Normality was once again the dominant note in the first round of the NBA playoffs when the expected triumphs of the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat occurred in the third game they played in their respective best series of seven.
While the Oklahoma City Thunder took advantage of the Houston Rockets’ defensive inconsistency and achieved the first victory of the best-of-seven tie after having lost the first two games.
The action began with the leadership of Greek power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was again decisive in the 121-107 victory that the Bucks won against the Orlando Magic.
Antetokounmpo finished the game with a double-double of 35 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, which allowed the Bucks to go 2-1 in the best-of-seven series and the fourth game will be played next Monday.
The Bucks star was inspired by the shots to the basket by scoring 12 of 14, while forward Khris Middleton, who in the first two games had not been effective in the offensive game, this time contributed 17 points (7 of 17 shots field), eight rebounds and six assists.
Game 3 also spawned the fight, in the second period, of Orlando forward James Ennis and Bucks power forward Marvin Williams, who were sent off after pushing shoves.
The base DJ. Augustin scored 24 points as the Magic leader, while Montenegrin Swiss center Nikola Vucevic and guard Terrence Ross each scored 20 points, which did not prevent their defeat, the second in a row.
The best version of the combination of forward LeBron James and center Anthony Davis saw the Lakers defeat the Portland Trail Blazers 116-108 and take a 2-1 lead in the series.
James approached a triple-double after contributing 38 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, without the Trail Blazers defense finding a way to slow down their production in all facets of the game.
While Davis also imposed his power within the paint and got the decisive goals in the fourth period when he scored 12 of the 29 with which he concluded the game.
Point guard Damian Lillard, who ultimately played despite the dislocation of the index finger on his left hand suffered in Game 2, scored 34 points, dished out seven assists and grabbed five rebounds as the Trail Blazers’ leading scorer.
While guard CJ McCollum added 28 points, including 4 baskets of 12 3-point attempts, which left him as the second leading scorer, but unable to avoid the second consecutive loss for the Portland team.
The figure of the guard Jimmy Butler, who scored 27 points, made the difference in the game that the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers 124-115 and remained undefeated 3-0.
The Heat just need one more victory in the fourth game of the best-of-seven series on Monday and advance to the semifinals against the winner of the tie featuring the Bucks and Magic.
Slovenian point guard Goran Dragic added 24 points, center Bam Adebayo regained his status as a key player in the paint with a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds.
While rookie guard Tyler Herro scored 20 points as the Heat’s sixth player and a winning surprise factor.
Guard Malcolm Brogdon set his best playoff records with a double-double of 34 points and 14 assists, which put him in front of the Pacers, but they were not enough to avoid defeat.
Forward TJ Warren scored 23 points and guard Victor Oladipo added another 20 points as the Pacers’ second and third best scorers.
The scoring inspiration of the point guards, German Dennis Schroder, and Chris Paul, who contributed a combination of 55 points, was the key that allowed the Thunder to prevail in overtime 119-107 to the Rockets and achieve the first win of the season. series dominated by the Houston team (2-1).
Schroder contributed 29 points, while Paul, a former Rockets player, reached 26, both being key in overtime when the Thunder scored the first 12 goals that made the difference in the final score.
Paul began overtime with two devastating triples that left the Houston team behind with a 104-116 run.
Guard James Harden scored 38 points as leader of the Rockets, but could not conclude the game when he was eliminated by six personal fouls with 53 seconds left until overtime, the first time he did so this season .
The Thunder had a balanced scoring attack with Canadian guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who contributed 23 points and Italian power forward Danilo Gallinari reached 20 points.
Power forward Jeff Green had 22 points as the sixth player for the Rockets, who remain without star point guard Russell Westbrook, injured with a strained right quadriceps.
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