The NBA playoffs continued early this morning (Saturday) with three games, with the drama coming this time from Atlanta, where Trey Young scored a winning basket against Miami. Champion Milwaukee and runner-up Phoenix restored order in their series, with away wins in Chicago and New Orleans respectively.
Night results:
Atlanta Hawks (8) – Miami Heat (1) 110: 111
Chicago Bulls (6) – Milwaukee Bucks (3) 111:81
New Orleans Pelicans (8) – Phoenix Suns (1) 114:111
Atlanta Hawks (8) – Miami Heat (1) 110: 111 (The Hawks shrunk to 2: 1 in the series)
After struggling in the first two games of the series, Trey Young was once again there in money time for the Hawks, who came back to life in the series after a comeback from a 16-point deficit during the second half. PJ Tucker led a 0:21 run that gave the hit the same advantage, except that in a plus-point situation in favor of Miami, second-game hero Jimmy Butler missed a shot to two and the ball fell into Young’s hands, with coach Nate McMillan not even considering taking a timeout. The star “entered the woods” as he passed Tucker on the way and fired an archery shot over Butler, who dived in and stopped the clock at 4.4 seconds. Butler failed to score a three in the last attempt and Atlanta celebrated.
Beyond the result, Miami should also be concerned that Kyle Laurie abandoned the game in the third quarter due to injury, and the team will hope that the leading center will not join the list of stars who have been sidelined in the current playoffs.
Young finished with 24 points and eight assists for the winner, Bogdan Bogdanovich was as efficient as usual off the bench, with 18, eight rebounds and six assists, and Diandra Hunter scored 17. In the hit ranks Tyler Hiro balled with 24 and 7 rebounds, Butler and Max Strauss scored 20 points each. one.
Chicago Bulls (6) – Milwaukee Bucks (3) 111: 81 (Milwaukee went up 1: 2 in the series)
No Chris Middleton? There’s Grayson Allen. The infamous player due to his unsportsmanlike ways Haifa for the absence of the injured star, and with five threes out of seven attempts contributed 22 points that placed him as the champion’s outstanding scorer, on the way to regaining the home advantage and rising to 1: 2 in the series. The playoffs are back for the first time in five years, but the Bulls provided a fall display precisely after surprising the Bucks away, and will have to equalize in the next game to return to Milwaukee with a realistic chance of qualifying for the regional semifinals.
Yannis Antocompo scored just two points after the first quarter, but was not really needed more than that, as the 16 that came before helped the visitors open a high double-digit gap. The Greek finished with 18, seven rebounds and nine assists while Bobby Fortis recorded 18 of his own alongside 16 rebounds. Nikola Wojciech led the Chicago scoring with 19, Zac Lavin added 15 and Damar Druzen only 11.
New Orleans Pelicans (8) – Phoenix Suns (1) 114: 111 (Phoenix rose to 1: 2 in the series)
Even in the regular season, the Suns proved that they know how to overcome star absences excellently, and tonight they did it again without Devin Booker, when the other two pillars of the team rose big. Phoenix led 53:66 early in the third quarter, but the Pelicans scored 12 unanswered points to make it 79:81 early in the final quarter. But then owner Chris Paul took over the game, scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter out of 28 he had in the entire game, including 15 of the last 23 of the entire team, in addition to 14 assists in a show that mentioned how huge he is – against the team he started his career.
Eyton as well provided great ability, with 28 points and 17 rebounds, with Michael Bridges playing third fiddle with 17 points of his own, and Jabeil Maggie contributing 15 with just one miss from the field (7/8). Brandon Ingram was again excellent, with 34 points and seven rebounds, and CJ McCollum also stood out with 30 points, but the rest of the Pelicans players didn’t really show up and the advantage in the series returned to the runner-up.