WASHINGTON: Giannis Antetokounmpo managed his first NBA playoff triple double Saturday and the Milwaukee Bucks defeated Miami 120-103 to sweep the Heat out of the post-season in the opening round. Greek star Antetokounmpo had 20 points, 12 rebounds and 15 assists to spark the Bucks, who were led by 25 points from center Brook Lopez and 22 more off the bench from Bryn Forbes.
Khris Middleton added 20 as the Bucks rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit to win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series 4-0. They await the Brooklyn-Boston series winner in the second round. “We’ve got to focus on ourselves, try to get better,” Antetokounmpo said. “We want to get better defensively and whoever we get in the next round, we’re going to be ready.”
Antetokounmpo became only the third Bucks player with a playoff triple double after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1970, when he was known as Lew Alcindor, and Paul Pressey in 1986. The Heat, who lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in last year’s NBA Finals, ousted Milwaukee in five games in the second round of last season’s playoffs. “We just tried to focus a game at a time,” Antetokounmpo said. “We didn’t want to play with our food.”
Miami had not been swept in a playoff series since falling to Chicago in the first round in 2007. The Heat dominated early, with Antetokounmpo missing his first six shots and Miami grabbing its biggest lead of the series at 58-46.
But Milwaukee opened the third quarter on a 24-6 run and the Heat could never match them after that. “They played us really tough,” said Antetokounmpo. “We kept our composure, we kept moving the ball, we kept defending and we were able to get a win.” Bam Adebayo led Miami with 20 points and 14 rebounds while Jimmy Butler had a triple double in a losing cause with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
It was the first game for the Bucks without guard Donte DiVincenzo, who was knocked out for the remainder of the playoffs by a torn left ankle ligament suffered in Milwaukee’s game-three victory at Miami on Thursday. “He’s a big part of our game,” said Antetokounmpo. “It’s going to be tough not having him going forward but a lot of guys are going to step up for us.”
Nuggets ‘played soft’
Portland’s Norman Powell matched a career playoff high with 29 points, hitting 11-of-13 from the floor to power the Trail Blazers over visiting Denver 115-95 to level their Western Conference series at two wins each. CJ McCollum scored 21 points and Bosnian center Jusuf Nurkic added 17 for Portland while Serbian center Nikola Jokic led Denver with 16 points. “The plan was to put a complete 48-minute effort out there,” Powell said. “The focus was continue to compete hard.”
The Trail Blazers led 57-47 at half-time and dominated the third quarter to pull away for good. “Our starters were awful,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone. “I thought we had some guys that were tentative, that looked a little scared, who played soft.”
Elsewhere, Joel Embiid scored a playoff career high 36 points as the Philadelphia 76ers breezed to a 132-103 victory over the Washington Wizards to seize a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference series. The 76ers shot 58.6 percent from the floor and 51.5 percent from three-point range and can close out the eighth-seeded Wizards on Monday.
In the late game, Donovan Mitchell scored a game-high 29 points as the top-seeded Utah Jazz held on to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 121-111 in game three of their West series. Mitchell scored 10 of his 29 in the final four minutes as the Jazz went on a 14-2 surge late in the game to take a two-game-to-one series lead. – AFP
The post Giannis delivers triple double as Bucks sweep Heat appeared first on Kuwait Times.
