Mavericks hold off Thunder, tie series

NBA: The Thunder thought they had stolen one.

The home fans were celebrating, streamers were falling onto the court and Oklahoma City appeared to have taken a 2-0 lead in its series against the Dallas Mavericks, despite a shaky overall performance.

In the end, Dallas escaped.

A putback at the buzzer by Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams that would have won the game was disallowed upon review, and the Mavericks defeated the Thunder 85-84 on Monday night to even their playoff series at one win apiece.

Dallas had been embarrassed 108-70 in the opener on Saturday, but the Mavericks bounced back and held Oklahoma City to 33.7 percent shooting.

“I’m very proud of our guys and the way they responded after one of the most disappointing games in franchise history,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said.

Raymond Felton had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Dirk Nowitzki17 points for the Mavs.

Kevin Durant scored 21 points for Oklahoma City, but he made just 7 of 33 shots in the worst postseason shooting performance, both by percentage and number of misses, of his career. Durant’s 26 misses were the most he’s had in 716 career games, including the regular-season and playoffs.

“It was a bad shooting night for me,” Durant said. “It’s part of it. I wish it didn’t happen tonight, but it’s a part of it. I got some great looks all night and I just didn’t knock them down. It was just one of those nights.”

Thompson leads Warriors: As Stephen Curry emphatically waved his arms to ignite the crowd and coached from the bench when he could do little else, Klay Thompson and Golden State’s supporting cast picked up the slack for their absent NBA MVP to hold off visiting Houston 115-106 and take a 2-0 lead in their series.

Thompson scored 34 points and dished out five assists for the defending champions, playing without Curry because of an injured right ankle.

Raptors end skid: At Toronto, Jonas Valanciunas had 23 points and 15 rebounds, Kyle Lowry had 18 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and the Raptors beat Indiana 98-87, snapping their postseason losing streak at seven games to even the series 1-1.

Walton can interview: If teams come to the Warriors asking about interviewing top assistant Luke Walton, Golden State plans to oblige – just not while the defending champions are in the middle of a playoff series.

Coach Steve Kerr says the Warriors will grant permission for teams to interview Walton.

But between series is the approved timing for any such meetings.

Pistons’ coach fined: Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy has been fined $25,000 for public criticism of officiating.

Van Gundy made his comments in a live television interview during the Pistons’ 106-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Caps near sweep after grounding Flyers

NHL: Alex Ovechkin scored twice, Braden Holtby had 31 saves and Washington moved one game closer to a sweep with a 6-1 win at Philadelphia.

The Capitals lead a series 3-0 for the first time in franchise history.

Kings catch Sharks: Tanner Pearson scored 3:47 into overtime and Los Angeles bounced back from a pair of series-opening losses at home to beat San Jose 2-1.

Joe Thornton scored 30 seconds into the game for the Sharks.

Wild snap streak: Jason Pominville had two goals and an assist and Minnesota roared back from an early two-goal deficit to beat visiting Dallas 5-3 and slice the Stars’ lead in the series to 2-1.

Cupid out of Derby with breathing issue

MISCELLANY: Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert says Cupid has a breathing problem and won’t run in the Kentucky Derby.

Baffert’s decision comes two days after Cupid finished 10th in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

Cupid came out of the race with an entrapped epiglottis, and Baffert says the gray colt was had surgery to clear the breathing passageway.

The issue is not considered serious. Baffert said Cupid “should be OK in a week” and would be under consideration for the Preakness on May 21.

Djokovic, Williams honored: Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams won the Laureus awards as the top athletes in the world in 2015.

Djokovic won for the second straight year and third time overall and Williams picked up her fourth award. Williams did not attend the ceremony in Berlin.

Team of the year award went to New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup winning team, while U.S. golfer Jordan Spieth won the breakthrough of the year honor. New Zealand All Blacks captain Dan Carter got the award for the comeback of the year.