Cavs, Heat, Clippers in control – Cleveland ties record

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CLEVELAND, April 21, (AP): LeBron James scored 27 points and J.R. Smith made seven of Cleveland’s NBA playoff record-tying 20 3-pointers as the Cavaliers opened a 2-0 lead in their series with a 107-90 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.

The top-seeded Cavs put away the up-and-coming Pistons in the third quarter, outscoring them 27-15 to protect home-court advantage.

There was nothing easy about their first two wins and the Cavs, favored to win the Eastern Conference and return to the finals, will have their work cut out when the best-of-seven series resumes on Friday night at Detroit.

Kyrie Irving added 22 points for Cleveland, which went 20 of 38 on 3s and tied the postseason record shared by Golden State (2015), Dallas (2011) and Seattle (1996).

Andre Drummond scored 20 and Reggie Jackson 14 for the Pistons, who have lost 10 straight playoff games against Cleveland. Drummond was just 4 of 16 from the line.

Heat 115, Hornets 103

In Miami, Dwyane Wade had 28 points and eight assists, Hassan Whiteside made all eight of his shots and finished with 17 points, helping Miami beat Charlotte to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series.

Goran Dragic scored 18 points, Luol Deng had 16, Josh Richardson finished with 15 and Whiteside grabbed 13 rebounds for Miami.

Kemba Walker scored 29 points for Charlotte, needing 29 shots to get there. Al Jefferson had 25 on 12-for-17 shooting off the bench, and Jeremy Lin added 11 for Charlotte  which has dropped 12 straight postseason contests.

It was the 100th 20-point game of Wade’s playoff career. The Heat are 64-36 in those games.

Game 3 is Saturday in Charlotte.

Clippers 102, Trail Blazers 81

In Los Angeles, Chris Paul scored 25 points and J.J. Redick added 17 as the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 102-81 and take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Damian Lillard and Mason Plumlee led the Blazers with 17 points each. CJ McCollum added 16 after being held to nine in their 20-point loss in the series opener. Plumlee and Al-Farouq Aminu had 10 rebounds each. Portland shot a season-worst 34.1 percent.

Game 3 is Saturday in Portland.

Blake Griffin had 12 points and nine rebounds and DeAndre Jordan had 18 rebounds for the Clippers, who shot 46 percent and topped 100 points for the second straight game.

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