Paul, playing the sidekick to Harden for most of his first season in Houston, took center stage, controlling the tempo and getting to his favorite spots as
the Rockets led from start to finish.Donovan Mitchell scored 25 before fouling out and Joe Ingles had 15 for the Jazz.Mitchell started finding lanes to the basket late and got the Jazz within 85-80 after he fueled a 10-2 run. But Paul, who matched his scoring high for
this playoff run, hit a pull-up jumper and found Trevor Ariza for a 3-pointer to
put the Rockets back up by double digits and they never looked back.NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Kevin Durant had 38 points and nine rebounds and Golden State soundly defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 118-92 on Sunday to take a
commanding 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.The Warriors responded to their 19-point loss in Game 3 with a resounding effort that produced a wire-to-wire win with leads as large as 26 points.Durant made 15 of 27 shots. Stephen Curry scored 23, Klay Thompson added 13 and Quinn Cook, who was a Pelicans reserve earlier this season, contributed 12
points.NEW YORK (AP) – The NBA has fined Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri $25,000 for walking onto the court at halftime of Game 3 against the Cleveland
Cavaliers to verbally confront officials for reversing a call.It stems from an incident that occurred Saturday night during the Raptors’ 105-103 loss to the Cavaliers.Toronto had been called for 14 fouls in the first half Henry Anderson Jersey , compared with eight for Cleveland. The Raptors were irate that what had appeared to be a Serge Ibaka basket and potential free
throw was downgraded to a foul with no basket and no free throw.CLEVELAND (AP) – LeBron James banked in a running one-hander at the buzzer, giving Cleveland a 105-103 win over Toronto on Saturday night in Game 3 and
shoving the Raptors to the edge of their most devastating playoff exit.After the Raptors tied it on rookie OG Anunoby’s 3-pointer with eight seconds left, James took the inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the floor and in one
motion, dropped his 10-footer in front of Toronto’s stunned bench.James finished with 38 points, Kevin Love added 21 and 16 rebounds and Kyle Korver 18 for the Cavs, who can sweep the Raptors for the second straight
year.PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Al Horford scored the go-ahead basket for Boston late in overtime in a wild Game 3 where the Philadelphia 76ers gave away the basketball
and the confetti, leading the Celtics to a 101-98 win on Saturday night.The Celtics go for the sweep on Monday.The ending to regulation was about as wild as it gets for both teams. JJ Redick threw away the basketball on an errant pass to no one that was scooped by
Terry Rozier who threw to Jaylen Brown for the basket and an 89-87 lead.Seconds later, Marco Belinelli stunned everyone with a falling 22-footer in front of the 76ers bench as time expired that sent the game into overtime – and
confetti mistakenly blasted from the cannon. There was about a seven-minute
delay while team employees scrambled to clean up the mess on the court.NHLSAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in his fourth shutout of the playoffs and the expansion Vegas Golden Knights are headed to the Western
Conference Final in their inaugural season after beating the San Jose Sharks 3-0
in Game 6 of their second-round series Sunday.Jonathan Marchessault opened the scoring Damarious Randall Jersey , Nate Schmidt added an insurance goal that was only detectable by replay and Cody Eakin sealed it with an empty-netter to help Vegas
become just the third team in NHL history to win multiple series in its first
season.The Toronto Arenas won the Stanley Cup in the first postseason in league history in 1918 and St. Louis won two rounds to win the all-expansion West
Division in 1968.TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Brayden Point and J.T. Miller scored second-period goals, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Boston Bruins 3-1 Sunday and advance to
the Eastern Conference final for the third time in four years.Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots – 14 in the final period – for the Lightning, who rebounded from losing the series opener at home to eliminate the
Bruins in five games.David Krejci scored in the final minute of the first period to give Boston a 1-0 lead that Point erased with his unassisted goal at 10:43 of the second.Miller’s power-play goal broke the tie less than four minutes later, and Anton Stralman added an empty-netter with 1:29 remaining to end any chance for a
Boston comeback.WASHINGTON (AP) – Jakub Vrana scored the go-ahead goal with 4:38 remaining, Braden Holtby made 35 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh
Penguins 6-3 in Game 5 Saturday night to take a 3-2 lead in the second-round
series and put the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions on the brink of
elimination.Vrana made coach Barry Trotz look like a genius for moving him to the top line alongside Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, replacing Devante Smith-Pelly
in the second period. Vrana sprung Kuznetsov for a breakaway on Washington’s
tying goal 52 seconds into the third and finished off Ovechkin’s pass for the
game-winner.The Capitals are one victory from advancing to the Eastern Conference final for the first time in the Ovechkin era and overall since 1998, when they reached
the Stanley Cup Final. They can move on to face the winner of the Tampa
Bay-Boston series if they Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers would
welcome the return of tight end Antonio Gates following the serious knee injury
sustained by Hunter Henry last week.Rivers endorsed the idea of re-signing Gates, who is a free agent after playing all 15 seasons of his record-setting career for the Chargers, but said
the decision would be up to general manager Tom Telesco and head coach Anthony
Lynn."I would always be excited if he walked back in the door Gary Zimmerman Jersey , obviously. Certainly, he would get my vote," Rivers said Tuesday.Gates would be a logical fit to help replace Henry, who is expected to miss the upcoming season because of a torn ACL he sustained in practice. Henry had
emerged as a top target for Rivers over his first two seasons with 81 receptions
for 1,057 yards and 12 touchdowns, contributing to the team's decision not to
bring back Gates.Gates caught 87 of his 114 touchdown receptions from Rivers, the second-most by a quarterback-receiver combination in NFL history behind the 112 touchdown
passes Peyton Manning threw to Marvin Harrison for Indianapolis. Gates has the
most touchdown receptions by a tight end in NFL history to go along with his
franchise-record 927 receptions and 11,508 yards receiving.The absence of Henry leaves Virgil Green as the only tight end currently on the roster that has caught a pass in an NFL game. Behind Green, who signed with
the Chargers as a free agent from Denver in April, are second-year players Sean
Culkin and Braedon Bowman and rookies Cole Hunt and Ben Johnson."It will look different without Hunter in there Sam Hubbard Jersey , but thankfully we have another 10 practices or so, counting the mini-camp, to continue to shape the offense for who we're going to
be," Rivers said.Rivers had been in contact with Gates since Henry tore his ACL, declining to discuss the specifics of their conversations."If something were to happen down the road, he wouldn't have wanted it to come that way with Hunter's absence," Rivers said.__ Womens Christian Kirk Jersey
