Nuggets and Suns Advance, Hawks Force Game 6 With the Celtics

The Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns have advanced to the Western Conference semifinals, while the Atlanta Hawks extended their series against the Boston Celtics. 

Murray Pushes Denver, Nuggets Solve T-Wolves in Five Games

The Nuggets defeated Minnesota Timberwolves tonight, 112-109, thus eliminating the rivals after five games. We’ve seen the guests from Minneapolis battling hard to stay in the series, but in the end, the hosts managed to rebuff the late push and stay ahead. 

Minnesota was up 15 points in the first period, but Jamal Murray stepped up and began hitting from all over the place, with the prolific guard ending the night with 35 points, five threes, and five assists. 

Nikola Jokic had a terrible shooting night, with only eight hits in 29 attempts, but he managed to rack up a triple-double with 28 buckets, 17 boards, and 12 assists, clinching the eighth triple-double in the playoffs. He scored seven of the Nuggets’ last nine points.

Anthony Edwards, with 29 points and Karl Anthony Towns, with 26 led the way for the Timberwolves. Antman had eight boards and seven assists, while KAt jumped successfully 11 times. 

Ice-Cold Trae Silences TD Garden

The Hawks’ playmaker hit a deep three with less than two seconds to go, extending Atlanta’s hopes and forcing Game 6 in Georgia. Trae’s three set the final score 119-117, with the fans inside the TD Garden being quiet like just a few times in the past several years. 

Young scored 14 of his 38 points in the final three minutes of the game, when one of the best defenses in the league didn’t have a solution for his surge. All of the Celtics’ defenders were trying to slow him down, yet without results, and the crucial three came over Jaylen Brown.

The Celtics had a 13-point lead in the second quarter, but Joe Mazzulla’s crew couldn’t keep things going at the same pace. Bogdan Bogdanovic and John Collins pushed the Hawks in the decisive moments, preserving the guests in the game. Bogi scored 18 points, and Collins 22.

On the other side, Brown had 35 buckets, while Jayson Tatum scored only 19, hitting eight of his 21 shots, and just a single three in 10 attempts. Derick White ended the night with 18 buckets.

Game 6 is in Atlanta in two nights.

Suns Eliminate Clippers, Booker Explodes

The Suns were down throughout the majority of the game, but Devin Booker’s 25 points in the third period changed the course of the game, pushing his team to a 136-130 victory.

D-Book scored 47 points adding ten assists and eight boards, playing one of his best games in the playoffs in the most important situation. His Suns outscored the guests 50-24 in the third period, all because of Booker who was in the zone.

Kevin Durant scored 31 points, and Deandre Ayton got himself another double-double with 21 buckets and 11 boards. Chris Paul contributed with 15 points and seven assists. 

Russell Westbrook couldn’t find his rhythm, scoring 14 points and shooting a lousy 3-for-18. Norman Powell was the best scorer with 27 points, while Mason Plumlee added 20 and had ten boards. Nicola Batum had 19. 

The Suns meet the Nuggets in the West Semis.