Houston Rockets' Jeremy Lin, right, flies under the outstretched arm of Portland Trail Blazers' Thomas Robinson (41) in the second half of Game 5 of an opening-round NBA basketball playoff series Wednesday, April 30, 2014, in Houston. The Rockets won 108-98 to send the teams back to Portland for Game 6. (AP Photo)
SAN ANTONIO, MAY 1 (AP): Houston avoided elimination from the NBA playoffs and trimmed its series deficit against Portland to 3-2, while San Antonio and Toronto pulled off home-court victories on Wednesday to claim 3-2 leads in their series.
San Antonio led throughout in beating Dallas 109-103, led by Tony Parker who played despite the early-morning birth of his first child; Toronto blew a big lead against Brooklyn before recovering to edge Brooklyn 115-113 and Houston pulled out the win it needed to stay alive, beating Portland 108-98.
Parker scored 23 points while Manu Ginobili had 19 points and Tiago Splitter added 17 points and 12 rebounds for San Antonio, which will host Game 7 if Dallas manages to square it 3-3 at home on Friday.
Tim Duncan added 16 points and 12 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard had 15 points for the Spurs.
Vince Carter scored 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting from the field for Dallas, while Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points to better by 10 his previous average in the series. Carter's 3-pointer with 3 minutes left pulled Dallas within 98-94 but Parker followed a minute later with his only 3-pointer of the game. Toronto appeared to be cruising to victory when it led Brooklyn by 26 points but saw that lead evaporated and needed a 3-pointer from Kyle Lowry to get back ahead and win 115-113.
Lowry scored a career playoff-high 36 points, while DeMar DeRozan had 23 points, Jonas Valanciunas scored 16 and Greivis Vasquez added 15 for the Raptors, who would advance to face Miami in the second round with a victory in Game 6 on Friday in Brooklyn. Joe Johnson scored 30 points and Mirza Teletovic had 17 for the Nets, who scored 44 points in the fourth quarter but lost their final chance when Andray Blatche fired a pass well over Deron Williams' head into the backcourt for a turnover.
Toronto led 94-72 with 11:23 remaining, but Brooklyn scored 15 of the next 18 points, including a four-point play by Alan Anderson, to make it 97-87 with 7:15 remaining. Johnson later converted a three-point play, then made a 3 to tie it 101-101 with 3:16 left.
