Basketball: Philadelphia sees qualification, Golden State stays alive

The Philadelphia 76ers, after their short success against the Brooklyn Nets (102-97) on Friday, in the 1st round of the NBA play-offs, thanks to a turnaround in the last quarter, are only one victory away from qualifying for the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Sixers, still led by 5 points 2’15” from the buzzer, finally beat the Nets on the wire, whose chances of going to the next round are now very slim.

Embiid, contained at 14 points and ten rebounds in this game, managed a crucial counter in the money time, when there were only eight seconds left and Philadelphia was only 2 points ahead.

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn ranted, saying it was outrageous that Embiid was still on the court when he said he should have been sent off for kicking Nic Claxton, so that he had thrown him to the ground after a dunk, in the first quarter.

“That a player is allowed to continue playing after having intentionally kicked, I had never seen it before in my career,” he said.

The Sixers were however prematurely deprived of James Harden, excluded after having jostled Royce O’Neale who spun to the basket at the end of the third quarter. The Nets, for their part, lost Claxton for a second technical foul after having trouble with Embiid.

“We got together. We always kept playing, despite everything that happened,” said Embiid after this important victory. “There are a lot of things we haven’t done well. But we hung on and won,” added Doc Rivers, his coach.

Tyrese Maxey also played a huge role in the Sixers’ victory, scoring 10 of his 25 points in the final quarter, in which his award-winning field goal with 45 seconds remaining hurt the Nets badly. giving his team a three-point lead (99-96). Mikal Bridges, with 26 points, was the top scorer for the Nets, who are in serious danger of disappearing in the first round of the play-offs, like last year.

In the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors – defending champions – have narrowed the gap and are only led 2-1 after their home victory over the Sacramento Kings (114-97). “We had a tough start losing both games in Sacramento,” said Curry, a four-time NBA champion with the Warriors, who had never before been in the position of being down 2-0 in a series. of play-off.

In the absence of Draymond Green, suspended for one game after trampling down Lithuanian Domanta Sabonis in Game 2, Curry carried the Warriors to a clear victory by scoring 36 points.

In Los Angeles, the Phoenix Suns took the lead for the first time in the series opposing them to the Clippers, where they lead 2-1 after going to beat the Californian formation (129-124), deprived of Kawhi Leonard, victim of sprained right knee. In a spectacular game, where the Suns managed to resist the Clippers’ comeback late in the game, Devin Booker and Norman Powell shone: the first by scoring 45 points for the Suns on a 62.1% shooting percentage , the second in scoring 42 for the Clippers on 65.2% shooting success.