Golden State guard Gary Payton II won’t play in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series Sunday night against the Houston Rockets because of an illness.
Celtics guard Jrue Holiday is expected to return from a strained right hamstring when Boston opens its Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks on Monday night.
A Nuggets executive pointed to the firings of Michael Malone and Calvin Booth as the reason behind the team’s late-season surge that has them into the second round.
The Nuggets, with a Game 7 loss at home last season to the Timberwolves fresh in their memories, blew out the Clippers in the second half to clinch the series.