Stephen Curry made a career playoff-high seven three-pointers and scored 33 points to lead the Golden State Warriors past Los Angeles 118-97 on Sunday to level a first-round series that has been pulled into a race-related scandal involving the Clippers’ owner.
The Clippers’ players made a silent protest against Donald Sterling by shedding their warm-up jerseys and going through pregame routine with their red shirts on inside out. They also wore black bands on their wrists or arms, and black socks in a show of solidarity.
Curry and the Warriors made another kind of statement.
Photo: USA Today
The All-Star guard made his first five three-pointers to give Golden State a 20-point lead in the first quarter that held up most of the way.
Curry shot 10 for 20 from the floor, including seven of 14 from beyond the arc, and had seven assists and seven rebounds to help the Warriors snap a two-game skid.
Game 5 is scheduled for today in Los Angeles.
Andre Iguodala added 22 points and nine assists, while David Lee, Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes each scored 15 as the Warriors regained their shooting touch.
Jamal Crawford scored 26 points, while Blake Griffin had 21 points and six rebounds for a Clippers team wrapped up in the most talked-about topic in sports.
Also on Sunday, Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge had 29 points and 10 rebounds as the Trail Blazers claimed a 123-120 overtime win over the Houston Rockets to take a 3-1 advantage in their series.
Nicolas Batum added 25 points in the first win for a home team in the series, which moves to Houston, Texas, for Game 5 tomorrow. It was the third overtime game of the series.
The Blazers have not advanced out of the first round since the post-season in 2000.
James Harden had 28 points, while Dwight Howard added 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Rockets.
In Washington, Trevor Ariza had a career playoff-high 30 points as the Wizards scored the first 14 points of the game and barely looked back to beat the Chicago Bulls 98-89 and take a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference series.
John Wall added 15 points and 10 assists for the Wizards, who forced 16 turnovers and committed only six.
Washington played without forward Nene, who was suspended for grabbing Jimmy Butler by the head in Game 3.
The Wizards are looking to win a playoff series for only the third time since the 1970s. They can finish off the Bulls in Game 5 today in Chicago.
Taj Gibson scored a career-high 32 points on 13-for-16 shooting for Chicago.
Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points and Kyle Lowry added 22 as the Raptors downed the Brooklyn Nets 87-79 to level their first-round series 2-2.
Amir Johnson had 17 points for the Raptors, who started fast, gave up all of a 17-point lead, then shut the Nets down over the final five minutes to snap a 13-game road losing streak in the playoffs that went back 13 years.
Game 5 is scheduled for tomorrow in Toronto, with the series now guaranteed a return to Brooklyn on Friday for Game 6.
Paul Pierce scored 22 points for the Nets.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
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