The NBA gave us great series, although with few surprises in the conference semifinals and now there are only 4 teams left in the title race.
Eastern Conference
Conference Semifinals: Celtics vs. 76ers
When:
Started on Monday, May 1 at 7:30 pm ET
Where:
At the TD Garden and Wells Fargo Center
Where Can I Watch?
On the Eastern side, the Boston Celtics showed that they are still the beast noire of the Philadelphia 76ers and defeated them 4-3 to advance to the finals.
The Boston Quintet recovered after being down in the series 3-2 and playing the sixth game in Philadelphia, but in the seventh and final game at TD Garden, they prevailed 112-88 with a supernatural performance by Jayson Tatum. The forward had 51 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists and led his team to a new conference final. It is the most points scored in Game 7 of the playoffs in all of NBA history.
But if Tatum did wonders on one side, on the other Joel Embiid and James Harden left a lot to be desired. The MVP only managed 15 points, while the “Beard” had 9, undoubtedly a terrible performance by both when their team needed them most. The Cameroonian center did not have a good series, only standing out in 2 games, and a similar case to Harden, who shone in Game 1 and Game 4, but then he was just another regular player.
The 76ers took advantage in the series and only had to win Game 6 at home to advance to the Finals, losing their 15th of the 22 playoffs series against the Celtics and 6 in a row.
Conference Semifinals: Heat vs. Knicks
When:
Started on Sunday, Abril 30th at 01:00 pm ET
Where:
The Madison Square Garden and Kaseya Center
Where can I watch it?
NBA League Pass, ESPN and Star+
The Celtics will face each other -again- with a surprising Miami Heat led by Jimmy Butler in a state of grace. The team from Florida advanced after playing 2 games in the play-ins, as they first lost to the Atlanta Hawks and finally beat the Chicago Bulls. They had to face the Milwaukee Bucks, the best team in the regular season, and they managed to beat them 4-1. Now, they defeated the New York Knicks 4-2 and Butler has a lot to do with it.
The forward missed Game 2 due to injury, where they lost, but in all the games he played, he was the top scorer for his team who saw in the 33-year-old a leader to follow. In this postseason his level has been plethoric and he already achieved a great surprise by putting the Heat in the finals. What Butler did motivated players like Bam Adebayo to be better and contribute their grain of sand.
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To this, we must add great teamwork since the Knicks were a tough nut to crack, with a Jalen Brunson who went from less to more, achieving 41 points in Game 6 and who was able to turn that game around, but his mistake with 14 seconds remaining practically cost them the series when they were down 92-90 on the scoreboard.
Julius Randle was the one who let to be desired and, beyond his statistics, he was criticized a lot for his attitude throughout the series and many are already asking him to leave the team. RJ Barrett also underperformed and didn’t help his team.
The conference final of last year is repeated where the Boston Celtics won 4-3.
Western Conference
Conference Semifinals: Nuggets vs. Suns
When:
Started on Saturday, April 29th
Where:
At the Ball Arena and Footprint Center
Where Can I Watch?
Now, in the West, the Denver Nuggets reached the final as expected. They were the best in the regular season and the greatest candidates, despite having the current champions on this side of the draw. In their series they beat the Phoenix Suns without problems and made the Ball Arena a fortress, winning their 3 games there: they have not lost any game this postseason at home (6).
Nikola Jokic put the team on his shoulders and once again led them to a final, as he did in 2020 precisely against the Los Angeles Lakers (when they lost 4-1). In the last game he achieved a triple-double with 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists, showing that, doesn’t matter he didn’t win the MVP this year, he is one of the best. In total, there were 3 triple-doubles and 3 double-doubles for him in this series. He’s broken so many records so far this postseason that we don’t have space to list them.
Jamal Murray was a great supporting player on this team and other players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr., and Bruce Brown also did their bit.
On the Suns, Kevin Durant had a very good drive but it wasn’t enough to stop Jokic. Devin Booker also had a good series and a significant amount of points, but neither was enough. The injury absences of Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton in the last game ended up costing them quite a bit.
Conference Semifinals: Lakers vs. Warriors
When:
Continuing on Monday, May 8th, at 8:00 pm ET
Where:
At the Chase Center and Crypto.com Arena
Where Can I Watch it?
ESPN and NBA League Pass
And finally, Los Angeles Lakers. Few believed in this team, but LeBron James continues to show that he is one of the best in history. 30 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists from “King James” in the last game for the Lakers to prevail in the four quarters and win the series against the current champions, the Golden State Warriors, 4-2.
It was a great battle between LeBron James and Stephen Curry, but the differential factor was in Anthony Davis. The center had an exceptional series, full of points and rebounds, and being LeBron’s Robin, sometimes even dressing up as Batman. Without a doubt, the Lakers need their star duo to be at this level in the series against the Nuggets if they want to advance to the finals.
Likewise, we must recognize Austin Reaves who was very regular throughout the series, and Lonnie Walker IV, who practically gave Los Angeles the victory in Game 4 (104-101) with his 15 points in the last quarter.
On the side of the Warriors, a very good series Curry, showed off again when his team needed him the most, but Klay Thompson went from more to less, since he was very important in the victory in Game 2, but later he was missing. Similar is the case with Andrew Wiggins, who had a great Game 5 and they won, but in the rest, he did not show his best performance.
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