document_title: 2018 NBA Playoffs

question_text: who gets home court advantage in nba playoffs

question_tokens: who gets home court advantage in nba playoffs

text: 2018 NBA Playoffs

text: Overview

text: The Houston Rockets entered the playoffs with their best regular-season record in franchise history and appeared in their sixth consecutive postseason.

text: The Golden State Warriors entered their sixth consecutive postseason, tying their franchise streak of 6 straight postseason appearances since the league's first six years of existence (1946–47 to 1951–52).

text: The San Antonio Spurs entered their 21st consecutive postseason.

text: The Toronto Raptors also finished with a franchise record for single-season victories, winning 59 games and finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference.

text: The Minnesota Timberwolves qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2004 and snapped the league's longest active streak of seasons without a playoff appearance.

text: The Philadelphia 76ers qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

text: Game 7 between the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks ensured a 19th-straight postseason in which at least one Game 7 was played; 1999 was the most recent postseason to not feature a Game 7.

text: Game 6 of the Celtics-Bucks series was the last game played at the Bradley Center.

text: Game 2 of the Raptors vs Cavaliers series was the last game before the Air Canada Centre renames to Scotiabank Arena.

text: For the first time since 1979 both Conference Finals series went to a deciding Game 7.

text: In both Conference Finals series, the road teams won both Game 7s. In the other two instances in which both Conference Finals series went to a Game 7, the home team won each Conference Finals Game 7 in the 1963 and 1979 Playoffs.

text: This was also the first time a team was swept in the NBA Finals since 2007. Like in 2007, the Cleveland Cavaliers were also the team that got swept in the 2018 NBA Finals.

text: Format

text: Within each conference, the eight teams with the most wins qualify for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record.

text: 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. 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.

text: Playoff qualifying

text: On March 7, 2018, the Toronto Raptors became the first team to clinch a playoff spot.[1] On March 30, 2018, the Houston Rockets clinched the Western Conference ending a three-year run by the Golden State Warriors as the top seed.[2] The Rockets clinched the best record in the NBA a day later on March 31, 2018.[3] For the first time since the 1996–97 NBA season, two teams played their last game against each other for the 8th and final spot in the playoffs. The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Denver Nuggets 112–106 in overtime to clinch the final playoff seed in the West. This also ended Minnesota's 13-year drought without a playoff appearance having last played in 2003–04 season.[4] For the first time since the 2010–11 NBA season, the Los Angeles Clippers would miss the postseason following a loss to the Denver Nuggets on April 7, 2018. This is the first time since 1960 that none of the teams from Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago made the playoffs.[5]

text: Eastern Conference

text:
Toronto Raptors,[1] Atlantic Division champions,[6] Eastern Conference regular season champions – 59 wins[6]
Boston Celtics[7] – 55 wins
Philadelphia 76ers[8] – 52 wins
Cleveland Cavaliers,[9] Central Division champions[10] – 50 wins
Indiana Pacers[11] – 48 wins
Miami Heat,[12] Southeast Division champions – 44 wins
Milwaukee Bucks[13] – 44 wins
Washington Wizards[14] – 43 wins

tag: ol

text: Western Conference

text:
Houston Rockets,[15] Southwest Division champions,[16] Western Conference regular season champions,[17] NBA regular season champions[3] – 65 wins
Golden State Warriors,[18] Pacific Division champions[19] – 58 wins
Portland Trail Blazers,[20] Northwest Division champions[21] – 49 wins
Oklahoma City Thunder[22] – 48 wins
Utah Jazz[23] – 48 wins
New Orleans Pelicans[24] – 48 wins
San Antonio Spurs[25] – 47 wins
Minnesota Timberwolves[26] – 47 wins

text: Playoff bracket

text: 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, the higher seeded team, are shown in italics.

text:
First Round

Conference Semifinals

Conference Finals

NBA Finals

E1

Toronto*

4

E8

Washington

2

E1

Toronto*

0

E4

Cleveland*

4

E4

Cleveland*

4

E5

Indiana

3

E4

Cleveland*

4

Eastern Conference

E2

Boston

3

E3

Philadelphia

4

E6

Miami*

1

E3

Philadelphia

1

E2

Boston

4

E2

Boston

4

E7

Milwaukee

3

E4

Cleveland*

0

W2

Golden State*

4

W1

Houston*

4

W8

Minnesota

1

W1

Houston*

4

W5

Utah

1

W4

Oklahoma City

2

W5

Utah

4

W1

Houston*

3

Western Conference

W2

Golden State*

4

W3

Portland*

0

W6

New Orleans

4

W6

New Orleans

1

W2

Golden State*

4

W2

Golden State*

4

W7

San Antonio

1

text:
* Division winner
Bold Series winner
Italic Team with home-court advantage

text: viewtalkedit

text: First round

text: Eastern Conference

text: (1) Toronto Raptors vs. (8) Washington Wizards

text: ESPN, SN1

text: April 14 5:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Washington Wizards 106, Toronto Raptors 114

Scoring by quarter: 23–28, 36–27, 26–31, 21–28
Pts: John Wall 23Rebs: Markieff Morris 11Asts: John Wall 15

Pts: Serge Ibaka 23Rebs: Serge Ibaka 12Asts: Kyle Lowry 9Raptors leads series, 1-0

text: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, OntarioAttendance: 19,937Referees: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Pat Fraher

text: NBA TV, TSN

text: April 17 7:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Washington Wizards 119, Toronto Raptors 130

Scoring by quarter: 27–44, 31–32, 32–24, 29–30
Pts: John Wall 29Rebs: Kelly Oubre Jr. 5Asts: John Wall 9

Pts: DeMar DeRozan 37Rebs: Jonas Valančiūnas 14Asts: Kyle Lowry 12Raptors leads series, 2-0

text: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, OntarioAttendance: 20,242Referees: Mike Callahan, Courtney Kirkland, Tom Washington

text: ESPN2, TSN

text: April 20 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Toronto Raptors 103, Washington Wizards 122

Scoring by quarter: 29–30, 32–39, 21–32, 21–21
Pts: DeMar DeRozan 23Rebs: Serge Ibaka 6Asts: Kyle Lowry 8

Pts: Beal, Wall 28 eachRebs: Otto Porter 8Asts: John Wall 14Raptors leads series, 2-1

text: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.Attendance: 20,356Referees: Ken Mauer, James Williams, Gary Zielinski

text: TNT, SN1

text: April 22 6:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Toronto Raptors 98, Washington Wizards 106

Scoring by quarter: 30–22, 21–18, 29–40, 18–26
Pts: DeMar DeRozan 35Rebs: Serge Ibaka 10Asts: DeMar DeRozan 6

Pts: Bradley Beal 31Rebs: three players 6 eachAsts: John Wall 14Series tied at, 2-2

text: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.Attendance: 20,356Referees: Derrick Stafford, Derrick Collins, Josh Tiven

text: NBA TV, TSN

text: April 25 7:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Washington Wizards 98, Toronto Raptors 108

Scoring by quarter: 24–23, 23–25, 31–31, 20–29
Pts: John Wall 26Rebs: Marcin Gortat 12Asts: John Wall 9

Pts: DeMar DeRozan 32Rebs: Jonas Valančiūnas 13Asts: Kyle Lowry 10Raptors leads series, 3-2

text: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, OntarioAttendance: 19,987Referees: Marc Davis, Mark Ayotte, John Goble

text: ESPNews/NBA TV, SN1

text: April 27 7:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Toronto Raptors 102, Washington Wizards 92

Scoring by quarter: 20–30, 30–23, 23–25, 29–14
Pts: Kyle Lowry 24Rebs: Jonas Valančiūnas 12Asts: Kyle Lowry 6

Pts: Bradley Beal 32Rebs: Markieff Morris 15Asts: John Wall 8Toronto wins series, 4–2

text: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.Attendance: 20,356Referees: James Capers, Sean Corbin, Zach Zarba

text:
Regular-season series
show

Tied 2–2 in the regular-season series

November 5, 2017

Recap

Washington Wizards 107, Toronto Raptors 96

Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario

November 19, 2017

Recap

Washington Wizards 91, Toronto Raptors 100

Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario

February 1, 2018

Recap

Toronto Raptors 119, Washington Wizards 122

Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

March 2, 2018

Recap

Toronto Raptors 102, Washington Wizards 95

Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

text: This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Wizards winning the first meeting.[27]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Washington leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series

2015

Toronto Raptors 0, Washington Wizards 4

2015 Eastern Conference First Round

text: (2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Milwaukee Bucks

text: TNT

text: April 15 1:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Milwaukee Bucks 107, Boston Celtics 113 (OT)

Scoring by quarter: 17–29, 30–15, 19–26, 33–29, Overtime: 8–14
Pts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 35Rebs: Giannis Antetokounmpo 13Asts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 7

Pts: Al Horford 24Rebs: Al Horford 12Asts: three players 4 eachCeltics leads series, 1-0

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Mike Callahan, Brian Forte, Jason Phillips

text: TNT

text: April 17 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Milwaukee Bucks 106, Boston Celtics 120

Scoring by quarter: 22–33, 29–27, 24–30, 31–30
Pts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 30Rebs: Giannis Antetokounmpo 9Asts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 8

Pts: Jaylen Brown 30Rebs: Jayson Tatum 7Asts: Terry Rozier 8Celtics leads series, 2-0

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Marc Davis, Mark Ayotte, Sean Wright

text: ESPN

text: April 20 9:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Boston Celtics 92, Milwaukee Bucks 116

Scoring by quarter: 12–27, 23–31, 32–27, 25–31
Pts: Al Horford 16Rebs: Greg Monroe 12Asts: Terry Rozier 9

Pts: Khris Middleton 23Rebs: Khris Middleton 8Asts: Khris Middleton 7Celtics leads series, 2-1

text: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WisconsinAttendance: 18,717Referees: Scott Foster, Sean Corbin, Courtney Kirkland

text: ABC

text: April 22 1:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Boston Celtics 102, Milwaukee Bucks 104

Scoring by quarter: 17–24, 18–27, 32–24, 35–29
Pts: Jaylen Brown 34Rebs: Aron Baynes 11Asts: Terry Rozier 8

Pts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 27Rebs: Antetokounmpo, Parker 7 eachAsts: Antetokounmpo, Bledsoe 5 eachSeries tied at, 2-2

text: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WisconsinAttendance: 18,717Referees: Ed Malloy, Brent Barnaky, Tom Washington

text: NBA TV

text: April 24 7:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Milwaukee Bucks 87, Boston Celtics 92

Scoring by quarter: 15–23, 22–25, 24–24, 26–20
Pts: Khris Middleton 23Rebs: Giannis Antetokounmpo 10Asts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 9

Pts: Al Horford 22Rebs: Al Horford 14Asts: Terry Rozier 5Celtics leads series, 3-2

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Ken Mauer, Pat Fraher, James Williams

text: TNT

text: April 26 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Boston Celtics 86, Milwaukee Bucks 97

Scoring by quarter: 24–22, 15–26, 26–26, 21–23
Pts: Jayson Tatum 22Rebs: Al Horford 10Asts: Terry Rozier 5

