NBA playoffs: Clippers, Pacers, Thunder advance to second round

Wait, let’s throw some scare quotes in there. The “teams” engaged in a “hallway altercation” after Game 7. From Marc Spears:

Emphasis mine. What’s more hilarious: that ballboys were taunting the Warriors, or that Curry and Steve Blake rushed out to confront who they thought was an assistant coach?

Saturday’s best Game 7 was a barnburner between the Clippers and Warriors. Here’s a rundown of what happened in that one plus the two earlier Game 7s.

Curry finished the night with a game-high 33 points, making three of his seven three-point attempts. Draymond Green came up huge for the Warriors, scoring a career playoff-high 24 points while shooting five-of-eight from beyond the arc.

The Clippers advance to face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.

It was business as usual for the NBA’s top defense. Indiana held Atlanta to a paltry 13 points in the second quarter, and a 9-1 run to start the fourth quarter helped the team seal the series-clinching victory. The Hawks attempted to make a run in the final period, cutting Indiana’s 17-point lead to 10 points, but they couldn’t bring it down to single-digits.

Lance Stephenson’s breakaway dunk in the final two minutes was the exclamation point and the dagger in the Hawks’ postseason. Stephenson finished the game with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Regardless of who wins tonight, this series has been very good. Both teams have their stars, but those stars are complimented by a number of role players who have each stepped up throughout the series.

Barnes is actually hitting threes (38 percent on the series) and Green has been the glue guy, making timely plays on both ends of the floor while allowing Golden State to play small without giving up defense.