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SPORTS A21
                                                                                                                                                                   Saturday 6 May 2017

Wizards beat Celtics 116-89 in technical foul-filled Game 3 

STEPHEN WHYNO                    24 points as he, Otto Por-
                                 ter and Bojan Bogdanovic
AP Sports Writer                 keyed a 22-0 first-quarter
                                 run that made it 34-12.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight          Unlike in Games 1 and 2,
                                 when Washington let 16-0
technical fouls, three ejec-     and 16-8 leads slip away,
                                 the defense was there
tions and a whole lot of         on Thomas and the rest
                                 of his teammates to limit
bad blood later, the Wash-       the Celtics to 35.1 percent
                                 shooting.
ington Wizards and Boston        Boston coach Brad Ste-
                                 vens took a page from
Celtics have themselves a        Rasheed Wallace’s “Both
                                 teams played hard” play-
series.                          book, repeating that the
                                 Wizards “played well” over
Tensions boiled over in a        and over. That was also
                                 his response to the physi-
contentious,          technical  cal nature of the game
                                 that included technicals
foul-filled Game 3 Thursday      for him and Wizards coach
                                 Scott Brooks, and the
night as the Wizards rode        fourth-quarter ejections of
                                 reserves Terry Rozier and
another hot start to a 116-      Brandon Jennings.
                                 Oubre created the most
89 victory that cut their se-    fireworks with his outburst,
                                 leaping up from the ground
ries deficit to 2-1.             to bowl over Olynyk in the
                                 second quarter, leading to
Washington built a big           a flagrant 2 foul and ejec-
                                 tion. Though Wall hopes it’s
lead for the third consecu-      a learning experience for a
                                 young player, Oubre could
tive game, holding and           be facing a suspension for
                                 his actions with a crucial
extending it this time as        Game 4 looming Sunday.
                                 “We can’t respond that
the score and the physical       way,” Brooks said. “When
                                 you keep getting hit in the
play got out of hand.

Washington’s Kelly Ou-

bre Jr. was tossed out for

charging and knocking                                            Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) dives after a ball stollen by Washington Wizards guard
                                                                 John Wall (2) during the first half in Game 3 of a second-round NBA playoff series basketball
over Kelly Olynyk after a                                        game, Thursday, May 4, 2017, in Washington. 

hard offensive foul, each                                                                                                                                                            Associated Press 

coach got a technical foul

and the hatred that built

up during the regular sea-                                       head, you might respond        down defensively on Thom-                              Players and coaches on
                                                                 that way and I think that’s    as, who never got into a                               each side criticized officials
son captured the spotlight                                       what he did. I’m not saying    rhythm and was on the                                  for not having control of
                                                                 that that was the right thing  wrong end of some post-                                the game and letting it get
more than John Wall con-                                         to do.                         ups against bigger oppo-                               out of hand, and the result
                                                                 We have to focus on play-      nents.                                                 was more than a few post-
tinuing to torment the Celt-                                     ing basketball.”               Hard fouls were part of the                            whistle extracurriculars.
                                                                 The Wizards were by far        first two games of the series,                         “I guess just two teams that
ics or the Wizards finding a                                     the better basketball team     but nothing like Game 3, as                            really don’t like each oth-
                                                                 on Thursday, shooting 46.7     Celtics center Al Horford                              er,” Wall said. “We’re two
solution for Isaiah Thomas.                                      percent thanks to 19 points    described the Wizards play                             teams that’s trying to com-
                                                                 each from Porter and           as “the way that they junk                             pete and trying to win this
“I guess that’s playoff  bas-                                    Bogdanovic. They locked        the game up a little bit.”                             series.”q

ketball,” said Thomas, who

was held to 13 points after

scoring 53 in Game 2. “We

don’t like them and they

don’t like us.”

Wall led the Wizards with

Green shows range, leads Warriors past Jazz for 2-0 lead 

JANIE McCAULEY                   Kevin Durant added 25           Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) celebrates after                           Snyder made it clear when
AP Sports Writer                 points with 13 free throws,     scoring against the Utah Jazz during the first half in Game 2 of                      the series began he won’t
OAKLAND, California (AP)         11 rebounds and seven           an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Thursday, May                          be alienating Green again
— Now, the Golden State          assists, while Curry had 23     4, 2017, in Oakland, Calif.                                                           by daring him to let it fly
Warriors want Draymond           points, seven assists and                                                                                             from long range — or say-
Green to pack his 3-point        played smothering defense                                                                           Associated Press  ing anything that could be
shot for the altitude of Salt    as Golden State stayed un-                                                                                            perceived as a slight.
Lake City.                       blemished through six play-     cheers when he returned        — which the team said he                               Five months after the Jazz
Green showed Quin Snyder         off games.                      at the 5:16 mark. He came      “tweaked.”                                             coach commented about
his hot hand and range up        Gordon Hayward over-            up awkwardly after hitting     “I knew my knee was just                               allowing the emotional
close, knocking down five        came a poor Game 1 and          the floor on a drive, then     locking up a little bit. I had                         Golden State star to shoot
3-pointers and scoring 21        slow start in this one to       grabbed at his left knee       it before,” he said.                                   from way out, Snyder said
points before a brief knee       score 33 points, and Rudy                                                                                             before the game he had
scare late in the Golden         Gobert had 16 points and                                                                                              learned his lesson about
State Warriors’ 115-104 vic-     16 rebounds before fouling                                                                                            fueling the All-Star forward.
tory over the Utah Jazz on       out for a Jazz team missing                                                                                           Green has been fueling
Thursday night for a 2-0         injured point guard George                                                                                            himself just fine, and his
lead in the Western Confer-      Hill. He was ruled out earlier                                                                                        teammates, too — deliv-
ence semifinals.                 in the day because of a                                                                                               ering on the offensive side
“We love that shot. It gives     sore left big toe.                                                                                                    this game after establish-
us a huge lift,” Stephen         Game 3 is Saturday night in                                                                                           ing the Warriors’ defensive
Curry said of Green’s pe-        Salt Lake City.                                                                                                       intensity during the first five
rimeter touch. “Hopefully        Green received chants                                                                                                 playoff games.
that jumper travels when         of “Dray-mond!” when                                                                                                  All his 3s were in the first half
we go to Utah because            he headed for the locker                                                                                              as the Warriors led wire to
those shots will be open.”       room with 7:24 to play, then                                                                                          wire again q
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