Pts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 31Rebs: Giannis Antetokounmpo 14Asts: Matthew Dellavedova 6Series tied at, 3-3

text: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WisconsinAttendance: 18,717Referees: Mike Callahan, Tony Brothers, David Guthrie

text: TNT

text: April 28 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Milwaukee Bucks 96, Boston Celtics 112

Scoring by quarter: 17–30, 25–20, 25–31, 29–31
Pts: Khris Middleton 32Rebs: Giannis Antetokounmpo 9Asts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 5

Pts: Horford, Rozier 26 eachRebs: Al Horford 8Asts: Terry Rozier 9Boston wins series, 4–3

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Derrick Stafford, John Goble, Josh Tiven

text:
Regular-season series
show

Tied 2–2 in the regular-season series

October 18, 2017

Recap

Milwaukee Bucks 108, Boston Celtics 100

TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

October 26, 2017

Recap

Boston Celtics 96, Milwaukee Bucks 89

UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

December 4, 2017

Recap

Milwaukee Bucks 100, Boston Celtics 111

TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

April 3, 2018

Recap

Boston Celtics 102, Milwaukee Bucks 106

Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

text: This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Celtics winning four of the first five meetings.[28]

text:
Previous playoff series
show

Boston leads 4–1 in all-time playoff series

1974

Boston Celtics 4, Milwaukee Bucks 3

1974 NBA Finals

1983

Boston Celtics 0, Milwaukee Bucks 4

1983 Eastern Conference Semifinals

1984

Boston Celtics 4, Milwaukee Bucks 1

1984 Eastern Conference Finals

1986

Boston Celtics 4, Milwaukee Bucks 0

1986 Eastern Conference Finals

1987

Boston Celtics 4, Milwaukee Bucks 3

1987 Eastern Conference Semifinals

text: (3) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (6) Miami Heat

text: ESPN

text: April 14 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Miami Heat 103, Philadelphia 76ers 130

Scoring by quarter: 35–29, 25–27, 18–34, 25–40
Pts: Kelly Olynyk 26Rebs: Olynyk, Winslow 7 eachAsts: Kelly Olynyk 5

Pts: J. J. Redick 28Rebs: Ersan İlyasova 14Asts: Ben Simmons 1476ers leads series, 1-0

text: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaAttendance: 20,617Referees: Marc Davis, Bill Kennedy, Bill Spooner

text: TNT

text: April 16 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Miami Heat 113, Philadelphia 76ers 103

Scoring by quarter: 22–29, 34–13, 30–33, 27–28
Pts: Dwyane Wade 28Rebs: Johnson, Wade 7 eachAsts: Kelly Olynyk 6

Pts: Ben Simmons 24Rebs: Ersan İlyasova 11Asts: Ben Simmons 8Series tied at, 1-1

text: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaAttendance: 20,753Referees: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Karl Lane

text: TNT

text: April 19 7:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Philadelphia 76ers 128, Miami Heat 108

Scoring by quarter: 37–33, 26–31, 33–30, 32–14
Pts: Joel Embiid 23Rebs: Ben Simmons 12Asts: Ben Simmons 7

Pts: Goran Dragić 23Rebs: Justise Winslow 10Asts: Goran Dragić 876ers leads series, 2-1

text: American Airlines Arena, Miami, FloridaAttendance: 19,812Referees: James Capers, Tony Brown, Kane Fitzgerald

text: TNT

text: April 21 2:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Philadelphia 76ers 106, Miami Heat 102

Scoring by quarter: 26–26, 30–35, 23–22, 27–19
Pts: J. J. Redick 24Rebs: Ben Simmons 13Asts: Ben Simmons 10

Pts: Dwyane Wade 25Rebs: Hassan Whiteside 13Asts: Josh Richardson 776ers leads series, 3-1

text: American Airlines Arena, Miami, FloridaAttendance: 19,804Referees: Mike Callahan, Jason Phillips, Kevin Scott

text: TNT

text: April 24 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Miami Heat 91, Philadelphia 76ers 104

Scoring by quarter: 21–23, 25–23, 20–34, 25–24
Pts: Kelly Olynyk 18Rebs: Kelly Olynyk 8Asts: Kelly Olynyk 6

Pts: J. J. Redick 27Rebs: Joel Embiid 12Asts: Ben Simmons 6Philadelphia wins series, 4–1

text: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaAttendance: 21,171Referees: Derrick Stafford, Eric Lewis, Josh Tiven

text: With the win, the Sixers won their first playoff series since 2012.

text:
Regular-season series
show

Tied 2–2 in the regular-season series

February 2, 2018

Recap

Miami Heat 97, Philadelphia 76ers 103

Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

February 14, 2018

Recap

Miami Heat 102, Philadelphia 76ers 104

Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

February 27, 2018

Recap

Philadelphia 76ers 101, Miami Heat 102

American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida

March 8, 2018

Recap

Philadelphia 76ers 99, Miami Heat 108

American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida

text: This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Heat winning the first meeting.[29]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Miami leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series

2011

Philadelphia 76ers 1, Miami Heat 4

2011 Eastern Conference First Round

text: (4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (5) Indiana Pacers

text: ABC

text: April 15 3:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Indiana Pacers 98, Cleveland Cavaliers 80

Scoring by quarter: 33–14, 22–24, 18–27, 25–15
Pts: Victor Oladipo 32Rebs: Myles Turner 8Asts: Darren Collison 6

Pts: LeBron James 24Rebs: Kevin Love 17Asts: LeBron James 12Pacers leads series, 1-0

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Zach Zarba, Bennie Adams, John Goble

text: TNT

text: April 18 7:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Indiana Pacers 97, Cleveland Cavaliers 100

Scoring by quarter: 18–33, 28–25, 21–16, 30–26
Pts: Victor Oladipo 22Rebs: Thaddeus Young 6Asts: Collison, Oladipo 6 each

Pts: LeBron James 46Rebs: LeBron James 12Asts: LeBron James 5Series tied at, 1-1

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Ed Malloy, David Guthrie, Eric Lewis

text: ESPN

text: April 20 7:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 90, Indiana Pacers 92

Scoring by quarter: 31–20, 26–20, 12–23, 21–29
Pts: LeBron James 28Rebs: LeBron James 12Asts: LeBron James 8

Pts: Bojan Bogdanović 30Rebs: Myles Turner 10Asts: Victor Oladipo 7Pacers leads series, 2-1

text: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IndianaAttendance: 17,923Referees: Derrick Stafford, Derrick Collins, Josh Tiven

text: TNT

text: April 22 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 104, Indiana Pacers 100

Scoring by quarter: 30–24, 30–26, 20–28, 24–22
Pts: LeBron James 32Rebs: LeBron James 13Asts: LeBron James 7

Pts: Domantas Sabonis 19Rebs: Thaddeus Young 16Asts: Darren Collison 8Series tied at, 2-2

text: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IndianaAttendance: 17,923Referees: Ken Mauer, Pat Fraher, Rodney Mott

text: TNT

text: April 25 7:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Indiana Pacers 95, Cleveland Cavaliers 98

Scoring by quarter: 25–23, 31–26, 17–32, 22–17
Pts: Domantas Sabonis 22Rebs: Victor Oladipo 12Asts: Cory Joseph 6

Pts: LeBron James 44Rebs: James, Love 10 eachAsts: LeBron James 8Cavaliers leads series, 3-2

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: James Capers, Bill Kennedy, Bill Spooner

text: LeBron James capped off his heroic Game 5 performance with a game-winning 3 at the buzzer to put the Cavaliers up 3-2 in the series. This was the fourth time James has hit a game-winning buzzer beater in the playoffs.

text: ESPN

text: April 27 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 87, Indiana Pacers 121

Scoring by quarter: 26–29, 21–28, 20–35, 20–29
Pts: LeBron James 22Rebs: Kevin Love 7Asts: LeBron James 7

Pts: Victor Oladipo 28Rebs: Victor Oladipo 13Asts: Victor Oladipo 10Series tied at, 3-3

text: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IndianaAttendance: 17,923Referees: Marc Davis, Jason Phillips, Sean Wright

text: ABC

text: April 29 1:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Indiana Pacers 101, Cleveland Cavaliers 105

Scoring by quarter: 19–31, 24–23, 31–22, 27–29
Pts: Victor Oladipo 30Rebs: Victor Oladipo 12Asts: Victor Oladipo 6

Pts: LeBron James 45Rebs: Tristan Thompson 10Asts: LeBron James 7Cleveland wins series, 4–3

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Kane Fitzgerald

text:
Regular-season series
show

Indiana won 3–1 in the regular-season series

November 1, 2017

Recap

Indiana Pacers 124, Cleveland Cavaliers 107

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

December 8, 2017

Recap

Cleveland Cavaliers 102, Indiana Pacers 106

Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana

January 12, 2018

Recap

Cleveland Cavaliers 95, Indiana Pacers 97

Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana

January 26, 2018

Recap

Indiana Pacers 108, Cleveland Cavaliers 115

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

text: This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning one series.[30]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Tied 1–1 in all-time playoff series

1998

Cleveland Cavaliers 1, Indiana Pacers 3

1998 Eastern Conference First Round

2017

Indiana Pacers 0, Cleveland Cavaliers 4

2017 Eastern Conference First Round

text: Western Conference

text: (1) Houston Rockets vs. (8) Minnesota Timberwolves

text: TNT

text: April 15 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Minnesota Timberwolves 101, Houston Rockets 104

Scoring by quarter: 21–27, 26–27, 25–22, 29–28
Pts: Andrew Wiggins 18Rebs: Karl-Anthony Towns 12Asts: Jeff Teague 8

Pts: James Harden 44Rebs: Clint Capela 12Asts: James Harden 8Rockets leads series, 1-0

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,055Referees: Ken Mauer, Tony Brown, James Williams

text: TNT

text: April 18 9:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Minnesota Timberwolves 82, Houston Rockets 102

Scoring by quarter: 23–18, 17–37, 18–25, 24–22
Pts: Nemanja Bjelica 16Rebs: Karl-Anthony Towns 10Asts: Jones, Wiggins 3 each

Pts: Chris Paul 27Rebs: Clint Capela 16Asts: Chris Paul 8Rockets leads series, 2-0

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,055Referees: Derrick Stafford, Pat Fraher, Mark Lindsay

text: ESPN

text: April 21 7:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Houston Rockets 105, Minnesota Timberwolves 121

Scoring by quarter: 28–27, 23–25, 24–35, 30–34
Pts: James Harden 29Rebs: Clint Capela 11Asts: James Harden 7

Pts: Jimmy Butler 28Rebs: Karl-Anthony Towns 16Asts: Jeff Teague 8Rockets leads series, 2-1

text: Target Center, Minneapolis, MinnesotaAttendance: 18,978Referees: Marc Davis, Kevin Cutler, Bill Kennedy

text: TNT

text: April 23 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Houston Rockets 119, Minnesota Timberwolves 100

Scoring by quarter: 21–21, 29–28, 50–20, 19–31
Pts: James Harden 36Rebs: Clint Capela 17Asts: Chris Paul 6

Pts: Karl-Anthony Towns 22Rebs: Karl-Anthony Towns 15Asts: Butler, Teague 5 eachRockets leads series, 3-1

text: Target Center, Minneapolis, MinnesotaAttendance: 18,978Referees: James Capers, Mark Ayotte, David Guthrie

text: TNT

text: April 25 9:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Minnesota Timberwolves 104, Houston Rockets 122

