Amen Thompson scored a game-high 23 points, Tari Eason added 20 and the Houston Rockets averted elimination with a 115-96 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night in Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Rockets, who played without Kevin Durant (ankle) for the third time in the series. Reed Sheppard chipped in 17 points on 4-for-7 3-point shooting while Alperen Sengun (19 points) and Jabari Smith Jr. (16 points) rounded out the balanced offensive attack. Eason and Smith grabbed eight rebounds apiece.

“We said we didn’t want to let that last 30 seconds defeat us in another game, and we kind of put that behind us,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said, referring to the team’s Game 3 loss. “The focus was good today, and I think just in general, guys have pride, so you don’t want to obviously get swept.

“We understood how well we played last game, and that was the big-picture perspective we had. We played a really good three quarters, and don’t let that last 30 seconds take away from what you did. I think it was good carryover tonight.”

The Rockets made headway by forcing 24 turnovers that they converted into 30 points. Houston scored 23 fastbreak points and limited the Lakers to 5-for-22 3-point shooting (22.7%).

“We understand that if we want to win this series, we have to protect the ball,” LeBron James said. “The turnovers obviously killed us from the start to the finish.”

After dominating Game 3 and co-authoring the Lakers’ overtime victory, James (10 points, nine assists) and Marcus Smart (nine, five) shot a combined 5 of 17 from the floor. Deandre Ayton finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds but was ejected with 5:41 remaining in the third quarter after elbowing Sengun in the neck and incurring a flagrant-2 foul.

The Lakers will carry a 3-1 series lead back to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Wednesday.

Houston seized an 18-17 lead on a Sengun dunk at the 3:19 mark of the first quarter and didn’t look back. The Lakers shot 41.2% (7 of 17) in the first period, missed both of their 3-pointers and conceded eight points off eight turnovers. Sengun played the entire first period for the Rockets.

“This is a top-10 defense the entire season,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said about the Rockets. “It’s obviously very challenging without your two leading scorers (Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves) to generate offense. We’ll take a look at the process again on that end as well.

“Our points per shot and our expected points per shot were slightly below our season average, so to me, it goes back to the two keys: Take care of the ball. We’ll look at that and how we can be better there.”

The Rockets used a 16-4 run bridging the opening two periods to help extend to a 37-28 lead via a Sengun three-point play at the 6:35 mark of the second. When the Lakers sliced that deficit to three points, Josh Okogie keyed a 10-2 rally with a 3-pointer. Thompson added a pull-up jumper and a three-point play before Sheppard capped the run with a layup.

The Lakers shot 58.8% in the second quarter (10 of 17) but committed six turnovers in the frame and trailed 56-47 at the break. Houston pulled away in the third, opening the second half with a 12-4 burst before Eason drilled a corner 3 and Sengun completed another three-point play that pushed the lead to 76-55.

The Rockets led by as many as 28 points.

–Field Level Media

The NBA fined Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic $50,000 and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle $35,000 for their parts in an on-court fracas at the end of Game 4 of their teams’ first-round playoff series.

The fines were handed down by NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations James Jones on Sunday, one day after the Timberwolves defeated the Nuggets 112-96 to take a 3-1 series lead.

Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels made an uncontested layup in the final seconds with the game already decided. Jokic ran from the opposite end of the court to shove McDaniels, prompting the altercation between the teams.

Randle was disciplined, according to the league, because he “escalated the incident by forcefully inserting himself into the scrum” to push Bruce Brown of the Nuggets. Both Jokic and Randle received technical fouls and ejections before the game went final.

There has been bad blood between the Western Conference rivals throughout the series. The Timberwolves eliminated the Nuggets from the postseason two years ago.

Game 5 is Monday in Denver.

–Field Level Media

The Oklahoma City Thunder will be aiming for a third consecutive first-round playoff series sweep when they take the court Monday night in Phoenix.

The Suns have a different task — avoiding being swept in the first round for the second consecutive postseason appearance.

One of the teams will get their way when the Thunder and Suns collide again in Game 4 of the best-of-seven Western Conference series.

Defending NBA champion Oklahoma City moved into position for another sweep with Saturday’s 121-109 victory in Game 3 at Phoenix.

Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander poured in a career-playoff-high 42 points on stellar 15-of-18 shooting. He also made 11 of 12 free throws.

“I’m just not surprised anymore with him,” Thunder guard Alex Caruso said of Gilgeous-Alexander. “I kind of have grown to expect it — and that might be a detriment to him and his greatness, because I do get to see it every single night. But it really is magnificent to see just his mentality. He’s eternally optimistic and he’s just a killer with his competitive mindset.”

Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 34.7 points and 8.0 assists in the series. He has scored 79 points in the last two games.

“I’m very fortunate to be in this position. But regardless of who’s out there, I get to go out there and play my game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “That’s just the role I have on this team, and my coaches and teammates do a really good job of letting me be in my space.”

The Suns were incapable of slowing down Gilgeous-Alexander in Game 3 no matter what they tried to do defensively.

“Some of the shots were incredibly difficult,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said. “We know he can make some of those shots.

