CHICAGO: The Brooklyn Nets kept their NBA playoff hopes alive Thursday night with a 95-92 victory over the short-handed Chicago Bulls that forced a deciding game seven in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Deron Williams scored 17 points and handed out 11 assists for the Nets. Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson chipped in another 17 points each and Gerald Wallace added 15 for Brooklyn, who will host the series decider on Saturday.
The winner of the series will face reigning NBA champions Miami in the second round. The Heat, led by LeBron James, swept Milwaukee out of the playoffs in four games.
By again staving off elimination, the Nets gave themselves a chance to become just the ninth NBA team to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.
“We found a way to win,” said Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo. “I’ve lost track of days. Is today Saturday? Thursday? We were here last Saturday and weren’t looking real good.
“We haven’t turned the corner, but we’re looking a lot better than we looked when we left here last Saturday.” The Nets shot just 28 percent from the field in the second half, but they held on against a Bulls team playing without starting point guard Kirk Hinrich for the second straight game because of a calf injury.
Chicago were also without Britain’s Luol Deng, who was sidelined by the flu.
Deng led Chicago in scoring in the regular season, averaging 16.5 points per game and had averaged 13.8 points and 7.6 rebounds over the first five post-season meetings with the Nets.
“You have to be mentally tough when you face adversity,” said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, whose team made do all season without star Derrick Rose, who has yet to return from a knee injury suffered in last year’s playoffs.
“We talk about that all the time. We have to respond to the challenge.” Chicago’s Nate Robinson and Taj Gibson played through illness, Robinson scoring 18 points.
Marco Belinelli led the Bulls with 22 points, but missed a potential equalizing three-pointer on Chicago’s final possession.
Noah and Carlos Boozer each notched double-doubles, Noah delivering 14 points and 15 rebounds and Boozer contributing 14 points and 13 rebounds.
After running away with game five to avoid elimination, the Nets had to battle until the end Thursday against the weakened Bulls — even though Chicago’s last lead of the night came with 2:31 to play in the first quarter.
The Bulls trailed by as many as eight points in the fourth period — but they wouldn’t go away.
Robinson’s jump shot capped an 8-2 scoring run for Chicago that trimmed the deficit to 85-83 with 4:36 remaining.
The Bulls were down 92-90 when Robinson missed and Boozer was called for his sixth foul as he went for the rebound with 32 seconds to play.
Brooklyn’s Andray Blatche made one of two free throws, then Chicago’s Nazr Mohammed, fed by Noah, made a layup that left the Bulls down just one, 93-92.
Blatche stretched Brooklyn’s lead back to three with two free throws and with 7.9 seconds remaining Belinelli brushed the rim with a three-point attempt. Noah chased down the rebound but stepped out of bounds. The ensuing inbounds resulted in a jump ball controlled by the Nets to seal the win.
Warriors 92, Nuggets 88: Stephen Curry scored 14 of his 22 points in a decisive third quarter and Andrew Bogut collected 14 points, 21 rebounds and four blocks as hosts Golden State survived a late surge and held off Denver to win the Western Conference playoff series 4-2.
Draymond Green scored six of his 16 points during a key stretch in the fourth quarter and added 10 rebounds off the bench for the Warriors, who won their first playoff series since 2007 and will take on the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals.
Andre Iguodala recorded 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists and Ty Lawson scored 17 for the Nuggets. Wilson Chandler added 11 points but missed two shots from inside four feet with 12 seconds left that would have tied the game.
Denver used a 16-2 burst in the fourth quarter to trim an 18-point deficit down to 82-78 with 4:13 to play. Curry’s scoop shot in the lane pushed it out to 88-79 with 2:10 left, but five turnovers in the final 1:37 and some poor offensive execution allowed the Nuggets a chance to take the lead in the final seconds.
Denver controlled the offensive glass and forced 10 turnovers in the first half but only managed to take a 42-40 lead into the break. Curry went 1-for-7 from the floor in the half as Bogut kept Golden State in the game.
Curry came alive in third quarter to help the Warriors take control. The sharpshooter knocked down two free throws to tie it and then hit three pointers on back-to-back possessions to cap a 10-0 burst and put Golden State on top for good.
