The Top 5 Must-See Moments From Last Night’s NBA Playoff Action

Day four of the 2015 NBA Playoffs saw a lot of action, as three teams claimed wins to secure 2-0 leads before traveling for Game 3. One of them, the Wizards, went up 2-0 on the road in the first round for the second year in a row. That’s never happened before. OK, enough preamble that you’re not even reading, here are the top moments from last night’s clashes.

John Wall went off for 26 points and 17 assists in Toronto

None of Wall’s dimes were prettier than this spin cycle before rifling the pass to Gortat for the layup.

But Wall’s overall game was truly magisterial in the 117-106 win. Paul Pierce cackling with delight as the Wiz travel to Washington in an effort to close the Raptors out with back-to-back games on their home floor (but don’t forget they lost all of their home games against the Pacers last year in the playoffs.

Bradley Beal found his stroke with 28 points in the Wiz win

The smooth shooting two-guard is rounding into form at just the right time. He was 12-of-21 from the field last night, and when he and Wall play like they did in Game 2, the Wizards are a very real threat to come out of the Eastern Conference.

As a side note to that Wiz-Raptors series, something seems wrong with Kyle Lowry who finished 3-of-10 for six points in 27 minutes last night. His performance in Toronto stands in stark contrast to his All-Star season and his plays against the Nets in last season’s first round.

Josh Smith lobbed a bevy of fourth-quarter dimes to help Houston beat the Mavericks

Josh Smith owned the fourth quarter last night, and the Mavericks were powerless to stop his high-low action with Dwight in the paint. Any time Smoove got inside the three-point arc, Dwight was waiting for a dunk. It got a little out of control.

Here are all six lobs:

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The craziest part was just how effective Smith was dishing those alley-oop connections. He was better than the Indiana Pacers team over the entire 2014-15 season.

For the game, Smith had 15 points and nine dimes, but seven of those assists (!) came in the final period.

Richard Jefferson turned back the clock

Richard Jefferson turns 35 in June and the 14-year vet has been around for a long time, HE appeared in back-to-back NBA Finals alongside Jason Kidd for the New Jersey Nets, and we can still remember him filling the wings for Kidd’s cascade of fast-breaks through the East those years. Once again on the break last night, he exploded for a smooth two-handed reverse that shows he’s still got the spring in his legs that was so instrumental to the old Nets.

LeBron took over in the Fourth and threw down a doozy of a dunk off a Kyrie lob

LeBron loves lobbing, but his game of back-and-forth with Kyrie here on the break was a whole lot of fun, with his jam as the exclamation point. We’re still chuckling about all the early season gripes a lot of media folks had with Kyrie. He loves to pass!

James’ continued offensive assaults in the fourth quarter — he was 6-of-9 for 15 points — won it for Cleveland, 99-91. The Celtics aren’t gonna lay down and just let Cleveland stomp all over them. Isaiah Thomas has been incredible through the first two games for the C’s, but when James is banging towards the rim, there’s very little opponents can do except drag him down and hope he misses from the stripe.

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