Corey Brewer of the Denver Nuggets drives past Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors during Game Six of the Western Conference quarter finals of the 2013 NBA playoffs at ORACLE Arena on Thursday in Oakland, California. (AFP)

AFP/New York

The Brooklyn Nets kept their NBA playoff hopes alive Thursday with a 95-92 victory over the short-handed Chicago Bulls that forced a deciding game seven in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Deron Williams scored 17 points and handed out 11 assists for the Nets. Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson chipped in another 17 points each and Gerald Wallace added 15 for Brooklyn, who will host the series decider today.

The winner of the series will face reigning NBA champions Miami in the second round. The Heat, led by LeBron James, swept Milwaukee out of the playoffs in four games.

By again staving off elimination, the Nets gave themselves a chance to become just the ninth NBA team to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.

“We found a way to win,” said Nets coach P J Carlesimo. “I’ve lost track of days. Is today Saturday? Thursday? We were here last Saturday and weren’t looking real good.

“We haven’t turned the corner, but we’re looking a lot better than we looked when we left here last Saturday.”

The Nets shot just 28% from the field in the second half, but they held on against a Bulls team playing without starting point guard Kirk Hinrich for the second straight game because of a calf injury.

Chicago were also without Britain’s Luol Deng, who was sidelined by the flu.

Deng led Chicago in scoring in the regular season, averaging 16.5 points per game and had averaged 13.8 points and 7.6 rebounds over the first five post-season meetings with the Nets.

“You have to be mentally tough when you face adversity,” said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, whose team made do all season without star Derrick Rose, who has yet to return from a knee injury suffered in last year’s playoffs.

“We talk about that all the time. We have to respond to the challenge.”

Chicago’s Nate Robinson and Taj Gibson played through illness, Robinson scoring 18 points.

Marco Belinelli led the Bulls with 22 points, but missed a potential equalising three-pointer on Chicago’s final possession.

Noah and Carlos Boozer each notched double-doubles, Noah delivering 14 points and 15 rebounds and Boozer contributing 14 points and 13 rebounds.

After running away with game five to avoid elimination, the Nets had to battle until the end Thursday against the weakened Bulls—even though Chicago’s last lead of the night came with 2:31 to play in the first quarter.

The Bulls trailed by as many as eight points in the fourth period—but they wouldn’t go away.

Robinson’s jump shot capped an 8-2 scoring run for Chicago that trimmed the deficit to 85-83 with 4:36 remaining.

The Bulls were down 92-90 when Robinson missed and Boozer was called for his sixth foul as he went for the rebound with 32 seconds to play.

Brooklyn’s Andray Blatche made one of two free throws, then Chicago’s Nazr Mohammed, fed by Noah, made a layup that left the Bulls down just one, 93-92.

Blatche stretched Brooklyn’s lead back to three with two free throws and with 7.9 seconds remaining Belinelli brushed the rim with a three-point attempt. Noah chased down the rebound but stepped out of bounds. The ensuing inbounds resulted in a jump ball controlled by the Nets to seal the win.

Warriors hold off Nuggets to reach second round

 

The Golden State Warriors squandered an 18-point fourth-quarter lead but held on to beat the Denver Nuggets 92-88 on Thursday to reach the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Stephen Curry scored 14 of his 22 points in a crucial third-quarter surge and Golden State survived some sloppy play in the final period to win the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series four-games-to-two.

Australian NBA veteran Andrew Bogut, who battled ankle pain through much of the season, contributed 14 points and 21 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Warriors, who next face the West’s second-seeded San Antonio Spurs.

The veteran Spurs ousted the injury-depleted Los Angeles Lakers in four games. “It was a big win for us. Hopefully we can keep rolling,” said Bogut after the Warriors—in the playoffs for the first time since 2007 - nearly let the contest slip away.

The Warriors took control in the third quarter, Curry draining two three-pointers in a 10-0 scoring run that gave Golden State a 50-44 lead.

The hosts took a 73-62 lead into the fourth and scored the first seven points in the period to build an 80-62 margin with 9:11 to play.

But 10 Golden State turnovers in the final quarter helped the Nuggets battle back. Andre Iguodala’s three-pointer for Denver trimmed the deficit to 82-78 with 4:14 to play.