Durant scores 31, Suns beat Clippers 112-100 for 3-1 lead

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP)

By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) —

The New York Knicks have had so few chances to join the NBA postseason party that they might forget the real fun hasn’t even started yet.

“There’s nothing to celebrate,” Jalen Brunson said. “There’s nothing to be truly happy about.”

One more win and that changes.

Brunson scored 29 points, RJ Barrett had 26 and the Knicks took a 3-1 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their first-round series with a 102-93 victory yesterday.

Josh Hart moved into the starting lineup and added 19 points and seven rebounds for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who can reach the second round for the first time since 2013 with a victory in Cleveland on Wednesday. New York would host Game 6, if necessary, on Friday at what has been a deafening Madison Square Garden during the last two games.

“There’s nothing like a big game at the Garden,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. There might be a few more to come, the way his team is defending.

New York forced Cleveland All-Star Donovan Mitchell into one of the worst games of his postseason career, finishing with just 11 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Darius Garland had 23 points and 10 assists for the Cavs, bouncing back nicely after going 4 for 21 in the Knicks’ Game 3 romp. Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert each scored 14 points.

“This (is) not over with,” Mitchell said. “The way we lost sucks. We can’t hang our heads and ultimately give up. We’re not that type of group. Like I said, we’ll be ready for Game 5.”

Barrett was only 6 for 25 in the two games in Cleveland but has been outstanding back at home, where fans chanted his name in the second half. He had five straight points to break the Knicks free from a 75-all tie, then added another basket before Hart scored to push it to 90-81 midway during a stretch when Cleveland could only manage two baskets in more than four minutes.

After limiting the Cavs on Friday to 79 points, the lowest total in an NBA game this season, the Knicks led most of the way in this one to reach the verge of the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time since beating Boston in 2013.

They’ve only made it back to the playoffs once since then, falling in five games to Atlanta in 2021. But this team is more complete, thanks largely to signing Brunson last summer after he helped Dallas reach the Western Conference finals, then acquiring Hart from Portland during this season.

— Phoenix’ big three of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Chris Paul were all in go-mode.

As a result, the scrappy and shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers are on the verge of going home for the summer.

Durant scored 31 points, Booker added 30 and Paul bounced back big in the fourth quarter of a 112100 victory over the Kawhi Leonard-less Clippers on Saturday to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.

“It’s definitely good when we all three are aggressive. We all did a solid job,” said Durant, acquired in February from the Brooklyn Nets. “We’re still growing and still trying to learn each other.”

The Clippers, who lost Game 3 by five points, again made a strong run with Leonard watching from the bench. He has missed two straight games with a sprained right knee. They’re also without Paul George, who hasn’t played since March 21 because of the same injury as Leonard.

“This team is going to stick around the whole game,” Durant said of the Clippers. “They’re never out of a game.” Game 5 in the best-ofseven series is Tuesday in Phoenix.

“We make no excuses around here,” Clippers guard Russell Westbrook said. “We just got to make sure we rally around each other, keep competing and leave it on the floor.”

Westbrook, who joined the Clippers in February, carried them in the fourth. He had 14 points, including nine in a row when they twice pulled within two points.

Westbrook finished with a game-high 37 points. Norman Powell added 14 points and Terance Mann had 13 off the bench. But as the fourth wound down, the Clippers ran out of gas.

Paul, who at 37 has had many late-game big moments, had 12 points in the fourth, hitting key jumpers from all over the court each time Los Angeles threatened.

“I was just happy a few of them fell,” said Paul, who shot 5 of 18 for 11 points in Game 3.

Paul finished with 19 points on 8-for-17 shooting, nine assists and no turnovers against his former team. Booker had nine rebounds and seven assists.

Deandre Ayton had 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Looking ageless at 34 while playing a game-high 44 minutes, Durant scored 11 points in the third, capped by a 3-pointer as the Suns erased an early eight-point deficit. They led 83-78 going into the fourth.

“We did a solid job of staying poised,” Durant said. “We were just terrible to start the third.”

The Clippers scored the first nine points of the third and Suns coach Monty Williams called timeout.

“Typically you have to list three, four things you have to do,” he said.

“I don’t have to do that with these guys. They understand before I get there.”

The Suns trailed by 11 points early in the second, when they outscored the Clippers 25-17 and led 48-47 at the break.

“It was a back and forth battle,” Durant said. “They threw punches, we threw punches. We threw the last one.”