INDIANAPOLIS — Atlanta’s Jeff Teague demolished the Pacers’ grand playoff plan.
INDIANAPOLIS — Atlanta’s Jeff Teague demolished the Pacers’ grand playoff plan.
As his teammates set up around the 3-point line, Teague simply blew through open lanes to the basket repeatedly.
The Pacers didn’t have an answer.
Teague scored a playoff career-high 28 points, Paul Millsap added 25 and the eighth-seeded Hawks won their first road playoff game in three years, shocking top-seeded Indiana 101-93 to take a 1-0 lead in the first-round series.
“I just wanted to win,” the Indianapolis native said after beating his hometown team.
Perhaps that’s why Teague finally cracked a hesitant smile in the locker room before stepping to the podium.
Or it could be that Teague remembers the frustration Indiana caused when it clinched last year’s 4-2 first-round win on Atlanta’s home court. As one of the few remaining links to that team, Teague wasn’t about to let something like that happen again.
This time, surrounded by a mostly new group of 3-point shooters, a first-year coach and a game plan that the Pacers never adapted to, Teague kept getting to the basket.
He wound up 9 of 19 from the field and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line with five assists and three rebounds on a night the Hawks snapped an eight-game road losing streak in the playoffs and became the first team to beat Indiana on its home court twice this season.
Atlanta won its first road playoff game since Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference semifinals at Chicago, and they’ll have a chance to do it all again Tuesday in Game 2 before the best-of-seven series movies to Atlanta, where the Pacers have won only two times since December 2006.
WARRIORS 109, CLIPPERS 105
LOS ANGELES — Klay Thompson scored 22 points, David Lee added 20 and the Golden State Warriors got Blake Griffin and Chris Paul in foul trouble to beat the Los Angeles Clippers in their playoff opener.
Stephen Curry added 14 points for the Warriors, who trailed by 11 to start the game before rallying in the third when Griffin and Paul were on the bench together.
Paul led the Clippers with 28 points, and J.J. Redick added 22 points in 30 minutes. Griffin finished with 16 points, fouling out with 48 seconds left and the game tied at 105. DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Foul trouble plagued both teams, but losing Griffin and Paul for stretches cost the Clippers at both ends. For the Warriors, Andre Iguodala fouled out with 3:04 left in the game and Lee played with four fouls.
NETS 94, RAPTORS 87
TORONTO — Deron Williams and Joe Johnson each scored 24 points, Paul Pierce scored nine of his 15 points in the final quarter and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Shaun Livingston scored 10 points and Kevin Garnett had five as the Nets won despite making 4 of 24 3-pointers.
Kyle Lowry scored 22 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and 18 rebounds for the Raptors.
Valanciunas is the second Raptors player to have a double-double in his postseason debut. Tracy McGrady had 25 points and 10 rebounds against New York in his first playoff game in 2000. Valanciunas also set a Raptors record for playoff rebounds by surpassing Keon Clark, who had 16 against Detroit in 2002.
THUNDER 100, GRIZZLIES 86
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant scored 13 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter to help the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Memphis Grizzlies in the opening game of their first-round series.
Russell Westbrook had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Serge Ibaka added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder, who nearly squandered a 25-point lead but recovered from a dismal third quarter to make 10 of 16 shots in the fourth.
Zach Randolph led Memphis with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but he made just seven of 21 shots and got into foul trouble in the second half.
By wire sources