Los Angeles Clippers, with the guidance of their star Kawhi Leonard, eliminated the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday by winning 126-111 in the seventh and decisive game and got the ticket to the semifinals of the Western conference of the NBA.
Leonard, with 28 points and 10 rebounds, led a Clippers offense split with seven players scoring more than ten points each. The home team had an excellent 3-point shooting ERA at 20-for-43, to just 10-for-36 for Dallas.
The former teammate of Manu Ginobili in San Antonio Spurs had a performance that in itself does not seem to stand out from the average of a crack in his hierarchy, but had certain peculiarities. By not losing a ball in the entire game, he became in the second player after Kobe Bryant to complete Game 7 with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and no losses.
Thanks to that performance, accompanied by 23 points of Marcus Morris, 22 of Paul George and 15 of Reggie Jackson, the Clippers will meet in the semifinals of the West against the Utah Jazz, in a series whose first of seven games will be played on Tuesday at the Vivint Arena, in Salt Lake City, home of the Jazz, owner of the best record of the regular season.
Paul George and Luka Doncic talk after the end of the game. Photo EFE
The Slovenian Luka Doncic did not have the support of his Mavericks teammates so his excellent offensive performance of 46 points, second best mark in the history of the seventh games just one point from Dominique Wilkins (1988) and Sam Jones (1963), with 14 assists and seven rebounds, did not serve more than statistics.
The Mavericks did not find space to take advantage of long-range shots and had a very weak performance from the second guitar, the Latvian Kristaps Porzingis (who has a contract for three more seasons and about 100 million dollars).
The European internal just averaged 13 points (10 less than in 2020), a meager 29.6% from three-point shots and only 5.4 rebounds.
Atlanta, led by Trae Young
Trae Young heads to the basket. The point guard looks unstoppable in these playoffs, averaging 30 points. AFP photo
Point guard Trae Young, with a double-double of 35 points and 10 assists, led the Atlanta Hawks 124-128 away win over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Hawks, who were fifth in the regular season, thus win the best-of-seven series 1-0 and they now control the field advantage.
Young scored 4 of 11 3-point attempts, posted 9-9 from the personnel line and added 25 points in the first half, in addition to the Hawks’ decisive goals.
The point guard was the second player in NBA history to score 30 points in each of the first four postseason games of his career. Joined the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from the 1970 Milwaukee Bucks.
The Serbian escort Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 21 points and the power forward John Collins he also had 21, including three triples from four attempts.
The Hawks finished with 20 3-pointers on 47 shooting, compared to 10 of 29 for the Sixers, who also missed from the free line at 24 of 35.
Philadelphia was not reached with the return of Cameroonian pivot Joel Embiid, recovered from a cartilage tear in his right knee against the Washington Wizards. The Sixers’ reaction came too late as they edged within three points with 1:01 to play after Embiid scored back-to-back baskets.
Bogdanovic put his fingers to his lips and silenced the raucous Sixers crowd at the Wells Fargo Center by scoring a victory-sealed 3-pointer. The second duel will be played on Tuesday on the same stage.
Brooklyn, no Harden for game 2
Harden greets Durant. An image that will not be repeated in the second game against Milwaukee. Reuters photo
Guard James Harden, one of three Brooklyn Nets superstars, to miss at least the second game of the NBA conference semifinal series against the Milwaukee Bucks for his hamstring injury, the franchise reported Sunday.
In Game 1 of this Eastern semi-final series, which the Nets won 115-107 on Saturday, Harden retired to the locker room in the first minute of play at resent this injury muscular.
The listener, NBA leading scorer the last three seasons, he was out for five weeks between April and May due to a similar physical problem.
In their brief statement, the Nets did not specify if Harden could be available for the next games in this series.
Without Harden, Brooklyn’s other stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving combined to score 54 points and put the Nets ahead in the tie against Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks.
AFP and EFE.
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