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Welcome to the Yahoo Sports NBA playoff tracker, your daily one-stop shop for all the latest game results from each NBA playoff series. Here’s a look at Sunday’s games.
It took until Game 7, but Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers have finally won a playoff game at the Staples Center this season.
The Clippers, thanks to a 28-point performance from Leonard and a massive run to close out the third quarter, closed out the Dallas Mavericks 126-111 to win the series 4-3 and advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
The two teams were neck and neck early, though the Clippers surged to a brief eight-point lead at the break despite an incredible offensive showing from Luka Doncic in the first half. Doncic had 29 points while shooting 10-of-14 from the field in the first 24 minutes, and successfully kept them within striking distance.
At least, he did until the third quarter.
The Clippers ended the third quarter on a huge 24-4 run over nearly seven minutes to take a 15 point lead, their largest of the series at the Staples Center. They then pushed it to 21 minutes into the fourth quarter, all but putting the Mavericks away for good.
Though Dallas mounted a 13-3 run of its own to cut the game to just 10 points in the final minutes, it was too late. The Clippers held on to take the 15-point win and advance into the next round of the postseason.
Doncic led the Mavericks with 46 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds while shooting 5-of-11 from behind the arc. He accounted for 77 of Dallas’ 111 total points on the day, too, the most ever by a player in a Game 7, according to Elias Sports. Dorian Finney-Smith added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Kristaps Porzingis finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. As a team, Dallas shot just 10-of-36 from the 3-point line.
Leonard led Los Angeles with his 28 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Marcus Morris added 23 points, and Paul George finished with 22 points and 10 assists.
The Clippers will next head to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz on Tuesday in the next round. The Jazz beat the Memphis Grizzlies 4-1 in their opening-round playoff series.
Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young cooked the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series on Sunday, just as he did the New York Knicks in the first playoff round.
Young scored 25 of his 35 points in the first half and added 10 assists in a 128-124 tone-setting victory.
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid played through a small tear in his right meniscus to collect 39 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 38 minutes. Not until he landed awkwardly on a fourth-quarter rebound attempt did the knee appear to bother him significantly. The MVP candidate’s performance wasn’t enough.
Atlanta scored 76 first-half points and led by as many as 26 points. The inexperienced Hawks took their foot off the gas and nearly blew their comfortable lead in the waning minutes with a comedy of turnovers.
Embiid’s back-to-back layups capped an 11-0 run that cut the deficit to a single possession with 1:01 remaining. Hawks wing Bogdan Bogdanovic (21 points) responded with a 3-pointer that pushed the lead back to 121-115. He borrowed a page from Young’s playbook and shushed the Wells Fargo Center crowd.
Twice more the Sixers clawed back within a possession.
A Tobias Harris steal and layup made it 121-118 with 23.2 seconds left. Atlanta’s John Collins (21 points) answered with five straight points. Philadelphia scored the next six in a wild six-second span, culminating in a Ben Simmons steal and dunk that sliced the deficit to 126-124 with 10.5 seconds on the clock.
Two Bogdanovic free throws finally gave the Hawks their game in hand.
Harris (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Simmons (17 points, 10 assists) both finished with double-doubles for the Sixers, and Seth Curry added 21 points. Young and a deeper Hawks roster withstood it all.
Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday in Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
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