MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Los Angeles Clippers refused to let a third chance to knock the Memphis Grizzlies out of the playoffs slip away.

Kenyon Martin scored seven of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, and the Clippers advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with an 82-72 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 7 on Sunday.

“That’s why it’s seven games,” Martin said. “If you don’t do it before, you get another chance. So they did what they had to do, they came and stole home court back on our floor. ... We had a chance to close it out. We knew we let it go, an opportunity get away.”

The Clippers blew an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter Friday night. So Martin huddled the Clippers together at the start of the fourth quarter Sunday, and the veteran led the bench in outscoring the Grizzlies 25-16. Chris Paul had the only bucket by a starter in the final 12 minutes, and the Clippers’ bench outscored the Memphis reserves 41-11 overall.

“Our bench was our MVP,” Clippers guard Randy Foye said. “They realized what they had to do. We had a lot of guys hurt, so we just continued to grind.”

Now, the Clippers have their third postseason series win in 41 years and their second since relocating to Los Angeles. They last beat Denver in 2006. The Clippers also avoided becoming the ninth NBA team to blow a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series.

Heat 95, Pacers 86

MIAMI — LeBron James was promised some rest. It never came.

The MVP didn’t care, not after he and the Miami Heat struck the first blow against the Indiana Pacers.

James accepted his third MVP trophy from Commissioner David Stern before the game, then scored 26 of his game-high 32 points while playing every second of the second half — adding a season-high 15 rebounds as well — as the Heat survived some rough stretches to beat the Pacers 95-86 on Sunday in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal.

Dwyane Wade scored 29 points for the Heat, who won the game but lost Chris Bosh for the second half and possibly longer. Bosh scored 13 points before leaving late in the first half.