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NBA Playoffs: Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks win

By The Sports Xchange
The Cavaliers began defense of their NBA title with a victory over Indiana on Saturday. Photo courtesy Cleveland Cavaliers via Twitter
The Cavaliers began defense of their NBA title with a victory over Indiana on Saturday. Photo courtesy Cleveland Cavaliers via Twitter

CLEVELAND -- C.J. Miles missed a wide-open jumper at the buzzer and the Cavaliers held on to beat the Indiana Pacers 109-108 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference first-round series.

LeBron James led all scorers with 32 points to go with 13 assists and six rebounds. His teams have an 18-game winning streak in the first round and are 41-7 lifetime.

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This one almost didn't happen.

James missed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left and the Pacers had the ball out of a timeout. Miles, a former Cav who had games of 23 and 27 points against Cleveland this season, broke free and a mid-range shot at the buzzer clang off the iron.

Paul George scored 29 points for Indiana.

Jazz 97, Clippers 95

LOS ANGELES -- Joe Johnson hit a runner in the lane as time expired, lifting the Utah Jazz to a 97-95 victory over Los Angeles in Game 1 of the Western Conference playoffs at Staples Center.

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Johnson scored a team-high 21 points as the Jazz prevailed despite losing center Rudy Gobert in the opening minute. Gordon Hayward contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds, George Hill added 16 points and Derrick Favors chipped in 15 points for Utah.

Blake Griffin scored 26 points for the Clippers, but only two of those came in the fourth quarter. Chris Paul had 25 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds and DeAndre Jordan collected 10 points and 15 rebounds for Los Angeles.

Gobert went down clutching his left knee less than 20 seconds into the contest after apparently bumping knees with Clippers forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Gobert was setting a pick for Hayward when he and Mbah a Moute collided. Gobert had to be helped off the court and carried into the locker room and is slated to undergo an MRI exam..

Spurs 111, Grizzlies 82

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Kawhi Leonard matched his career playoff high with 32 points despite sitting out the fourth quarter as San Antonio used a big third quarter to forge a victory over Memphis in Game 1 of the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

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Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Monday in San Antonio.

San Antonio led 74-64 with 1:53 to play in the third quarter but closed the quarter on a 10-0 run and added the first nine points of the fourth quarter to build a 93-64 advantage. During that stretch, Memphis missed nine straight shots and committed three turnovers.

Marc Gasol scored 32 points for Memphis.

Bucks 97, Raptors 83

TORONTO -- Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Milwaukee to a victory over Toronto in the opener of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.

Toronto dropped to 0-9 in the opening game of a first-round playoff series and 1-10 overall in Game 1.

Malcolm Brogdon added 16 points for the Bucks, Greg Monroe had 14 points and nabbed 15 rebounds, Tony Snell had 11 and Khris Middleton chipped in with 10 points and nine assists.

DeMar DeRozan tallied 27 points for Toronto.

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