Tuesday update: Paul is going to be re-evaluated in one week for his groin injury, according to Shams Charania. The Suns are likely going to be without Paul for Games 3-5, with Game 5 being a contest that will only be played if Phoenix wins a game. The team is down 2-0 heading back to Arizona and will now be without its veteran leader as it tries to get back in the series.
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Anthony Davis joins rare company in propelling Lakers' Game 1 win.
SAN FRANCISCO -- In the final 90 seconds of Game 1 of the Los Angeles Lakers' second-round series against the Golden State Warriors, Anthony Davis blocked a layup by Stephen Curry and corralled a rebound off a Jordan Poole miss to put the finishing touches on L.A.'s 117-112 win Tuesday night.The sequence would have been notable enough had it just helped to squelch the defending champions' furious 14-0 rally to tie the game that preceded it.
The fact that it came after Davis played every single minute of the second half, posting a final line of 30 points, 23 rebounds, five assists and four blocks to allow the Lakers to steal home-court advantage in the opening game of a second consecutive Western Conference playoff series, made it monumental.
"The Lakers franchise over the years, over the course of their existence, has always had dominant big men, dominant guys that have been a force at the rim," LeBron James said after Davis joined Shaquille O'Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Elgin Baylor as the only other players in team history to record a 30-20 game in the playoffs. "That's why their jerseys are in the rafters. AD will be up there when he's done playing. The No. 3 will be up in the rafters. He continues to show why he's one of the best players that we have in this league."
Davis started his damage early, putting up 23 points on 9-for-10 shooting (5-for-5 from the free throw line) and 11 rebounds in the first half -- nearly matching his first-round averages against the Memphis Grizzlies (20.8 points and 13.7 rebounds) by intermission.
"The guys gave the ball to me in the right spots," Davis said. "A lot of it came out of pick-and-roll, post-ups, some offensive rebounds. Just being aggressive when I do catch [the ball], looking to score, looking to play make to the other guys."
Davis was effective in all aspects of the game. His teammates shot 5-for-5 when they shot off his feeds, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information. And the Warriors went just 4-for-17 on shots that Davis contested, with Golden State shooting just 40.6% from the field overall in Game 1.
"I mean, he's everything for us," said Lakers guard Dennis Schroder, who was impressive in his own right with 19 points off the bench. "Defensively. Offensively. He's a big part for this organization. He wasn't an All-Star. He wasn't a Defensive Player of the Year. He's taking it serious, doing everything for us, and he's the anchor."
After the big man missed 20 games in the belly of the season because of a bone chip and stress reaction in his foot, the Lakers were careful about Davis' workload -- playing him in only one back-to-back since his return to the lineup and generally managing his minutes.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham said it was all part of an effort to save Davis for nights like Tuesday in the postseason, as Davis was able to stay on the floor for 44 minutes.
"We have to manage their loads throughout the regular season in order for us to push them a little further during this time of year," Ham said. "Postseason, everything is at its peak. You have to pare down your rotation, and you got to push the big dogs. Your big dogs got to be there early and often."
Davis only shot 1-for-5 in the fourth quarter -- and the No. 7-seeded Lakers shot 8-for-24 as a team (33.3%) -- but L.A. did enough to start the series by putting the No. 6-seeded Warriors on their heels.
The biggest thing for us is not to get happy, stay humble, respect our opponent, but also know that there's a ton of work left to be done," Ham said. "It's not the first one [to win a game], not the first with the greatest performance individually [to win the series]."
Davis' greatness more than made up for James' off shooting night (24 points on 9 for 24 attempts, including just 1-for-8 from 3) and relatively quiet performances from first-round standouts Austin Reaves (10 points) and Rui Hachimura (six points).
And the quest to become the first team to four wins to advance to the Western Conference finals will continue with Game 2 on Thursday.
"It's going to be a different game," Davis said. "They're going to make adjustments. We're going to make adjustments. The building will be probably a little bit louder. Obviously, they don't want to go down 0-2. The crowd will be more into it. ... I'm going to continue to be aggressive."
Chris Paul's status in doubt for Games 3 and 4 (groin strain).
Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul's status is in doubt for Games 3 and 4 against the Denver Nuggets this weekend because of his left groin strain, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.He is expected to push for a return, but the possibility of recovering by Friday's Game 3 in the Western Conference semifinals is believed to be a significant challenge, sources said. The Suns have officially listed Paul as day-to-day.
Paul appeared to sustain the injury after battling to box out Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope late in the third quarter in Game 2 on Monday. He checked out of the game with 4:32 remaining in the quarter and immediately headed to the locker room.