Scoring by quarter: 26–25, 33–30, 15–30, 30–37
Pts: Karl-Anthony Towns 23Rebs: Karl-Anthony Towns 14Asts: Jeff Teague 7

Pts: Clint Capela 26Rebs: Clint Capela 15Asts: James Harden 12Houston wins series, 4–1

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,055Referees: Zach Zarba, Brian Forte, Sean Wright

text:
Regular-season series
show

Houston won 4–0 in the regular-season series

January 18, 2018

Recap

Minnesota Timberwolves 98, Houston Rockets 116

Toyota Center, Houston, Texas

February 13, 2018

Recap

Houston Rockets 126, Minnesota Timberwolves 108

Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

February 23, 2018

Recap

Minnesota Timberwolves 102, Houston Rockets 120

Toyota Center, Houston, Texas

March 18, 2018

Recap

Houston Rockets 129, Minnesota Timberwolves 120

Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

text: This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Rockets winning the first meeting.[31]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Houston leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series

1997

Minnesota Timberwolves 0, Houston Rockets 3

1997 Western Conference First Round

text: (2) Golden State Warriors vs. (7) San Antonio Spurs

text: ABC

text: April 14 3:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
San Antonio Spurs 92, Golden State Warriors 113

Scoring by quarter: 17–28, 24–29, 22–29, 29–27
Pts: Rudy Gay 15Rebs: Rudy Gay 6Asts: Pau Gasol 4

Pts: Klay Thompson 27Rebs: Durant, Green 8 eachAsts: Draymond Green 11Warriors leads series, 1-0

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: James Capers, Kane Fitzgerald, Ron Garretson

text: TNT

text: April 16 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
San Antonio Spurs 101, Golden State Warriors 116

Scoring by quarter: 25–23, 28–24, 22–33, 26–36
Pts: LaMarcus Aldridge 34Rebs: LaMarcus Aldridge 12Asts: five players 3 each

Pts: Kevin Durant 32Rebs: Iguodala, McGee 7 eachAsts: Durant, Green 6 eachWarriors leads series, 2-0

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Ed Malloy, Brent Barnaky, Eric Lewis

text: TNT

text: April 19 9:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 110, San Antonio Spurs 97

Scoring by quarter: 26–23, 26–23, 32–26, 26–25
Pts: Kevin Durant 26Rebs: Kevin Durant 9Asts: Draymond Green 7

Pts: LaMarcus Aldridge 18Rebs: LaMarcus Aldridge 10Asts: Aldridge, Murray 4 eachWarriors leads series, 3-0

text: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TexasAttendance: 18,418Referees: Zach Zarba, Rodney Mott, Sean Wright

text: ABC

text: April 22 3:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 90, San Antonio Spurs 103

Scoring by quarter: 22–30, 20–26, 29–21, 19–26
Pts: Kevin Durant 34Rebs: Draymond Green 18Asts: Draymond Green 9

Pts: LaMarcus Aldridge 22Rebs: LaMarcus Aldridge 10Asts: Ginóbili, Mills 5 eachWarriors leads series, 3-1

text: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TexasAttendance: 18,418Referees: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Brian Forte

text: TNT

text: April 24 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
San Antonio Spurs 91, Golden State Warriors 99

Scoring by quarter: 20–22, 18–27, 27–30, 26–20
Pts: LaMarcus Aldridge 30Rebs: LaMarcus Aldridge 12Asts: Manu Ginóbili 7

Pts: Kevin Durant 25Rebs: Draymond Green 19Asts: Draymond Green 7Golden State wins series, 4–1

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Mike Callahan, Tony Brown, Jason Phillips

text:
Regular-season series
show

Golden State won 3–1 in the regular-season series

November 2, 2017

Recap

Golden State Warriors 112, San Antonio Spurs 92

AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas

February 10, 2018

Recap

San Antonio Spurs 105, Golden State Warriors 122

Oracle Arena, Oakland, California

March 8, 2018

Recap

San Antonio Spurs 107, Golden State Warriors 110

Oracle Arena, Oakland, California

March 19, 2018

Recap

Golden State Warriors 75, San Antonio Spurs 89

AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas

text: This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Warriors winning two of the first three meetings.[32]

text:
Previous playoff series
show

Golden State leads 2–1 in all-time playoff series

1991

Golden State Warriors 3, San Antonio Spurs 1

1991 Western Conference First Round

2013

Golden State Warriors 2, San Antonio Spurs 4

2013 Western Conference Semifinals

2017

Golden State Warriors 4, San Antonio Spurs 0

2017 Western Conference Finals

text: (3) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (6) New Orleans Pelicans

text: ESPN

text: April 14 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
New Orleans Pelicans 97, Portland Trail Blazers 95

Scoring by quarter: 21–18, 24–18, 30–27, 22–32
Pts: Anthony Davis 35Rebs: Anthony Davis 14Asts: Rajon Rondo 17

Pts: C. J. McCollum 19Rebs: Ed Davis 13Asts: Damian Lillard 7Pelicans leads series, 1-0

text: Moda Center, Portland, OregonAttendance: 19,882Referees: Ed Malloy, Eric Lewis, Mark Lindsay

text: TNT

text: April 17 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
New Orleans Pelicans 111, Portland Trail Blazers 102

Scoring by quarter: 25–23, 29–36, 33–19, 24–24
Pts: Jrue Holiday 33Rebs: Anthony Davis 13Asts: Holiday, Rondo 9 each

Pts: C. J. McCollum 22Rebs: Al-Farouq Aminu 15Asts: C. J. McCollum 6Pelicans leads series, 2-0

text: Moda Center, Portland, OregonAttendance: 20,066Referees: Zach Zarba, Sean Corbin, John Goble

text: NBA TV

text: April 19 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Portland Trail Blazers 102, New Orleans Pelicans 119

Scoring by quarter: 20–36, 25–28, 25–27, 32–28
Pts: C. J. McCollum 22Rebs: Al-Farouq Aminu 8Asts: Maurice Harkless 4

Pts: Nikola Mirotić 30Rebs: Anthony Davis 11Asts: Rajon Rondo 11Pelicans leads series, 3-0

text: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LouisianaAttendance: 18,551Referees: Mike Callahan, Jason Phillips, Tom Washington

text: TNT

text: April 21 5:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Portland Trail Blazers 123, New Orleans Pelicans 131

Scoring by quarter: 25–26, 31–32, 31–42, 36–31
Pts: C. J. McCollum 38Rebs: Jusuf Nurkić 11Asts: Damian Lillard 6

Pts: Anthony Davis 47Rebs: Davis, Mirotić 11 eachAsts: Rajon Rondo 16New Orleans wins series, 4–0

text: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LouisianaAttendance: 18,544Referees: James Capers, Kane Fitzgerald, Ron Garretson

text: The Pelicans completed a sweep of the Trail Blazers for their 1st series win in the playoffs since the 2008 NBA Playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks as the New Orleans Hornets.

text:
Regular-season series
show

Tied 2–2 in the regular-season series

October 24, 2017

Recap

New Orleans Pelicans 93, Portland Trail Blazers 103

Moda Center, Portland, Oregon

December 2, 2017

Recap

New Orleans Pelicans 123, Portland Trail Blazers 116

Moda Center, Portland, Oregon

January 12, 2018

Recap

Portland Trail Blazers 113, New Orleans Pelicans 119

Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

March 27, 2018

Recap

Portland Trail Blazers 107, New Orleans Pelicans 103

Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

text: This was the first playoff meeting between the Trail Blazers and Pelicans.[33]

text: (4) Oklahoma City Thunder vs. (5) Utah Jazz

text: TNT

text: April 15 6:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Utah Jazz 108, Oklahoma City Thunder 116

Scoring by quarter: 25–25, 23–29, 24–27, 36–35
Pts: Donovan Mitchell 27Rebs: Donovan Mitchell 10Asts: Ricky Rubio 5

Pts: Paul George 36Rebs: Russell Westbrook 13Asts: Russell Westbrook 8Thunder leads series, 1-0

text: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OklahomaAttendance: 18,203Referees: Derrick Stafford, David Guthrie, Josh Tiven

text: NBA TV

text: April 18 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Utah Jazz 102, Oklahoma City Thunder 95

Scoring by quarter: 26–25, 27–21, 21–33, 28–16
Pts: Donovan Mitchell 28Rebs: Derrick Favors 16Asts: Ricky Rubio 9

Pts: Russell Westbrook 19Rebs: Paul George 10Asts: Russell Westbrook 13Series tied at, 1-1

text: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OklahomaAttendance: 18,203Referees: Ken Mauer, James Williams, Gary Zielinski

text: ESPN

text: April 21 10:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Oklahoma City Thunder 102, Utah Jazz 115

Scoring by quarter: 30–22, 23–36, 22–31, 27–26
Pts: Paul George 23Rebs: Russell Westbrook 11Asts: Russell Westbrook 9

Pts: Ricky Rubio 26Rebs: Rudy Gobert 12Asts: Ricky Rubio 10Jazz leads series, 2-1

text: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UtahAttendance: 18,306Referees: Zach Zarba, Bennie Adams, John Goble

text: TNT

text: April 23 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Oklahoma City Thunder 96, Utah Jazz 113

Scoring by quarter: 30–24, 22–34, 21–32, 23–23
Pts: Paul George 32Rebs: Russell Westbrook 14Asts: Russell Westbrook 3

Pts: Donovan Mitchell 33Rebs: Rudy Gobert 10Asts: Ricky Rubio 8Jazz leads series, 3-1

text: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UtahAttendance: 18,306Referees: Marc Davis, Bill Kennedy, Bill Spooner

text: NBA TV

text: April 25 9:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Utah Jazz 99, Oklahoma City Thunder 107

Scoring by quarter: 34–29, 22–12, 22–37, 21–29
Pts: Jae Crowder 27Rebs: Ricky Rubio 12Asts: Ricky Rubio 7

Pts: Russell Westbrook 45Rebs: Russell Westbrook 15Asts: Russell Westbrook 7Jazz leads series, 3-2

text: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OklahomaAttendance: 18,203Referees: Ed Malloy, Kane Fitzgerald, Tom Washington

text: The Thunder trailed by as much as 25 points in the 3rd quarter. However, Russell Westbrook and Paul George combined for 47 second-half points to help keep their season alive. The Thunder outscored the Jazz 61-28 since the comeback started with 8:32 left in the 3rd quarter. The 25-point rally was their largest in franchise history and one of the biggest comebacks for a team facing elimination in playoff history.

text: ESPN

text: April 27 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Oklahoma City Thunder 91, Utah Jazz 96

Scoring by quarter: 22–18, 19–23, 29–37, 21–18
Pts: Russell Westbrook 46Rebs: Steven Adams 15Asts: Paul George 8

