Davis leads New Orleans into playoffs

NBA: After Anthony Davis’ final flurry of clutch shots, blocks and rebounds ensured New Orleans’ first postseason berth since before he was drafted, the 22-year-old All-Star known as the “unibrow” was ready to admit how much it meant to him.

“Honestly, I know I told ya’ll before this game it didn’t mean nothing, but I tried to downplay it because I didn’t want to get too excited,” Davis said. “It meant a lot – and we played like it meant something.

“We played our hearts out.”

In the biggest game of his three-year NBA career, Davis had 31 points and 13 rebounds, and host New Orleans earned its first playoff berth since 2011 with a 108-103 victory over San Antonio on Wednesday night.

Davis, who’ll make his playoff debut against Golden State next weekend, came through in the waning minutes with a pair of clutch jumpers, two blocks and two rebounds to prevent the Spurs from pulling off a 23-point comeback.

“We went to A.D. down the stretch and he came through on both ends of the floor,” Pelicans coach Monty Williams said, calling Davis’ block of Borris Diaw’s late shot “phenomenal.”

Tony Parker had 23 points and Diaw 20 for San Antonio, which needed to win to secure the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

The loss ended the Spurs’ 11-game winning streak and prevented them from winning their fifth straight Southwest Division title. Instead, they dropped down to the sixth seed because Houston and Memphis won.

Tyreke Evans had 19 points and 11 assists, and Eric Gordon added 14 points for New Orleans, which had to win to make the postseason because Oklahoma City also won in Minnesota. The teams finished with identical records, but the Pelicans held the tiebreaker by virtue of winning three of four against the Thunder, including one victory on Davis’ last-second 3 in Oklahoma City.

• Memphis eliminates Pacers: Marc Gasol had 33 points and 13 rebounds, and Memphis ended Indiana’s playoff hopes with a 95-83 victory at Memphis, Tennessee.

Memphis earned the Western Conference’s fifth seed with the victory and home-court advantage in a series with fourth-seeded Portland, winners of the Northwest Division.

• Mavericks rip Blazers: Tyson Chandler had 22 points and 15 rebounds and Dallas beat visiting Portland 114-98.

The Mavericks have been locked into the seventh seed in the Western Conference for a week. They had to wait until the final night of the regular season to find out their opponent, which will be Houston.

• Westbrook scores 37: Russell Westbrook scored 37 points and clinched the scoring title in Oklahoma City’s 138-113 victory over Minnesota at Minneapolis that was rendered moot by New Orleans’ playoff-clinching win over San Antonio.

• Harden has triple-double: James Harden had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in just three quarters for his fourth triple-double of the season and Houston never trailed in a 117-91 win over visiting Utah.

Houston won the Southwest Division and got the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

• Bulls rally past Hawks: Aaron Brooks scored 23 points and host Chicago rallied from 18 down to beat Atlanta 91-85.

The Bulls locked up the third seed in the Eastern Conference and a first-round matchup with Milwaukee with their fourth straight win.

• Celtics have strong finish: Gigi Datome scored 22 points, including two key baskets in the final 3 minutes, and visiting Boston beat Milwaukee 105-100 and ended the regular season with its sixth straight victory.

Ex-Zag Kelly Olynyk scored 16 for the Celtics, the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

• Nets clinch playoffs: Brooklyn clinched the final Eastern Conference playoff spot, beating visiting Orlando Magic 101-88 before Memphis knocked off Indiana.

The Nets and Pacers finished tied at 38-44, and Brooklyn earned the No. 8 seed after winning the season series. The Nets will visit top-seeded Atlanta on Sunday for their playoff opener.

Russell’s late goal powers Calgary

NHL: Defenseman Kris Russell scored with just less than 30 seconds remaining in the third period, lifting Calgary to a 2-1 win over Vancouver in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series at Vancouver, British Columbia.

David Jones also scored for the Flames, who were down 1-0 entering the third period.

• Blackhawks win in double OT: Duncan Keith scored at 7:49 of double overtime, and Chicago rallied from a three-goal deficit after the first period in beating Nashville 4-3 at Nashville, Tennessee.

The Blackhawks finished only two points back of Nashville in the Central Division, and they grabbed home-ice advantage back despite benching Corey Crawford after the first period. Scott Darling stopped every subsequent shot, making 42 saves in his postseason debut.

• Islanders win opener: Brock Nelson scored twice, Josh Bailey and Ryan Strome added goals, Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves, and the visiting New York Islanders beat Washington 4-1 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series.

• Montreal edges Ottawa: Brian Flynn scored a tie-breaking goal late in the second period and the host Canadiens held on for a 4-3 win over Ottawa in a wild opening game of their first-round playoff series.

Flynn also had two assists for the first three-point game of his career.

Proposed stadium qualifies for ballot

NFL: A proposed stadium that could become the home of the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders hit an early milestone amid rising competition to bring football back to the Los Angeles market.

The Chargers and Raiders are planning a shared, $1.7 billion stadium in the city of Carson, on the edge of Los Angeles, if both teams fail to get new stadiums in their current hometowns.

Organizers announced that county election officials had verified sufficient petition signatures – more than 8,000 – to qualify the proposal for the Carson ballot, a step toward development. The proposal will go to the City Council, which could vote as soon as Tuesday to schedule an election or consider the plan without sending it to local voters.

Suarez scores twice in Barcelona win

Soccer: Lionel Messi set up Neymar for the first goal, Luis Suarez scored twice and Barcelona won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, putting the four-time champion in good position to reach the Champions League semifinals.

Barcelona, which last won the title in 2011, hosts the second leg of the total-goals series on Tuesday.

In the night’s other game, Ricardo Quaresma converted a penalty kick in the third minute and added a goal in the 10th as Porto upset Bayern Munich 3-1.