Three more teams have said goodbye to the summer break, meanwhile the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers nurtured their title hopes. The NBA on Friday morning.
The Suns and Mavs in the West, the Sixers in the East – the field of contenders in the conference semifinals of the NBA playoffs is gradually filling up after earlier wins by the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and defending champion Milwaukee Bucks.
Doncic just misses triple-double
For the Mavericks, advancing against the Utah Jazz after a 98-96 thriller win in Salt Lake City means winning a series for the first time since Nowitzki’s team – current head coach Jason Kidd was also a pillar of the team back then – won a championship in 2011.Luka Doncic played with nerves and just missed a triple-double with 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Maxi Kleber converted only three of his seven attempts and finished with seven points and six rebounds.
“It’s great. I really needed this. The last couple of years we’ve learned a lot,” Doncic told TV station TNT after the fourth win in the sixth duel with the Jazz, whose protagonists Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert left much to be desired with eleven and ten points respectively. Donovan Mitchell (23 points), for example, was often left to his own devices, while Doncic knew he had eager competitors on his side in Jalen Brunson (24), Spencer Dinwiddie (19, four threes) and Dorian Finney-Smith (18/10).
“Hopefully the issue is settled now,” said Mavs coach Kidd at the end of the black play-off series, praising the team’s attitude: “We’re not a flashy bunch. We don’t have a lot of big names,” Kidd said. But the players trusted his plan: “They’re doing their job. “
“CP3” hits 14 of 14
The Mavericks will now face the best team in the main round, the Phoenix Suns, in the semi-finals. The title favourites had beaten the New Orleans Pelicans 115-109 and also made it to the Western Conference semi-finals with their 4-2 after wins.
The Suns, who were able to rely on the recently injured Devin Booker again (13 points in 32 minutes), had difficulties for a long time and at one point trailed by twelve points in the third quarter. Chris Paul then increasingly took the initiative and hit all 14 throws from the game. No player in the history of the play-offs had managed that before. He finished the evening with 33 points against the team that had once drafted him and with whom he had played his first years in the league.
Sixers turn away seventh game
The Philadelphia 76ers of Joel Embiid (33 points, ten rebounds), Tyrese Maxey (25, five threes) and James Harden (22, 15 assists) completed the Eastern Conference semifinal duels earlier. The emphatic 132-97 win over the Toronto Raptors brought the fourth victory in the sixth game and made the series against the Miami Heat perfect. The 76ers start with two away games against the best team of the main round from the East. In the other semi-final, the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics, led by German international Daniel Theis, face each other. The home advantage in this series lies with the record champion from Boston.