Pts: Donovan Mitchell 38Rebs: Rudy Gobert 13Asts: Joe Ingles 5Utah wins series, 4–2

text: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UtahAttendance: 18,306Referees: Scott Foster, Ron Garretson, Eric Lewis

text:
Regular-season series
show

Oklahoma City won 3–1 in the regular-season series

October 21, 2017

Recap

Oklahoma City Thunder 87, Utah Jazz 96

Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

December 5, 2017

Recap

Utah Jazz 94, Oklahoma City Thunder 100

Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

December 20, 2017

Recap

Utah Jazz 79, Oklahoma City Thunder 107

Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

December 23, 2017

Recap

Oklahoma City Thunder 103, Utah Jazz 89

Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

text: This was the fifth playoff meeting between the SuperSonics/Thunder franchise and the Jazz, but the first since the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008. The two teams have split their previous four playoff matchups.[34]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Tied 2–2 in all-time playoff series

1992

Seattle SuperSonics 1, Utah Jazz 4

1992 Western Conference Semifinals

1993

Seattle SuperSonics 3, Utah Jazz 2

1993 Western Conference First Round

1996

Seattle SuperSonics 4, Utah Jazz 3

1996 Western Conference Finals

2000

Seattle SuperSonics 2, Utah Jazz 3

2000 Western Conference First Round

text: Conference Semifinals

text: Eastern Conference Semifinals

text: (1) Toronto Raptors vs. (4) Cleveland Cavaliers

text: TNT, TSN

text: May 1 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 113, Toronto Raptors 112 (OT)

Scoring by quarter: 19–33, 38–27, 25–27, 23–18, Overtime: 8–7
Pts: LeBron James 26Rebs: Kevin Love 13Asts: LeBron James 13

Pts: DeMar DeRozan 22Rebs: Jonas Valančiūnas 21Asts: Kyle Lowry 10Cavaliers leads series, 1-0

text: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, OntarioAttendance: 19,954Referees: Derrick Stafford, Pat Fraher, John Goble

text: ESPN, SN1

text: May 3 6:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 128, Toronto Raptors 110

Scoring by quarter: 26–29, 35–34, 37–24, 30–23
Pts: LeBron James 43Rebs: Kevin Love 11Asts: LeBron James 14

Pts: DeMar DeRozan 24Rebs: Jonas Valančiūnas 12Asts: Kyle Lowry 8Cavaliers leads series, 2-0

text: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, OntarioAttendance: 20,127Referees: Ken Mauer, Kane Fitzgerald, Brian Forte

text: ABC, SN1

text: May 5 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Toronto Raptors 103, Cleveland Cavaliers 105

Scoring by quarter: 19–24, 21–31, 25–24, 38–26
Pts: Kyle Lowry 27Rebs: Jonas Valančiūnas 11Asts: Kyle Lowry 7

Pts: LeBron James 38Rebs: Kevin Love 16Asts: LeBron James 7Cavaliers leads series, 3-0

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Mike Callahan, Courtney Kirkland, Josh Tiven

text: LeBron James capped off a 38-point performance with a mid-range fadeaway bank shot at the buzzer to lead the Cavs to a commanding 3–0 series lead.

text: TNT, TSN

text: May 7 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Toronto Raptors 93, Cleveland Cavaliers 128

Scoring by quarter: 26–30, 21–33, 25–37, 21–28
Pts: Jonas Valančiūnas 18Rebs: DeRozan, Valančiūnas 5 eachAsts: Kyle Lowry 10

Pts: LeBron James 29Rebs: LeBron James 8Asts: LeBron James 11Cleveland wins series, 4–0

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Marc Davis, Tony Brown, David Guthrie

text:
Regular-season series
show

Cleveland won 2–1 in the regular-season series

January 11, 2018

Recap

Cleveland Cavaliers 99, Toronto Raptors 133

Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario

March 21, 2018

Recap

Toronto Raptors 129, Cleveland Cavaliers 132

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

April 3, 2018

Recap

Toronto Raptors 106, Cleveland Cavaliers 112

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

text: This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with Cleveland winning the first two meetings.[35]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Cleveland leads 2–0 in all-time playoff series

2016

Toronto Raptors 2, Cleveland Cavaliers 4

2016 Eastern Conference Finals

2017

Toronto Raptors 0, Cleveland Cavaliers 4

2017 Eastern Conference Semifinals

text: (2) Boston Celtics vs. (3) Philadelphia 76ers

text: TNT

text: April 30 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Philadelphia 76ers 101, Boston Celtics 117

Scoring by quarter: 22–25, 23–31, 30–31, 26–30
Pts: Joel Embiid 31Rebs: Joel Embiid 13Asts: Ben Simmons 6

Pts: Terry Rozier 29Rebs: Terry Rozier 8Asts: Marcus Smart 9Celtics leads series, 1-0

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Marc Davis, Ed Malloy, Bill Spooner

text: TNT

text: May 3 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Philadelphia 76ers 103, Boston Celtics 108

Scoring by quarter: 31–22, 25–29, 19–28, 28–29
Pts: J. J. Redick 23Rebs: Joel Embiid 14Asts: Ben Simmons 7

Pts: Jayson Tatum 21Rebs: Al Horford 12Asts: Terry Rozier 9Celtics leads series, 2-0

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Mike Callahan, Jason Phillips, Sean Wright

text: ESPN

text: May 5 5:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Boston Celtics 101, Philadelphia 76ers 98 (OT)

Scoring by quarter: 19–20, 29–31, 21–17, 20–21, Overtime: 12–9
Pts: Jayson Tatum 24Rebs: Aron Baynes 10Asts: Jayson Tatum 4

Pts: Joel Embiid 22Rebs: Joel Embiid 19Asts: Ben Simmons 8Celtics leads series, 3-0

text: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaAttendance: 20,758Referees: Derrick Stafford, Pat Fraher, John Goble

text: TNT

text: May 7 6:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Boston Celtics 92, Philadelphia 76ers 103

Scoring by quarter: 22–21, 21–26, 22–29, 27–27
Pts: Jayson Tatum 20Rebs: Al Horford 10Asts: Jayson Tatum 4

Pts: Dario Šarić 25Rebs: Embiid, Simmons 13 eachAsts: McConnell, Simmons 5 eachCeltics leads series, 3-1

text: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaAttendance: 20,936Referees: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Sean Corbin

text: TNT

text: May 9 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Philadelphia 76ers 112, Boston Celtics 114

Scoring by quarter: 24–25, 28–36, 30–22, 30–31
Pts: Embiid, Šarić 27 eachRebs: Joel Embiid 12Asts: McConnell, Simmons 6 each

Pts: Jayson Tatum 25Rebs: Aron Baynes 9Asts: Marcus Smart 6Boston wins series, 4–1

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: James Capers, Tom Washington, Zach Zarba

text:
Regular-season series
show

Boston won 3–1 in the regular-season series

October 20, 2017

Recap

Boston Celtics 102, Philadelphia 76ers 92

Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

November 30, 2017

Recap

Philadelphia 76ers 97, Boston Celtics 108

TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

January 11, 2018

Recap

Boston Celtics 114, Philadelphia 76ers 103

The O2 Arena, London, United Kingdom

January 18, 2018

Recap

Philadelphia 76ers 89, Boston Celtics 80

TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

text: This was the 21st playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Celtics winning 12 of the first 20 meetings.[36]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Boston leads 12–8 in all-time playoff series

1953

Boston Celtics 2, Syracuse Nationals 0

1953 Eastern Division Semifinals

1954

Boston Celtics 0, Syracuse Nationals 2

1954 Eastern Division Round Robin Semifinals

1954

Boston Celtics 0, Syracuse Nationals 2

1954 Eastern Division Finals

1955

Boston Celtics 1, Syracuse Nationals 3

1955 Eastern Division Finals

1956

Boston Celtics 1, Syracuse Nationals 2

1956 Eastern Division Semifinals

1957

Boston Celtics 3, Syracuse Nationals 0

1957 Eastern Division Finals

1959

Boston Celtics 4, Syracuse Nationals 3

1959 Eastern Division Finals

1961

Boston Celtics 4, Syracuse Nationals 1

1961 Eastern Division Finals

1965

Boston Celtics 4, Philadelphia 76ers 3

1965 Eastern Division Finals

1966

Boston Celtics 4, Philadelphia 76ers 1

1966 Eastern Division Finals

1967

Boston Celtics 1, Philadelphia 76ers 4

1967 Eastern Division Finals

1968

Boston Celtics 4, Philadelphia 76ers 3

1968 Eastern Division Finals

1969

Boston Celtics 4, Philadelphia 76ers 1

1969 Eastern Division Semifinals

1977

Boston Celtics 3, Philadelphia 76ers 4

1977 Eastern Conference Semifinals

1980

Boston Celtics 1, Philadelphia 76ers 4

1980 Eastern Conference Finals

1981

Boston Celtics 4, Philadelphia 76ers 3

1981 Eastern Conference Finals

1982

Boston Celtics 3, Philadelphia 76ers 4

1982 Eastern Conference Finals

1985

Boston Celtics 4, Philadelphia 76ers 1

1985 Eastern Conference Finals

2002

Boston Celtics 3, Philadelphia 76ers 2

2002 Eastern Conference First Round

2012

Boston Celtics 4, Philadelphia 76ers 3

2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals

text: Western Conference Semifinals

text: (1) Houston Rockets vs. (5) Utah Jazz

text: ABC

text: April 29 3:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Utah Jazz 96, Houston Rockets 110

Scoring by quarter: 21–34, 18–30, 29–22, 28–24
Pts: Crowder, Mitchell 21 eachRebs: Rudy Gobert 9Asts: Ingles, Mitchell 5 each

Pts: James Harden 41Rebs: Clint Capela 12Asts: James Harden 7Rockets leads series, 1-0

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,055Referees: James Capers, Tom Washington, Zach Zarba

text: TNT

text: May 2 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Utah Jazz 116, Houston Rockets 108

Scoring by quarter: 36–28, 28–27, 22–30, 30–23
Pts: Joe Ingles 27Rebs: Rudy Gobert 14Asts: Donovan Mitchell 11

Pts: James Harden 32Rebs: Clint Capela 11Asts: James Harden 11Series tied at , 1-1

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,055Referees: Scott Foster, Bennie Adams, Tony Brothers

text: ESPN

text: May 4 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Houston Rockets 113, Utah Jazz 92

Scoring by quarter: 39–22, 31–18, 23–25, 20–27
Pts: Gordon, Harden 25 eachRebs: Clint Capela 8Asts: James Harden 12

Pts: Royce O'Neale 17Rebs: Rudy Gobert 9Asts: Raulzinho Neto 4Rockets leads series, 2-1

text: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UtahAttendance: 18,306Referees: Marc Davis, Ron Garretson, Ed Malloy

text: TNT

text: May 6 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Houston Rockets 100, Utah Jazz 87

Scoring by quarter: 30–23, 28–25, 21–17, 21–22
Pts: Chris Paul 27Rebs: Clint Capela 15Asts: Chris Paul 6

Pts: Donovan Mitchell 25Rebs: Rudy Gobert 10Asts: Joe Ingles 4Rockets leads series, 3-1

text: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UtahAttendance: 18,306Referees: Ken Mauer, Bill Kennedy, James Williams

text: TNT

text: May 8 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Utah Jazz 102, Houston Rockets 112

Scoring by quarter: 16–21, 30–33, 32–21, 24–37
Pts: Donovan Mitchell 24Rebs: Rudy Gobert 9Asts: Donovan Mitchell 9

