PLAYOFFS ROUNDUP \ Sunday's games

Bulls 92, Heat 79
MIAMI -- Ben Gordon scored 24 points and Luol Deng had 22 points and 11 rebounds as Chicago completed a four-game sweep of the defending champions and won a postseason series for the first time since the Michael Jordan era. The Bulls, who will face Detroit in the second round, became the first team to oust a defending champion in the opening playoff series since Phoenix did it to San Antonio in 2000. Dwyane Wade scored 24 points for Miami on 8-for-22 shooting, and added 10 assists. Shaquille O'Neal had 16 points, Alonzo Mourning scored 14 and James Posey had 18 rebounds -- a club playoff-record 17 on the defensive end -- for the Heat. Miami, which didn't trail until late in the third quarter, got within one point twice in the fourth -- first on a jumper by Wade with 11:15 left, then when Posey made a pair of free throws with 5:27 remaining. Chicago had an answer both times.
Suns 113, Lakers 100
LOS ANGELES -- Steve Nash had 23 assists -- one shy of the NBA playoff record -- to go with 17 points, Amare Stoudemire had 27 points and a career playoff-high 21 rebounds, and Phoenix took a 3-1 series lead. Nash left the game to a mixed reception with 1:02 remaining and the outcome long since decided. Magic Johnson and John Stockton share the single-game playoff assist record -- Johnson doing so for the Lakers against Phoenix in 1984, and Stockton accomplishing the feat against the Lakers for Utah four years later. Shawn Marion had 22 points and 11 rebounds, supersub Leandro Barbosa scored 16 points and James Jones added 11 for the Suns. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 31 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, but scored only three points in the fourth quarter. Lamar Odom added 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, and Maurice Evans and Smush Parker scored 11 points each for the Lakers, who committed 20 turnovers to 15 for the suns.
Nets 102, Raptors 81
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Vince Carter scored 27 points, Richard Jefferson added 23, and New Jersey took a 3-1 series lead. Jason Kidd added 17 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds for New Jersey, which can advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a victory in Game 5 Tuesday night. Toronto's first postseason since 2002 is shaping up as a short one. Teams taking 3-1 leads in series have won 158 and lost only eight. Andrea Bargnani scored 16 points for the Raptors, who led for all of 15 seconds in the two games at the Meadowlands. Toronto has lost eight straight road playoff games since beating Philadelphia on May 6, 2001, in Game 1 of Eastern Conference semifinals.
Associated Press
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