Golden State completes sweep of Portland

(The Sports Xchange) – Stephen Curry scored 37 points, dished out eight assists and grabbed seven rebounds despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter as the Golden State Warriors buried the Portland Trail Blazers 128-103 Monday night at Moda Center to complete a four-game series sweep.

Draymond Green scored 21 points for the Warriors, whose second-round Western Conference playoff opponent will be the Utah Jazz or the Los Angeles Clippers.

Kevin Durant returned to the Warriors’ lineup after missing two games with a left calf injury, and he scored 10 points and hit both his 3-point attempts in just 20 minutes of action.

Damian Lillard scored 34 points and Al-Farouq Aminu added 25 for the Trail Blazers.

Golden State jumped to a 14-0 lead in the game’s first three minutes. Curry’s 3-point shot made it 28-5 six minutes in. Portland started 1 of 11 from the field; the Warriors hit 12 of their first 14 attempts.

Hawks 111, Wizards 101

Dennis Schroder, saddled with three early fouls and held scoreless in the first half, finished with 18 points to help the Atlanta Hawks defeat the Washington Wizards 111-101 on Monday night, evening the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at two wins apiece.

Schroder scored on two 3-pointers, a jump shot and a driving layup in the final four minutes as the Hawks rebuffed Washington’s comeback effort.

Game 5 will be today at Washington and Game 6 on Friday in Atlanta.

Raptors 118, Bucks 93

Norman Powell, starting for only the second time in the series, scored 25 points as Toronto defeated Milwaukee to take a 3-2 lead in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff matchup. Game 6 will be tomorrow in Milwaukee.

Powell was put into the lineup for Game 5 in Milwaukee after Toronto’s poor effort in Game 4. Kyle Lowry added 16 points and 10 assists for the Raptors. Serge Ibaka chipped in with 19 points and DeMar DeRozan had 18.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 30 points and nine rebounds.