The ailing Los Angeles Lakers faced an even tougher task against the San Antonio Spurs in Friday's Game 3 when veteran guard Steve Nash was ruled out shortly before the tipoff because of back and hip problems.

The ageless Ray Allen scored 23 points, and broke the NBA career playoff record for 3-pointers, as the Miami Heat used another of their patented runs to win 104-91 at the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday for a 3-0 lead in their first-round series.

San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Indiana all took big strides toward the next stage of the NBA playoffs by winning their home games on Wednesday and taking a 2-0 series leads.

At Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 21 points and LeBron James finished with 19 as the Heat took off in the fourth quarter to down the Milwaukee Bucks and take a 2-0 lead in their series. While Stephen Curry had 30 points and 13 assists as the Golden State Warriors handed the Denver Nuggets their first loss at home in more than three months to level their playoff 1-1.

Chris Paul made the game-winner with a tenth of a second left Monday, lifting the Los Angeles Clippers to a 93-91 win over the Memphis Grizzlies that stretched their NBA playoff series lead to 2-0.

Mike Napoli hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, Will Middlebrooks busted out of a slump with a three-run homer as the Boston Red Sox rebounded from a doubleheader sweep by beating the Oakland Athletics 9-6 on Monday.

Yadier Molina drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, backing Shelby Miller's strong start Monday as the St. Louis Cardinals returned to the site of their Game 5 National League division series victory last season with a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals.

J.R. Smith won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award Monday after helping the New York Knicks to the Atlantic Division title.

It is not crazy to think that the Houston Rockets might trade Jeremy Lin during the offseason because he has not been as much of a contributor as the team had expected, a columnist wrote on the Bleacher Report website Tuesday.

SanAntonio's star trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili combined for 53 points Sunday to lead the Spurs to a 91-79 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in their NBA playoffs opener.