2015 NBA playoffs

Postseason tournament August 2023 NBA playoffs 2015 2014–15 April 18–June 16, 2015 16 Golden State Warriors 4 Cleveland Cavaliers Atlanta Hawks Houston Rockets Scoring leader(s) LeBron James (Cavaliers) 30.1 PPG MVP Andre Iguodala (Warriors) 2014 2016 The 2015 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2014–15 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeating the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. Andre Iguodala was named NBA Finals MVP. The San Antonio Spurs were the defending champions, but lost in the first round to the Los Angeles Clippers. Overview Western Conference For the first time since 2005–06, all teams from a particular division made the playoffs (in this case, all five teams from the Southwest Division). thumb|250px|The Los Angeles Clippers hosting the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the First Round series at the Staples Center. The San Antonio Spurs made their 18th straight playoff appearance, while the Golden State Warriors (third straight playoff appearance) entered the playoffs as the first seed of their respective conferences. Despite making the Western Conference Finals the previous year and winning 45 games this season, the Oklahoma City Thunder missed the playoffs due to a tie-breaker with the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans themselves made their first playoff appearance since 2011, and their first as the Pelicans. Eastern Conference The Atlanta Hawks entered their eighth consecutive postseason (continuing the longest active streak in the Eastern Conference) with the top seed in the Eastern Conference.http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/following-a-wild-night-in-atlanta-hawks-clinch-pla/nkNgh/ Following a wild night in Atlanta, Hawks clinch playoff spot The Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 4, 2015 March 8, 2015 The Cleveland Cavaliers made their first postseason appearance since 2010, the final season of LeBron James' first stint with the Cavaliers. On the other hand, James' former team, the Miami Heat, missed the playoffs after making the previous year's Finals, becoming the first team to do so since the 2005 Lakers. Miami had qualified for the playoffs for six consecutive seasons before missing this year, also reaching the NBA Finals four consecutive times. The Heat and their fellow Floridian team, the Orlando Magic, both missed the playoffs in the same season for the first time since 1993. Despite making the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the Indiana Pacers failed to make the playoffs by virtue of losing a tie-breaker to the Brooklyn Nets. Despite starting their respective seasons in a rebuilding mode, both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics returned to the playoffs after a one-year absence. Bucks head coach Jason Kidd became the first head coach to lead two teams to the playoffs in his first two seasons, having led the Nets to the playoffs the previous season.https://twitter.com/espnnba/status/587375136862560256 Twitter/@ESPNNBA: Jason Kidd now becomes first coach in NBA history to lead 2 franchises to playoffs in first 2 years as head coach. Jason Kidd now becomes first coach in NBA history to lead 2 franchises to playoffs in first 2 years as head coach. May 3, 2015 First Round The first round of the playoffs saw a record six teams take a 3–0 lead in their respective series, the first time it had happened since the first round expanded to a best-of-seven series in 2003.https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/for-nba-playoffs-first-round-is-anything-but-a-knockout/2015/04/25/6b2bac5a-eb95-11e4-9a6a-c1ab95a0600b_story.html First round of NBA playoffs offers many story lines, little competitiveness Michael Lee Washington Post April 25, 2015 May 6, 2015 The fifth seed defeated the fourth seed in both conferences for the third straight year.https://www.espn.com/nba/playoff-bracket 2013 NBA Playoffs Bracket ESPN.com May 6, 2015https://www.espn.com/nba/playoff-bracket 2014 NBA Playoffs Bracket ESPN.com May 6, 2015https://www.espn.com/nba/playoff-bracket 2015 NBA Playoffs Bracket ESPN.com May 6, 2015 With their first round victory over the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets won their first playoff series since 2009. Game 7 between the Clippers and Spurs ensured a 16th straight postseason in which at least one Game 7 was played; 1999 was the last postseason to not feature a Game 7. The San Antonio Spurs became the first defending champions to be eliminated in the first round since the 2011–12 Dallas Mavericks. This was only the second time it had happened since 2000. Conference Semifinals With the Spurs being eliminated in the first round, none of the eight teams remaining at the beginning of the Conference Semifinals had previously won an NBA championship in the 21st century. Entering the Conference Semifinals, of the teams who had previously won an NBA championship, the Chicago Bulls had the shortest drought at 17 years, having most recently won an NBA championship in 1998, while the Atlanta Hawks had the longest overall drought at 57 years, having won their only previous championship in 1958 when the franchise was based in St. Louis. All teams that held a 2–1 series lead within the first three games of their respective second round series had gone on to lose that series. The Cavaliers–Bulls series was notable for two game winning baskets by both teams’ star players. Game 3: Derrick Rose hitting a wide open three pointer to win the game for the Chicago Bulls. Game 4: LeBron James making a catch and shoot two pointer to win the game for the Cleveland Cavaliers. With their Game 7 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, the Houston Rockets became the ninth team in NBA history to come back from a 3–1 series deficit to win the conference semifinals, and only the second franchise to do it twice. They had first achieved that goal 20 years ago against the Phoenix Suns. The Boston Celtics are the only other franchise to twice make this comeback, doing it in 1968 and 1981. Overall, twelve teams have achieved the feat, with the Golden State Warriors doing it in the Western Conference Finals and Cleveland Cavaliers doing it in the NBA Finals the following season. The Denver Nuggets did it twice in 2020. With their series win over the Chicago Bulls, the Cleveland Cavaliers made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2009. With their series win over the Washington Wizards, the Atlanta Hawks made the Conference Finals (then called the Division Finals) for the first time since 1970. Since 1970, they had lost all 15 Division or Conference Semifinal series they participated in. With their series win over the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors made their first conference finals appearance since 1976, while the Houston Rockets made their first conference finals appearance since 1997. The Hawks, Warriors, and Rockets were the three NBA teams which had been waiting for the longest time for a return to the conference finals prior to this postseason. Conference Finals For the second straight year, the No. 1 seed faced the No. 2 seed in the Conference Finals, and for the fourth time since 2000. For the first time in NBA playoff history, both conference finals teams, the Warriors of the West and the Cavaliers of the East, held commanding 3–0 series leads. Cleveland went on to the finals, sweeping the Atlanta Hawks 4–0 to make their first NBA Finals since 2007, while Golden State won their series 4–1 defeating the Houston Rockets en route to their first NBA Finals since 1975. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/28/warriors-beat-rockets-to-make-their-first-nba-finals-since-1975 Warriors beat Rockets to make their first NBA finals since 1975 27 May 2015 Guardian 28 May 2015 https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/26/cleveland-cavaliers-sweep-atlanta-hawks-and-breeze-into-nba-finals Cleveland Cavaliers sweep Atlanta Hawks and breeze into NBA finals 27 May 2015 Guardian 28 May 2015 NBA Finals For the first time since the inaugural Basketball Association of America season in 1946–47, two rookie coaches, David Blatt of the Cavaliers and Steve Kerr of the Warriors, met each other in the NBA finals. Like the Conference Semifinals, the team that took a 2–1 series lead (the Cleveland Cavaliers), went on to lose the series. The Golden State Warriors won their first championship since 1975. Andre Iguodala was named NBA Finals MVP despite not starting in a game until the NBA Finals. Format NBA Playoffs#Format Within each conference, the three division winners and the five non-division winners with the most wins qualified for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record; however, a division winner is guaranteed to be ranked at least fourth, regardless of record. Each conference's bracket is fixed; there is no reseeding. All rounds are best-of-seven series; the team that has four wins advances to the next round. As stated above, all rounds, including