NBA: Davis and the Lakers impose their law in San Francisco and Brunson saves the Knicks from a disaster in Miami | nba 2022

a dominant Anthony Daviswith a double double of 30 points and 23 rebounds, led the vibrant 117-112 victory of the Lakers in San Francisco against Golden State Warriors to take a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals. For his part, Jalen Brunsonwith 30 points (10 of them in a great last quarter), was the last straw to which the Knicks to match their East semifinal (1-1) with a 111-105 win over Miami Heat.

Davis showed his best version at the Chase Center and completed his monumental performance with five assists and four blocks, supported by 22 points and eleven rebounds from LeBron James for the Lakers to snatch home court advantage from the Warriors in this series.

The Lakers, who had to go through the ‘play-in’ to access the ‘playoffs’, gave proof of their competitive growth in the series against the Memphis Grizzlies and they knocked down the defending champions on Tuesday, who arrived at this event with three less days of rest and needed a legendary performance from Steph Curry (50 points) to eliminate the Sacramento Kings in game seven of that series.

Curry was again the Warriors’ leading scorer with 27 points, Klay Thompson contribution 25 y Jordan Poole, 21. The three hit six 3-pointers each and nearly completed an epic comeback after trailing 98-112 midway through the fourth quarter. Curry evened the duel after a 14-0 run, but the Lakers delivered the last blow.

They did it with the support of a D’Angelo Russell of 19 points, which cut the Warriors’ partial with a basket that ended up being key to victory.

The Chase Center hosted a match of tremendous intensity, with high rhythms, spectacular plays from the beginning, with Thompson who certified an excellent start for the Warriors with a triple from an early 10-2.

The Warriors did damage with their main weapon, the 3-point shot, and connected thirteen in the first half, while the Lakers got completely bogged down from the arc (just one 3-pointer from eight in 24 minutes), but dominated in the paint. by the hand of Davis.

The pvot, through which a large part of the Lakers’ ambitions in the series passes, signed 23 of the 32 points in the paint of some Lakers who went to the locker room with a point advantage at 65-64, despite the scoring festival from the perimeter of the Warriors.

It was in the third period when the Lakers increased the level and changed their dynamics from the three-point line, connecting four of nine attempts, with two of Reavesone from LeBron and another from Troy Brown that increased the lead to ten points.

James made it 86-76 to the light with 5.15 to play and cleaned up the paint with a great defensive block. Davis had another six rebounds and the Lakers held off the Warriors’ reaction, led by Thompson, to lead 96-88 into the fourth quarter.

There was time for a technical foul Draymond Green that certified the defensive problems of the Warriors, who sent the Lakers twenty times to the free throw line and barely shot five in three quarters.

A triple by Curry marked a good start for the Warriors in the fourth period (95-99), but the Lakers continued with high intensity. Vanderbilt sealed the eighth shot of the night for the Angels and connected the triple of the 108-98 with 7.28 to play that forced the timeout of Kerr.

Schroder and LeBron, with a jump shot, gave the Lakers the maximum advantage at 112-98. With six minutes to play, the sentence seemed to be approaching, but the ‘Splash Brothers’ did not throw in the towel.

The Warriors sealed a devastating 14-0 run, leaving the Lakers without scoring for more than four minutes, to tie the game with a tremendous three-pointer from Curry, who also gave Poole a rhythm from the arc. D’Angelo Russell cut the drought and LeBron, from the free throw line, went up to 115-112 to the light.

Curry had the ball with less than twenty seconds, but failed to score and the Lakers were able to seal the game with two free kicks from Schroeder for the final 117-112 that gave the Lakers a momentous away win.

The Knicks avoid a setback

After losing the court factor on Saturday, the Knicks could not afford a new setback in the Madison Square Gardenespecially with Butler absent with a sprained right ankle.

However, the New Yorkers had to suffer a lot to add their first victory in this series, so much so that at times it seemed that they were going to travel to Miami with two defeats in their suitcase.

Brunson, who also grabbed 5 rebounds, was instrumental in avoiding that disaster and was accompanied by a Julius Randle who returned after not having played the first match due to injury (25 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists), RJ Barrett (24 points) and Josh Hart (14 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists).

Very irregular and unconvincing throughout the night, the Knicks trailed by 6 points in the fourth quarter but turned the game around with a great 24-12 to close the game.

Caleb Martin (22 points and 8 rebounds), Gabe Vincent (21 points) and Max Strus (17 points) were the top scorers for a very worthy Heat, with a lot of personality and who were about to give the bell a bang despite their resounding inferiority in rebounding (43 compared to 63 for the Knicks).

Randle started with good feelings, both scoring and distributing, but his 10 points in the opening quarter were eclipsed by a Barrett who set the pace for the locals with 16 goals in the first 12 minutes.

With Martin starting instead of Butler, the Heat started the match with their heads held high, things very clear and full confidence in the collective performance of their block.

After a minimal New York lead in the first quarter (31-29), the Knicks got stuck with a totally broken offense that went more than three minutes without scoring at the beginning of the second period.

In addition, his inner game began to be charged with fouls and both Mitchell Robinson as Isaiah Hartenstein they reached the break with three fouls each.

Faced with the doubts of the Knicks, the Heat continued to hit without haste but without pause, stood out in defense (only 20 points from their rivals in the second period) and went to the locker room ahead (51-54) with Martin as the benchmark in attack with 12 points.

The Knicks closed the first half very uncomfortable and continued to do so during the restart.

With difficulty picking up the pace and matching the concentration of some Heat very involved in the game, those of Tom Thibodeau they found gold in the third quarter in a Brunson who woke up with 13 points and three triples.

However, Strus responded wonderfully to the visitors with 11 goals in the penultimate period and the game faced its last twelve minutes as a very sharp duel and with everything to be decided (76-77).

Miami continued to add names to their group display of character and in the denouement it was the turn of Vincent, explosive with 8 points in a seen and unseen to open a small gap (87-93 with 7.03 to go). Then came Brunson’s hero moment.

With a fantastic display of offensive resources, the point guard led the comeback of some Knicks in great need of someone to step up. Hartenstein He also signed up for the pike becoming enormous in the offensive rebound.

Against some Heat who faltered for the first time in the entire evening, Hart tripled a +4 with only 1.38 left and, despite having to sweat until the end with free throws, the Knicks sealed the victory.