Paul steals thunder in Clippers’ Game 1 victory

OKLAHOMA CITY: Chris Paul made a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored 32 points to help the Los Angeles Clippers beat Oklahoma City 122-105 on Monday night in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal.
Paul, who had never made more than five 3-pointers in a game, had 10 assists. Blake Griffin scored 23 points, Jamal Crawford had 17 and J.J. Redick added 12 for the Clippers, who shot 55 percent from the field and made 15 of 29 3-point attempts.
Russell Westbrook scored 29 points, Kevin Durant had 25 and Serge Ibaka added 12 for the Thunder, who suffered their worst home loss since moving to Oklahoma City.
The Clippers scored 23 points off Oklahoma City’s 18 turnovers.
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.
Wizards 102 Pacers 96: In Indianapolis, Bradley Beal scored 14 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and Trevor Ariza added 22 to lead Washington past top-seeded Indiana in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Wizards won a second-round game for the first time since 1982 and are 4-0 on the road in this year’s playoffs. They ended a 12-game losing streak at Indiana that dated to April 18, 2007, and they did it by nearly leading from wire-to-wire.
Paul George and George Hill had 18 points each for Indiana.
The Wizards trailed only once, 31-30, and took control with a 17-6 run to close the first half that made it 56-43. Indiana couldn’t get closer than five points in the second half.
Game 2 is Wednesday night at Indiana.

Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant named MVP
Meantime, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder was named on Tuesday as the National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player for the 2013-14 season.
Durant won the MVP award for the first time in his seven-year career, claiming the honor by a landslide after capturing his fourth scoring title in five seasons and leading the Thunder to the Northwest Division title and the NBA playoffs.
Miami Heat’s LeBron James, who had won the MVP title four times in the last five seasons, finished a distant second in the voting while Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers was third, Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls fourth and James Harden of the Houston Rockets fifth.
Durant received 119 first-place votes from a total of 124 votes cast by sportswriters and broadcasters in North America plus one special fan vote. James picked up the other six first-place votes.
During the regular season, five-time All-Start Durant averaged a career-best 32 points per game to go with 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists, also a career high.
In capturing his fourth scoring title, he joined Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, George Gervin and Allen Iverson as the only players to win at least four scoring titles.
The 25-year-old forward, who also won a gold medal with the US team at the 2012 London Olympics, scored more than 40 points in a game 17 times during the season.