SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – Tuesday’s NBA playoff games featured a physical match between two Eastern teams and a high-octane, energetic battle between the best squad in the NBA and a team featuring a superstar-in-the-making.
Get a load of all the action here:
Chicago Bulls 91 – 82 Milwaukee Bucks
Both teams got off to slow starts, combining to go 11-of-45 in the first half. The action eventually picked up in the final two quarters, but the entire game had a similar theme: tough, physical, and everything else you’ve come to expect from the Bucks and Bulls.
Jimmy Butler continues to impress in his contract year. After scoring 25 in game one, the Bulls All-Star went off for 31 points and 9 rebounds in game two. He also baptized Zaza Pachulia with this tremendous, rim-rattling jam:
Derrick Rose wasn’t superb, as he had just 15 points and missed 10 of his 14 shots. But he was involved in other areas, racking up 9 assists and 7 boards. The former MVP also hit the 3-point dagger to give his team a 2-0 lead heading to Milwaukee.
.@PauGasol (16) and @JoakimNoah (19) are first @ChicagoBulls teammates to post 15+ rebounds in the same playoff game. pic.twitter.com/tGnuiIneKj
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 21, 2015
Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 22 points.
Also, Playoff basketball means one thing: more fights
The Chicago Bulls lead 2-0 after a 91-82 win over the Bucks! Jimmy Butler scored 31 points, none more emphatic than this and-1 dunk.
Posted by Bleacher Report on Monday, April 20, 2015
Nikola Mirotic is likely going to get a call from the NBA for this, huh?
The basketball gods just won’t let the Bulls be healthy:
Bulls are officially calling Mirotic’s injury a left quad strain. Will be re-evaluated Tuesday morning.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 21, 2015
Golden State Warriors 97 – 87 New Orleans Pelicans
New Orleans rallied to a great start thanks to Anthony Davis, whose early hot play led his team to a 27-18 lead heading into the second quarter.
And then, Leandro Barbosa happened. The bench sparkplug scored 10 points in his first 8 minutes, and did what every Golden State player loves: bringing the Oracle crowd up to their seats:
The Pelicans stayed on top thanks to solid contributions from Norris Cole (that’s 2-time NBA Champion Norris Cole for you!) and Eric Gordon, who hit tons of jumpers. But thanks to two straight three-balls by Klay Thompson, the Warriors went on a run and took a 55-52 lead heading into halftime after this Steph Curry three-ball:
Warriors shot 76.5% in the second quarter
— Bay Area Sports Guy (@BASportsGuy) April 21, 2015
Curry had 16 at the half. Davis was already up to 14 points. That’s nice.
Now, obviously Tyreke Evans is injured – and kudos to him for braving through a bone bruise to play in game two. But it’s clear he’s not a hundred percent.
Tyreke, however, played for most of the third quarter where Golden State went ahead by 8. Pelicans head coach Monty Williams then went with a smaller line-up – Davis at the 5 – and the contest was tied at 71 by the end of the defensive-oriented period.
Both teams combined to shoot 27% in that turd quarter.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) April 21, 2015
Golden State opened the fourth period with a dunk from Klay Thompson, which was soon followed by a 3-ball from Draymond Green, a nifty lay-up by Shaun Livingston, and an alley-oop jam by Iguodala. The Warriors’ crowd then erupted, and so did their star player:
Livingston’s bucket has Steph fired up! Warriors lead 79-73 on @NBAonTNT. Timeout Pelicans. pic.twitter.com/PjonlYdAOe
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 21, 2015
Also, a nice friendly reminder:
The fact that the Warriors have Draymond Green at $900,000 AND Steph Curry at only $10.5m is just ridiculous. That aint supposed to happen.
— Conrad Kaczmarek (@ConradKazNBA) April 21, 2015
New Orleans stayed within striking distance as Davis drew multiple trips to the foul line. Two of his charities inched his team to 85-84 with 5:34 to go. Thompson then took over, nailing a 3 in the corner, and then hitting a step-back jumper not long after Green converted a floater on the break. Suddenly, the Warriors were up 92-86 with 2:12 remaining.
Eric Gordon missed a 3-ball that could have trimmed the lead to three with under two minutes to go. On the next play, Thompson completed an and-one that put the game out for good. The finishing dagger came courtesy of Curry and Andrew Bogut, who completed an exceptional play here:
Davis finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in 45 minutes. Gordon had 23 points. Evans registered 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Thompson scored 26 in the win, while Curry had 22. Green registered 14-12-5.
Anthony Davis put up 26-10 in 45 minutes, but went 0-5 FG in the 4Q. Warriors went on 9-1 run to ice the game. GSW up 2-0.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) April 21, 2015
How do you feel about the win, Steph?
Waiting for the bagel bites to finish heating. pic.twitter.com/b28ykj5UIu
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 21, 2015
{source{<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Warriors?src=hash”>#Warriors</a> up 2-0. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/DubNation?src=hash”>#DubNation</a> feelin' good. <a href=”http://t.co/diraYOj77d”>pic.twitter.com/diraYOj77d</a></p>— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) <a href=”https://twitter.com/warriors/status/590381658949361665″>April 21, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
– Rappler.com
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