Pts: Chris Paul 41Rebs: Chris Paul 7Asts: Chris Paul 10Houston wins series, 4–1

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,055Referees: Mike Callahan, John Goble, Eric Lewis

text:
Regular-season series
show

Houston won 4–0 in the regular-season series

November 5, 2017

Recap

Utah Jazz 110, Houston Rockets 137

Toyota Center, Houston, Texas

December 7, 2017

Recap

Houston Rockets 112, Utah Jazz 101

Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

December 18, 2017

Recap

Utah Jazz 99, Houston Rockets 120

Toyota Center, Houston, Texas

February 26, 2018

Recap

Houston Rockets 96, Utah Jazz 85

Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

text: This was the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Jazz winning five of the first seven meetings.[37]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Utah leads 5–2 in all-time playoff series

1985

Houston Rockets 2, Utah Jazz 3

1985 Western Conference First Round

1994

Houston Rockets 4, Utah Jazz 1

1994 Western Conference Finals

1995

Houston Rockets 3, Utah Jazz 2

1995 Western Conference First Round

1997

Houston Rockets 2, Utah Jazz 4

1997 Western Conference Finals

1998

Houston Rockets 2, Utah Jazz 3

1998 Western Conference First Round

2007

Houston Rockets 3, Utah Jazz 4

2007 Western Conference First Round

2008

Houston Rockets 2, Utah Jazz 4

2008 Western Conference First Round

text: (2) Golden State Warriors vs. (6) New Orleans Pelicans

text: TNT

text: April 28 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
New Orleans Pelicans 101, Golden State Warriors 123

Scoring by quarter: 34–35, 21–41, 19–27, 27–20
Pts: Anthony Davis 21Rebs: Anthony Davis 10Asts: Rajon Rondo 11

Pts: Klay Thompson 27Rebs: Draymond Green 15Asts: Draymond Green 11Warriors leads series, 1-0

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Ken Mauer, Bill Kennedy, James Williams

text: TNT

text: May 1 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
New Orleans Pelicans 115, Golden State Warriors 121

Scoring by quarter: 29–27, 26–31, 31–30, 29–33
Pts: Anthony Davis 25Rebs: Anthony Davis 15Asts: Rajon Rondo 12

Pts: Kevin Durant 29Rebs: Draymond Green 9Asts: Draymond Green 12Warriors leads series, 2-0

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Mike Callahan, Jason Phillips, Sean Wright

text: ESPN

text: May 4 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 100, New Orleans Pelicans 119

Scoring by quarter: 21–30, 35–32, 19–30, 25–27
Pts: Klay Thompson 26Rebs: Draymond Green 12Asts: Draymond Green 9

Pts: Anthony Davis 33Rebs: Anthony Davis 18Asts: Rajon Rondo 21Warriors leads series, 2-1

text: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LouisianaAttendance: 18,551Referees: Scott Foster, Mark Ayotte, Eric Lewis

text: ABC

text: May 6 3:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 118, New Orleans Pelicans 92

Scoring by quarter: 37–22, 24–32, 33–19, 24–19
Pts: Kevin Durant 38Rebs: Durant, Green 9 eachAsts: Draymond Green 9

Pts: Anthony Davis 26Rebs: Anthony Davis 12Asts: Rajon Rondo 6Warriors leads series, 3-1

text: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LouisianaAttendance: 18,513Referees: James Capers, Tom Washington, Zach Zarba

text: TNT

text: May 8 10:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
New Orleans Pelicans 104, Golden State Warriors 113

Scoring by quarter: 26–32, 30–27, 19–36, 29–18
Pts: Anthony Davis 34Rebs: Anthony Davis 19Asts: Jrue Holiday 11

Pts: Stephen Curry 28Rebs: Draymond Green 14Asts: Draymond Green 9Golden State wins series, 4–1

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Derrick Stafford, Ed Malloy, Josh Tiven

text:
Regular-season series
show

Golden State won 3–1 in the regular-season series

October 20, 2017

Recap

Golden State Warriors 128, New Orleans Pelicans 120

Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

November 25, 2017

Recap

New Orleans Pelicans 95, Golden State Warriors 110

Oracle Arena, Oakland, California

December 4, 2017

Recap

Golden State Warriors 125, New Orleans Pelicans 115

Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

April 7, 2018

Recap

New Orleans Pelicans 126, Golden State Warriors 120

Oracle Arena, Oakland, California

text: This was the second meeting in the playoffs between the two teams, with the Warriors winning the first meeting.[38]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Golden State leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series

2015

New Orleans Pelicans 0, Golden State Warriors 4

2015 Western Conference First Round

text: Conference Finals

text: Eastern Conference Finals

text: (2) Boston Celtics vs. (4) Cleveland Cavaliers

text: ABC

text: May 13 3:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 83, Boston Celtics 108

Scoring by quarter: 18–36, 17–25, 29–17, 19–30
Pts: Kevin Love 17Rebs: Tristan Thompson 11Asts: LeBron James 9

Pts: Jaylen Brown 23Rebs: Marcus Morris 10Asts: Terry Rozier 8Celtics leads series, 1-0

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Marc Davis, Pat Fraher, John Goble

text: ESPN

text: May 15 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 94, Boston Celtics 107

Scoring by quarter: 27–23, 28–25, 22–36, 17–23
Pts: LeBron James 42Rebs: Kevin Love 15Asts: LeBron James 12

Pts: Jaylen Brown 23Rebs: Al Horford 10Asts: Marcus Smart 9Celtics leads series, 2-0

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Mike Callahan, Derrick Stafford, Sean Wright

text: ESPN

text: May 19 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Boston Celtics 86, Cleveland Cavaliers 116

Scoring by quarter: 17–32, 24–29, 22–26, 23–29
Pts: Jayson Tatum 18Rebs: Al Horford 7Asts: Marcus Smart 6

Pts: LeBron James 27Rebs: Kevin Love 14Asts: LeBron James 12Celtics leads series, 2-1

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: James Capers, Josh Tiven, Zach Zarba

text: ESPN

text: May 21 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Boston Celtics 102, Cleveland Cavaliers 111

Scoring by quarter: 18–34, 35–34, 23–21, 26–22
Pts: Jaylen Brown 25Rebs: Al Horford 7Asts: Terry Rozier 11

Pts: LeBron James 44Rebs: Tristan Thompson 12Asts: four players 3 eachSeries tied at, 2-2

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy, Eric Lewis

text: ESPN

text: May 23 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 83, Boston Celtics 96

Scoring by quarter: 19–32, 23–21, 18–23, 23–20
Pts: LeBron James 26Rebs: LeBron James 10Asts: LeBron James 5

Pts: Jayson Tatum 24Rebs: Al Horford 12Asts: Terry Rozier 6Celtics leads series, 3-2

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Ken Mauer, Ed Malloy, Jason Phillips

text: ESPN

text: May 25 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Boston Celtics 99, Cleveland Cavaliers 109

Scoring by quarter: 25–20, 18–34, 30–29, 26–26
Pts: Terry Rozier 28Rebs: Al Horford 9Asts: Marcus Smart 8

Pts: LeBron James 46Rebs: LeBron James 11Asts: LeBron James 9Series tied at, 3-3

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Mike Callahan, John Goble, Derrick Stafford

text: ESPN

text: May 27 8:30 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 87, Boston Celtics 79

Scoring by quarter: 18–26, 21–17, 20–13, 28–23
Pts: LeBron James 35Rebs: LeBron James 15Asts: LeBron James 9

Pts: Jayson Tatum 24Rebs: Marcus Morris 12Asts: Marcus Smart 7Cleveland wins series, 4–3

text: TD Garden, Boston, MassachusettsAttendance: 18,624Referees: Marc Davis, James Capers, Zach Zarba

text: It marked the first time since the 1987–88 season that the Celtics made two consecutive Conference Finals. Their loss at home after leading 3–2 in the series was first time since 2009. Fifth time road team wins game 7 after home team wins first six games. LeBron James becomes the first non-Celtic to advance to 8 consecutive NBA Finals.

text:
Regular-season series
show

Cleveland won 2–1 in the regular-season series

October 17, 2017

Recap

Boston Celtics 99, Cleveland Cavaliers 102

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

January 3, 2018

Recap

Cleveland Cavaliers 88, Boston Celtics 102

TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

February 11, 2018

Recap

Cleveland Cavaliers 121, Boston Celtics 99

TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

text: This was the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Celtics winning four of the first seven meetings.[39]

text:
Previous playoff series
show

Boston leads 4–3 in all-time playoff series

1976

Boston Celtics 4, Cleveland Cavaliers 2

1976 Eastern Conference Finals

1985

Boston Celtics 3, Cleveland Cavaliers 1

1985 Eastern Conference First Round

1992

Cleveland Cavaliers 4, Boston Celtics 3

1992 Eastern Conference Semifinals

2008

Boston Celtics 4, Cleveland Cavaliers 3

2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals

2010

Cleveland Cavaliers 2, Boston Celtics 4

2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals

2015

Cleveland Cavaliers 4, Boston Celtics 0

2015 Eastern Conference First Round

2017

Cleveland Cavaliers 4, Boston Celtics 1

2017 Eastern Conference Finals

text: Western Conference Finals

text: (1) Houston Rockets vs. (2) Golden State Warriors

text: TNT

text: May 14 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 119, Houston Rockets 106

Scoring by quarter: 29–30, 27–26, 31–24, 32–26
Pts: Kevin Durant 37Rebs: Draymond Green 9Asts: Draymond Green 9

Pts: James Harden 41Rebs: Chris Paul 11Asts: James Harden 7Warriors leads series, 1-0

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,055Referees: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Tom Washington

text: TNT

text: May 16 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 105, Houston Rockets 127

Scoring by quarter: 21–26, 29–38, 29–31, 26–32
Pts: Kevin Durant 38Rebs: Stephen Curry 7Asts: Stephen Curry 7

Pts: Gordon, Harden 27 eachRebs: Capela, Harden 10 eachAsts: Ariza, Paul 6 eachSeries tied at, 1-1

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,119Referees: Ken Mauer, David Guthrie, Ed Malloy

text: TNT

text: May 20 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Houston Rockets 85, Golden State Warriors 126

Scoring by quarter: 22–31, 21–23, 24–34, 18–38
Pts: James Harden 20Rebs: Chris Paul 10Asts: James Harden 9

Pts: Stephen Curry 35Rebs: Draymond Green 17Asts: Durant, Green 6 eachWarriors leads series, 2-1

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Marc Davis, Sean Corbin, Jason Phillips

text: TNT

text: May 22 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Houston Rockets 95, Golden State Warriors 92

Scoring by quarter: 19–28, 34–18, 17–34, 25–12
Pts: James Harden 30Rebs: P. J. Tucker 16Asts: Harden, Paul 4 each

Pts: Stephen Curry 28Rebs: Draymond Green 13Asts: Draymond Green 8Series tied at, 2-2

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Mike Callahan, Kane Fitzgerald, Derrick Stafford

text: TNT

text: May 24 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 94, Houston Rockets 98

Scoring by quarter: 17–23, 28–22, 27–26, 22–27
Pts: Kevin Durant 29Rebs: Draymond Green 15Asts: Stephen Curry 6

Pts: Eric Gordon 24Rebs: Clint Capela 14Asts: Chris Paul 6Rockets leads series, 3-2

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,208Referees: James Capers, Eric Lewis, Zach Zarba

text: TNT

text: May 26 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Houston Rockets 86, Golden State Warriors 115

