2016 NBA playoffs: Blazers eliminate Clippers at home; Heat, Pacers each force Game 7

The Charlotte Hornets haven’t had a lot of success since returning to the NBA as the Bobcats in 2004 — until this season. Now, the team’s hopes could be dashed by the Heat on Sunday and one of the Hornets’ best-known hecklers is partly to blame.

Infamously known as “Purple Shirt Man,” the courtside fan achieved something most Dwyane Wade hecklers couldn’t: He got noticed. Late in the fourth quarter, the normally stoic Wade took notice of the headbanded fan hurling insults at him and decided to exact his revenge on the court. After driving the dagger into the Hornets he looked at the heckler and twisted the knife.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

RESOLUTION: We had three Game 6s on Friday. Only one of the series ended: the Blazers edged the Clippers thanks to big games from their stud guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. L.A. never really had a chance in the series once Chris Paul and Blake Griffin went down, plus J.J. Redick got nicked up enough to be ineffective. Even Austin Rivers got busted in the face, yet he played well with a gnarly wound and 11 stitches. And now we wonder if the Clippers will look the same come October.

The memories are all coming back now.

Toronto led 3-2 in the series, only needing to close one game ... and they couldn’t.

The Trail Blazers and the Clippers played the first half very close, with Portland leading by two points at the break. All of that was only to set the stage for an incredible third, where the Blazers found their shot while Rivers answered back at nearly every turn to keep Los Angeles in it. At one point early on, the Blazers made five straight three-pointers, only to see the Clippers stick around, down their two best players and just trying to make a messy, depleted roster work.

Portland’s second round series against the Warriors will likely start on Monday.

Sports struggles have plagued Jeb Bush in the past, and it appears the NBA Playoffs are no different.

Wait, who? Let’s try that again, Jeb.

Rivers received seven stitches above his eye and four beneath it, coming back into the game looking like this.

Major props. I’d be out for six months after an elbow like that.

Indiana won 101-83 at home on Friday and now the series moves to a decisive Game 7 on Sunday in Toronto. All of the ghosts and demons of the Raptors’ past will be popping up over the next two days. They were, after all, the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with their most convincing season to date, only to fall apart and not look like the team we’ve seen all season in these playoffs.

To begin the game, the Raptors did quickly jump out to an early lead, going up 18-6 early thanks to nine first-quarter points from DeMarre Carroll. Although Carroll’s opening series for Toronto has been up and down after missing most of the season, his play early in Game 6 was excellent. Of course, the first-quarter highlight was one coming from DeRozan, when he soared for this putback dunk.

After struggling in the first two periods, the Blazers’ stars showed up. McCollum was huge in the third quarter to get Portland back in control of the game while Lillard made sure to squash any comeback attempts by scoring 14 points in the final frame. The two were just too much to handle for a Clippers team lacking elite offensive weapons and its best perimeter defender.

No one could blame Los Angeles for surrendering in Game 6. They lost two of the best players in the league in one night after a tumultuous season. Even if they somehow force a final showdown at Staples Center, they likely won’t have the firepower to win it. It really is Portland’s series to lose.

Place: Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET