A day of contrasts lived in the first round of the NBA playoffs with the Brooklyn Nets classified to the semifinals, thanks to the scoring genius of the “Big Three” and the humiliation suffered by the Los Angeles Lakers, current defending champions, without their star center Anthony Davis.
While the duel between the Denver Nuggets and the Portland Trail Blazers remained and they had to reach overtime to define the winner of the fifth game.
Guard James Harden shone in a special way as the leader of the “Big Three” by achieving a triple-double that allowed the Nets to easily beat the Boston Celtics 123-109 in the fifth game of the tie, which they won 4-4. 1 to the best of seven.
The Nets with their triumph reach the semifinals of the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2014 and will have as their next rivals the Milwaukee Bucks, who have been classified for a week after sweeping the Miami Heat 4-0 in the first round.
The Brooklyn team, having the second best record in the Eastern Conference, will begin the series with the field advantage and will receive the Bucks at the Barclays Center in New York, this Saturday, for the first game of the series that will play the best of seven.
Harden made his most complete game in the playoffs with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, his first postseason triple-double with the Nets, he also recovered two balls and put up two blocks in the 39 minutes he was on the field.
Former point guard Jason Kidd has the other 10 triple-doubles in the Nets’ postseason history, who are now 12-3 in playoff games against the Celtics.
The All-Star guard dominated the field goal from any position as he finished the game 10 of 17, including 4 of 7 from outside the perimeter, and shot 10 of 11 from the personnel line.
Controversial point guard Kyrie Irving finished with 25 points as the second leading scorer and forward Kevin Durant reached 24 points that also helped the Nets win, which had five players with double-digit numbers.
Despite their limited time together during the regular season, the three Nets superstars proved just how powerful they can be in this series, particularly when they combined for 104 points in Game 4.
Brooklyn wasn’t nearly as powerful as the previous game they played at Boston’s TD Garden and won by scoring 141 points, but they also had a small explosive stretch here and there it was good enough to end the series against an opponent. decimated and without his best players on the field.
The Phoenix Suns exposed the Lakers as a team and their star forward LeBron James, the leader, after beating them 115-85 in the fourth game of the series, which they now dominate 3-2 to the best of seven .
Once again, the Lakers, without Davis, showed that they are a team of the heap, and more when their great star, James, only responded in the second half and with everything already defined from the rest that was reached with the partial 66 -36 in favor of the Suns.
The Hispanic guard Devin Booker was in charge of leading the balanced attack of the Suns with 30 points, with seven rebounds and five assists.
While for the Lakers, James, who in the first half disappeared like the rest of the team, in the second half made up his work by getting 24 points with seven assists that were of no use to his team.
Center Andre Drummond was once again the best of the Lakers in the inside game with 13 rebounds, but he barely scored seven points.
Power forward Kyle Kuzma who remained on reserve, despite covering Davis ‘spot, finished as the Lakers’ second leading scorer by scoring 15 points.
Power forward Michael Porter Jr. hit a 3-pointer with 1:33 left in the second overtime and helped the Nuggets crush an epic Trail Blazers comeback with a 147-140 victory in Game 5 of the tie. that they won 3-2 to the best of seven.
The Nuggets won despite point guard Damian Lillard’s franchise record in the playoffs of 55 points and NBA playoff record with 12 3-pointers, including long-range shots that forced both overtime. He eclipsed the 11 mark set by Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson in Oklahoma City against the Thunder on May 28, 2016.
Lillard scored 17 of Portland’s 19 points in the two overtime periods, but did not score again after his 12th triple in 17 attempts put the Blazers ahead 140-138 with 3:47 left.
Serbian center Nikola Jokic, who scored 38 points and was one assist from a triple-double, tied at 140 with a layup and Porter Jr. broke the tie with a 3 from the left corner with 1:33 left.
The Trail Blazers were still three points behind until a couple of costly mistakes sent them back to Portland for Game 6 on Thursday night, which they need to win if they want to stay alive.
Sonia Salazar
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