NBA Round Up: Miami Heat complete clean sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks

The Miami Heat are through to the Eastern Conference play-off semi-finals after completing a four to nil game series sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Ray Allen scored 16 points off the bench and Udonis Haslem added 13 as the reigning NBA champions rolled into the Eastern Conference semi-finals despite playing without All Star guard Dwyane Wade, who sat out with an ailing knee.

LeBron James scored 30 points – and picked up eight rebounds and seven assists – as the Heat won Game Four 88-77.

Monta Ellis scored 21 points and Mike Dunleavy chipped in 17 for the eighth-seeded Bucks, who followed the script of the previous two games by staying close through three quarters before the top-seeded Heat turned on the jets.

Miami led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter but Ellis scored seven straight points as Milwaukee cut the deficit to 45-41 at the half. The Bucks were within five at the end of three quarters and trailed by two with 9 1/2 minutes to play when the Heat delivered the knockout blows.

Allen buried a pair of three-pointers and Mario Chalmers and Shane Battier each connected from long range before James capped a 19-5 burst with a conventional three-point play to extend the lead to 86-72 with 4:54 remaining.

The Heat will now take on either Chicago or Brooklyn in the next round.

Tony Parker scored 23 points and visiting San Antonio Spurs completed a four-game sweep of the Western Conference playoff series, beating LA Lakers 103-82.

Kawhi Leonard and DeJuan Blair scored 13 points apiece and Tim Duncan added 11 as the Spurs broke the game open early and sent the Lakers to their first opening-round postseason sweep since 1967.

The injury-depleted Lakers, already missing their top four guards and starting forward Metta World Peace, went down meekly and saw center Dwight Howard ejected after picking up his second technical foul for arguing a non-call in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

Pau Gasol scored 16 points and Andrew Goudelock added 14 for Los Angeles.

The Spurs allowed the Lakers to hang around for the first quarter, leading by eight, but Gary Neal came off the bench and knocked down a pair of three-pointers in a personal 8-0 run to put San Antonio ahead by 14 en route to a 52-34 halftime edge.

The Spurs had only three turnovers in the first half compared to 16 for Los Angeles.

Next up for the Spurs will be either Golden State or Denver.

Warriors 115, Nuggets 101

Stephen Curry took over in the third quarter and finished with 31 points and seven assists as host Golden State took a 3-1 lead over Denver in the best-of-seven series.

Curry hit six three-pointers and went 10-for-16 from the field for the Warriors, who will try to close out the series at Denver on Tuesday. Jarrett Jack added 21 points and nine assists and Carl Landry scored 17 off the bench.

Ty Lawson scored 26 points and Andre Iguodala had 19 for the Nuggets, who committed 23 turnovers leading to 33 points. Denver has allowed an average of 118.7 points in the last three games – all losses.