By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp
ANKARA (AA) – Kawhi Leonard led the Los Angeles Clippers to a 126-111 win over the Dallas Mavericks in a Sunday NBA game to march to the Western Conference semifinals.
All-Star small forward Leonard piled up 28 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists for the Clippers in Game 7 against the Mavericks in Los Angeles, missing a triple-double.
The Clippers won the series 4-3 to face the Utah Jazz in the semis.
Dallas' Slovenian star Luka Doncic displayed a dominant performance, scoring 46 points and 14 assists. However, the Mavericks could not survive.
Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr. scored 23 points and his teammate Paul George racked up 22 points and produced 10 assists.
The Clippers will visit the Jazz on Tuesday.
– Hawks lead 1-0 in East semifinals
The Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 128-124 to take a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The visiting team, Hawks, bagged a narrow win with Trae Young's massive efforts at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Young scored 35 points and produced 10 assists to bring a win to Atlanta.
Separately, the Hawks scored 20 three-pointers against the 76ers, one of the key reasons for the Game 1 victory.
Clint Capela had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanovic contributed 21 points each for the Hawks.
In the 76ers, Joel Embiid racked up 39 points and had 9 rebounds to be the game's top scorer.
Seth Curry added 21 points for Philadelphia.
The 76ers star Tobias Harris had 20 points and took 10 rebounds.
Meanwhile Philadelphia's Turkish guard Furkan Korkmaz, who played 11 minutes, scored 7 points and had 4 rebounds.
The next game will be held in Philadelphia on Tuesday as well.
