Tim Duncan scored 21 points to go with nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks in another throwback Duncan game.

Duncan had a great series against the Clippers averaging 21.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting .594 percent from the field.

Chris Paul finally had a decent game for Los Angeles scoring 23 points to go with 11 assists but it wasn’t enough.

The Spurs were by far the superior team in this series and are frankly by far the best team in the NBA right now. The Spurs haven’t lost yet in the playoffs as they also swept the Utah Jazz in the first round and haven’t lost at all since April 11.

The Spurs will await the winner of Oklahoma City and the Lakers. The Thunder currently lead the series 3-1 with Game 5 tipping off tonight at 9:30 p.m. EST.

Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

The New York Knicks will not be swept by the Miami Heat in the first round of these playoffs. The Knicks won Game 4 89-87 to send the series back to Miami.

Carmelo Anthony scored 41 points in the game and was 15-for-29 from the field.

LeBron James led Miami with 27 but went 9-for-21 from the floor.

Amare Stoudemire returned to the Knicks starting lineup after missing Game 3 because of the fire extinguisher incident. He looked good despite wearing a pretty large bandage on his left hand and scored 20 points to go with 10 rebounds in the game.

The Heat haven’t looked their best in the last two games in New York in this series and that’s kind of been their thing this year playing much worse on the road.

You can’t imagine the Heat losing a Game 5 at home but if they do and they have to go back to Madison Square Garden the series will become interesting if nothing else.

Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The Chicago Bulls are missing Derrick Rose. A lot.

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Bulls 89-82 in Game 4 Sunday to take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the team with the best regular season record in the conference. After losing Game 1 in which Rose played, the 76ers have gone on to win the next three games.

They’re doing it with defense too. The Bulls scored 103 points in Game 1 but scored just 92 in the Game 2 blowout, then 74 and 82 in Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia.

Luol Deng was the player who needed to step up the most in Rose’s absence but has scored just 24 total points in the last three games of the series.

Rose’s greatest value that he brings to this Chicago team is being able to create his own offense and in the regular season that’s not as important but it evidently is huge in the postseason for this team.

Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder are so far the only team to sweep their opponent in the first round this year as they did so last night in Dallas behind a huge fourth quarter from James Harden.

The Thunder are certainly playing excellent basketball right now and look as much like title contenders right now as they ever have.

Harden has really taken his game to another level and that’s what was going to need to happen for the Thunder to take that next step as a team.

The Spurs are up 3-0 in their series against the Jazz and look like they will sweep Utah by all accounts. The Spurs still seem to pose the greatest threat to the Thunder in the Western Conference.

The Lakers are up 2-1 against the Nuggets and lost Game 3 in Denver. Los Angeles should still win the series and if they do so, Metta World Peace will be returning to the lineup in Oklahoma City.

That should be interesting.

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

James Harden took his game to another level Saturday night in Game 4 of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first round matchup with the defending champion Dallas Mavericks.

The Thunder completed the sweep of the Mavericks winning 103-97 and outscoring Dallas 35-16 in the final quarter.

Harden scored 15 of his playoff career-high 29 points in the fourth quarter and also had five assists, five rebounds and three steals in the game. Everything went through Harden in the fourth as he completely took over.

Oklahoma City trailed 81-68 entering the fourth quarter and Harden got hot quick. Down 86-73 with 9:29 left in the game Harden would score seven straight points and then find Kevin Durant open for a 3-pointer as the Thunder went on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to three with 7:26 to play.

The Thunder continued their comeback in the next two minutes to take the lead behind a 3-pointer and three dunks.

Dirk Nowitzki made two free throws to cut the Thunder lead to 100-97 with 33 seconds left in the game only to see Harden respond again.

The offense continued to go through Harden until the very end. Harden isolated and scored on a layup with a second left on the shot clock and 10 seconds left in the game to put the finishing touches on the Thunder win.

The other Thunder players stepped up their games inspired by the elevated play of Harden.

Durant started making threes when he came back in the game in the fourth and finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

Russell Westbrook struggled shooting on the night going 3-for-12 with 12 points but came up with a big steal from behind on Dirk that led to the fast break dunk for Serge Ibaka that gave the Thunder their first lead of the fourth with 5:16 left in the game.

Ibaka had the task of guarding Dirk for most of the night after Kendrick Perkins went down with a strained right hip in the first quarter and did not return.

Dirk scored 34 in the game but the Thunder defense rose to the occasion when they needed to, to get stops.

After Ibaka fouled out with just over two minutes left, Durant came up with three huge defensive rebounds and was noticeably more engaged on defense.

The Thunder once again look they are growing up in this series. It was another game that Dallas had in the bag and could have easily won but the Thunder never gave up.

They’ve played this way all season too and their ability to carry that into the playoffs and trust Harden to be the catalyst down the stretch has to make you think this team is a real contender this year.

Dallas is the first defending champ to be swept in the first round since Miami in 2007 lost 4-0 to Chicago.

The Mavericks were not the same this year and were clearly waiting for this summer to make some more moves.

Credit the Thunder for playing hard every game in this series and gutting out three really tough, close wins.

Oklahoma City will now await the winner of the Lakers-Nuggets series in the second round. The Lakers currently are up 2-1 but did lost Game 3 last night in Denver.

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder will have a chance tonight to sweep the defending NBA champions in the first round.

The series was tight through two games in Oklahoma City but the Thunder really came together in Game 3, blowing out Dallas on their home floor and taking the commanding 3-0 series lead.

Kevin Durant came alive in Game 3 after two tough shooting nights at home he made 11-of-15 shots in Game 3 and scored 31 points. He started off great scoring 15 first quarter points and making three 3-pointers.

If Durant can have another game like that it might be too much for this Mavericks team to overcome.

Russell Westbrook has continued to play at a very high level in this series as he just seems to not be challenged enough on offense. He is getting to the spots he wants to very easily for his pull-up jumper and hitting it at a high clip in the series (5-for-9 in Game 3).

Durant and Westbrook aren’t two players who are going to take it easy because their team is up 3-0. They haven’t taken a game off all season. So unless the Mavericks can improve drastically and you have to imagine their motivation will be lacking, look forward to this series not returning to Oklahoma City.

Dirk Nowitzki played two very tough games in the first two averaging 28 points in each but didn’t come up as his usual clutch self in the ends. The Game 3 loss felt like a crushing one for him and a changing of the guards in the West.

Last year’s Thunder team probably isn’t up 3-0 in this series. Winning those first two games then coming out the way they did in Game 3 is new to this year. The team is growing up and doing so in the playoffs, the most important time.

There were questions surrounding the Thunder heading into the playoffs and the Mavericks even looked like a team that could upset them or give them a very tough series. It’s clear now that the Thunder hold their destiny in their own hands. They have the talent to go all the way and if they can keep playing at this level they just might.

The game tonight will tip at 7:30 p.m. EST on TNT.