Houston (USA), Jun 11 (EFE) .- The Philadelphia Sixers began to make good the forecasts with their second consecutive victory against the Atlanta Hawks, retaking control of the Eastern Conference semifinal tie by winning the third away game by 111-127 and take a 2-1 advantage to the best of seven.
The Phoenix Suns also fared well, giving the Denver Nuggets another basketball lesson and defeating 102-116 on the road to take a 3-0 lead and a pass win in the Western Conference finals.
No team in the conference semifinals has been able to come back from a 0-3 deficit since the best-of-seven playoffs were set.
Everything returned to normal with the triumph of the Sixers, who will continue in Atlanta to play the fourth game next Monday and then think about returning to Philadelphia for a fifth game, which could be the final one, if they stay on the winning path.
After the surprise defeat suffered in the first game played in Philadelphia, the Sixers have recovered and achieved their second consecutive victory after once again having the support of Cameroonian center Joel Embiid, who flirted with a triple-double after scoring 27 points, capture nine rebounds and deliver eight assists.
Embiid, playing with a cartilage tear in his right knee, also played a leading role when it came to putting three plugs and being the team leader in that facet of the game.
Forward Tobias Harris also maintained his consistency by contributing 22 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Australian point guard Ben Simmons reached 18 points, in addition to giving seven touchdown passes.
The brilliance in the individual and collective game of the Sixers had an excellent contribution from the bench with 48 points. In addition, they always had control of the rhythm of the game and the score, which allowed them to end the streak of 13 consecutive wins that the Hawks had in their field.
The Hawks’ last loss at their State Farm Arena field, which recorded an official attendance of 16,888 fans tonight, was on April 15 against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The 13-game winning streak at home was the longest active streak in the NBA.
Turkish forward Furkan Korkmaz, with 14 points, including three triples from six attempts, was the Sixers’ sixth player, while veteran center Dwight Howard finished with 12 points (4-5, 0-1, 4-5) and six rebounds that were decisive.
The Sixers, who finished the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference, were up to 22 points ahead and did not fall below 10 points throughout the second half, never giving the Hawks the option to get into the game. and attempt victory.
The last lead the Hawks had on the scoreboard was with the 11-10 run.
Point guard Trae Young led Atlanta with 28 points and eight assists, but he could never be a winning factor as he had in the first game.
Neither were power forward John Collins, who finished with 23 points and seven rebounds, while Serbian guard Bogdan Bogdanovic reached 19 points as the Hawks’ third-best scorer.
Swiss center Clint Capela was also unable to do anything against the superiority of the Sixers’ tall men and, although he captured 16 rebounds, he barely scored eight points and did not prevent Embiid and Howard from ending up as winning factors.
Once again the combination of Hispanic guard Devin Booker and veteran point guard Chris Paul was the winning key for the Suns, who, at the end of the first quarter, already had the game on track with a 37-27 run and warnings to inconsistent players. Nuggets who were ready to go undefeated in the series.
Booker finished with 28 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Paul had 27 points, caught six balls under the hoops and gave eight touchdown passes, in addition to recovering three balls in another great defensive effort.
While Jamaican center Deandre Ayton was also a winning factor by dominating the inside game with a double-double of 10 points and 15 rebounds, including 12 defenders.
Power forward Jae Crowder reached 14 points and forward Mikal Bridges scored another 11 points that left the Suns’ five starters with double-digit numbers.
The Nuggets tried to resurface in the second quarter when they achieved a 28-22 run, but it was a pure mirage because all the good game was put in by the Suns and also by the decisive goals.
Although Serbian center Nikola Jokic finished with a monumental triple-double of 32 points, 20 rebounds -10 were defensive-, 10 assists and a block, the rest of the team did not shine in the same way and, again, the lack of a A quality player leading his attack made a negative difference in the final result.
The absence of Canadian point guard Jamal Murray again made itself felt too much, and neither Argentine rookie Facundo Campazzo nor Austin Rivers were the solution for Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who was also exposed by not knowing how to find the defensive formula he could. get the team into the game.
Sonia Salazar
(c) EFE Agency