Blake Griffin did everything in his power to keep the Los Angeles Clippers alive in their first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday morning, forcing a game 7.
Griffin propelled the Clippers with a game-high 26 points, had 12 rebounds as they beat the reigning champions 102-96.
It was a must-win game for the Clippers, who will have a chance to close out the series in front of their home crowd on Sunday morning.
It became clear early in the game that Clippers were in San Antonio to compete.
Despite Chris Paul finishing the first-half 0 for 7 from the floor, Clippers and Spurs went for a break tied at 51-51. That was a good sign for the Clippers.
Then, Paul stepped up in the second half to go with 19 points and 15 assists, while Italian Marco Belinelli scored 21 of his 23 points from the three-point line.
“My teammates just told me to keep being aggressive,” Paul said after the game. “We just showed a lot of fight. We never gave up. Blake was unbelievable tonight, he won this game for us.”
How did the Clippers overcame an imminent elimination situation?
“Before the game I told our guys the we should focus on execution. Don’t use the word elimination. I thought our guys did a very good job,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said afterwards.
What many predicted is now official.
The Chicago Bulls will face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference in one of the highly anticipated match-ups in the postseason.
It was not even halftime and the Chicago Bulls had already secured a ticket to the second-round after leading the Milwaukee Bucks by as many as 34 points.
The Bulls started the way they were expected to do, instilling a suffocation and intense defense on the young Bucks just to enter the NBA history books with the third largest win margin in the playoff history by trouncing Milwaukee 120-66.
Offensively the Bull were 8 for 16 from the three-point range, while the Bucks missed all their five three-point attempts before the break.
The Bucks only scored their first three-pointer by Jared Dudley with 2.38 left in the third quarter.
By the final buzzer, no Bucks player scored in double figures, while all Bulls starters scored eleven points or more.
Everything seemed to be going Chicago’s way, including the moment, in which Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected from the game after delivering a flagrant foul 2 on Mike Dunleavy.
Dunleavy, who finished the first half with 19 points, was 4 for 5 from the three-point range, Jimmy Butler went for break after making 2 of this 4 tree-pointer to help the Bulls lead the entire contest.
For Bucks rising star Antetokounmpo, the season ended the worst way possible with just 5 points, and a ejection, which will certainly mark his NBA playoffs debut.
Despite the loss, home fans gave the Bucks a stand ovation, chanting MILWAUKEE! MILWAUKEE! MILWAUKEE!
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