Lakers Los Angeles had to put together a strong end to the regular season to reach the NBA playoffs. They even had to beat Minnesota in overtime to qualify for the Play-In and take the penultimate ticket.
An effort that was crowned in his first game of these playoffs. The second most winning franchise in the league, which advanced as the seventh seeded team in the Western Conference, unquestionably defeated the young team from Memphis, which finished second in the same area with an expressive partial of 128-112.
The Californian quintet began the game with great intensity and already in the first quarter prevailed by a 32-27 run. However, andhe Tennessee infield, led by the controversial player I Morantrallied in the second quarter to win 65-62 at halftime.
In the final part of the match, LeBron James and company demonstrated their experience in the playoffs and destroyed the momentum of the second placed. He King signed a list of 21 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.
However, the factor in the triumph of the Los Angeles team was the irruption of the Japanese forward Rui Hachimura, who was the team’s leading scorer with 29 unitsthanks in large part to the 83% he got on his 3-point shooting.
Above, the painting Grizzlies reported the loss of Morant with a strong pain in right hand that puts it in doubt for the next duel in the series.
The second game will be played again in Memphis, on Wednesday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Chile. And the series will only arrive in California on Saturday, April 22, at 10:00 p.m. in Chile.
In another duel of the West, The Los Angeles Clippers -fifth in the regular season- traveled to Phoenix to defeat Kevin Durant’s Suns 115-100. The second game of the series, also in Arizona, will take place on Tuesday, April 18.
In the last game of the conference, the local Denver Nuggets -the number of the regular season- had no regard to destroy the eighth Minnesota Timberwolves by an expressive 109-80 and leave the series 1-0. The second game will be on Wednesday, April 20, again in the capital of Colorado.
The Miami Heat gave another of the surprises of the first round. The Florida team, the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, traveled to Milwaukee to beat the number one Bucks 130-117.
However, hethe worst news for the 2021 champions it was not so much the result, but the injury that took his great star, the Greek, out of the game Giannis Antetokounmpowho left late in the first quarter after colliding with Kevin Love.
The European received a blow to the lower back and is doubtful for the second game of the match, which will be played on Wednesday, again at the Bucks’ home.
“We’ll keep an eye on his recovery and see how he picks up tomorrow,” Wisconsin team coach Mike Budenholzer said.
