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NBA wRap: Nets, Bucks, Blazers stay alive

Naveen Ganglani
NBA wRap: Nets, Bucks, Blazers stay alive
Brooklyn ties their series vs Atlanta at 2-2 while Milwaukee and Portland both live to fight another day

MANILA, Philippines – Let’s introduce Tuesday’s NBA wRap with a YouTube clip, just to mix things up a bit:

Staying alive was the theme on Tuesday, April 28 as all three winners came up with critical wins to remain in the playoffs. Sure, Brooklyn wasn’t going to get eliminated with a loss, but going back to Atlanta down 3-1 would have essentially sealed their fate. In Chicago and Portland, the Bucks and Trail Blazers staved off elimination a little while longer with surprising victories over the Bulls and Grizzlies.

Brooklyn Nets 120 – 115 Atlanta Hawks

The Brooklyn Nets tied their series with the Atlanta Hawks behind a playoff career-high tying 35 points from Deron Williams, who after being the topic of ridicule from the New York media the past few days played his best game of the season when his team needed it most.

Williams nailed 7 triples all in all, but the most crucial ones came at the start of the fourth period where the Nets trimmed what was a double-digit Hawks lead and established a 5-point advantage. Atlanta fought back, and later on tied the game late thanks to an uncontested Paul Millsap dunk. Both clubs missed shots at the end of regulation, bringing the game to an extra 5-minute session.


In OT, the Nets came away with the win thanks to a huge three-pointer by Bojan Bogdanovic and a basket by Thad Young. Kyle Korver missed 3 straight three-pointers that could have tied the contest late, and Joe Johnson sealed the game at the foul stripe.

Brook Lopez had 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocks for Brooklyn while Johnson finished with 17-6-5. Atlanta was led by Jeff Teague’s 20-point, 11-assist outing and Millsap’s 16 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks.

Welcome back, 2009 MVP candidate Deron Williams. Where have you been?

The Hawks looked like they were going to pull away in the third quarter the way they usually do: good defense and solid ball movement on offense. They also had this nice alley-oop between Teague and Horford:

Milwaukee Bucks 94 – 88 Chicago Bulls

The Milwaukee Bucks entered the United Center and took care of the Chicago Bulls to force a game 6 back in Wisconsin. The Bucks ran off to a 9-0, lost it, regained their lead in the third period, and came up with enough stops and baskets down the stretch to seal the win.

Michael Carter-Williams had his best playoff performance, finishing with 22 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds while vastly outplaying Derrick Rose (13 points on 5-of-20 shooting). MCW also hit tons of clutch shots in the fourth period, a lot of which came at moments when Milwaukee needed baskets to halt the Bulls’ runs.

Khris Middleton was also superb with 21 points and 4 boards. Pau Gasol finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds to spearhead Chicago

I know this has been said lots of times already, but, oh well, welcome back as well, D-Rose!

Also, congrats to the Bulls point guard for making Bulls history:


Jason Kidd is building something great in Milwaukee – talented players with long limbs for great defense and all. He’s also come a long way improving his sideline tactics, progressing from “hit me” to “TIME-OUT, TIME-OUT!”

Kidd’s Bucks are now also a member of this list:


Portland Trail Blazers 99 – 92 Memphis Grizzlies

The Trail Blazers trailed the Grizzlies by 10 with 8 and a half minutes to go. Their season was on the line, with a sweep as the way to go looming large and serving as the appetizer to a stressful summer than involves the unpredictable free agency of LaMarcus Aldridge.

But Portland rallied. Damian Lillard hit clutch shots, and so did second-year man CJ McColum. Dame finished with 32 points and 7 assists, while CJ put up 18 points. Aldridge shot just 6-of-22 from the field, but he had 18 markers and 12 boards. And for at least another day, Portland survived Memphis, who was without Mike Conley.


Portland’s game-clinching rally commenced with this 4-point play by Dame, who, well makes these kinds of shots often:



Zach Randolph, who finished with 12 points, then hit a shot to tie the game. But on the next possession, McColum hit a triple to put his team up three. After Randolph missed his running jumper, Portland sealed the game at the foul line.

Before we close this, shout-out to Robin Lopez, who can probably be an artist if this basketball thing doesn’t work out:


– Rappler.com

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