NBA playoffs: Luka Doncic helps Mavericks even series with Suns

Luka Doncic scored 26 points and the Dallas Mavericks took advantage of foul trouble for Chris Paul to beat the Phoenix Suns 111-101 on Sunday in Dallas, evening the Western Conference semifinal series at 2-2.

Paul was out of Game 4 early in the fourth quarter, the period when he often dominated the Mavericks during an 11-game winning streak that ended with consecutive home victories for Dallas. Game 5 is Tuesday night in Phoenix.

Dorian Finney-Smith scored a playoff career-high 24 points on the most three-pointers he’s had, regular season or playoffs. He was eight of 12 from deep, including consecutive three-pointers for a 14-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

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Dallas matched its 20 three-pointers (20 of 44) from a Mother’s Day rout of the Lakers in 2011, a win that completed on a four-game sweep in the second round on the way to the championship. The Mavericks are playing beyond the first round for the first time since then.

Devin Booker scored 35 points for the Suns, who dropped two straight on the road with a 2-0 series lead just as they did in last year’s NBA Finals. Milwaukee won the last four to take the title. Top-seeded Phoenix lost consecutive games for the first time in the playoffs.

Turnovers were the story with Paul in Dallas’ Game 3 win, when the 37-year-old had the most in any half for his playoff career with seven before halftime.

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This time it was fouls, and it started when coach Monty Williams put him back in the game with three in the final minute of the first half. Paul picked up his fourth just before the halftime buzzer when he tried to rebound his own miss and bumped Doncic.

Just 2½ minutes into the second half, Williams had no choice but to use his challenge when Paul stopped his dribble and backed into Jalen Brunson. The fifth foul was upheld on review.

The sixth also came against Brunson just a minute and a half after Paul had returned in the fourth. Paul finished with five points.

Booker kept the Suns close into the fourth quarter despite long stretched without his backcourt mate, but Doncic eventually wore them down with post-ups and other drives for buckets or assists. He had 11 assists.

Philadelphia 76ers 116, Miami Heat 108

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PHILADELPHIA — James Harden scored 31 points, Joel Embiid had 24 points and 11 rebounds and Philadelphia won Game 4 to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Heat won the first two games in Miami with Embiid out with a right orbital fracture and mild concussion. The 76ers won Games 3 and 4 at home with Embiid and his mask in the lineup.

Game 5 is Tuesday night in Miami.

Embiid is ready. So is Harden. And if the Heat can’t figure out those two, the next thing they face could be the offseason.

The Heat pecked away at the lead and got within five until Harden sank his fifth 3-pointer of the game with three minutes left. Harden crushed the Heat on catch-and-shoot 3s and hit one clutch shot after another in the fourth.

He at last played in the postseason like the three-time scoring champion the Sixers needed when they traded for him in February.

Harden drilled a step-back 3 for a 114-103 lead that sent the crowd into a frenzy — and the Sixers off to Miami with new life.

Jimmy Butler scored 40 points and nearly one-man willed the Heat to victory. The Heat missed 28 of 35 3-pointers.

Embiid worked out the Game 3 cobwebs and returned to the dominant form that earned him season-long “MVP!� chants from the Philly diehards. His first quarter was about as good as it gets for the center. He made 5 of 6 shots, including a 3-pointer, and scored 15 points to put the Sixers ahead. Worn out in Game 3 from days of inactivity because of the concussion, Embiid played all 12 minutes in the quarter.