Houston (USA), Jun 7 (EFE) .- New exhibition of the Brooklyn Nets against the Milwaukee Bucks in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference that they dominate 2-0, while the Phoenix Suns began theirs in the first Western Conference playoff game with a convincing win over the Denver Nuggets to go 1-0 to the best of seven.
Once again, forward Kevin Durant again led the Nets’ balanced and winning attack, which beat the Bucks 125-86 and confirmed that they finished the regular season with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Nets, despite the absence of injured guard James Harden, were once again far superior to the Bucks, with Durant contributing 32 points, six assists and four rebounds for his second consecutive win.
Durant has scored 25 or more points in six of the Nets’ seven playoff games.
The third game of the tie, which changes venues, will be played on Thursday this week in Milwaukee, where the fourth will also be played on Sunday.
Along with Durant, point guard Kyrie Irving had 22 points and guard Bruce Brown replaced Harden very well with 13 points and six rebounds in another great team effort by the Nets, who came up to 49 points ahead and left the Bucks with 34 touchdowns below the regular season average.
As a team, the Nets finished with 52% (49-94) shooting from the field, 50% (21-42) from triples and 86% (6-7) from personnel, in addition to capturing 42 rebounds. by 44% (37-84), 30% (8-27), 44% (4-9) and 44, respectively of the Bucks.
The Nets broke the Bucks defense with dribbling throughout the night, preparing unanswerable shots that mostly hit the mark.
The Bucks swept their first-round series against the Miami Heat, but they need a big change when they return home to avoid being swept now.
Star power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo of Greece had a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds with the Bucks, but Durant completely outplayed him in an NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) winners showdown and sat down. dejected on the Bucks bench early in the fourth quarter with the game long out of reach.
Forward Khris Middleton added 17 points after a slow start to the series and point guard Jrue Holiday had 13 points that also didn’t prevent the Milwaukee team’s humiliation and loss.
The Bucks, who beat the Nets twice in May in Milwaukee while Harden was left out with a right hamstring injury, will be looking for their first win of the series.
Harden had to quit in Game 1 after 43 seconds with a strained right hamstring, but the Nets also found a way to win 115-107.
The Brooklyn team hasn’t given a schedule for their comeback, though they didn’t seem too injured coming under the board to yell at Durant after his penetration layup made it 95-65 after three periods.
Canadian Nets coach Steve Nash said he had no news about Harden or power forward Jeff Green, who missed their fifth straight game with a left plantar fascia strain.
The same atmosphere of dominance was experienced in Phoenix by the local Suns team, who were superior in all facets of the game to the Nuggets who once again confirmed their great dependence on what Serbian center Nikola Jokic can do, This time he had 22 points and nine rebounds.
Nothing to do before the balanced attack of the Suns, who had as a winning factor the forward Mikal Bridges, who scored 23 points, after making four triples of nine attempts. The Phoenix team finished with 13 baskets from outside the perimeter in 34 attempts.
Along with Bridges, three other players, Hispanic guard Devin Booker, veteran point guard Chris Paul, and Jamaican center Deandre Ayton also scored 20 or more points.
Booker reached 21, the same as Paul, who finished with a double-double by distributing 11 assists and capturing six rebounds in 36 minutes that saw action, giving them a lesson in how a team’s attack is directed and also he is also the leader.
While Ayton prevailed in the inside game by controlling Jokic with a double-double of 20 points, 10 rebounds and recovered a ball.
Power forward Jae Crowder again did a great teamwork and finished with 14 points and five rebounds that allowed him to complete the list of the five Suns players who had double-digit numbers.
After Jokic’s contribution, the 18 points of power forward Aaron Gordon were irrelevant, as were the 15 of power forward Michael Porter Jr. and the 14 of the rookie point guard, Argentine Facundo Campazzo, who lost the individual duel completely. before Paul.
Sonia Salazar
(c) EFE Agency