“We tried different matchups, tried to take it out of his hands. He got to the area where it’s a little harder to take it out of his hands when he just rises up over us. Give him credit. He had us spinning tonight.”

Phoenix is hoping to have guards Devin Booker (ankle) and Grayson Allen (hamstring) in good form for Game 4.

Booker left Game 3 for a time after injuring his left ankle in the third quarter. He finished with 16 points and seven assists.

Allen was back on the floor for the first time since April 10 and had seven points in 17 minutes. He made just 2 of 8 field-goal attempts and was clearly not 100%.

“I’m not worried about a percentage,” Allen said Sunday when asked to rate his health. “I felt good enough to go and good enough to contribute so we gave it a shot.”

Dillon Brooks led Phoenix with 33 points in Game 3 and has 63 points over the past two games. He has made 12 of 28 3-point attempts in the series.

Booker’s series high is 23 points and the Suns could use one of his vintage high-scoring efforts in the bid to stay alive.

Booker said it won’t be easy to derail the Thunder.

“Overall, they’re a well-oiled machine,” Booker said. “They’re champs for a reason. They know what they want to get every time down the floor and they definitely know what they’re doing on defense. We have some growing and some learning to do in those departments.”

Phoenix will again be without big man Mark Williams (foot). Guard Jordan Goodwin (calf) is questionable.

Thunder star Jalen Williams (left hamstring) remains unlikely to return during this series, no matter how long it lasts. He was hurt in Game 2.

–Field Level Media

Payton Pritchard scored a career-playoff-high 32 points off the bench and the Boston Celtics took a 3-1 series lead with a convincing 128-96 road victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night.

Jayson Tatum made five treys and recorded 30 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds and Jaylen Brown added 20 points and seven rebounds as the second-seeded Celtics moved one victory away from winning the Eastern Conference first-round series. Game 5 is Tuesday in Boston.

Pritchard made six 3-pointers and was 12-of-21 from the field while Boston knocked down a franchise-playoff-record 24 treys to help finish off a second straight victory in Philadelphia.

“Try to change the energy, try to change the pace of the game,” Pritchard said of his objective when coming off the bench. “The first two games, I didn’t like how I was attacking the paint, so these last two games, I’ve been more aggressive and getting downhill and it opened everything up for me, and the 3-balls started going, which was good.”

Joel Embiid played for the first time in the series for the seventh-seeded 76ers after undergoing an appendectomy two-plus weeks ago. He scored 26 points on 9-of-21 shooting and collected 10 rebounds and six assists while playing 34 minutes.

“You try to do the best job possible with the conditions,” Embiid said. “You’ve still got to go out there and try and play and win a basketball game. We didn’t do that tonight. We didn’t play well.”

Tyrese Maxey scored 22 points and Paul George added 16 for the 76ers.

Boston held a 51-30 rebounding advantage and collected 14 boards on the offensive end.

“They were more aggressive, quicker, wanted to chase them down more than we did,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “Just didn’t seem like we could get bodies on them. It was a huge problem.”

The Celtics made more 3-pointers than 2-point baskets (18) for the second straight game. Boston shot 48.3% overall and 45.3% from 3-point range.

Embiid was cleared shortly before tipoff and was aggressive at the outset by scoring the 76ers’ first eight points. He wore a brace underneath his jersey to protect his midsection.

Philadelphia made 41.2% of its field-goal attempts, including 9 of 30 (30%) from behind the arc. Quentin Grimes scored 12 points off the bench.

Pritchard began making an impact with 13 first-quarter points, including a quarter-ending 3-pointer to give Boston a 34-18 lead.

“We’re at our best when he’s aggressive, and he’s bought into any role as necessary to (impact) winning, and just cares about the right stuff,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said about Pritchard.

Pritchard knocked down another trey to make it 40-19 with 8:51 left in the half. He had 18 at the break as the Celtics led 56-38.

“That can’t happen,” Maxey said about taking just three shots in the first half while scoring seven points. “That’s unacceptable. That’s on me. I take full responsibility on that one.”

Boston kept the assault going in the third quarter when Brown scored six straight points and Tatum added a trey as Boston’s lead grew to 69-43 with 7:57 left in the third quarter.

Pritchard scored the final four points of the period as the lead sat at 95-74 entering the fourth quarter.

Tatum’s four-point play capped a 9-0 run to start the fourth and pushed the lead to 30. Boston’s advantage topped out at 32 as it cruised to the finish.

“You got to have humility,” Pritchard said. “You have to go back home and take care of Game 5. That’s the most important thing.

“We did our job tonight but going back home, we got to take care of business.”

–Field Level Media

Philadelphia 76ers star center Joel Embiid was active and in the starting lineup for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series against the visiting Boston Celtics on Sunday.

Embiid has not played since April 6, as he required an emergency appendectomy during a team trip through Texas. He was listed as doubtful for Game 3 and did not play; after being listed as doubtful again for Game 4, he was upgraded to questionable an hour or so before tipoff.

It is unknown how much Embiid will contribute or whether he is on a minutes restriction.

The former league MVP and five-time All-NBA selection was limited to 38 games in the regular season due to multiple ailments. He averaged 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 blocks.

Boston leads the series 2-1.

–Field Level Media