Dillon Brooks scored 31 points and Ja Morant added 26 to lead the No. 8 seed Memphis Grizzlies to a huge 112-109 road upset win over the No. 1 Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Sunday night in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
The young Grizzlies fell behind by 14 points in the first half, rallied to jump ahead by 17 points early in the fourth quarter and then held on to win on the top-seeded team’s home court just two days after earning a spot in the playoffs. While Utah rested, the Grizzlies had to beat San Antonio and Golden State in the NBA’s new play-in tournament to qualify.
The Jazz were short-handed after All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell (ankle sprain) was ruled out of the game in the afternoon. Former Grizzlies guard Mike Conley played well for the Jazz with 22 points and 11 assists, and Bojan Bogdanovic lit up to score 29 points — all in the second half — to lead Utah.
Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Kyle Anderson added 14 points and six steals for a Grizzlies squad that is playing in the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Suns 99, Lakers 90
Devin Booker recorded 34 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to lead Phoenix to a home victory over Los Angeles in the opening game of their Western Conference first-round series.
Deandre Ayton added 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting and collected 16 rebounds for the second-seeded Suns, who were playing in their first postseason game since 2010. Suns star Chris Paul played 36 minutes despite injuring his right shoulder in the second quarter when teammate Cameron Johnson clipped his arm.
LeBron James had 18 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds while Anthony Davis had 13 on just 5-of-16 shooting for the seventh-seeded Lakers. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday in Phoenix.
76ers 125, Wizards 118
Tobias Harris set a playoff career high with 37 points to help host and top-seeded Philadelphia hold off eighth-seeded Washington in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Harris scored the most points by a 76er in the first half of a playoff game (28) since Allen Iverson’s 30-point, first-half performance in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Joel Embiid finished with 30 points and six rebounds in just 30 minutes after battling early foul trouble.
Bradley Beal paced the Wizards with 33 points and 10 rebounds. Russell Westbrook had 16 points, 14 assists and five rebounds, Davis Bertans added 14 points and Rui Hachimura, Alex Len and Daniel Gafford each scored 12. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
Hawks 107, Knicks 105
Trae Young drove the lane for the game-winning floater with 0.9 seconds left as Atlanta mounted a late rally and edged host New York in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at Madison Square Garden.
Young scored 13 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter for the Hawks, who led by as many as 11 in the first quarter. He also had 10 assists. Bogdan Bogdanovic had 18 points, while Lou Williams scored 13 points off the bench and John Collins finished with 12 points.
Reserve Alec Burks scored 18 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter for the Knicks, whose biggest lead was seven points in the third. Derrick Rose had 17 points off the bench, while Julius Randle (15 points, 12 rebounds) had a double-double.
–Field Level Media