with Darren Collison, Wesley Matthews, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thad Young and Myles Turner. The Celtics will go with Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Aron Baynes and Al Horford.

Celtics will be without Marcus Smart and Guerschon Yabusele for Game 4.


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