MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Marc Gasol hit a 12-foot floater with 0.7 seconds left in overtime, and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the San Antonio Spurs 110-108 Saturday night to even up their first-round series at 2-2.
The Grizzlies won despite blowing a 10-point lead with 7:38 left in regulation, and despite 23 turnovers that San Antonio turned into 31 points.
Mike Conley set a franchise postseason record with 35 points, and Gasol finished with 16 points. He also had 12 rebounds.
The Grizzlies overcame another postseason personal best from Kawhi Leonard, who had 43 points. He rallied the Spurs by scoring the last 16 points of regulation but missed a 21-footer short of the rim with James Ennis defending him just before the buzzer. Leonard tied it at 108 with 17 seconds left in ovetime with a 3 from the left corner.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in San Antonio.
HAWKS 116, WIZARDS 98: Paul Millsap scored 29 points, Dennis Schroder had 27 and Atlanta delivered an early knockout blow against Washington, cruising to a 116-98 victory at home that sliced the Wizards’ lead to 2-1 in the opening-round playoff series.
After two tight losses in Washington exposed some bad blood between the teams, Atlanta returned home and built a 25-point lead by late in the first quarter.
The Hawks were never seriously challenged by the Wizards, who were essentially a one-man team. John Wall kept up his dazzling play in the series, scoring 29 points, but the point guard got no help from his teammates.
The other Washington starters combined to score 30 points on 14-of-45 shooting.
Millsap also had 14 rebounds, while rookie Taurean Prince chipped in with 16 points.
Game 4 is Monday night in Atlanta.
The Hawks came out intent on moving the ball, getting open looks and cutting down on the turnovers that plagued them in the first two contests.
Talk about following the game plan.
Atlanta pushed out to a double-digit lead before the game was 3 minutes old and stretched the margin to 38-13 with just under a minute to go in the opening quarter on Schroder’s 3-pointer.
Wall did everything he could to spark the Wizards. He posed along the baseline after a thunderous dunk, which might have had more effect if the Wizards weren’t losing by 23 at the time. He also darted through the lane against a collapsing defense to bank in an improbable shot, drawing gasps from the Atlanta crowd.
Wall made all but one shot and scored 21 points in the first half, but the Wizards trailed 64-46 heading to the locker room. The other four Washington starters had just 18 points.
Beal, in particular, had a miserable night after averaging 26.5 points in the first two games. He was held to 12 points on 6-of-20 shooting, missing all six of his attempts beyond the arc.
RAPTORS 87, BUCKS 76: DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points, and Toronto won in Milwaukee in a defensive slugfest to tie its first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at two games apiece.
Kyle Lowry had 14 of his 18 points in the second half for the Raptors, who turned up their intensity before a hostile road crowd after getting embarrassed in a 27-point loss to Milwaukee in Game 3.
Toronto’s tested backcourt reverted to its playmaking form, especially the resurgent DeRozan. He was 12 of 22 from the field after missing all eight of his attempts in Game 3.
The Raptors seized home-court advantage back in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 is Monday at the Air Canada Centre.
The game was tied at halftime before Toronto slowly edged away in the second half, building a 10-point lead with 4 minutes left on Norman Powell’s 3-pointer.
Tony Snell led Milwaukee with 19 points.
His 3 with 3:14 left got the Bucks within seven. Lowry answered with a bucket before setting up another basket with a drive-and-dish to center Jonas Valanciunas for a layup in traffic.
Toronto’s star guards produced in the clutch, while the defense threw up roadblocks to a Bucks team that ran all over them on Thursday night.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was held to 14 points on 6-of-19 shooting, while also committing seven turnovers. Toronto’s P.J. Tucker helped contain the Bucks’ All-Star with physical play in the post in the fourth quarter.
Milwaukee went 0 of 9 from the field during a stretch between late in the third quarter and early in the fourth, but still managed to stay within two possessions of Toronto for much of the second half. The Raptors were only slightly better with the ball.
Their defense set the tone.
Trading shoves and in the paint and hand-checks on the perimeter, the Bucks matched the Raptors’ rise in defensive intensity with Toronto desperate to tie the series going back to Canada.
The Bucks had 13 first-half turnovers compared to 10 for Toronto in a game that would have been considered a sloppy dud in the middle of the regular season.
The sluggish pace played more to the Raptors’ strengths.
NOTES
Clippers: Forward Blake Griffin is out for the remainder of the playoffs because of a toe injury suffered in Friday night’s win against the Utah Jazz.
The team announced that the five-time All-Star was diagnosed with an injury to the plantar plate of his right big toe.
Griffin left Game 3 in the second quarter with what the team said at the time was a bruised toe.
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