the NBA Finals, are in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. Home court advantage in any round does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead to the team with the better regular season record. If two teams with the same record meet in a round, standard tiebreaker rules are used. The rule for determining home court advantage in the NBA Finals is winning percentage, then head-to-head record, followed by record vs. opposite conference. Tiebreaker rules The tiebreakers that determine seedings are: Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division Head-to-head record Division record (if all the tied teams are in the same division) Conference record Record vs. playoff teams, own conference Record vs. playoff teams, other conference (only in two-way tie) Point differential, all games If there are more than two teams tied, the team that wins the tiebreaker gets the highest seed, while the other teams were "re-broken" from the first step until all ties were resolved. Since the three division winners were guaranteed a spot in the top four, ties to determine the division winners had to be broken before any other ties. Possible future changes As the 2014–15 regular season proceeded into February 2015, the ninth-place team in the Western Conference had a better record than the eighth-place team in the East. This led NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to suggest changing the playoff format, where the top 16 teams throughout the entire league would qualify, regardless of division or conference.http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-adam-silver-wants-to-restructure-playoffs-to-reward-more-competitive-west-20150214-story.html Adam Silver says he'll look into restructuring NBA playoffs February 14, 2015 Los Angeles Times March 8, 2015 Silver then stated that the league might not be able to implement such changes until the 2016–17 season at the earliest.http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/14/adam-silver-discusses-potential-changes-to-playoff-system-at-nbas-all-star-weekend/ Adam Silver discusses potential changes to playoff system at NBA's All-Star weekend February 14, 2015 ProBasketballTalk.com March 8, 2015 Playoff qualifying On March 3, the Atlanta Hawks became the first team to clinch a playoff spot. This was the earliest a team had clinched a playoff spot since the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls clinched on March 2.http://www.nba.com/hawks/features/awesome-stats-about-hawks-clinching-playoff-spot 8 Awesome Stats About the Hawks Clinching A Playoff Spot NBA.com March 5, 2015 April 16, 2015 The Golden State Warriors became the first Western Conference team to clinch a playoff spot on March 16. Bracket Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Teams with home court advantage are shown in Italics.First Round Conference Semifinals Conference Finals NBA Finals Eastern Conference Western Conference E1 Atlanta* 4 E8 Brooklyn 2 E4 Toronto* 0 E5 Washington 4 E3 Chicago 4 E6 Milwaukee 2 E2 Cleveland* 4 E7 Boston 0 W1 Golden State* 4 W8 New Orleans 0 W4 Portland* 1 W5 Memphis 4 W3 LA Clippers 4 W6 San Antonio 3 W2 Houston* 4 W7 Dallas 1 E1 Atlanta* 4 E5 Washington 2 E3 Chicago 2 E2 Cleveland* 4 W1 Golden State* 4 W5 Memphis 2 W3 LA Clippers 3 W2 Houston* 4 E1 Atlanta* 0 E2 Cleveland* 4 W1 Golden State* 4 W2 Houston* 1 E2 Cleveland* 2 W1 Golden State* 4* Division winner Bold Series winner Italics Team with home-court advantage Notes Memphis had home court advantage in the first round despite not being a higher seed as they had a better regular season record than their opponent, but did not have the best record of the non-division-champion playoff teams in the West. This rule was changed as a result of this season's playoffs. The southwest division, which the Grizzlies are a part of, also had all five teams make the playoffs this year. This had only happened 3 times before. First round All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4) Eastern Conference first round (1) Atlanta Hawks vs. (8) Brooklyn Nets #eee April 19 5:30 pm Philips Arena, Atlanta TNT Brooklyn Nets 92 Atlanta Hawks 99 Boxscore 20–32 25–23 17–19 30–25 Johnson, Lopez 17 each Kyle Korver 21 Brook Lopez 14 Al Horford 10 Joe Johnson 6 three players 3 each 18,440 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Bennett Salvatore Atlanta leads series, 1–0 April 22 7:00 pm Philips Arena, Atlanta ESPN Brooklyn Nets 91 Atlanta Hawks 96 Boxscore 24–29 23–21 20–25 24–21 Jarrett Jack 23 Paul Millsap 19 Deron Williams 10 Al Horford 13 Deron Williams 8 Al Horford 7 18,207 Mike Callahan, Michael Smith, Zach Zarba Atlanta leads series, 2–0 #eee April 25 3:00 pm Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City TNT Atlanta Hawks 83 Brooklyn Nets 91 Boxscore 16–31 24–16 22–20 21–24 DeMarre Carroll 22 Brook Lopez 22 Paul Millsap 17 Brook Lopez 13 Jeff Teague 6 Jarrett Jack 8 17,732 Joe Crawford, Tony Brown, Ron Garretson Atlanta leads series, 2–1 April 27 7:00 pm Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City NBA TV Atlanta Hawks 115 Brooklyn Nets 120 Boxscore 24–25 27–20 31–29 22–30 11–16 Carroll, Teague 20 each Deron Williams 35 Paul Millsap 12 Brook Lopez 10 Jeff Teague 11 Deron Williams 7 17,732 James Capers, Eric Lewis, Jason Phillips Series tied, 2–2 #eee April 29 7:00 pm Philips Arena, Atlanta TNT Brooklyn Nets 97 Atlanta Hawks 107 Boxscore 16–33 28–20 26–29 27–25 Alan Anderson 23 DeMarre Carroll 24 Joe Johnson 9 Al Horford 15 Jack, Williams 6 each Jeff Teague 8 18,105 Monty McCutchen, David Jones, James Williams Atlanta leads series, 3–2 May 1 8:00 pm Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City ESPN Atlanta Hawks 111 Brooklyn Nets 87 Boxscore 36–23 15–22 41–21 19–21 Paul Millsap 25 Brook Lopez 19 Paul Millsap 9 Jack, Lopez 7 each Jeff Teague 13 Joe Johnson 6 17,732 Ken Mauer, John Goble, Ed Malloy Atlanta wins series, 4–2 +Regular-season seriesAtlanta won 4–0 in the regular-season series#fff December 5, 2014 2014 1205 ATLBKN Atlanta Hawks 98 Brooklyn Nets 75 Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City January 28, 2015 2015 0128 BKNATL Brooklyn Nets 102 Atlanta Hawks 113 Philips Arena, Atlanta #fff April 4, 2015 2015 0404 BKNATL Brooklyn Nets 99 Atlanta Hawks 131 Philips Arena, Atlanta April 8, 2015 2015 0408 ATLBKN Atlanta Hawks 114 Brooklyn Nets 111 Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City This was the first meeting in the playoffs between the Hawks and Nets.https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=ATL&opp_id=NJN&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Atlanta Hawks versus Brooklyn Nets (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015 (2) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (7) Boston Celtics #eee April 19 3:00 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio ABC Boston Celtics 100 Cleveland Cavaliers 113 Boxscore 31–27 23–35 22–29 24–22 Isaiah Thomas 22 Kyrie Irving 30 Evan Turner 7 Kevin Love 12 Isaiah Thomas 10 LeBron James 7 20,562 Mike Callahan, Pat Fraher, Zach Zarba Cleveland leads series, 1–0 April 21 7:00 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio TNT Boston Celtics 91 Cleveland Cavaliers 99 Boxscore 26–25 24–26 18–24 23–24 Isaiah Thomas 22 LeBron James 30 Evan Turner 12 Tristan Thompson 11 Isaiah Thomas 7 LeBron James 7 20,562 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Bennett Salvatore Cleveland leads series, 2–0 #eee April 23 7:00 pm TD Garden, Boston TNT Cleveland Cavaliers 103 Boston Celtics 95 Boxscore 31–25 25–23 28–28 19–19 LeBron James 31 Evan Turner 19 LeBron James 11 Sullinger, Turner 8 each Kyrie Irving 6 Evan Turner 8 18,624 James Capers, David Guthrie, Jason Phillips Cleveland leads series, 3–0 April 26 1:00 pm TD Garden, Boston ABC Cleveland Cavaliers 101 Boston Celtics 93 Boxscore 29–19 28–17 13–25 31–32 LeBron James 27 Sullinger, Thomas 21 each Irving, Mozgov 11 each Jared Sullinger 11 LeBron James 8 Isaiah Thomas 9 18,624 Tony Brothers, John Goble, Leroy Richardson Cleveland wins series, 4–0 +Regular-season seriesTied 2–2 in the regular-season series#fff November 14, 2014 2014 1114 CLEBOS Cleveland Cavaliers 122 Boston Celtics 121 TD Garden, Boston March 3, 2015 2015 0303 BOSCLE Boston Celtics 79 Cleveland Cavaliers 110 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio #fff April 10, 2015 2015 0410 BOSCLE Boston Celtics 99 Cleveland Cavaliers 90 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio April 12, 2015 2015 0412 CLEBOS Cleveland Cavaliers 78 Boston Celtics 117 TD Garden, Boston +Previous playoff serieshttps://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=CLE&opp_id=BOS&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Cleveland Cavaliers versus Boston Celtics (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015Boston leads 4–1 in all-time playoff series#fff 1976 Boston Celtics 4 Cleveland Cavaliers 2 1976 Eastern Conference Finals #fff 1985 Boston Celtics 3 Cleveland Cavaliers 1 1985 Eastern Conference First Round #fff 1992 Cleveland Cavaliers 4 Boston Celtics 3 1992 