They are not fooled: Toronto, the defending champion, returned to 2-2 in their Eastern Conference semi-final by beating Boston, and Denver, carried by their duo Nikola Jokic / Jamal Murray, equalized at 1-1 against the Clippers.
Crunchy nuggets again
After a first game where they drank the cup, in the wake of their testing qualification (4-3) against Utah, the players of Denver showed a completely different aggressiveness to precisely respond on this ground in LA and this was reflected by a deserved victory (111-101).
It took shape from the first twelve minutes concluded with a score of 44-25. A 19-point gap that the Clippers could never completely annihilate, returning to -5 at the start of the last quarter, before the Nuggets put on a definitive neck stroke by killer shoots behind the arc of Jamal Murray (28 pts) and Gary Harris (13 pts) in the money time.
“We were tired in match N.1, we were limp, exhausted … We couldn’t shoot, defend. Tonight had a lot more energy and that changed everything, ”said Murray.
The other great man of the match will have been Nikola Jokic who did a monumental job on both sides of the field (26 pts, 18 rbs, 4 assists, 3 blocks) and that we have rarely seen his fighting spirit on the floor.
The Clippers gave them the impression of being able to reverse the situation so badly embarked, but they lacked this second wind which allows this kind of feat. And as if by chance, it fell on Kawhi Leonard’s “night without”, to whom this hardly ever happens. His at half mast penalized him (4/17 for 13 pts, 10 rebounds, 8 assists).
Paul George, who scared his knee, left a little behind on the reception of an action, launched the revolt at the end of the match (22 pts), but it did not take place until too late .
“Offensively we refused to move the ball, to play simple. Quite the opposite of what made our victory in match N.1. The first quarter is our defense that sinned, the three is our attack, ”summarized the coach of the Clippers Doc Rivers.
Raptors biting again
After two initial losses against the Celtics then much better, then a first snatch victory in match N.3, thanks to a three-point basket from OG Anunoby 0.5 seconds from the buzzer, the Raptors found solutions to rebalance the debates, this time by winning 100 to 93.
Offensively first, by adjusting the sight to three points, sector at half mast so far. They took 17 shots, certainly with a perfectible percentage (38.6%), where the C’s only put 7 out of 35.
They also put more energy and impact into the defensive duels, so much so that the only opposing weapon to have worked was Jayson Tatum (24 pts, 10 rebounds).
Pascal Siakam (23 pts, 11 rebounds) and Kyle Lowry (22 pts, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks) were not content to be Toronto’s top scorers: they were leaders on both sides of the field, imprinting a constantly high rhythm.
And they had the support of an X factor in the person of Serge Ibaka (18 pts, 7 rbds), effective behind the arc (4/4) and always as dissuasive to protect his panel, like this cons on Daniel Theis who was going to dunk.
As illustrated by Dikembe Mutombo in the 90s, Ibaka, also Congolese of origin, punctuated his defensive gesture by saying “no” with his index finger, to make it clear that no one would enter his house this Saturday evening.
“There you go, now we are starting from scratch. We play against a great team, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. It’s up to us to continue to work hard, ”Siakam said.
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