(Basketball news) The Los Angeles Lakers produced one of their best performance this season as they beat the 2nd Memphis Grizzlies 128-112 in the first match of the 1st round of playoffs. For the Lakers, Hachimura scored a playoff career-best 29 points, including 21 in the second half, and James added 21 points and 11 rebounds as Austin Reaves added 23 points, including nine straight in the closing minutes as the Lakers pulled away. Anthony Davis had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and D’Angelo Russell finished with 19 points. For the Grizzlies, Jaren Jackson Jr. led Memphis with 31 points, while Desmond Bane scored 22. Morant had 18 points before leaving in the fourth quarter with the hand injury.
“We didn’t execute the priorities of the game plan,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. “Get back. Execute half-court defense and get rebounds.”
“The second half, we were in a good rhythm,” Hachimura said. “We were sharing the ball and all the shots just came to me.”
“He’s multifaceted,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of Hachiumura. “He’s strong. He has great hands. He can get out and run, go up top. Very, very athletic and can really put the ball in the hole as you saw today. Just encouraging him to be assertive, aggressive.”
The Los Angeles Clippers produced an emphatic performance as they beat the Phoenix Suns 115-110 in the 1st round playoffs. For the Clippers, Leonard poured in 38 points, including two late 3-pointers, while Westbrook was a menace in defence as the veteran guard shot just 3 of 19 from the field, finishing with nine points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, three blocks and two steals, Eric Gordon added 19 points and hit a late 3 that kept them in the lead. For the Suns, Kevin Durant scored 27 points while Devin Booker added 26 points. The Suns lost for the first time with the two-time NBA Finals MVP in the team.
“My whole career, I pride myself every season on doing everything,” Westbrook said. “Whatever is needed of me to win the game, I’ll do it.”
“Making winning plays, getting deflections on balls, offensive rebounding, getting us into our sets – that is playoff basketball,” Leonard said. “You might not have the best night shooting, but you’ve got to impact the game some type of way and he did that tonight.”
The Miami Heat stunned the best team in the league as they beat the Milwaukee Bucks 130-117. For the Heat, Jimmy Butler had 35 points and 11 assists as Bam Adebayo had 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. For the Bucks, their best Giannis Antetokounmpo got injured and had to sit out the game as Khris Middleton scored 33 points and Bobby Portis had 21 points while Jrue Holiday, who had 16 points and 16 assists but shot 6 of 18 but it wasn’t enough against a spirited Miami side.
“He’s just a brilliant competitor,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He does it on both ends of the court. He has an innate feel for what’s necessary during the course of a game. We needed obviously some offensive punch, some triggers, something to settle us all down, particularly when we found out Tyler was out. Jimmy was able to do it in a lot of different ways.”
“There was an X-ray that was clear here,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We’ll monitor him and see how he does, see how he wakes up, how he feels the rest of tonight and tomorrow.”
The other playoff results were:
Sacramento Kings 126 – 123 Golden State Warriors
Minnesota Timberwolves 80 – 109 Denver Nuggets
New York Knicks 101 – 97 Cleveland Cavaliers
Atlanta Hawks 99 – 112 Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets 101 – 121 Philadelphia 76ers
Also read: NBA: Timberwolves secure the 8th spot and face the Nuggets while Heat win over the Bulls