Eastern Conference Semifinals #fff 2008 Boston Celtics 4 Cleveland Cavaliers 3 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals #fff 2010 Cleveland Cavaliers 2 Boston Celtics 4 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals (3) Chicago Bulls vs. (6) Milwaukee Bucks #eee April 18 7:00 pm United Center, Chicago ESPN Milwaukee Bucks 91 Chicago Bulls 103 Boxscore 29–30 22–30 24–26 16–17 Khris Middleton 18 Jimmy Butler 25 Zaza Pachulia 10 Pau Gasol 13 Jerryd Bayless 5 Derrick Rose 7 21,812 Scott Foster, Kane Fitzgerald, Bill Kennedy Chicago leads series, 1–0 April 20 8:00 pm United Center, Chicago TNT Milwaukee Bucks 82 Chicago Bulls 91 Boxscore 16–11 22–28 30–32 14–20 Khris Middleton 22 Jimmy Butler 31 Giannis Antetokounmpo 11 Joakim Noah 19 Giannis Antetokounmpo 4 Derrick Rose 9 21,661 James Williams, Bill Spooner, Monty McCutchen Chicago leads series, 2–0 #eee April 23 8:00 pm BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin NBA TV Chicago Bulls 113 Milwaukee Bucks 106 2OT Boxscore 27–27 22–26 25–18 21–24 6–6, 12–5 Derrick Rose 34 Giannis Antetokounmpo 25 Pau Gasol 14 John Henson 14 Derrick Rose 8 Michael Carter-Williams 9 18,717 Ken Mauer, Brian Forte, Ed Malloy Chicago leads series, 3–0 April 25 5:30 pm BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin TNT Chicago Bulls 90 Milwaukee Bucks 92 Boxscore 23–19 27–31 21–23 19–19 Jimmy Butler 33 O. J. Mayo 18 Pau Gasol 10 Giannis Antetokounmpo 8 Derrick Rose 6 three players 5 each 18,717 Zach Zarba, David Guthrie, Jason Phillips Chicago leads series, 3–1During the final minute of the game, Derrick Rose drove inside then passed to Pau Gasol who laid it in as he was fouled. Gasol would then make the free throw and tie the game at 90. Then, when Rose tried to win the series for Chicago, he crossed but then was stripped by Khris Middleton. He then attempted a half court shot, which was blocked by Jimmy Butler when timeout was called. With 1.3 seconds left, Jared Dudley found the lead pass for Jerryd Bayless, due to a defensive breakdown by Rose, who then hit the game-winning lay-up at the buzzer, allowing the Bucks to stave off elimination for at least one more game. #eee April 27 8:00 pm United Center, Chicago TNT Milwaukee Bucks 94 Chicago Bulls 88 Boxscore 23–22 29–27 24–21 18–18 Michael Carter-Williams 22 Pau Gasol 25 John Henson 14 Joakim Noah 13 Michael Carter-Williams 9 Butler, Noah, 6 each 21,814 Joe Crawford, Sean Corbin, Sean Wright Chicago leads series, 3–2 April 30 7:00 pm BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin TNT Chicago Bulls 120 Milwaukee Bucks 66 Boxscore 34–16 31–17 26–19 29–14 Mike Dunleavy Jr. 20 Zaza Pachulia 8 Joakim Noah 10 Miles Plumlee 6 Derrick Rose 7 Jerryd Bayless 5 18,717 Mike Callahan, Derrick Stafford, Tom Washington Chicago wins series, 4–2 +Regular-season seriesChicago won 3–1 in the regular-season series#fff November 5, 2014 2014 1105 CHIMIL Chicago Bulls 95 Milwaukee Bucks 86 BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin January 10, 2015 2015 0110 MILCHI Milwaukee Bucks 87 Chicago Bulls 95 United Center, Chicago, Illinois #fff February 23, 2015 2015 0223 MILCHI Milwaukee Bucks 71 Chicago Bulls 87 United Center, Chicago, Illinois April 1, 2015 2015 0401 CHIMIL Chicago Bulls 91 Milwaukee Bucks 95 BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin As of 2026, this remains the last playoff series the Bulls had won. This is the most recent playoff series between the Bulls & Bucks until 2022. This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Bucks winning two out of the first three meeting. +Previous playoffs serieshttps://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=CHI&opp_id=MIL&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Chicago Bulls versus Milwaukee Bucks (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015Milwaukee leads 2–1 in all-time playoff series#fff 1974 Chicago Bulls 0 Milwaukee Bucks 4 1974 Western Conference Finals #fff 1985 Milwaukee Bucks 3 Chicago Bulls 1 1985 Eastern Conference First Round #fff 1990 Chicago Bulls 3 Milwaukee Bucks 1 1990 Eastern Conference First Round (4) Toronto Raptors vs. (5) Washington Wizards #eee April 18 12:30 pm Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario ESPN Washington Wizards 93 Toronto Raptors 86 Boxscore 19–23 27–19 19–14 17–26 11–4 Paul Pierce 20 Amir Johnson 18 Nenê 13 DeMar DeRozan 11 John Wall 8 DeMar DeRozan 6 19,800 Monty McCutchen, Derrick Stafford, Josh Tiven Washington leads series, 1–0 April 21 8:00 pm Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario NBA TV Washington Wizards 117 Toronto Raptors 106 Boxscore 26–31 34–18 37–26 20–31 Bradley Beal 28 DeRozan, Williams 20 each Nenê, Porter Jr. 9 each Jonas Valančiūnas 10 John Wall 17 DeMar DeRozan 7 19,800 Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy, Courtney Kirkland Washington leads series, 2–0 #eee April 24 8:00 pm Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. ESPN2 Toronto Raptors 99 Washington Wizards 106 Boxscore 35–33 13–21 22–18 29–34 DeMar DeRozan 32 Marcin Gortat 24 Amir Johnson 12 Marcin Gortat 13 Kyle Lowry 7 John Wall 15 20,356 Tony Brothers, Sean Corbin, John Goble Washington leads series, 3–0 April 26 6:30 pm Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. TNT Toronto Raptors 94 Washington Wizards 125 Boxscore 22–36 28–30 20–36 24–23 Kyle Lowry 21 Bradley Beal 23 Jonas Valančiūnas 9 Marcin Gortat 11 three players 4 each John Wall 10 20,356 Ken Mauer, Brian Forte, Ed Malloy Washington wins series, 4–0 +Regular-season seriesToronto won 3–0 in the regular-season series#fff November 7, 2014 2014 1107 WASTOR Washington Wizards 84 Toronto Raptors 103 Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario January 31, 2015 2015 0131 TORWAS Toronto Raptors 120 Washington Wizards 116 OT Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. #fff February 11, 2015 2015 0211 WASTOR Washington Wizards 93 Toronto Raptors 95 Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario This marked the first (and as of 2026 only) successful sweep for the Wizards. This was the first meeting in the playoffs between the Raptors and Wizards.https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=TOR&opp_id=WAS&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Toronto Raptors versus Washington Wizards (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015 Western Conference first round (1) Golden State Warriors vs. (8) New Orleans Pelicans #eee April 18 3:30 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC New Orleans Pelicans 99 Golden State Warriors 106 Boxscore 13–28 28–31 25–25 33–22 Anthony Davis 35 Stephen Curry 34 Aşık, Pondexter 9 each Andrew Bogut 14 Cole, Pondexter 6 each Draymond Green 7 19,596 Tony Brothers, Sean Corbin, Jason Phillips Golden State leads series, 1–0 April 20 10:30 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California TNT New Orleans Pelicans 87 Golden State Warriors 97 Boxscore 28–17 24–38 19–16 16–26 Anthony Davis 26 Klay Thompson 26 Ömer Aşık 13 Andrew Bogut 14 Tyreke Evans 7 Stephen Curry 6 19,596 Joe Crawford, Ron Garretson, Sean Wright Golden State leads series, 2–0 #eee April 23 9:30 pm Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana TNT Golden State Warriors 123 New Orleans Pelicans 119 Boxscore 25–26 27–37 17–26 39–19 15–11 Stephen Curry 40 Anthony Davis 29 Draymond Green 17 Anthony Davis 15 Stephen Curry 9 Tyreke Evans 8 18,444 Scott Foster, Kane Fitzgerald, Derrick Stafford Golden State leads series, 3–0 After Anthony Davis split a pair of free throws, Curry missed an attempted game-tying three, but Marreese Speights grabbed the offensive rebound and Curry hit another three to tie the game at 108. The Warriors would win in OT. April 25 8:00 pm Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana ESPN Golden State Warriors 109 New Orleans Pelicans 98 Boxscore 31–24 36–30 21–13 21–31 Stephen Curry 39 Anthony Davis 36 Draymond Green 10 Anthony Davis 11 Stephen Curry 9 Evans, Gordon 5 each 18,443 Danny Crawford, Derrick Collins, Marc Davis Golden State wins series, 4–0 +Regular-season seriesGolden State won 3–1 in the regular-season series#fff December 4, 2014 2014 1204 NOPGSW New Orleans Pelicans 85 Golden State Warriors 112 Oracle Arena, Oakland, California December 14, 2014 2014 1214 GSWNOP Golden State Warriors 128 New Orleans Pelicans 122 OT Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana #fff March 20, 2015 2015 0320 NOPGSW New Orleans Pelicans 96 Golden State Warriors 112 Oracle Arena, Oakland, California April 7, 2015 2015 0407 GSWNOP Golden State Warriors 100 New Orleans Pelicans 103 Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana This was the first meeting in the playoffs between the Warriors and Pelicans.https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=GSW&opp_id=NOH&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Golden State Warriors versus New Orleans Pelicans (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015 (2) Houston Rockets vs. (7) Dallas Mavericks #eee April 18 9:30 pm Toyota Center, Houston, Texas ESPN Dallas Mavericks 