Scoring by quarter: 39–22, 22–29, 16–33, 9–31
Pts: James Harden 32Rebs: Clint Capela 15Asts: James Harden 9

Pts: Klay Thompson 35Rebs: Draymond Green 10Asts: Draymond Green 9Series tied at, 3-3

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Ken Mauer, David Guthrie, Ed Malloy

text: Golden State rallied from a 17-point first quarter deficit by outscoring Houston 64–25 in the second half to force a Game 7. The Rockets' 25 second-half points tied a franchise record low for scoring in any half in the postseason.

text: TNT

text: May 28 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 101, Houston Rockets 92

Scoring by quarter: 19–24, 24–30, 33–15, 25–23
Pts: Kevin Durant 34Rebs: Draymond Green 13Asts: Stephen Curry 10

Pts: James Harden 32Rebs: P. J. Tucker 12Asts: Gordon, Harden 6 eachGolden State wins series, 4–3

text: Toyota Center, Houston, TexasAttendance: 18,055Referees: Scott Foster, Mike Callahan, Derrick Stafford

text:
Regular-season series
show

Houston won 2–1 in the regular-season series

October 17, 2017

Recap

Houston Rockets 122, Golden State Warriors 121

Oracle Arena, Oakland, California

January 4, 2018

Recap

Golden State Warriors 124, Houston Rockets 114

Toyota Center, Houston, Texas

January 20, 2018

Recap

Golden State Warriors 108, Houston Rockets 116

Toyota Center, Houston, Texas

text: This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Warriors winning the first two meetings.[40]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Golden State leads 2–0 in all-time playoff series

2015

Golden State Warriors 4, Houston Rockets 1

2015 Western Conference Finals

2016

Golden State Warriors 4, Houston Rockets 1

2016 Western Conference First Round

text: 2018 NBA Finals: (E4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (W2) Golden State Warriors

text: ABC

text: May 31 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 114, Golden State Warriors 124 (OT)

Scoring by quarter: 30–29, 26–27, 22–28, 29–23, Overtime: 7–17
Pts: LeBron James 51Rebs: Kevin Love 13Asts: LeBron James 8

Pts: Stephen Curry 29Rebs: Draymond Green 11Asts: Green, Curry 9 eachWarriors leads series, 1-0

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Ken Mauer, Tony Brothers, Ed Malloy

text: ABC

text: June 3 8:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Cleveland Cavaliers 103, Golden State Warriors 122

Scoring by quarter: 28–32, 18–27, 34–31, 23–32
Pts: LeBron James 29Rebs: Kevin Love 10Asts: LeBron James 13

Pts: Stephen Curry 33Rebs: Kevin Durant 9Asts: Stephen Curry 8Warriors leads series, 2-0

text: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CaliforniaAttendance: 19,596Referees: Mike Callahan, David Guthrie, Derrick Stafford

text: ABC

text: June 6 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 110, Cleveland Cavaliers 102

Scoring by quarter: 28–29, 24–29, 31–23, 27–21
Pts: Kevin Durant 43Rebs: Kevin Durant 13Asts: Draymond Green 9

Pts: Lebron James 33Rebs: Kevin Love 13Asts: Lebron James 11Warriors leads series, 3-0

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Marc Davis, John Goble, Zach Zarba

text: ABC

text: June 8 9:00 pm

text: Boxscore

text:
Golden State Warriors 108, Cleveland Cavaliers 85

Scoring by quarter: 34–25, 27–27, 25–13, 22–20
Pts: Stephen Curry 37Rebs: Kevin Durant 12Asts: Kevin Durant 10

Pts: LeBron James 23Rebs: Kevin Love 9Asts: LeBron James 8Golden State wins series, 4–0

text: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OhioAttendance: 20,562Referees: Scott Foster, James Capers, Jason Phillips

text:
Regular-season series
show

Golden State won 2–0 in the regular-season series

December 25, 2017

Recap

Cleveland Cavaliers 92, Golden State Warriors 99

Oracle Arena, Oakland, California

January 15, 2018

Recap

Golden State Warriors 118, Cleveland Cavaliers 108

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

text: This was the fourth meeting in the NBA Finals between these two teams, with the Warriors winning two of the first three meetings.[41]

text:
Previous playoffs series
show

Golden State leads 2–1 in all-time playoff series

2015

Golden State Warriors 4, Cleveland Cavaliers 2

2015 NBA Finals

2016

Golden State Warriors 3, Cleveland Cavaliers 4

2016 NBA Finals

2017

Cleveland Cavaliers 1, Golden State Warriors 4

2017 NBA Finals

text: Statistical leaders

text:
Category
Game High
Average

Player
Team
High
Player
Team
Avg.
GP

Points

LeBron James
Cleveland Cavaliers
51

LeBron James
Cleveland Cavaliers
34.0
21

Rebounds

Jonas Valančiūnas
Toronto Raptors
21

Anthony Davis
New Orleans Pelicans
13.4
9

Assists

Rajon Rondo
New Orleans Pelicans
21

Rajon Rondo
New Orleans Pelicans
12.2
9

Steals

Josh Richardson
Miami Heat
7

Victor Oladipo
Indiana Pacers
2.43
7

Blocks

John HensonClint Capela
Milwaukee BucksHouston Rockets
6

Anthony Davis
New Orleans Pelicans
2.33
9

text: Media coverage

text: Television

text: ESPN, TNT, ABC, and NBA TV will broadcast the playoffs nationally in the United States. In the first round, regional sports networks affiliated with the teams can also broadcast the games, except for games televised on ABC. Throughout the first two rounds, TNT televised games Sunday through Thursday, ESPN televised games Thursday and Friday, and ABC televised selected games on Saturday and Sunday, usually in the afternoon. NBA TV has aired select weekday games in the first round. ESPN will be televising the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Western Conference Finals will be televised by TNT. ABC will have exclusive television rights to the NBA Finals for the 16th consecutive year.[42]


document_title: Hat-trick

question_text: first nhl player to score a hat trick

question_tokens: first nhl player to score a hat trick

root

text: Hat-trick

text: Origin[edit]

text: The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson's taking three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. Fans held a collection for Stephenson, and presented him with a hat bought with the proceeds.[1] The term was used in print for the first time in 1865.[2] The term was eventually adopted by many other sports including hockey, association football, water polo, and team handball.

tag: p

text: Association football[edit]

text: A hat-trick occurs in association football when a player scores three goals (not necessarily consecutive) in a single game, whereas scoring two goals constitutes a brace.[3][4] In common with other official record-keeping rules, penalty-kick goals are counted but goals in a penalty shootout are excluded from the tally.[5] The extra time in a knockout cup match may also be calculated towards a player's potential hat-trick. The fastest recorded time to score a hat-trick is 70 seconds, a record set by Alex Torr in a Sunday league game in 2013.[6] The previous record of 90 seconds was held by Tommy Ross playing for Ross County against Nairn County on 28 November 1964.[7]

text:
After just 18 months and 17 days, the book on the greatest hat-trick of the 21st century was already closed.
— Rob Smyth of The Guardian on Rivaldo’s hat-trick for Barcelona against Valencia in June 2001.[8]

tag: div

text: The first hat-trick in an international game was by Scottish player John McDougall, against England on 2 March 1878.[9] American player Bert Patenaude scored the first hat-trick in the FIFA World Cup, against Paraguay in the inaugural event. Two hat-tricks have been scored in a World Cup final, by Geoff Hurst for England in the 1966 final during extra time against West Germany,[10] and Carli Lloyd for the USA against Japan in the 2015 Women's World Cup final. Lloyd's was the fastest hat-trick scored in a World Cup final at 13 minutes from first to last goal, and at 16 minutes the fastest from kickoff in any World Cup match for either sex. However, the fastest World Cup hat-trick for either men or women, as measured by time between goals, belongs to Fabienne Humm of Switzerland, who scored in the 47th, 49th and 52nd minutes against Ecuador in the 2015 group stage.

text: Football has also extended the term to include the phrase perfect hat-trick, achieved when a player scores one right-footed goal, one left-footed goal and one headed goal within one match.[11][12] In Germany and Austria, the term (lupenreiner) Hattrick ("flawless hat-trick") refers to when a player scores three goals in a row in one half without the half-time break or a goal scored by another player interrupting the performance.

text: Traditionally, a player who scores a hat-trick is allowed to keep the match ball as a memento.[13]

text: Baseball[edit]

text: In the past, the term was occasionally used to describe when a player struck out three times in a baseball game, and the term golden sombrero was more commonly used when a player struck out four times in a game.

text: In recent years, hat trick has been more often used to describe when a player hits three home runs in a game.

text: For example, on 29 August 2015, Toronto Blue Jays fans celebrated Edwin Encarnación's third home run of the game by throwing hats onto the field, similar to the tradition in ice hockey.[14] The phenomenon continued during the 2016 season, and on 17 June 2016, a number of Blue Jays fans at Oriole Park at Camden Yards threw hats on to the field after Toronto Blue Jays player Michael Saunders hit his third home run of the night, and again on 28 August at Rogers Centre, when Blue Jays player Josh Donaldson   hitting his third home run of the game in the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins.

text: Cricket[edit]

text: A hat-trick occurs in cricket when a bowler dismisses three batsmen with consecutive deliveries. The deliveries may be interrupted by an over bowled by another bowler from the other end of the pitch or the other team's innings, but must be three consecutive deliveries by the individual bowler in the same match. Only wickets attributed to the bowler count towards a hat-trick; run outs do not count.

text: In some countries, especially Australia, four wickets in four balls is sometimes referred to as a double hat-trick on the basis that there are two ways of compiling the three-in-three sequence (i.e. wickets 1,2 and 3 or wickets 2,3 and 4). However, the four successive wickets taken by Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka in 2007 are recorded as a single hat-trick in the official records.

text: Hat-tricks are rare, and as such are treasured by bowlers. In Test cricket history there have been just 43 hat-tricks, the first achieved by Fred Spofforth for Australia against England in 1879. In 1912, Australian Jimmy Matthews achieved the feat twice in one game against South Africa. The only other players to achieve two hat-tricks are Australia's Hugh Trumble, against England in 1902 and 1904, Pakistan's Wasim Akram, in separate games against Sri Lanka in 1999, and England's Stuart Broad.

text: In One Day International cricket there have been 36 hat-tricks, the first by Jalal-ud-Din for Pakistan against Australia in 1982, and the most recent by Kuldeep Yadav.

text: Lasith Malinga is the only bowler to take three hat-tricks in any form of international cricket with his three in ODI. Three players have taken at least two ODI hat-tricks in their careers: Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq of Pakistan and Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka. (Akram therefore has four international hat-tricks in total).

text: Taking two wickets in two consecutive deliveries is occasionally known as a brace, or (more commonly, especially until the next delivery has been made) being on a hat-trick.

