The Japan Times - Thunder sweep past Grizzlies in NBA playoffs, Cavs on brink

The Cleveland Cavaliers were on the brink of advancing, taking a 3-0 stranglehold on their Eastern Conference series with a 124-87 blowout of the Miami Heat.

And the Denver Nuggets leveled their Western Conference series with a stunning 101-99 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers sealed by Aaron Gordon's put-back dunk at the final buzzer.

Jalen Williams added 23 points for the Thunder, who were pushed to the wire in Memphis despite the absence of Grizzlies star Ja Morant, who was ruled out with a hip contusion suffered in game three.

Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 30 points and Santi Aldama and Desmond Bane had 23 points each for the Grizzlies, who trailed by 12 with 3:37 to play but closed within two in the waning seconds only to come up short.

After the first three games featured a total of four lead changes, the teams traded the lead 15 times in the first three quarters.

Oklahoma City took the first double-digit lead of the game with less than six minutes remaining and, without Morant, Memphis just didn't have enough to extend the best-of-seven series.

The Thunder, who led the league with 68 regular-season wins, next face either the Denver Nuggets or Los Angeles Clippers, who were tied at 2-2 after the Nuggets' sensational victory in Los Angeles.

Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic scored 36 points with 21 rebounds and eight assists for the Nuggets, who led by 22 early in the fourth quarter.

The Clippers, led by 24 points from Kawhi Leonard and 22 from Norman Powell, surged back to take their first lead of the game, 97-96, on Bogdan Bogdanovic's reverse layup with 1:11 to play.

Jokic spun through traffic for a basket that put Denver back on top, but Ivica Zubac tipped in a basket to tie it at 99-99 with eight seconds left.

With little more than a second remaining Jokic unleashed a high-arching three-point attempt that missed, Gordon nabbing the rebound and thrusting the ball in the hoop for a game winner that required an agonizingly lengthy video review before officials confirmed he had, indeed, beaten the buzzer.

"That's a crazy game," Gordon said. "That was tough!"

- Cavs pummel Heat -

In Miami, the Cavs handed the Heat the worst playoff defeat in franchise history, despite the absence of All-Star guard Darius Garland and a relatively quiet 13-point game from Donovan Mitchell.

Jarrett Allen scored 22 points and De'Andre Hunter added 21 off the bench as six Cavs players scored in double figures.

The Heat, well aware that no NBA team has rallied from 3-0 down to win a playoff series, got off to a fast start and led by nine midway through the first quarter.

But the Cavs were up by 13 by the end of the first quarter, their lead never dipping below double digits the rest of the way.

"We just came out with energy," said newly named Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley, who chipped in 19 points. "We took the first punch and from there we just took the game over."

Bam Adebayo scored 22 points to lead the Heat, but the 37-point margin of defeat was the Heat's worst ever in the post-season.

It surpassed a 36-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs in game three of the 2013 NBA Finals -- when the Heat went on to win the title.

In the final game of the day, the Golden State Warriors hosted the Houston Rockets in a series tied at 1-1.

M.Ito--JT