Lakers rout Warriors, Heat rip Knicks to grab 2-1 NBA series leads

Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat drives past Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Kaseya Center on Saturday in Miami, Florida.(AFP)
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  • Davis scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while LeBron James added 21 points to lead the host Lakers
  • Butler scored 28 points to lead the Heat over the Knicks 105-86, giving Miami a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 Monday on their home court

LOS ANGELES: Anthony Davis and LeBron James powered the Los Angeles Lakers in a rout of defending champion Golden State on Saturday while Jimmy Butler returned from an ankle injury to spark Miami鈥檚 romp over New York in the NBA playoffs.

Davis scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while LeBron James added 21 points to lead the host Lakers over the Warriors 127-97.

Davis made 7-of-10 shots from the floor, 11-of-12 from the free throw line, and had four blocks, three assists and three steals while overwhelming with defensive plays.

鈥淚 just wanted to come out and get back to the dominant performance that I do defensively,鈥� Davis said.

鈥淲e wanted to get back to our roots, and defending and guarding. This is a tough team to guard but we know that we can do it and we did it well tonight, holding them to 97 points.鈥�

James, who went the first 13 minutes without shooting, added eight assists and eight rebounds while D鈥橝ngelo Russell posted 21 points, all in the first half.

The Lakers grabbed a 2-1 lead over the defending champion Warriors in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series with game four on Monday in Los Angeles.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a battle,鈥� Davis said of the series. 鈥淭wo teams that want it and can score and can give each other a beat down any given night.

鈥淲e know they鈥檙e going to come out with a lot of firepower Monday trying not to go down 3-1. We鈥檝e got to have the mindset we had tonight.鈥�

An 18-4 run to end the first quarter gave the Warriors a 30-23 lead, with James not taking a shot in the first period of a playoff game for the first time in his career.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just a case of allowing the game to come to him, letting a natural rhythm happen and not forcing things,鈥� Lakers coach Darvin Ham said.

After falling behind 40-29, the Lakers answered with a 30-8 run in the final 7:22 of the second quarter for a 59-48 halftime lead.

鈥淎s a group, we wasn鈥檛 shooting the ball well. We locked up defensively and got easy ones,鈥� D鈥橝ngelo Russell said.

The Lakers, who stretched the lead as large as 20 points in the third quarter, entered the fourth ahead 86-68 and cruised from there.

Ham praised Davis for his defending.

鈥淗e sets a tone for us defensively,鈥� Ham said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the catalyst. He鈥檚 the anchor. His activity, when he is changing shots, blocking shots, it鈥檚 amazing. He鈥檚 locked in.鈥�

Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 23 points while Andrew Wiggins added 16 and Klay Thompson had 15.

In the Eastern Conference, Butler scored 28 points to lead the Heat over the Knicks 105-86, giving Miami a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 Monday on their home court.

鈥淚t feels good to get a dub (W) on our home floor in front of our fans,鈥� Butler said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to take that and roll with it.鈥�

Butler missed Miami鈥檚 loss Tuesday after suffering an injury in the series opener, but returned to help the Heat lead from start to finish.

鈥淚鈥檓 comfortable, I鈥檓 confident and I work extremely hard at my craft,鈥� Butler said.

鈥淢y teammates have got a lot to do with that. They always make sure I鈥檓 catching the ball in spots where I鈥檓 comfortable and letting me be aggressive.鈥�

Max Strus added 19 points for Miami while Bam Adebayo added 17 points and 12 rebounds and Kyle Lowry had 14 points.

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said Butler鈥檚 return infused his teammates with confidence.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 put an analytic to it. It鈥檚 just the overall confidence level your team has 鈥� that you can always get the ball to him and know that we鈥檒l get something efficient and coherent,鈥� Spoelstra said of Butler.

鈥淵ou need a guy like Jimmy when you鈥檙e playing against a good team like this.鈥�

Jalen Brunson led New York with 20 points but the Knicks made only 31-of-91 shots from the floor.

鈥淭he start of the game we got back on our heels,鈥� Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 get stops early, so we didn鈥檛 get any easy buckets, so we paid the price.鈥