The Milwaukee Bucks got off to a good start defending their league, winning the front row over the Chicago Bulls 93-86.
Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounbo, once again showed his leadership qualities with a performance of 27 points. He also got 16 rebounds. He is also one of the finalists for the title of most valuable player.
The Bucks took a 16-point lead at one point, but the Bulls failed to maintain momentum.
Jro Holliday scored a three-point shot with 5:03 remaining in an 8-0 streak, giving the Bucks an 85-78 lead. The Bulls failed to recover. Zach LaVine missed a possible three-pointer in 29 seconds.
The Bucks have won 17 of their last 18 games against the Bulls, including five games this season. The only victory of the Bulls during this series came in the last match of the 2020-21 season, when the Bucks rested several of their key players.
Brooke Lopez had 18 points, Holliday added 15 of them nine in the fourth quarter, Chris Middleton had 11 and Bobby Portis 10 in the win.
Center Brooke Lopez played a very important game in the victory, scoring 7 of his 18 points. He has also received praise from Antetokunbo.
“We kept our composure and our toughness made the difference”, a tribute was paid to the Greek star, who was not used at the last minute.
Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds for the Bulls, who are entering the playoffs for the first time in five years. Lavin added 18 points and 10 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The heat is already too hot for the Hawks
The Miami Heat dominated their first game against the Atlanta Hawks and won 115-91 in the first game of their series on Sunday afternoon.
Atlanta was limited to 38.7% of its shots, while Miami succeeded in 52.4% of its efforts.
Duncan Robinson led the Heat with 27 points, in part thanks to eight additions in nine attempts behind the three-point arc.
Jimmy Butler made a strong game with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The Heat, runners-up in 2020 and No. 1, gave a basketball lesson to the very tender Hawks (No. 8), who will have to show pride in the next matches, to avoid a broomstick.
However, Heat’s DNA is known: fighting spirit at all times, tough defense, flexibility in attack. And these perfectly implemented qualities called for a first victim: Yang drowned, unable to weigh in the game, as he had managed to do on Friday, scoring 38 points in the second playoff game won by the Hawks in Cleveland.
He made just one basket in 12 attempts (8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), his lowest total this season and fewer hits: one hand on the face and one dive, certainly unintentionally, on the ankle, by Kyle Lowry ( 10 points, 9 assists), as well as a neck grab by Jimmy Butler (21 points) at the start of the match after a collision that gave them a technical foul.
“We wanted to make him very strong physically, to provoke every shot, to move him away from the three-point line and to force him to pass the ball. “He is a great passer, but above all he can score a lot of points and we did not want that,” Butler summed up.
On the Hawks side, where Clint Capella, a victim of knee overexertion on Friday during the playoffs he won in Cleveland, lost a lot of means, there were only Danilo Galinari (17 points) and DeAndre Hunter (14 points).
The Suns are very strong in game 1
The Phoenix Suns easily beat the New Orleans Pelicans 110-99 in Game 1 of the first round of the NBA.
The Suns engine came out of the blocks with 28 points in the first quarter. Phoenix led by 19 at halftime. New Orleans tried to turn the corner by scoring 37 points in the third quarter, reaching eight points at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Phoenix, however, closed the gap and continued to put baskets in the last quarter to sign the victory and take the lead in the series. Chris Paul scored 19 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. By the way, Paul became the oldest player in NBA history to score 30 points and collect 10 assists in a playoff game. He surpassed the former Suns, Steve Nash.
In addition to Paul’s 30 points, Devin Booker and DeAnder Ayton did well with 25 and 21 points respectively. The Pelicans’ answer came mainly from CJ McCollum who scored 25 points. Brandon Ingram and Jonas Valanciounas both had 18 points each. The former Raptors led the rebounds by 25. He is the only player on both teams to have more than nine rebounds.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday, next to Phoenix in the number 2 game.
