Lance Stephenson scored a career playoff-high 25 points on Saturday to lead the Indianapolis Pacers to a 106-99 victory over the New York Knicks and into the NBA Eastern Conference finals. The Pacers withstood 39 points by Knicks star Carmelo Anthony to win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference second-round series four games to two and will now battle reigning NBA champions Miami for a place in the NBA finals.

A group led by software magnate Vivek Ranadive of India has purchased the NBA's Sacramento Kings and will keep the team in the California capital, the city's mayor confirmed on Friday. Mayor Kevin Johnson, himself a former NBA player, announced that a deal had been signed to keep the club in Sacramento -- a contract that includes a new 18,500-seat downtown arena as part of the lure to prevent a move to Seattle.

Houston, May 17 (EFE).- The San Antonio Spurs secured a berth in the Western Conference Finals with a series-clinching 94-82 road victory over the Golden State Warriors, while the New York Knicks stayed alive with a Game 5 win at home over the Indiana Pacers. The veteran Spurs got strong performances by their entire starting unit in Thursday night's contest at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, with all five players scoring in double figures. Tim Duncan led the way with 19 points, while small forward Kawhi Leonard and center Tiago Splitter added 16 and 14, respectively.

Carmelo Anthony had a game-high 28 points and the New York Knicks staved off elimination Thursday with a wire-to-wire 85-75 victory over Indiana in game five of their second round NBA playoff series. J.R. Smith and Chris Copeland came off the bench to score 13 points each for the Knicks, who closed the Eastern Conference contest on a 10-4 scoring run in front of a crowd of 19,033 at Madison Square Garden. Anthony had one of his best games of the series, and he got plenty of help from the bench as other Knicks starters continued to struggle.