Nets and Spurs Advance To 2nd Round Of Playoffs

Source: Agencies | May 6, 2014, Tuesday

PAUL Pierce blocked Kyle Lowry’s shot from the lane on the final play of the game as the Brooklyn Nets held off the Toronto Raptors 104-103 in Game 7 in the Canadian city on Sunday to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
The Nets will begin the conference semifinals at Miami tonight to play the two-time defending NBA champion Heat.
At San Antonio, Tony Parker scored 32 points as the San Antonio Spurs led by as many as 31 on their way to rout the Dallas Mavericks 119-96, closing out a tense first-round series in seven games.
The Spurs advance to face the fifth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers, who beat the Houston Rockets in six games.
Leading by one point, Brooklyn used its final timeout after failing to inbound the ball. On the second opportunity, Shaun Livingston tried a lob pass to Pierce but Terrence Ross got a hand on the ball, then knocked it off Pierce and out of bounds for a turnover.
Toronto used a timeout and gave the ball to Lowry, whose driving shot was blocked by Pierce as time expired. Lowry lay prone on the floor as the Nets celebrated.
Joe Johnson scored 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Nets. Marcus Thornton scored 17, Kevin Garnett had 12 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the series and Deron Williams scored 13 points.
Amir Johnson fouled out with 20 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto, which trailed by 10 points with just 6 minutes remaining before storming back to win it at the buzzer.
Lowry finished with 28 points and DeMar DeRozan 18 for the Raptors, who fell to 0-2 in franchise history when playing in a Game 7.
Dallas played San Antonio in Game 7 of their series on Sunday. The Spurs were pushed to a decisive 7th game by the 8th-seeded Mavs, but responded with the runaway win that gave them a 4-games-to-3 triumph in the first-round series.
Tony Parker scored 24 of his 32 points in a first half, when San Antonio connected on a sizzling 68.4 percent of their shots from the field to build a comfortable cushion.
San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili scored 20 points, Danny Green added 16 points and Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard had 15 points each.
The Mavericks struggled offensively, with Dirk Nowitzki’s 22 points leading the way and Devin Harris contributing 17 points off the bench.
“I think our best game was tonight,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his team.