108 Houston Rockets 118 Boxscore 19–32 36–27 22–25 31–34 Dirk Nowitzki 24 James Harden 24 Tyson Chandler 18 Trevor Ariza 11 Rajon Rondo 5 James Harden 11 18,231 Joe Crawford, Tony Brown, Ron Garretson Houston leads series, 1–0 April 21 9:30 pm Toyota Center, Houston, Texas TNT Dallas Mavericks 99 Houston Rockets 111 Boxscore 24–23 27–30 29–28 19–30 Monta Ellis 24 Dwight Howard 28 Dirk Nowitzki 13 Dwight Howard 12 Ellis, Felton 3 Josh Smith 9 18,243 Ken Mauer, David Jones, Ed Malloy Houston leads series, 2–0 #eee April 24 7:00 pm American Airlines Center, Dallas ESPN Houston Rockets 130 Dallas Mavericks 128 Boxscore 42–36 23–36 36–27 29–29 James Harden 42 Ellis, Nowitzki 34 each Dwight Howard 26 Nowitzki, Chandler 8 each James Harden 9 Barea, Ellis 9 each 20,651 Mike Callahan, Michael Smith, Tom Washington Houston leads series, 3–0 April 26 9:00 pm American Airlines Center, Dallas TNT Houston Rockets 109 Dallas Mavericks 121 Boxscore 34–25 19–36 22–33 34–27 James Harden 24 Monta Ellis 31 Dwight Howard 7 Tyson Chandler 14 Harden, Prigioni 5 José Juan Barea 10 20,589 Monty McCutchen, Derrick Stafford, Josh Tiven Houston leads series, 3–1 #eee April 28 8:00 pm Toyota Center, Houston, Texas TNT Dallas Mavericks 94 Houston Rockets 103 Boxscore 22–31 28–25 25–26 19–21 Monta Ellis 25 James Harden 28 Dirk Nowitzki 14 Dwight Howard 19 José Juan Barea 9 James Harden 8 18,231 Tony Brothers, John Goble, Zach Zarba Houston wins series, 4–1 +Regular-season seriesHouston won 3–1 in the regular-season series#fff November 22, 2014 2014 1122 DALHOU Dallas Mavericks 92 Houston Rockets 95 Toyota Center, Houston, Texas January 28, 2015 2015 0128 DALHOU Dallas Mavericks 94 Houston Rockets 99 Toyota Center, Houston, Texas #fff February 20, 2015 2015 0220 HOUDAL Houston Rockets 100 Dallas Mavericks 111 American Airlines Center, Dallas April 2, 2015 2015 0402 HOUDAL Houston Rockets 108 Dallas Mavericks 101 American Airlines Center, Dallas This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Mavericks winning both previous meetings. +Previous playoff serieshttps://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=HOU&opp_id=DAL&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Houston Rockets versus Dallas Mavericks (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015Dallas leads 2–0 in all-time playoff series#fff 1988 Dallas Mavericks 3 Houston Rockets 1 1988 Western Conference First Round #fff 2005 Dallas Mavericks 4 Houston Rockets 3 2005 Western Conference First Round (3) Los Angeles Clippers vs. (6) San Antonio Spurs #eee April 19 10:30 pm Staples Center, Los Angeles TNT San Antonio Spurs 92 Los Angeles Clippers 107 Boxscore 18–30 25–19 21–30 28–28 Kawhi Leonard 18 Chris Paul 32 Tim Duncan 11 DeAndre Jordan 14 Manu Ginóbili 6 Griffin, Paul 6 each 19,309 Ken Mauer, David Jones, Ed Malloy LA Clippers lead series, 1–0 April 22 10:30 pm Staples Center, Los Angeles TNT San Antonio Spurs 111 Los Angeles Clippers 107 Boxscore 28–24 24–23 25–27 17–20 17–13 Tim Duncan 28 Blake Griffin 29 Tim Duncan 11 DeAndre Jordan 15 Boris Diaw 6 Blake Griffin 11 19,482 Joe Crawford, Ron Garretson, Sean Wright Series tied, 1–1 #eee April 24 9:30 pm AT&T Center, San Antonio ESPN Los Angeles Clippers 73 San Antonio Spurs 100 Boxscore 16–25 22–21 11–24 24–30 Blake Griffin 14 Kawhi Leonard 32 Blake Griffin 10 Tim Duncan 7 Blake Griffin 5 Manu Ginóbili 6 18,581 Monty McCutchen, Bill Spooner, Gary Zielinski San Antonio leads series, 2–1 April 26 3:30 pm AT&T Center, San Antonio ABC Los Angeles Clippers 114 San Antonio Spurs 105 Boxscore 25–25 26–22 30–29 33–29 Chris Paul 34 Kawhi Leonard 26 Blake Griffin 19 Tim Duncan 14 Griffin, Paul 7 each Kawhi Leonard 5 18,581 Mike Callahan, Pat Fraher, Tom Washington Series tied, 2–2 #eee April 28 10:30 pm Staples Center, Los Angeles TNT San Antonio Spurs 111 Los Angeles Clippers 107 Boxscore 22–27 31–27 29–28 29–25 Tim Duncan 21 Blake Griffin 30 Tim Duncan 11 Griffin, Jordan 14 each Manu Ginóbili 6 Chris Paul 10 19,571 Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy, Josh Tiven San Antonio leads series, 3–2 April 30 9:30 pm AT&T Center, San Antonio TNT Los Angeles Clippers 102 San Antonio Spurs 96 Boxscore 26–26 25–25 25–21 26–24 Blake Griffin 26 Marco Belinelli 23 DeAndre Jordan 14 Tim Duncan 13 Chris Paul 15 Tony Parker 7 18,581 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Zach Zarba Series tied, 3–3 #eee May 2 8:00 pm Staples Center, Los Angeles TNT San Antonio Spurs 109 Los Angeles Clippers 111 Boxscore 30–28 25–29 23–22 31–32 Tim Duncan 27 Chris Paul 27 Tim Duncan 11 DeAndre Jordan 14 Manu Ginóbili 7 Blake Griffin 10 19,588 Monty McCutchen, James Capers, Jason Phillips LA Clippers win series, 4–3 In Game 1, the Clippers had a dominant game. It was close in the first half, but the Clippers pulled away in the second half. Chris Paul scored 32 points, while Blake Griffin scored 27 points. This helped the Clippers win 107–92. Game 2 was much closer, requiring overtime. The Spurs won 111–107 in the Staples Center, tying the series 1–1, led by Tim Duncan's 27 points. In Game 3, the Spurs completely controlled the offense, and never trailed. They won 100–73 with Kawhi Leonard scoring 32 points. In Game 4, the Clippers won 114–105. Chris Paul scored 34 points and 7 assists. It was a tight game in Game 5 in the Staples Center, especially in the 4th quarter. At the end of the game, DeAndre Jordan tipped the ball in; however, the refs called goaltending. The Spurs prevailed 111–107, led by Tim Duncan's 24 points and 11 rebounds. In Game 6, Spurs Tim Duncan, Manu Ginóbili, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard along with Clippers Chris Paul and Blake Griffin struggled offensively. The Spurs gave up a 10-point lead, allowing the Clippers to win 102–96. Game 7 was a very tight game, featuring 31 lead changes and 19 ties. In the first half, Chris Paul injured his hamstring, but returned in the third quarter, concluding that quarter with a buzzer beater 3-pointer, giving them a 79–78 lead. The fourth quarter was a nail-biter, with the Spurs leading in the beginning and the Clippers at the end. With 1 second left in the game, Chris Paul hit the game winner, and the Clippers moved on to the second round by a meager two-point margin. The final score was 111–109. +Regular-season seriesTied 2–2 in the regular-season series#fff November 10, 2014 2014 1110 SASLAC San Antonio Spurs 89 Los Angeles Clippers 85 Staples Center, Los Angeles December 22, 2014 2014 1222 LACSAS Los Angeles Clippers 118 San Antonio Spurs 125 AT&T Center, San Antonio #fff January 31, 2015 2015 0131 LACSAS Los Angeles Clippers 105 San Antonio Spurs 85 AT&T Center, San Antonio February 19, 2015 2015 0219 SASLAC San Antonio Spurs 115 Los Angeles Clippers 119 Staples Center, Los Angeles This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Spurs winning the only meeting. +Previous playoff serieshttps://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=LAC&opp_id=SAS&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Los Angeles Clippers versus San Antonio Spurs (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015San Antonio leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series#fff 2012 San Antonio Spurs 4 Los Angeles Clippers 0 2012 Western Conference Semifinals This would be the Clippers last playoff series win until 2020. (4) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (5) Memphis Grizzlies #eee April 19 8:00 pm FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee TNT Portland Trail Blazers 86 Memphis Grizzlies 100 Boxscore 15–25 24–33 23–28 24–14 LaMarcus Aldridge 32 Beno Udrih 20 LaMarcus Aldridge 14 Randolph, Gasol 11 each Batum, Blake 4 each Gasol, Udrih 7 each 18,119 James Capers, Eric Lewis, Tom Washington Memphis leads series, 1–0 April 22 8:00 pm FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee TNT Portland Trail Blazers 82 Memphis Grizzlies 97 Boxscore 21–19 18–31 21–23 22–24 LaMarcus Aldridge 24 Lee, Conley 18 each LaMarcus Aldridge 14 Zach Randolph 10 Nicolas Batum 7 Mike Conley Jr. 6 18,119 Tony Brothers, Leroy Richardson, Bill Spooner Memphis leads series, 2–0 #eee April 25 10:30 pm Moda Center, Portland, Oregon ESPN Memphis Grizzlies 115 Portland Trail Blazers 109 Boxscore 24–19 38–30 23–26 30–34 Marc Gasol 25 Nicolas Batum 27 Marc Gasol 7 LaMarcus Aldridge 7 three players 4 each Damian Lillard 9 19,945 Scott Foster, Mark Ayotte, Bill Kennedy Memphis leads series, 3–0 April 27 10:30 pm Moda Center, Portland, Oregon TNT Memphis Grizzlies 92 Portland Trail Blazers 99 Boxscore 22–27 26–28 27–13 17–31 Marc Gasol 21 Damian Lillard 32 Tony Allen 10 Batum, Leonard 13 each Marc Gasol 6 Damian Lillard 7 19,541 Danny Crawford, Derrick Collins, Marc Davis Memphis leads series, 3–1 #eee April 29 9:30 pm FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee TNT Portland Trail Blazers 93 Memphis Grizzlies 99 Boxscore 20–20 19–26 27–22 27–31 CJ McCollum 33 Marc Gasol 26 Nicolas Batum 10 Marc Gasol 14 Nicolas Batum 7 Allen, Calathes 4 each 18,119 Ken Mauer, Brian Forte, Ed Malloy Memphis wins series, 4–1 +Regular-season