Basketball: Butler and Miami still winners against Atlanta

Phoenix was surprised at home by New Orleans, winner Tuesday in Arizona (125-114) for the second game of this first round of the play-offs, during an evening which saw Miami win against Atlanta.

The meeting changed in the third quarter when Devin Booker, however in great shape (31 points at 12/19) had to leave his team because of a thigh injury. The Pelicans took the opportunity to move ahead, before widening the gap in the last quarter, led by a sparkling Brandon Ingram, author of 37 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists. His teammate CJ McCollum added 23 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. “We were aggressive. They came to get us, but we stayed strong and got our shots in,” Ingram reacted after the game.

“We probably had our worst game in defensive transition since I’ve been here. And the fact that it happens to us in the play-off is disturbing for everyone, ”said Monty Williams, the Phoenix coach. The Suns will move on the floor of the Pelicans Friday for game No 3. Devin Booker must pass tests by then to be fixed on the seriousness of his injury.

Earlier in the evening, Miami, carried by an excellent Jimmy Butler, won its second game in a row against Atlanta (115-105), still without Clint Capela – the Geneva pivot is injured. Defeated two days earlier by a wide score (115-91), Atlanta resisted better this time by sticking to the score for most of the match, but Miami and Jimmy Butler were too strong.

The 32-year-old back succeeded in almost everything he tried (15/25 in shooting) to finish with a total of 45 points, his record in a play-off game. “The coach asked me to go for it and be a killer, scoring as many points as possible, and that’s what I did,” reacted the player after the game.

The decision came one minute from time, when the Heat star scored a 3-pointer and then a field goal near the circle with his left hand to give his team a ten-point lead. Atlanta, stunned, did not return despite the good performance of its winger Bogdan Bogdanovic, author of 29 points including 5 winning shots. Atlanta will host Miami in the next game on Friday.

Memphis caught up by inflicting a correction on Minnesota (124-96) to tie the game with a victory everywhere in this series. The Grizzlies put on a collective display with seven players surpassing 10 points.

Ja Morant, who kept heating the room when he was on the floor, shone with 23 points including 11 scored in the third quarter. He finished the night very close to a triple-double by adding 10 assists and 9 rebounds. “Saturday’s loss? It was my fault. I did not put my teammates in good conditions. My goal was to fix that and that’s what I did tonight,” said the 22-year-old at the end of the match.

On the Minnesota side, Karl-Anthony Towns was muzzled under the racket, taking only 7 shots during the game (15 points in total). Anthony Edwards, author of 36 points on Saturday, still had a good game with 20 points and 6 rebounds.