Schroder’s halftime speech, 11 points in 4th quarter spark Cavaliers to victory over Raptors
CLEVELAND (AP) — James Harden garnered the most attention for the series of moves the Cleveland Cavaliers made near the NBA trade deadline. However, the Cavaliers would have been in dire straits on Wednesday night without Dennis Schroder. Schroder scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers came back to beat the Toronto Raptors 125-120 Wednesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series. Schroder — acquired from the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 1 along with Keon Ellis — finished with 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including three 3-pointers, in 21 minutes. This is the 17th time Schroder has scored at least 19 points in a playoff game. He had 20 for Detroit in Game 2 of its first-round series against New York last year.
Cade Cunningham comes through for Pistons on the brink, outduels Magic star Paolo Banchero in Game 5
DETROIT (AP) — Cade Cunningham came through for the Detroit Pistons when they needed him. Detroit was teetering on the brink of elimination, and Cunningham outdueled Paolo Banchero in a sensational scoring matchup of former No. 1 overall picks. Cunningham had a franchise playoff-record 45 points and the top-seeded Pistons held off the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic for a 116-109 win on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series, avoiding elimination for at least a couple more days. Orlando leads the series 3-2 and will get a second chance to advance at home on Friday night.
Rockets beat Lakers 99-93 in Game 5, avoiding playoff elimination for the 2nd straight game
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jabari Smith Jr. scored 22 points, Tari Eason added 18 and the Houston Rockets avoided playoff elimination for the second straight game with a 99-93 victory over the Lakers in Game 5. Los Angeles’ lead in the first-round series is down to 3-2. Alperen Sengun had 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the fifth-seeded Rockets, who sent the series back to Houston for Game 6 on Friday night with a gritty performance to overcome Austin Reaves’ 22-point return to the Lakers. LeBron James scored 17 of his 25 points in the second half and added seven assists, but missed two 3-point attempts in the final minute.