Paul, who turns 38 on Saturday, has dealt with playoff injuries multiple times throughout his surefire Hall of Fame career. He has missed eight career playoff games due to injury, most notably a hamstring strain that sidelined Paul for the last two games of the 2018 Western Conference finals, when his Houston Rockets built a 3-2 lead but lost to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors.
Paul is averaging 12.4 points and 7.4 assists during this postseason. He has the Suns' best plus-minus in the playoffs, as Phoenix has outscored opponents by 39 points over seven games with Paul on the floor.
The series shifts to Phoenix on Friday with the Suns trailing 2-0 to the Nuggets.
Sources: 76ers' Joel Embiid back for Game 2, barring setback
BOSTON -- Philadelphia 76ers superstar center Joel Embiid, who was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player on Tuesday night, is -- barring any setbacks -- set to return from the sprained LCL in his right knee in Game 2 of Philadelphia's Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Boston Celtics, sources confirmed to ESPN.Embiid participated in the team's morning shootaround Wednesday and will need to come through that and his pregame workout without incident to return to the floor.
But the mood was far different Wednesday morning than it had been 48 hours earlier. Embiid was the first 76ers player to enter the arena bowl Wednesday -- as opposed to being the last to do so ahead of the shootaround Monday before Philadelphia's Game 1 victory.
The news of Embiid's pending return was first reported by The Athletic.
He then got out on the court and got shots up for several minutes before the media's 15-minute viewing period expired and the shootaround got underway.
Embiid is going to speak to the media after the shootaround at the NBA's news conference for him winning this season's MVP award, which he claimed by finishing ahead of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic -- who had finished ahead of Embiid the past two seasons.
Embiid went through a full workout Tuesday, which sources said went well, but the determining factor for whether he would be available to play as early as Game 2 was how his knee responded the next day to the exertion.
"It's just health-based," 76ers coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday afternoon. "If he can play, he plays. If he can't, he can't.
"And if it's 50-50, we would probably err on the other side [and not have him play], because we've done that all year."
Now, if Embiid comes out of the shootaround and his standard pregame workout without incident, he's expected to be back in the starting lineup for Philadelphia as it tries to take a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven series after James Harden's spectacular 45-point performance in Game 1 allowed the 76ers to stun the Celtics here at TD Garden without the league's MVP.
Embiid suffered the injury April 20 when he landed awkwardly after contesting a shot by Brooklyn Nets forward Cam Johnson in Game 3 of Philadelphia's first-round sweep of Brooklyn.
The 76ers had hoped Embiid could be back as soon as Game 1 -- especially after the Celtics lost Game 5 of their first-round series to the Atlanta Hawks here last week, meaning this series wouldn't start until Monday.
But after Philadelphia managed to steal Game 1 without him, the 76ers will now try to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series with their superstar potentially returning to the floor.
- 76ers are 6-0-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
- 76ers are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.
- 76ers are 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS win.
- 76ers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 when their opponent allows 100 points or more in their previous game.
- 76ers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game.
- 76ers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.
- 76ers are 5-0-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a straight up win.
- 76ers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 Wednesday games.
- 76ers are 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
- 76ers are 6-0-1 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
- 76ers are 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 road games.
- Celtics are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games following a ATS loss.
- Celtics are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up loss.
- Celtics are 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
- Celtics are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games playing on 1 days rest.
- Celtics are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 when their opponent allows 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Celtics are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Celtics are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Celtics are 18-6 ATS in their last 24 Wednesday games.
- Celtics are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games overall.
- Celtics are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 home games.
- Celtics are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Celtics are 33-16-2 ATS in their last 51 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
- Over is 5-1 in 76ers last 6 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Over is 4-1 in 76ers last 5 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Under is 11-3 in 76ers last 14 games playing on 1 days rest.
- Under is 8-3 in 76ers last 11 Conference Semifinals games.
- Under is 5-2 in 76ers last 7 Wednesday games.
- Under is 5-2 in 76ers last 7 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
- Over is 5-0 in Celtics last 5 overall.
- Over is 5-0 in Celtics last 5 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Over is 4-0 in Celtics last 4 when their opponent allows 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Over is 4-0 in Celtics last 4 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Over is 5-0 in Celtics last 5 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Over is 7-0 in Celtics last 7 games playing on 1 days rest.
- Over is 5-1 in Celtics last 6 games following a ATS loss.
- Over is 4-1 in Celtics last 5 games following a straight up loss.
- Over is 4-1 in Celtics last 5 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
- Under is 13-4 in Celtics last 17 Conference Semifinals games.
- Over is 5-2 in Celtics last 7 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
- Over is 11-5 in Celtics last 16 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600.
Head to Head Trends
- 76ers are 1-5 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
Underway
Boston massacre
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