seriesMemphis won 4–0 in the regular-season series#fff November 28, 2014 2014 1128 MEMPOR Memphis Grizzlies 112 Portland Trail Blazers 99 Moda Center, Portland, Oregon January 17, 2015 2015 0117 PORMEM Portland Trail Blazers 98 Memphis Grizzlies 102 FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee #fff February 22, 2015 2015 0222 MEMPOR Memphis Grizzlies 98 Portland Trail Blazers 92 Moda Center, Portland, Oregon March 21, 2015 2015 0321 PORMEM Portland Trail Blazers 86 Memphis Grizzlies 97 FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee This was the first meeting in the playoffs between the Blazers and Grizzlies.https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=POR&opp_id=MEM&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Portland Trail Blazers versus Memphis Grizzlies (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015 Conference semifinals Eastern Conference semifinals (1) Atlanta Hawks vs. (5) Washington Wizards #eee May 3 1:00 p.m. Philips Arena, Atlanta ABC Washington Wizards 104 Atlanta Hawks 98 Boxscore 26–37 27–26 28–20 23–15 Bradley Beal 28 DeMarre Carroll 24 Marcin Gortat 12 Al Horford 17 John Wall 13 Paul Millsap 8 18,148 Scott Foster, Pat Fraher, Ron Garretson Washington leads series, 1–0 May 5 8:00 p.m. Philips Arena, Atlanta TNT Washington Wizards 90 Atlanta Hawks 106 Boxscore 20–28 26–25 29–27 15–26 Bradley Beal 20 DeMarre Carroll 22 Marcin Gortat 9 Paul Millsap 11 Bradley Beal 7 Jeff Teague 8 18,131 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Josh Tiven Series tied, 1–1 #eee May 9 5:00 p.m. Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. ESPN Atlanta Hawks 101 Washington Wizards 103 Boxscore 18–28 25–28 23–29 35–18 Schröder, Teague 18 each three players 17 each Al Horford 10 Otto Porter 9 Jeff Teague 7 Bradley Beal 8 20,356 Joe Crawford, Bennett Salvatore, Zach Zarba Washington leads series, 2–1 The Hawks rallied from a 19-point deficit heading into the final period to tie the score at 101 with a basket. On the ensuing possession, Paul Pierce, who was double-teamed, hit a fadeaway jumper off the backboard at the buzzer to give the Wizards a 103–101 victory and a 2–1 lead in the series. After the game, when ESPN analyst Chris Broussard asked Pierce if he called bank on that shot, he responded, "I called game!" May 11 7:00 p.m. Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. TNT Atlanta Hawks 106 Washington Wizards 101 Boxscore 29–26 36–29 20–20 21–26 Jeff Teague 26 Bradley Beal 34 Al Horford 10 Marcin Gortat 8 Schröder, Teague 8 each Bradley Beal 7 20,356 Ken Mauer, John Goble, Ed Malloy Series tied, 2–2 #eee May 13 8:00 p.m. Philips Arena, Atlanta TNT Washington Wizards 81 Atlanta Hawks 82 Boxscore 19–23 28–18 15–22 19–19 Bradley Beal 23 Al Horford 23 Otto Porter Jr. 10 Al Horford 11 John Wall 7 Dennis Schröder 7 18,854 Mike Callahan, Tony Brothers, Tom Washington Atlanta leads series, 3–2 With 8.3 seconds left, Kyle Korver inbounded the ball to Dennis Schroder, who drives for the layup that was blocked by John Wall, then Al Horford gets the offensive rebound and hits the game-winning layup with 1.9 seconds left. John Wall then misses the half-court buzzer beater, and the Hawks take the 3–2 series lead. May 15 7:00 p.m. Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. ESPN Atlanta Hawks 94 Washington Wizards 91 Boxscore 19–20 26–19 27–25 22–27 DeMarre Carroll 25 Bradley Beal 29 Paul Millsap 13 Nenê 11 Jeff Teague 7 John Wall 13 20,356 Monty McCutchen, James Capers, Derrick Stafford Atlanta wins series, 4–2 The Hawks were up by 3, with 6.4 seconds to go. Bradley Beal's inbound pass went to John Wall, who tried to get open with time running down, then he passed to Paul Pierce who hit an off-balanced game-tying 3. But when officials reviewed the play, the clock reached 0:00 before Pierce released the ball and therefore the shot did not count. The Hawks won the series and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1970. +Regular-season seriesHawks won 3–1 in the regular-season series#fff November 25, 2014 2014 1125 ATLWAS Atlanta Hawks 106 Washington Wizards 102 Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. January 11, 2015 2015 0111 WASATL Washington Wizards 89 Atlanta Hawks 120 Philips Arena, Atlanta #fff February 4, 2015 2015 0204 WASATL Washington Wizards 96 Atlanta Hawks 105 Philips Arena, Atlanta #fff April 12, 2015 2015 0412 ATLWAS Atlanta Hawks 99 Washington Wizards 108 Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Wizards (formerly known as the Bullets) winning three out of the first four meetings. +Previous playoff serieshttps://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=ATL&opp_id=WAS&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Atlanta Hawks versus Washington Wizards (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015Washington leads 3–1 in all-time playoff series#fff 1965 St. Louis Hawks 1 Baltimore Bullets 3 1965 Western Division Semifinals #fff 1966 Baltimore Bullets 0 St. Louis Hawks 3 1966 Western Division Semifinals #fff 1978 Washington Bullets 2 Atlanta Hawks 0 1978 Eastern Conference First Round #fff 1979 Washington Bullets 4 Atlanta Hawks 3 1979 Eastern Conference Semifinals (2) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (3) Chicago Bulls #eee May 4 7:00 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio TNT Chicago Bulls 99 Cleveland Cavaliers 92 Boxscore 27–15 22–29 32–26 18–22 Derrick Rose 25 Kyrie Irving 30 Pau Gasol 10 LeBron James 15 Jimmy Butler 6 LeBron James 9 20,562 Ken Mauer, Brian Forte, Ed Malloy Chicago leads series, 1–0 The Bulls led wire to wire to go up 1–0 in the series, leading by as many as 16 points in the second quarter. The Cavs rallied to tie the game early in the third quarter. However, the Bulls went on a 15–0 run in the third quarter to regain control before holding off the Cavs late in the 4th quarter. May 6 7:00 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio TNT Chicago Bulls 91 Cleveland Cavaliers 106 Boxscore 18–38 27–26 26–23 20–19 Jimmy Butler 18 LeBron James 33 Derrick Rose 7 Tristan Thompson 12 Derrick Rose 10 Matthew Dellavedova 9 20,562 Monty McCutchen, James Capers, James Williams Series tied, 1–1 Facing the possibility of going down 2–0 heading to Chicago, the Cavaliers blew out the Bulls in Game 2, leading wire to wire as they evened the series 1–1. The Cavs outscored the Bulls by 20 points in the first quarter and never looked back. The Bulls got no closer than 11 for the rest of the game. LeBron led the Cavs with 33 points on 13/29 shooting while Irving chipped in 21 points. #eee May 8 8:00 p.m. United Center, Chicago ESPN Cleveland Cavaliers 96 Chicago Bulls 99 Boxscore 24–18 25–29 24–27 23–25 LeBron James 27 Derrick Rose 30 Tristan Thompson 13 Joakim Noah 11 LeBron James 14 Derrick Rose 7 22,246 Mike Callahan, Tony Brothers, Eric Lewis Chicago leads series, 2–1 J.R. Smith returned to the lineup after missing the first two games due to suspension. This was a very competitive game that saw neither team lead by more than 8 points. Trailing 94–93, LeBron James missed a go-ahead layup with under 24 seconds to play. Taj Gibson was fouled and made two free throws to make it 96–93 Bulls. James found Smith, who hit the game tying three to make it 96–96. The Bulls called timeout on their final possession of regulation. Rose shot a deep three that went off the backboard and into the basket, giving the Bulls a 99–96 win and a 2–1 series lead. Rose led the Bulls with 30 points. LeBron led the Cavs with 27, but he continued to struggle with his shot and Jimmy Butler's defense, going 8/25 for the game and 1/7 on threes. May 10 3:30 p.m. United Center, Chicago ABC Cleveland Cavaliers 86 Chicago Bulls 84 Boxscore 26–28 23–17 12–23 25–16 LeBron James 25 Derrick Rose 31 LeBron James 14 Joakim Noah 15 LeBron James 8 Derrick Rose 4 22,256 Scott Foster, Jason Phillips, Tom Washington Series tied, 2–2 Looking to go up 3–1 and take complete control of the series, the Bulls went up 37–29 early in the second quarter. However, the Cavs scored 16 unanswered points to go up 45–37 before settling for a 49–45 halftime lead. The Bulls dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Cavs 23–12. They led by as many as 11 points before settling for a 68–61 lead heading into the 4th quarter. Led by J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov, the Cavs would rally, opening the 4th quarter on a 19–5 run to take an 80–73 lead with just under 5 minutes to play. With just under 40 seconds to play, LeBron hit two consecutive free throws to put the Cavs up 84–79. Butler hit a three on the Bulls' next possession, cutting the deficit to 84–82. The Cavs were forced to burn three consecutive timeouts as they were unable to inbound the ball. Once they inbounded the ball, James tried to burn the clock down as he was double teamed by Rose and Dunleavy. However, James swung his arm at Dunleavy and committed an offensive foul, giving the ball back to the Bulls with 14 seconds remaining. Rose tied the game with a layup to even the game at 84–84 with 8 seconds remaining. James rushed down the court and tried to score the go-ahead layup but was blocked. The ball went out of bounds with 1.5 seconds remaining. On the Cavs' final possession, Matthew Dellavedova inbounded the ball to James. James fired a jumper over Butler that went through the hoop as the buzzer sounded, giving the Cavs an 86–84 win. The Cavs regained homecourt advantage as they evened up the series at 2–2. James led the team with 25 points (10/30 shooting) while Rose led the Bulls with 31 points on 11/23 shooting. This game was particularly controversial due to a timeout that wasn't called late in the game. After Rose made the layup to tie the game at 84–84, Cavaliers head coach, David Blatt, attempted to call timeout. However, the Cavs were out of timeouts. Calling a timeout without having one would have resulted in a technical foul and possession of the ball would go to the Bulls. Tyron Lue held back Blatt and prevented him from getting that timeout. None of the officials noticed Blatt signaling timeout as James ran up the court for what would eventually lead to his game winning buzzer beater. Following the game, the NBA officiating report revealed that Blatt should have been charged with a timeout that would have drawn a technical and Cavs turnover. #eee May 12 7:00 p.m. Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio TNT Chicago Bulls 101 Cleveland Cavaliers 106 Boxscore 24–25 20–29 27–26 30–26 Jimmy Butler 29 LeBron James 38 three players 9 each LeBron James 12 Derrick Rose 7 LeBron James 6 20,562 Joe Crawford, Derrick Stafford, Zach Zarba Cleveland leads series, 3–2 The Bulls scored the first 8 points of the contest and led 18–8 early in the first quarter. However, the Cavs closed the first quarter on a 17–6 run to take a 25–24 lead into the 2nd quarter. The Cavs' momentum carried over into the 2nd quarter as they built a 54–44 halftime lead. James, who had struggled mightily with his shooting throughout the series, scored 24 points on 10/12 shooting in the first half. The Cavaliers controlled the third quarter and led by 9 after three quarters. Early in the 4th quarter, Dellavedova fell down, and Gibson's legs got tangled up with his. Gibson, attempting to break free, kicked Dellavedova. Gibson was charged with a flagrant 2 and ejected. The Cavs went up by as many as 17 points in the 4th quarter and led 97–82 with just over 6 minutes to play. However, the Bulls would rally, going on a 17–4 run to make it 101–99 Cavs with just over one minute to play. Trailing by 2, Butler attempted a three that would have given the Bulls to lead. However, he missed. James ran the clock down and missed a shot on the Cavs' next possession. However, Shumpert grabbed the offensive rebound. With 20 seconds remaining, and trailing by 2, the Bulls were forced to foul. However, the Cavs made their free throws and closed the game out, winning 106–101 and taking a 3–2 series lead. James led the Cavaliers with 38 points and 12 rebounds to go along with 6 assists and 0 turnovers. Butler led the Bulls with 29 points. Rose scored 12 points in the first quarter on 5/9 shooting. He had only 5 points on 2/15 shooting in the final three quarters, including 0 made baskets in the second half. May 14 8:00 p.m. United Center, Chicago ESPN Cleveland Cavaliers 94 Chicago Bulls 73 Boxscore 33–31 25–13 15–16 21–13 Matthew Dellavedova 19 Jimmy Butler 20 Tristan Thompson 17 Joakim Noah 11 LeBron James 11 Derrick Rose 6 22,695 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Sean Wright Cleveland wins series, 4–2 After three consecutive contests came down to the final minute, the Cavaliers finally finished off the Bulls, eliminating them 94–73 at the United Center to win the series 4–2. The Bulls led 40–38 halfway through the second quarter. However, the Cavs closed the half on a 20–4 run, leading by 14 at halftime. The Cavs never relinquished control, leading by double digits for the entire second half and going up by as many as 27 points in the 4th quarter. Irving was forced out of the game after suffering an injury in the second quarter. However, Dellavedova led the way, scoring a playoff career high and season high 19 points to lead the Cavaliers. James had 15–9–11, one rebound shy of a triple double. Butler led the Bulls with 20 points. The Bulls scored 31 points in the 1st quarter. However, they were held to 42 points in the final three quarters, including 29 in the second half. It was the 4th time in the last 6 seasons that the Bulls were eliminated by a team with LeBron James on its roster. This was the first time the Bulls had lost to the Cavaliers in the a playoff series. It also remains the Bulls most recent semifinals appearance. Game 3 marked the Cavaliers last loss in a semifinals game until 2024 against the Boston Celtics. +Regular-season seriesCleveland won 3–1 in the regular-season series#fff October 31, 2014 2014 1031 CHICLE Cleveland Cavaliers 114 Chicago Bulls 108 OT United Center, Chicago, Illinois January 19, 2015 2015 0119 CLECHI Chicago Bulls 94 Cleveland Cavaliers 108 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio #fff February 12, 2015 2014 0212 CHICLE Cleveland Cavaliers 98 Chicago Bulls 113 United Center, Chicago, Illinois #fff April 5, 2015 2015 0405 CLECHI Chicago Bulls 94 Cleveland Cavaliers 99 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio This was the seventh playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Bulls winning five out of the first six meetings. +Previous playoffs serieshttps://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=CLE&opp_id=CHI&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Cleveland Cavaliers versus Chicago Bulls (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015Chicago leads 5–1 in all-time playoff series#fff 1988 Chicago Bulls 3 Cleveland Cavaliers 2 1988 Eastern Conference First Round #fff 1989 Cleveland Cavaliers 2 Chicago Bulls 3 1989 Eastern Conference First Round #fff 1992 Chicago Bulls 4 Cleveland Cavaliers 2 1992 Eastern Conference Finals #fff 1993 Chicago Bulls 4 Cleveland Cavaliers 0 1993 Eastern Conference Semifinals #fff 1994 Chicago Bulls 3 Cleveland Cavaliers 0 1994 Eastern Conference First Round #fff 2010 Cleveland Cavaliers 4 Chicago Bulls 1 2010 Eastern Conference First Round Western Conference semifinals (1) Golden State Warriors vs. (5) Memphis Grizzlies #eee May 3 3:30 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC Memphis Grizzlies 86 Golden State Warriors 101 Boxscore 25–32 27–29 14–22 20–18 Marc Gasol 21 Stephen Curry 22 Gasol, Randolph 9 each Andrew Bogut 6 Zach Randolph 5 Stephen Curry 7 19,596 Joe Crawford, Tom Washington, Sean Wright Golden State leads series, 1–0 May 5 10:30 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California TNT Memphis Grizzlies 97 Golden State Warriors 90 Boxscore 28–22 22–17 23–24 24–27 Mike Conley Jr. 22 Stephen Curry 19 Carter, Randolph 7 each Andrew Bogut 12 Zach Randolph 4 Stephen Curry 6 19,596 Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy, Jason Phillips Series tied, 1–1 #eee May 9 8:00 pm FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee ABC Golden State Warriors 89 Memphis Grizzlies 99 Boxscore 20–23 19–32 25–24 25–20 Stephen Curry 23 Zach Randolph 22 Bogut, Thompson 8 each Marc Gasol 15 Draymond Green 7 Mike Conley Jr. 5 18,119 Monty McCutchen, Tony Brown, James Capers Memphis leads series, 2–1 May 11 9:30 pm FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee TNT Golden State Warriors 101 Memphis Grizzlies 84 Boxscore 28–20 33–24 21–20 19–20 Stephen Curry 33 Marc Gasol 22 Draymond Green 10 Zach Randolph 11 Stephen Curry 7 Mike Conley Jr. 7 18,119 Mike Callahan, Tony Brothers, Pat Fraher Series tied, 2–2 #eee May 13 10:30 p.m. Oracle Arena, Oakland, California TNT Memphis Grizzlies 78 Golden State Warriors 98 Boxscore 25–26 16–23 16–25 21–24 Marc Gasol 18 Klay Thompson 21 Marc Gasol 12 Andrew Bogut 9 Marc Gasol 6 Draymond Green 9 19,596 Ken Mauer, Ed Malloy, Bill Spooner Golden State leads series, 3–2 May 15 9:30 p.m. FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee ESPN Golden State Warriors 108 Memphis Grizzlies 95 Boxscore 32–19 26–30 18–19 32–27 Stephen Curry 32 Marc Gasol 21 Draymond Green 12 Marc Gasol 15 Stephen Curry 10 Mike Conley Jr. 9 18,119 Joe Crawford, John Goble, Zach Zarba Golden State wins series, 4–2 +Regular-season seriesGolden State won 2–1 in the regular-season series#fff December 16, 2014 2014 1216 GSWMEM Golden State Warriors 98 Memphis Grizzlies 105 FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee March 27, 2015 2015 0327 GSWMEM Golden State Warriors 107 Memphis Grizzlies 84 FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee #fff April 13, 2015 2015 0413 MEMGSW Memphis Grizzlies 107 Golden State Warriors 111 Oracle Arena, Oakland, California This was the first meeting in the playoffs between the Warriors and Grizzlies.https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=GSW&opp_id=MEM&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Golden State Warriors versus Memphis Grizzlies (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015 (2) Houston Rockets vs. (3) Los Angeles Clippers #eee May 4 9:30 pm Toyota Center, Houston, Texas TNT Los Angeles Clippers 117 Houston Rockets 101 Boxscore 19–25 27–25 37–27 34–24 Blake Griffin 26 Dwight Howard 22 Blake Griffin 14 Dwight Howard 10 Blake Griffin 13 James Harden 12 18,231 Mike Callahan, Bill Spooner, Derrick Stafford LA Clippers lead series, 1–0 May 6 9:30 pm Toyota Center, Houston, Texas TNT Los Angeles Clippers 109 Houston Rockets 115 Boxscore 24–35 41–21 20–27 24–32 Blake Griffin 34 James Harden 32 Blake Griffin 15 Dwight Howard 16 Barnes, Crawford 5 each James Harden 7 18,310 Joe Crawford, David Jones, Zach Zarba Series tied, 1–1 #eee May 8 10:30 pm Staples Center, Los Angeles ESPN Houston Rockets 99 Los Angeles Clippers 124 Boxscore 24–33 33–31 19–35 23–25 James Harden 25 JJ Redick 31 Dwight Howard 14 DeAndre Jordan 15 James Harden 11 Chris Paul 7 19,367 Ken Mauer, John Goble, David Guthrie LA Clippers lead series, 2–1 May 10 8:30 pm Staples Center, Los Angeles TNT Houston Rockets 95 Los Angeles Clippers 128 Boxscore 33–30 21–30 25–43 16–25 James Harden 21 DeAndre Jordan 26 Ariza, Harden 8 each DeAndre Jordan 17 James Harden 6 Chris Paul 12 19,490 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Ron Garretson LA Clippers lead series, 3–1 #eee May 12 9:30 p.m. Toyota Center, Houston, Texas TNT Los Angeles Clippers 103 Houston Rockets 124 Boxscore 22–27 26–36 28–27 27–34 Blake Griffin 30 James Harden 26 Blake Griffin 16 Dwight Howard 15 Chris Paul 10 James Harden 10 18,142 Monty McCutchen, James Capers, Sean Wright LA Clippers lead series, 3–2 May 14 10:30 p.m. Staples Center, Los Angeles ESPN Houston Rockets 119 Los Angeles Clippers 107 Boxscore 25–29 37–35 17–28 40–15 James Harden 23 Chris Paul 31 Dwight Howard 21 Matt Barnes 10 Jason Terry 5 Chris Paul 11 19,417 Scott Foster, Pat Fraher, Jason Phillips Series tied, 3–3 #eee May 17 3:30 p.m. Toyota Center, Houston, Texas ABC Los Angeles Clippers 100 Houston Rockets 113 Boxscore 21–28 25–28 22–29 32–28 Blake Griffin 27 James Harden 31 DeAndre Jordan 17 Dwight Howard 15 Chris Paul 10 James Harden 8 18,463 Ken Mauer, Tony Brothers, Mike Callahan Houston wins series, 4–3 The Rockets recovered from a 3–1 deficit for the first time since 1995. Game 6 was one for the books as the Rockets overcome a 19–point deficit, going on an incredible 49–18 run including a 40–15 run in the 4th quarter to end the game. The Clippers missed 14 straight shots as Josh Smith and Corey Brewer dominated much of the 4th quarter combining for 29 points. The 4th quarter spark led Houston to a decisive Game 7, and they completed one of the greatest comebacks in NBA playoff history. This was the ninth time in NBA history a team has come back from a 3–1 deficit to win a series. The Clippers would ultimately suffer the same fate in 2020, in which they relinquished a 19-point lead in Game 6, and eventually blew a 3–1 series lead to the lower-seeded Denver Nuggets. +Regular-season seriesTied 2–2 in the regular-season series#fff November 28, 2014 2014 1128 LACHOU Los Angeles Clippers 102 Houston Rockets 85 Toyota Center, Houston, Texas #fff February 11, 2015 2015 0211 HOULAC Houston Rockets 95 Los Angeles Clippers 110 Staples Center, Los Angeles #fff February 25, 2015 2015 0225 LACHOU Los Angeles Clippers 105 Houston Rockets 110 Toyota Center, Houston, Texas #fff March 15, 2015 2015 0315 HOULAC Houston Rockets 100 Los Angeles Clippers 98 Staples Center, Los Angeles This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Rockets winning the only previous meeting. +Previous playoff serieshttps://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=HOU&opp_id=LAC&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Houston Rockets versus Los Angeles Clippers (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 6, 2015Houston leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series#fff 1993 Houston Rockets 3 Los Angeles Clippers 2 1993 Western Conference First Round Conference finals Eastern Conference finals (1) Atlanta Hawks vs. (2) Cleveland Cavaliers #eee May 20 8:30 pm Philips Arena, Atlanta TNT Cleveland Cavaliers 97 Atlanta Hawks 89 Boxscore 20–26 31–25 23–16 23–22 LeBron James 31 Jeff Teague 27 Timofey Mozgov 11 three players 7 each Irving, James 6 each Schröder, Teague 4 each 18,489 Scott Foster, Pat Fraher, Jason Phillips Cleveland leads series, 1–0 The Cavaliers defeated the Hawks 97–89, stealing homecourt advantage and taking a 1–0 series lead. LeBron led the team with 31 points while J.R. Smith chipped in 28 points, going 8/12 on threes and setting a Cavaliers franchise record for made threes in a playoff game. The game was tied 63–63 in the 3rd quarter. However, the Cavs, led by Smith's hot shooting, went on a 22–4 run (including an 11–0 run to start the fourth quarter) as they went up 85–67 and seized control. The Hawks would attempt to mount a rally, cutting an 18-point deficit down to 4 with under 50 seconds remaining. However, James drove through the lane and made a dunk to put the Cavs up 6. After Paul Millsap missed a three that would have made it a one possession game with 23 seconds remaining, the Cavs made their free throws to close it out. May 22 8:30 pm Philips Arena, Atlanta TNT Cleveland Cavaliers 94 Atlanta Hawks 82 Boxscore 26–21 28–28 30–17 10–16 LeBron James 30 Dennis Schröder 13 Tristan Thompson 16 Mike Scott 7 LeBron James 11 Jeff Teague 6 18,670 Joe Crawford, Mike Callahan, Bill Spooner Cleveland leads series, 2–0 With Irving sitting out due to injury, the Hawks were in a great position to even up the series. However, the Cavaliers blew out the Hawks and took a commanding 2–0 series lead, winning 94–82. The Cavs led 54–49 at halftime. Coming out of halftime, the Cavs seized control, outscoring the Hawks 30–17 in the third quarter, leading by as many as 20 before settling for an 84–66 lead heading into the 4th quarter. The Cavs scored only 10 points in the final period, but the Hawks trailed by double digits for the entire quarter and failed to make a significant run, managing 16 points. LeBron James led the way for the Cavs, scoring 30 points while having 11 assists and 9 rebounds. Dennis Schroder led the Hawks in scoring with 13 points off the bench. It was the first time this season that the Hawks had lost consecutive home games. The game was memorable when Hawks' 3-point specialist Kyle Korver sprained his right ankle after the Cavs' Matthew Dellavedova fell on his right leg while attempting to dive for a loose ball. This injury kept Korver out for the rest of the postseason and would require surgery in the off-season along with an injured elbow that bothered him for most of the season. #eee May 24 8:30 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio TNT Atlanta Hawks 111 Cleveland Cavaliers 114 Boxscore 24–21 25–27 27–33 28–23 7–10 Jeff Teague 30 LeBron James 37 Millsap, Scott 9 each LeBron James 18 Jeff Teague 7 LeBron James 13 20,562 Ken Mauer, Tony Brothers, Ed Malloy Cleveland leads series, 3–0 In a pivotal Game 3, LeBron James got off to an awful start, going 0/9 in the first quarter as the Hawks led 24–21. Near the end of the second quarter, Al Horford and Matthew Dellavedova got tangled up on the floor. Horford, who had scored 15 points on 7/10 shooting in the first half, swung his elbow at Dellavedova. He received a Flagrant 2 foul and was ejected. The Hawks led 49–48 at halftime. However, the Cavs would dominate the third quarter again, outscoring the Hawks 33–27 to take a 5-point lead into the 4th quarter. The Cavs led by as many 10 in the 4th quarter, leading 88–78. However, the Hawks, led by Jeff Teague, would go on a 26–12 run, taking a four-point lead with just under 1:45 to play. The Cavs scored the final four points of regulation to tie up the game. The Hawks had the final possession of regulation. However, Teague's potential game winning three missed at the buzzer, and the game went into overtime. With just under one minute to play in overtime, the Hawks trailed 109–108. Teague hit a three pointer over Thompson to put the Hawks up 111–109. On the Cavs' next possession, James attempted a jumper that rimmed out. However, Thompson grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it back to James. James went behind the three point line and shot a three that went down, putting the Cavs back ahead 112–111. Out of the timeout, the Hawks turned it over on their next possession. On the Cavs' next possession, James ran the shot clock down before driving into the paint and making a layup to put the Cavs up 114–111. The Hawks had two chances to tie the game and potentially force a second overtime, but Shelvin Mack missed both game tying three point attempts, sending the Hawks to their third straight loss as the Cavs went up 3–0 in the series. James recorded his 51st career triple-double (12th of the postseason) with 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists. Teague led the Hawks with 30 points. May 26 8:30 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio TNT Atlanta Hawks 88 Cleveland Cavaliers 118 Boxscore 20–32 22–27 