Jalen Green shot 8-for-18 from 3-point range en route to 38 points as the Houston Rockets evened their Western Conference first-round playoff series with a 109-94 win over the visiting Golden State Warriors in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Making the night more painful for the seventh-seeded Warriors was losing Jimmy Butler III to a pelvic contusion late in the first quarter. He missed the remainder of the game and was headed for an MRI exam.
Second-seeded Houston never trailed, building a lead of as many as 20 points in the second half. Green came up big while snuffing out the Warriors’ comeback attempt in the third quarter, knocking down three of his 3-pointers in the period and scoring 15 points in the period. He was responsible for more than half of the Rockets’ trey total on the night, as Houston shot 15-for-40 from deep (37.5 percent).
The Rockets went 39-for-86 (45.3 percent) from the floor overall, but their shooting both inside the 3-point arc and beyond it improved dramatically from Sunday, when they fell 95-85 in Game 1.
Without the versatile Butler, Golden State relied heavily on its 3-point shooting and went 17-for-43 (39.5 percent) from long range. Coupled with a poor 11-of-18 effort at the free-throw line, Golden State could not muster enough offense.
Celtics 109, Magic 100
Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 36 points and Boston overcame the absence of leading scorer Jayson Tatum to beat visiting Orlando in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Brown was 12 of 19 from the field — including 5-of-7 from 3-point territory — grabbed 10 rebounds and had five assists. Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the second-seeded Celtics, who have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Derrick White (17), Payton Pritchard (14) and Jrue Holiday (11) also scored in double figures.
The seventh-seeded Magic received 32 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Paulo Banchero. Franz Wagner finished with 25 points and Wendell Carter Jr. had 16.
Cavaliers 121, Heat 112
Donovan Mitchell scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and Darius Garland contributed 21 points and nine assists as Cleveland held off visiting Miami to take a 2-0 lead in an Eastern Conference first-round series.
The Cavaliers made 11 3-pointers in the second quarter, a team playoff record for any period. Evan Mobley had 20 points and six rebounds, and Mitchell finished 7 of 10 from beyond the arc.
Tyler Herro collected 33 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Heat. Bam Adebayo had 11 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, and Haywood Highsmith scored 17 points and made 5 of 6 3-point attempts.
–Field Level Media
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