text: The feat of taking four wickets in four balls has occurred only once in international one-day cricket, in the 2007 World Cup, when Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga managed the feat against South Africa by dismissing Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini, though it has occurred on other occasions in first-class cricket. Kevan James of Hampshire took four wickets in four balls and scored a century in the same county game against India in 1996. The Cricinfo report on the game claimed that this was unique in cricket.[15][16]

text: Nuwan Zoysa of Sri Lanka is the only bowler to achieve a hat-trick off his first three balls in a Test, dismissing Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson and Trevor Gripper of Zimbabwe.[17] In 2006 Irfan Pathan of India achieved a hat-trick in the first over of the test match, off the last three balls, when dismissing Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan. Chaminda Vaas is the only one to achieve a hat-trick of the very first deliveries in one day internationals, against Bangladesh in the tenth match of 2003 ICC World Cup at City Oval, Pietermaritzburg. He got Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful and Ehsanul Haque out in the first three balls and took his fourth wicket in the fifth ball of the same over, just missing the double-hat-trick.

text: Albert Trott and Joginder Rao are the only two bowlers credited with two hat-tricks in the same innings in first-class cricket.  One of Trott's two hat-tricks, for Middlesex against Somerset at Lords in 1907, was a four in four.

text: Some hat-tricks are particularly extraordinary. On 2 December 1988, Merv Hughes, playing for Australia, dismissed Curtly Ambrose with the last ball of his penultimate over and Patrick Patterson with the first ball of his next over, wrapping up the West Indies first innings. When Hughes returned to bowl in the West Indies second innings, he trapped Gordon Greenidge lbw with his first ball, completing a hat-trick over two different innings and becoming the only player in Test cricket history to achieve the three wickets of a hat-trick in three different overs.

text: In 1844, underarm bowler William Clark, playing for "England" against Kent, achieved a hat-trick spread over two innings, dismissing Kent batsman John Fagge twice within the hat-trick. Fagge batted at number 11 in the first innings and at number 3 in the second. This event is believed to be unique in first-class cricket.[18]

text: For Gloucestershire against Yorkshire in 1922, CWL Parker had a hat-trick that was so nearly five wickets in five balls: he actually struck the stumps with five successive deliveries, but the second was a no-ball.

text: The most involved hat-trick was perhaps when Melbourne club cricketer Stephen Hickman, playing for Power House in March 2002, achieved a hat-trick spread over three overs, two days, two innings, involving the same batsman twice, and observed by the same non-striker, with the hat-trick ball being bowled from the opposite end to the first two. In the Mercantile Cricket Association C Grade semi-final at Fawkner Park, South Yarra, Gunbower United Cricket Club were 8 for 109 when Hickman came on to bowl his off spin. He took a wicket with the last ball of his third over and then bowled number 11 batsman Richard Higgins with the first ball of his next over to complete the Gunbower innings, leaving Chris Taylor the not out batsman. Power House scored 361, putting the game out of reach of Gunbower. In the second innings opener Taylor was joined by Higgins at the fall of the fourth wicket as Hickman returned to the attack. With his first ball, observed by an incredulous Taylor at the non-striker's end, he clean bowled Higgins, leaving Higgins with a pair of golden ducks.[19]

text: A triple hat-trick was achieved by Scott Babot of Wainuiomata Cricket Club playing in the Senior 3 competition in New Zealand in 2008. It consisted of five wickets in five balls, across two innings and separated by seven days, as the match took place on consecutive Saturdays.[20]

text: Another triple hat trick was taken by Hanuman Choudhary when playing for the Cricket Association of Memphis team (CAM) against Wolfpacks in the Arkansas Tennessee Cricket League on 23 October 2016, in the semifinal of India Association of Memphis tournament in Memphis Premier League 3. His five consecutive dismissals helped close the innings from 142–5 to 142 all out.[21]

text: A 'perfect over' of 6 wickets taken with 6 consecutive balls was achieved by Australian Aled Carey on 21 January 2017 while bowling for his club Golden Point against East Ballarat.  This very rare quadruple Hat-Trick consisted of 2 catches, an LBW and 3 bowled.[22]

text: There are very few cases of a fielder or wicket keeper taking a hat-trick of dismissals off consecutive deliveries in first-class cricket, and none in international cricket. The first such instance is the only known hat-trick of stumpings by a wicket keeper: WH Brain for Gloucestershire against Somerset in 1893, all off the bowling of CL Townend. There has never been a first-class wicket-keeping hat-trick that mixes catches and stumpings, but four other wicket-keepers have taken a hat-trick of catches: KR Meherhomji for Railways vs Freelooters at Secunderabad (the only instance outside England) in 1931, GO Dawkes for Derbyshire vs Worcestershire at Kidderminster in 1958, RC Russell for Gloucestershire against Surrey at The Oval in 1986, and T Frost for Warwickshire against Surrey at Edgbaston in 2003. (In Russell and Frost's cases, no bowler took a hat-trick since their catches were taken off different bowlers in successive overs: Meherhomji's and Dawkes's feats were hat-tricks for the bowlers as well, L Ramji and HL Jackson.) There are only two recorded cases of a hat-trick of catches being recorded by a non-wicket-keeper, both of which were also hat-tricks for the bowler as well: GJ Thompson, for Northants against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 2014 (all off SG Smith), and Marcus Trescothick for Somerset against Notts in 2018 at Trent Bridge (all off Craig Overton). Interestingly, Trescothick - though more famous as a batsman and only an occasional bowler - has also taken a hat-trick as a bowler, in 1995 against the Young Australians.

text: Darts[edit]

text: A hat-trick in darts is a score of three consecutive bullseyes, also known as the "Alan Evans Shot", after Alan Evans scored three bulleyes during a match on numerous occasions.[23]

text: Hockey[edit]

text: This section  includes citations that are incomplete. Please improve these citations so that sources are clearly identifiable. Several templates  are available to assist in formatting. (May 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text:
In  field hockey and ice hockey, a hat trick occurs when a player scores three goals in a single game. A hat trick in ice hockey, as it is known in its current form, culminates with fans throwing hats onto the ice from the stands.  The tradition is said to have begun among fans in the National Hockey League around the 1950s.[24]
There are several conflicting legends of how the "hat trick" was popularised in professional hockey. Most stories involve hats being awarded to any of the local players who scored three goals in a game.  According to the NHL, in the 1940s, a Toronto haberdasher used to give free hats to players with the Toronto Maple Leafs when they scored three goals in a game.[25]

text: Montreal hatter Henri Henri makes a similar claim, that between 1950 and 1970 they would reward any NHL player who scored three or more goals in a game at the Montreal Forum with a free hat.[26]

text: Finally, in the 1950s, the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of the Ontario Hockey Association, who were then a farm team of the NHL's New York Rangers, were sponsored by Guelph-based Biltmore Hats, a leading manufacturer of hats with North American dominance. The sponsor would award any Madhatters player who scored three goals in a game with a new fedora.[27]

text: In a slightly different account, the expression originates not with any member of a team, but with a particular player.  According to legend, Chicago Blackhawks forward Alex Kaleta entered the shop of Toronto businessman Sammy Taft to purchase a new hat, but did not have enough money. Taft arranged a deal with Kaleta stipulating that if Kaleta scored three goals as he played the Toronto Maple Leafs that night, Taft would give him a free hat. That night, on 26 January 1946, Kaleta scored four goals against the Maple Leafs and Taft made good on his offer.[28] This is the story accepted as the origin of the phrase in hockey by the Hockey Hall of Fame.[29]

text: While charming fables, all these explanations of the introduction of the term "hat trick" in hockey are too late to be true. On 8 December 1933, the Winnipeg Free Press[full citation needed] describes a hockey game in which "Romeo Rivers, rugged wingman" for the Monarchs scored three goals in the same game, describing how "Romeo completed his ‘hat trick’" when he scored his third goal of the night after taking a pass from a teammate who had drawn the goalie out of position.

text: The 16 January 1939 Lethbridge Herald (p.10)[full citation needed] describes a hockey game in which the Lethbridge Maple Leafs defeated the Calgary Stampeders and Jimmie McIndoe of the Leafs "turned the hat trick, when he converted three straight consecutive passes" from a teammate.

text: By 1944, the term "hat trick" was so well established in hockey that the Winnipeg Free Press (29 November 1944, p. 14)[full citation needed] reports that "hockey's traditional ‘hat-trick’ – the feat of scoring three goals in a single game – will receive official recognition from the Amateur Hockey Association" of the US by awarding a small silver derby hat to players to mark the accomplishment. Thus, by 1944 the term "hat trick" was common enough to be termed "traditional." Given how frequently the words "hat trick" were used in sports reporting on cricket and association football in the early 20th century, the term was probably routinely used in hockey by the early 1930s.

text: Wayne Gretzky holds the NHL record for the most hat tricks in a career with 50. Harry Hyland scored the league's first hat trick, in the league's very first game on 19 December 1917, in which Hyland's Montreal Wanderers defeated the Toronto Arenas 10–9.[30]

text: Variations[edit]

text: A natural hat trick occurs when a player scores three consecutive goals, uninterrupted by any other player scoring for either team.[31]

text: The NHL record for the fastest natural hat trick is 2 minutes and 21 seconds, set by Bill Mosienko in 1952 for the Chicago Blackhawks.[32]

text: A Gordie Howe hat trick is a tongue-in-cheek play on the feat. It is achieved by scoring a goal, getting an assist, and getting in a fight, all in the same game. Namesake Gordie Howe himself only recorded two in his NHL career, as opposed to league leader Rick Tocchet, who accrued 18 Gordie Howe hat tricks.[33]

text: In December 1995, Florida Panthers captain Scott Mellanby scored a rat trick, the term coined by teammate John Vanbiesbrouck. Prior to the game, Mellanby killed a rat in the Panthers' locker room with his hockey stick, and proceeded to score a pair of goals later that night.[34] When Mellanby scored a hat trick in a later game, some Florida fans threw plastic rats on the ice, a tradition that continued for all Panthers' goals throughout the 1996 playoffs. Due to the resulting game delays caused by the necessary clean-up of the plastic rats, the league eventually banned the activity and modified Rule 63 to impose a minor penalty against the home team for a violation.[35] The more traditional practice of fans throwing hats on the ice following genuine hat tricks remains exempt from this penalty.

text: Lacrosse[edit]

text: A hat-trick in lacrosse is when a player scores three goals in one game.

text: Marbles[edit]

text: In marbles, a hat-trick occurs when a player hits all marbles in a single turn.

text: Motor racing[edit]

text: In motor racing, three successive race wins, winning the same event three times in a row, or securing pole position, fastest lap and race victory in one event may all be referred to as a hat-trick.

text: Poker[edit]

text: Eliminating three players from a table with one hand in live poker play is sometimes referred to as a hat-trick and is incredibly rare. It is a much more frequent occurrence in online poker games, given the faster and greater number of hands played in online tournaments and the continuing presence of multiple "all-in" players during the early stages of tournament play as players look to build large chip stacks quickly and early.

text: Checking and raising an opponent three times,[36] as well as winning the European Poker Tour (EPT), World Series of Poker (WSOP), and World Poker Tour (WPT) in the same year,[37] are also called hat tricks in poker.

text: Rugby football[edit]

text: In both codes of rugby football (rugby union and rugby league) a hat-trick is when a player scores three or more tries in a game.  In rugby union, a related concept is that of a "full house" (scoring a try, conversion, penalty goal, and drop goal) in a single game. When a player scored two tries, this is often referred to as a brace. As with association football, it is common to award the match ball to a player who scores a hat-trick.

