Chris Paul scored 33 points in a perfect shooting performance as the visiting Phoenix Suns defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 115-109 to clinch their first-round Western Conference playoff series in Game 6 on Thursday night.
Paul made all 14 of his field-goal attempts and all four of his free throws, and Devin Booker returned from a hamstring injury and scored five of his 13 points in the final two minutes.
Deandre Ayton scored 22 points, Mikal Bridges had 18 and Cameron Johnson added 13 for the top-seeded Suns, who will next face the fourth-seeded Dallas Mavericks.
Brandon Ingram had 21 points and 11 assists, and Herbert Jones and CJ McCollum scored 16 apiece for the Pelicans.
Mavericks 98, Jazz 96
Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson scored 24 points apiece as Dallas beat Utah in Salt Lake City to finish their Western Conference first-round series in six games.
Spencer Dinwiddie added 19 points for the Mavericks. Dorian Finney-Smith tallied 18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 23 points and nine assists while adding eight rebounds. Bojan Bogdanovic had 19 points but missed a wide-open 3-point attempt with 1.9 seconds left that would have given Utah the win.
76ers 132, Raptors 97
Joel Embiid scored 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Philadelphia clinched its first-round playoff series by beating host Toronto in Game 6.
James Harden added 22 points and 15 assists for the 76ers, who won the first three games of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference matchup before dropping the next two. Tyrese Maxey sank five 3-pointers and scored 25 points, and Tobias Harris had 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The fourth-seeded 76ers will open the Eastern Conference semifinals on the road against the top-seeded Miami Heat on Monday. Chris Boucher had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors. Pascal Siakam added 24 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 19 and Scottie Barnes 18.
–Field Level Media
