Spurs square series behind Duncan, Leonard

LOS ANGELES -- Three days from his 39th birthday, Tim Duncan keeps getting better with age. He smartly stayed on the court while playing the last eight minutes with five fouls, and recovered from a woeful fourth quarter to steady the Spurs in overtime.

Duncan scored 28 points and fellow NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard added 23 to help San Antonio beat the Los Angeles Clippers 111-107 on Wednesday night, tying their Western Conference playoff series at 1-1.

"He was spectacular," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Duncan. "He continues to amaze me with the things that he is able to do. He knows he had to stay on the court and he figured out a way to do it. He continued to be aggressive, which is pretty amazing."

Duncan apologized to his teammates after going one of five in the fourth, when Manu Ginobili fouled out and Tony Parker was already gone with a right Achilles' injury.

"I was awful," Duncan said. "I missed two or three layups, I made two or three defensive mistakes, got out of position and gave up dunks to DeAndre (Jordan)."

Duncan made up for it in overtime, scoring four straight points, and Patty Mills had eight of his 18 off the bench to give the Spurs a road split.

"Seeing the team play like this today was very important," Ginobili said. "Hopefully we bring the same sense of urgency, the same fire and juice, for Game 3."

The series, the only one of eight in the first round that is tied after two games, moves to San Antonio for Game 3 tonight.

"This is going to be a helluva series," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.

The defending champion Spurs blew 10-point leads in the third and fourth quarters, and got into overtime on a pair of free throws by Mills with 8 seconds left in regulation.

Duncan's jumper snapped a 101-all tie, Mills followed with a fast-break layup off Leonard's long pass, and Leonard scored on a layup for a 107-101 lead with 56 seconds left.

Blake Griffin had his first career playoff triple-double of 29 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, but had a costly turnover with 11 seconds left in regulation.

"That game is on me," he said. "I just got to take care of the ball."

DeAndre Jordan had 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Clippers, but he was just 4 of 12 from the line in the fourth. Los Angeles missed 17 free throws and had 11 turnovers in the game.

Grizzlies 97, Blazers 82

MEMPHIS -- Mike Conley and Courtney Lee each scored 18 points, and the Memphis Grizzlies grabbed the franchise's first 2-0 lead in a playoff series.

The Grizzlies took full advantage of starting the playoffs with home-court advantage for only the second time in their short postseason history. They had only won their playoff opener once before, and that was on the road in San Antonio in 2011.

Marc Gasol had 15 points, and Zach Randolph and Beno Udrih added 10 apiece.

LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 24 points and 14 rebounds, and he also had four blocks with two steals. Damian Lillard added 18 points but the Trail Blazers lost their first two playoff games for the first time since 2011, when they fell in six games to Dallas.

Nicolas Batum scored 11, while Robin Lopez and Meyers Leonard added 10 apiece.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Portland.

The Blazers looked like the team that won 51 games during the regular season early. Crabbe hit a three in the opening minutes to give the Blazers their first lead in this series, and they jumped out to a 10-2 lead with Aldridge connecting on four of his first five shots.

Even with the Grizzlies hitting only eight of their first 25 shots and missing a handful of layups in the quarter, Portland led only 21-19 at the end of the first.

Memphis took control in the second with a 15-2 run, turning Portland's 23-19 edge to a 34-25 lead on a three-pointer by Jeff Green. Memphis led by as much as 12 when Vince Carter tipped a ball to Green a couple minutes later and then knocked down a three. The Grizzlies outscored Portland 31-18 in the quarter and led 50-39 at halftime.

The Grizzlies simply clamped down tighter and led 73-60 at the end of the third after leading by as much as 18 late in the quarter.

Sports on 04/24/2015

Upcoming Events