text: Ken Irvine and Frank Burge both scored 16 hat-tricks in Australian first grade rugby league[38]

text: Shaun Johnson scored a hat-trick in under 6 minutes against the Canberra Raiders in 2013, and in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, Valentine Holmes scored a double hat-trick (6 tries) against Fiji.

text: Scrabble[edit]

text: In Scrabble, a hat-trick occurs when a player plays three consecutive bingos.

text: Handball/Water polo[edit]

text: In handball or water polo, if a player scores three times in a game, a hat trick is made.


document_title: Crazy Horse Memorial

question_text: when did the crazy horse memorial project began

text: Crazy Horse Memorial

text: Crazy Horse[edit]

text: Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S. Federal government to fight against encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people. His most famous actions against the U.S. military included the Fetterman Fight (21 December 1866) and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (25–26 June 1876). He surrendered to U.S. troops under General Crook in May 1877 and was fatally wounded by a military guard, while allegedly[4][5] resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson in present-day Nebraska. He ranks among the most notable and iconic of Native American tribal members and was honored by the U.S. Postal Service in 1982 with a 13¢ postage stamp that is part of its Great Americans series.[6]

text: History of the monument[edit]

text: Henry Standing Bear ("Mato Naji"), an Oglala Lakota chief, and well-known statesman and elder in the Native American community, recruited and commissioned Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to build the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In October 1931, Luther Standing Bear, Henry's older brother, wrote sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who was carving the heads of four American presidents at Mount Rushmore. Luther suggested that it would be "most fitting to have the face of Crazy Horse sculpted there. Crazy Horse is the real patriot of the Sioux tribe and the only one worthy to place by the side of Washington and Lincoln." Borglum never replied.[7] Thereafter, Henry Standing Bear began a campaign to have Borglum carve an image of Crazy Horse on Mt. Rushmore.[8] In summer of 1935, Standing Bear, frustrated over the stalled Crazy Horse project, wrote to James H. Cook, a long time friend of Chief Red Cloud's "I am struggling hopelessly with this because I am without funds, no employment and no assistance from any Indian or White."[9]

text: On November 7, 1939, Henry Standing Bear wrote to the Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who worked on Mount Rushmore under Gutzon Borglum. He informed the sculptor, "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too."[10] Standing Bear also wrote a letter to Undersecretary Oscar Chapman of the Department of the Interior, offering all his own fertile 900 acres (365 ha) in exchange for the barren mountain for the purpose of paying honor to Crazy Horse. The government responded positively, and the National Forest Service, responsible for the land, agreed to grant a permit for the use of the land, with a commission to oversee the project. Standing Bear chose not to seek government funds and relied instead upon influential Americans interested in the welfare of the American Indian to privately fund the project.[11]

text: In the spring of 1940, Ziolkowski spent three weeks with Standing Bear at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, discussing land ownership issues and learning about Crazy Horse and the Lakota way of life. According to Ziolkowski, "Standing Bear grew very angry when he spoke of the broken Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868). That was the one I'd read about in which the President promised the Black Hills would belong to the Indians forever. I remember how his old eyes flashed out of that dark mahogany face, then he would shake his head and fall silent for a long while."[10]

text: Memorial foundation[edit]

text: The memorial is a non-profit undertaking, and receives no federal or state funding. The Memorial Foundation charges fees for its visitor centers and earns revenue from its gift shops. Ziolkowski reportedly was offered US$10 million for the project from the federal government on two occasions, but he turned the offers down. He felt the project was more than just a mountain carving, and he feared that his plans for the broader educational and cultural goals of the memorial would be overturned by federal involvement.[12]

text: After Ziolkowski died in 1982 at age 74, his widow Ruth Ziolkowski, took charge of the sculpture, overseeing work on the project as CEO from the 1980s to the 2010s.[13][14] Ruth Ziolkowski decided to focus on the completion of Crazy Horse's face first, instead of the horse as her husband had originally planned.[13] She believed that Crazy Horse's face, once completed, would increase the sculpture's draw as a tourist attraction, which would provide additional funding.[13] She also oversaw the staff, which included seven of her children.[14]

text: Sixteen years later, in 1998, the face of Crazy Horse was completed and dedicated; Crazy Horse's eyes are 17 feet (5 m) wide.[15] Ruth Ziolkowski and seven of the Ziolkowskis' 10 children carried on work at the memorial.[16] Ruth's daughter, Monique Ziolkowski, herself a sculptor, modified some of her father's plans to ensure that the weight of the outstretched arm was supported sufficiently.[17] The foundation commissioned reports from two engineering firms in 2009 to help guide completion of the project.[17] Work commenced on the horse after two years of careful planning and measurements.[13]

text: Ruth Ziolkowski died 21 May 2014, aged 87.[18] Monique Ziolkowski, Ruth's daughter, became CEO and three of her siblings continue to work on the project, as well as three of Monique's nephews.[19]

text: Completed vision[edit]

text: The memorial is to be the centerpiece of an educational/cultural center, to include a satellite campus of the University of South Dakota, with a classroom building and residence hall, made possible by a US$2.5 million donation in 2007 from T. Denny Sanford, a philanthropist from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It is called the University and Medical Training Center for the North American Indian and the Indian Museum of North America. The current visitor complex will anchor the center.[16] Sanford also donated US$5 million to the memorial, to be paid US$1 million a year for five years as matching donations were raised, specifically to further work on the horse's head.[17]

text: Paul and Donna "Muffy" Christen of Huron, South Dakota, in July 2010, announced they were donating US$5 million in two installments to an endowment to support the operation of the satellite campus. It holds classes in math, English, and American Indian studies courses for college credit, as well as outreach classes. The memorial foundation has awarded more than US$1.2 million in scholarships, with the majority going to Native students within South Dakota.[17]

text: Fundraising and events[edit]

text: The foundation sponsors Native American cultural events and educational programs. Annually in June, the Memorial hosts a Volksmarch, when the public is permitted on the mountain. Attendance has grown to as many as 15,000.

text: Much of the earth-moving equipment used is donated by corporations. The work on the monument has been primarily supported by visitor fees, with more than one million people visiting annually. The visitor center contains many pieces of rock blasted from the mountain; visitors may take samples in exchange for a small donation.

text: The Memorial began its first national fund drive in October 2006.[1] The goal was to raise US$16.5 million by 2011. The first planned project was a US$1.4 million dormitory to house 40 American Indian students who would work as interns at the memorial.[20]

text: Periodically the memorial publicizes blasting events, which attract thousands of people from all over the region. They may wait for hours as the clock counts down. The gala ends in numerous near-simultaneous detonations, and a great tumbling of rocks and dust down the mountain.

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Crazy Horse resisted being photographed and was deliberately buried where his grave would not be found. Ziolkowski envisioned the monument as a metaphoric tribute to the spirit of Crazy Horse and Native Americans. He reportedly said, "My lands are where my dead lie buried." His extended hand on the monument is to symbolize that statement.[16]

text: Elaine Quiver, a descendant of one of Crazy Horse's aunts,[21] said in 2003 that the elder Standing Bear should not have independently petitioned Ziolkowski to create the memorial, because Lakota culture dictates consensus from family members for such a decision, which was not obtained before the first rock was dynamited in 1948.[22] She said:

text: They don't respect our culture because we didn't give permission for someone to carve the sacred Black Hills where our burial grounds are. They were there for us to enjoy and they were there for us to pray. But it wasn't meant to be carved into images, which is very wrong for all of us. The more I think about it, the more it's a desecration of our Indian culture. Not just Crazy Horse, but all of us.[22]

text: Seth Big Crow, whose great-grandmother was an aunt of Crazy Horse's, said he wondered about the millions of dollars which the Ziolkowski family had collected from the visitor center and shops associated with the memorial, and "the amount of money being generated by his ancestor's name". He said:

text: Or did it give them free hand to try to take over the name and make money off it as long as they're alive and we're alive? When you start making money rather than to try to complete the project, that's when, to me, it's going off in the wrong direction.[22]

text: Other traditional Lakota oppose the memorial. In his 1972 autobiography, John Fire Lame Deer, a Lakota medicine man, said: "The whole idea of making a beautiful wild mountain into a statue of him is a pollution of the landscape. It is against the spirit of Crazy Horse."[23] In a 2001 interview, Lakota activist Russell Means said: "Imagine going to the holy land in Israel, whether you're a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, and start carving up the mountain of Zion. It's an insult to our entire being."[24]


document_title: God bless you

question_text: who came up with bless you when you sneeze

text: God bless you

text: Look up God bless you in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

text: God bless you (variants include God bless or bless you[1]) is a common English expression, used to wish a person blessings in various situations,[1][2] especially as a response to a sneeze, and also, when parting or writing a valediction.[1][3]

text: The phrase has been used in the Hebrew Bible by Jews (cf. Numbers 6:24), and by Christians, since the time of the early Church as a benediction, as well as a means of bidding a person Godspeed.[4][5] Many clergy, when blessing their congregants individually or as a group, use the phrase "God bless you".[6]

text: A typical polite response after being told "bless you" in response to sneezing is to thank the person who has said it.

text: Origins and legends[edit]

text: National Geographic reports that during the plague of AD 590, "Pope Gregory I ordered unceasing prayer for divine intercession. Part of his command was that anyone sneezing be blessed immediately ("God bless you"), since sneezing was often the first sign that someone was falling ill with the plague."[7] By AD 750, it became customary to say "God bless you" as a response to one sneezing.[8]

text: The practice of blessing someone who sneezes dates as far back as at least AD 77, although it is far older than most specific explanations can account for.[9] Some have offered an explanation suggesting that people once held the folk belief that a person's soul could be thrown from their body when they sneezed,[9] that sneezing otherwise opened the body to invasion by the Devil or evil spirits,[10][11] or that sneezing was the body's effort to force out an invading evil presence.[9] In these cases, "God bless you" or "bless you" is used as a sort of shield against evil.[12] The Irish Folk story "Master and Man" by Thomas Crofton Croker, collected by William Butler Yeats, describes this variation.[13] Moreover, in the past some people may have thought that the heart stops beating during a sneeze, and that the phrase "God bless you" encourages the heart to continue beating.[9][10][11]

text: In some cultures, sneezing is seen as a sign of good fortune or God's beneficence.[9][14] As such, alternative responses to sneezing are the French phrase à vos souhaits (meaning "to your wishes"), the German word Gesundheit (meaning "health") sometimes adopted by English speakers, the Irish word sláinte (meaning "good health"), the Spanish salud (also meaning "health") and the Hebrew laBri'ut (colloquial) or liVriut (classic) (both spelled: "לבריאות") (meaning "to health").

text: In Persian culture, sneezing sometimes is called "sabr =صبر," meaning "to wait or be patient." And when trying to do something or go somewhere and suddenly sneezing, one should stop or sit for a few minutes and then re-start. By this act the "bad thing" passes and one will be saved. This is observed in Indian culture as well.

text: In Greek culture, sneezing was widely recognized as a divine omen. In Book 17 of Homer’s Odyssey, Penelope speaks to Eumaeus in private about the suitors feasting in the halls of the king's palace, and how surely Odysseus will return and kill them. Suddenly her son Telemachus sneezes and Penelope laughed. A sneeze meant the intercession of the gods to make her statement come true. It was a blessing from the gods, connecting the sneeze to the "God Bless You."