18–26 28–33 Jeff Teague 17 LeBron James 23 Paul Millsap 10 Tristan Thompson 11 Horford, Millsap 5 each LeBron James 7 20,562 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Derrick Stafford Cleveland wins series, 4–0 After missing the last two games against the Hawks, Irving made his return to the lineup. The Cavaliers routed the Hawks by 30 points, dominating from start to finish. The Cavs led 32–20 after the first quarter and never looked back. After leading by 17 at halftime, the Cavs controlled the entire second half. The Cavs led 85–60 heading into the fourth quarter, a quarter where very few starters logged minutes. The Cavaliers went on to win 118–88 as the franchise clinched their second Eastern Conference Championship in franchise history and returned to the Finals for the first time since 2007. The Atlanta Hawks became the first #1 seed to be swept in the Conference Finals since the Nets swept the Pistons in the 2003 Conference Finals. LeBron James and James Jones also became the first non-Celtics to appear in five consecutive NBA Finals series. +Regular-season seriesAtlanta won 3–1 in the regular-season series#fff November 15, 2014 2014 1115 ATLCLE Atlanta Hawks 94 Cleveland Cavaliers 127 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio December 17, 2014 2014 1217 ATLCLE Atlanta Hawks 127 Cleveland Cavaliers 98 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio #fff December 30, 2014 2014 1230 CLEATL Cleveland Cavaliers 101 Atlanta Hawks 109 Philips Arena, Atlanta March 6, 2015 2015 0306 CLEATL Cleveland Cavaliers 97 Atlanta Hawks 106 Philips Arena, Atlanta This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Cavaliers winning the only prior meeting. +Previous playoff serieshttps://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/rivals.cgi?request=1&team_id=CLE&opp_id=ATL&is_playoffs=Y Team Rivalry Finder — Cleveland Cavaliers versus Atlanta Hawks (Playoffs) basketball-reference.com May 18, 2015Cleveland leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series#fff 2009 Cleveland Cavaliers 4 Atlanta Hawks 0 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals Western Conference finals (1) Golden State Warriors vs. (2) Houston Rockets #eee May 19 9:00 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ESPN Houston Rockets 106 Golden State Warriors 110 Boxscore 31–24 24–34 24–26 27–26 James Harden 28 Stephen Curry 34 Dwight Howard 13 Draymond Green 12 James Harden 9 Draymond Green 8 19,596 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Sean Wright Golden State leads series, 1–0 May 21 9:00 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ESPN Houston Rockets 98 Golden State Warriors 99 Boxscore 28–36 27–19 20–22 23–22 James Harden 38 Stephen Curry 33 Dwight Howard 17 Bogut, Green 8 each James Harden 9 Draymond Green 7 19,596 Monty McCutchen, James Capers, John Goble Golden State leads series, 2–0 #eee May 23 9:00 pm Toyota Center, Houston, Texas ESPN Golden State Warriors 115 Houston Rockets 80 Boxscore 30–18 32–19 30–24 23–19 Stephen Curry 40 James Harden 17 Draymond Green 13 Dwight Howard 14 Stephen Curry 7 Harden, Smith 4 each 18,282 Scott Foster, Jason Phillips, Zach Zarba Golden State leads series, 3–0 May 25 9:00 pm Toyota Center, Houston, Texas ESPN Golden State Warriors 115 Houston Rockets 128 Boxscore 22–45 37–24 25–30 31–29 Klay Thompson 24 James Harden 45 Draymond Green 15 Dwight Howard 12 three players 4 each Harden, Smith 5 each 18,239 Joe Crawford, Mike Callahan, Tom Washington Golden State leads series, 3–1 #eee May 27 9:00 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ESPN Houston Rockets 90 Golden State Warriors 104 Boxscore 22–17 24–35 22–22 22–30 Dwight Howard 18 Stephen Curry 26 Dwight Howard 16 Andrew Bogut 14 James Harden 5 Curry, Iguodala 6 19,596 Ken Mauer, Tony Brothers, Ed Malloy Golden State wins series, 4–1 In Game 5, James Harden set an NBA playoff record for turnovers, with 12. The record was previously held by John Williamson of the New Jersey Nets with 11 in 1979.https://oklahoman.com/article/5423522/james-harden-played-one-of-the-worst-games-in-nba-history James Harden played one of the worst games in NBA history 29 May 2015 +Regular-season seriesGolden State won 4–0 in the regular-season series#fff November 8, 2014 2014 1108 GSWHOU Golden State Warriors 98 Houston Rockets 87 Toyota Center, Houston, Texas December 10, 2014 2014 1210 HOUGSW Houston Rockets 93 Golden State Warriors 105 Oracle Arena, Oakland, California #fff January 17, 2015 2015 0117 GSWHOU Golden State Warriors 131 Houston Rockets 106 Toyota Center, Houston, Texas January 21, 2015 2015 0121 HOUGSW Houston Rockets 113 Golden State Warriors 126 Oracle Arena, Oakland, California This was the first playoff meeting between the Warriors and the Rockets. NBA Finals: (W1) Golden State Warriors vs. (E2) Cleveland Cavaliers 2015 NBA Finals #eee June 4 9:00 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC Cleveland Cavaliers 100 Golden State Warriors 108 Boxscore 29–19 22–29 22–25 25–25 2–10 LeBron James 44 Stephen Curry 26 Tristan Thompson 15 Andrew Bogut 7 Irving, James 6 each Stephen Curry 8 19,596 Monty McCutchen, James Capers, Jason Phillips Golden State leads series, 1–0 June 7 8:00 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC Cleveland Cavaliers 95 Golden State Warriors 93 Boxscore 20–20 27–25 15–14 25–28 8–6 LeBron James 39 Klay Thompson 34 LeBron James 16 Green, Bogut 10 each LeBron James 11 Curry, Iguodala 5 each 19,596 Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Zach Zarba Series tied, 1–1 #eee June 9 9:00 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio ABC Golden State Warriors 91 Cleveland Cavaliers 96 Boxscore 20–24 17–20 18–28 36–24 Stephen Curry 27 LeBron James 40 Ezeli, Green 7 each Tristan Thompson 13 Stephen Curry 6 LeBron James 8 20,562 Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Derrick Stafford Cleveland leads series, 2–1 June 11 9:00 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio ABC Golden State Warriors 103 Cleveland Cavaliers 82 Boxscore 31–24 23–18 22–28 27–12 Curry, Iguodala 22 each Timofey Mozgov 28 three players 8 each Tristan Thompson 13 Curry, Green 6 each LeBron James 8 20,562 Joe Crawford, Mike Callahan, Ken Mauer Series tied, 2–2 #eee June 14 8:00 pm Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC Cleveland Cavaliers 91 Golden State Warriors 104 Boxscore 22–22 28–29 17–22 24–31 LeBron James 40 Stephen Curry 37 LeBron James 14 Harrison Barnes 10 LeBron James 11 Andre Iguodala 7 19,596 Monty McCutchen, James Capers, Jason Phillips Golden State leads series, 3–2 June 16 9:00 pm Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio ABC Golden State Warriors 105 Cleveland Cavaliers 97 Boxscore 28–15 17–28 28–18 32–36 Curry, Iguodala 25 each LeBron James 32 Draymond Green 11 LeBron James 18 Draymond Green 10 LeBron James 9 20,562 Scott Foster, Marc Davis, Zach Zarba Golden State wins series, 4–2 +Regular-season seriesTied 1–1 in the regular-season series#fff January 9, 2015 2015 0109 CLEGSW Cleveland Cavaliers 94 Golden State Warriors 112 Oracle Arena, Oakland, California February 26, 2015 2015 0226 GSWCLE Golden State Warriors 99 Cleveland Cavaliers 110 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio This was the first meeting in the NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cavaliers. Statistical leaders Category High AveragePlayer Team High Player Team Avg. Games played Points James Harden Houston Rockets 45 Anthony Davis New Orleans Pelicans 31.5 4 Rebounds Dwight Howard Houston Rockets 26 Dwight Howard Houston Rockets 14.0 17 Assists John Wall Washington Wizards 17 John Wall Washington Wizards 11.9 7 Steals Kyle KorverStephen CurryJamal CrawfordZaza Pachulia Atlanta HawksGolden State WarriorsLos Angeles ClippersMilwaukee Bucks 6 Jimmy Butler Chicago Bulls 2.4 12 Blocks Timofey MozgovDwight HowardAl HorfordDanny GreenMarc GasolAndrew BogutDraymond Green Cleveland CavaliersHouston RocketsAtlanta HawksSan Antonio SpursMemphis GrizzliesGolden State WarriorsGolden State Warriors 5 Anthony Davis New Orleans Pelicans 3.0 4 Media coverage Television ESPN, TNT, ABC, ESPN2 and NBA TV broadcast the NBA Playoffs nationally. In the first round the regional sports networks affiliated with the teams can also broadcast the games. Throughout the first two rounds, TNT televises games Saturday through Thursday, ESPN televises games on Friday and Sunday, and ABC televises select games on Saturday and Sunday, usually in the afternoon. NBA TV and ESPN2 televises select games in the first round. TNT televises the Eastern Conference Finals and ESPN the Western Conference Finals. ABC televises the NBA Finals for the 13th consecutive year. Radio NBA on ESPN Radio ESPN Radio has exclusive national radio rights to broadcast the playoffs in the United States. They broadcast mostly ABC games during the first two rounds, all of the conference finals, and the NBA Finals. References External links Sports Basketball – Reference.com's 2015 Playoffs section Playoffs Category:NBA playoffs Category:ABS-CBN television specials