The LA Clippers triumphed despite their owner's racism scandal while the fancied Indian Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder also emerged from torrid seven-game series to reach the NBA playoffs second round.
The Clippers advanced with a 126-121 win over fierce Western Conference rivals Golden State Warriors to take their series 4-3 in Los Angeles on Saturday night, keeping their title dream alive.
They successfully put aside the controversy surrounding the Clippers' billionaire owner Donald Sterling, who was banned for life from NBA activities during the week after some racially-charged remarks were made public.
Blake Griffin scored 24 points and Chris Paul added 22 and 14 assists for the third-seeded Clippers.
Point guard Stephen Curry scored a game-high 33 points for the Warriors, who had to play the series without their injured Australian centre Andrew Bogut and were vulnerable inside the paint against the likes of Griffin.
Meanwhile Paul George scored 30 points as the Eastern Conference's top-seeded Indiana Pacers, pushed to the brink of elimination, beat the Atlanta Hawks 92-80 to reach the second round of the playoffs.
The Pacers had to win the last two games of their best-of-seven series to advance 4-3 over the only team in the playoffs with a losing regular-season record.
Indiana, who pushed Miami to seven games in last year's East finals before losing, will face the Washington Wizards in the second round.
George set a career playoff high in points and also grabbed 11 rebounds while Lance Stephenson added 19 points and 15 rebounds for Indiana. Roy Hibbert and George Hill each had 13 points for the Pacers, who also had 12 rebounds from David West.
The game was the first of a record five game sevens in the opening round of the NBA playoffs. The total already matches the league record for the most seventh games in all rounds in any playoff year.
Meanwhile Kevin Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder punched their ticket to the second round with a dominant 120-109 triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Russell Westbrook notched his second triple-double of the series with 27 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds, while Durant scored a game-high 33 points as the Thunder won their Western Conference series 4-3.
"I was finally able to get out of my own way tonight," said Durant, who admitted he'd been stung by critical press after struggling offensively earlier in the series. "I was thinking too much, worried about what you guys (the media) were saying about me. I just relaxed and played my game."
The Grizzlies, missing the suspended Zach Randolph and with Mike Conley nursing a sore hamstring, gave it all they had, taking a 36-27 lead after the first quarter and leading by as many as 11 in the second period before the Thunder inexorably asserted themselves.
Durant, expected to be named the NBA Most Valuable Player next week, was a perfect five-for-five from three point range and pulled down eight rebounds in the victory.
The Thunder next face the Clippers.
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