Thunder hit back, Heat look to sweep Pacers

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP):

Dennis Schroder scored 29 points, Chris Paul added 26 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder dominated in overtime to beat the Houston Rockets 119-107 on Saturday night and cut their deficit in the Western Conference series to 2-1.

James Harden scored 38 points for Houston, but fouled out 53 seconds into overtime — the first time he’s fouled out this season.

The Thunder scored the first 12 points of overtime, powered by two 3-pointers from Paul, to take a 116-104 lead.

Houston missed their first seven shots of overtime before Danuel House made a 3-pointer with less than a minute left. By then it was too late.

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series takes place today.

Balanced scoring attack

The Thunder had a balanced scoring attack, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander adding 23 points and Danilo Gallinari had 20. Jeff Green had 22 points for the Rockets. They have played the entire series without Russell Westbrook, who is out with a strained right quadriceps.

Meanwhile, LeBron James had 38 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, Anthony Davis scored 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, and Los Angeles beat Portland for a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference first-round series. The Lakers shut down the high-scoring Blazers for the second straight game after the number 1 seed was knocked off in Game 1. This was Portland’s highest-scoring performance in the series and it wasn’t close to good enough.

Damian Lillard scored 34 points despite a dislocated left index finger and CJ McCollum added 28 for the Trail Blazers. They will try to even the series in Game 4 today.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 35 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists as Milwaukee beat Orlando for a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference playoff series.

Antetokounmpo was 12 of 14 from the field and the top-seeded Bucks shot 56.1 per cent from the floor. Khris Middleton had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series also takes place today.

Jimmy Butler scored 27 points and Miami held off Indianas’ comeback attempt to take a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series.

Goran Dragic added 24 points, Bam Adebayo had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Tyler Herro scored 20 points for the Heat. They can sweep the series today.

Malcolm Brogdon set career playoff highs with 34 points and 14 assists for the Pacers. T.J. Warren scored 23 points, and Victor Oladipo added 20.