NBA playoffs schedule and results: Hawks take 3-2 lead, Grizzlies advance

The fourth quarter was when Memphis’ stingy defense made the difference. Sure, Portland scored 27 points in the final frame, but 12 of those points came in the final minute after the Grizzlies had already taken full control. With the game hanging in the balance earlier in the fourth, Memphis held Portland scoreless for more than four minutes, turning a one-point lead into a 10-point lead that essentially clinched the series.

C.J. McCollum is a player: The Blazers’ season may have come to an end on Wednesday night, but McCollum did all he could to make sure it wasn’t so. The second-year guard poured in a career-high 33 points, a number that also set a franchise playoff high for a reserve. He shot 12-of-20 overall and 7-of-11 from three, and his three-point barrage in the third quarter helped give Portland a brief lead.

Needless to say, that duo getting big minutes likely won’t cut it against Golden State. Tony Allen will be a key contributor on defense in that series, but Conley’s presence on both ends will almost certainly be needed to upset the top-seeded Warriors. It’s still unclear what his availability will be like for the next series.

Lee really slumped in March, but he started to pick it up in April and has carried that into the postseason. After a rather quiet Game 1, he finished the series with games of 18, 20, 19 and 20 points. Lee shot 8-of-12 from the field in Game 5, and that kind of efficient production is especially important with Conley out for the time being and Green struggling on the wing.

Vince Carter is the greatest dunker in NBA history -- and if you’re foolish enough to dispute this, we present legendary YouTube video “Vince Carter’s 100 Greatest Dunks” as exhibit A.

Let’s just say it’s nice to see him turn back the clock. Vinsanity forever.

Mike Conley was on the wrong end of an inadvertent elbow from C.J. McCollum in Game 3, and fans haven’t seen him since he walked off to the locker room. During Thursday’s Game 5, the country got a first hand look at just how beat up Conley is.

Conley underwent surgery and said he had two plates inserted into his face. He said that two days earlier, the swelling around his eye was so bad that he couldn’t open it.

Brooklyn kept coming back behind big plays by Jack, who scored 12 straight points in the fourth quarter. Then Joe Johnson took over the scoring reins, pouring in two moon-ball three-pointers to make it a two-point game.

Anderson had 23 points off the bench to lead Brooklyn. Jack added 18 points off the bench in a game that didn’t look like it was going to be close at first.

But in Game 3 Conley got hurt, his face pretty much smashed. That meant Memphis would have one less body to throw at Lillard in Game 4, which meant Portland’s point guard could actually be, you know, semi productive. Lillard, it turned out, was just waiting for Conley to leave the floor. He exploded for 32 points, and also dished out seven assists, and the Blazers staved off elimination in front of their home crowd.

Of course, no one believes that they’ll win four games in a row here, let alone Wednesday night’s Game 5 matchup in Memphis. They’re just too thin, especially with Wesley Matthews out.

The first two games of the series went as planned -- Atlanta won both its home games in a comfortable fashion. Then the series moved to Brooklyn and everything changed.

Now the series heads back to Atlanta for the start of what amounts to a best-of-three. Sure, the Hawks are still the favorites, but a Nets upset is no longer something that seems impossible to fathom. Maybe Williams reverts back to the old Deron Williams, and maybe the Hawks figure things out on offense, and maybe their Coach of the Year designs a way to take Lopez out of the game. These are certainly the most likely outcomes.