In the first games of their Conference play-off semi-finals, the Boston Celtics were humiliated by the New York Knicks, and the Oklahoma City Thunder were defeated by the Denver Nuggets.
In the opening game of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven series, the Celtics, the reigning champions, were facing a 108-105 overtime defeat at home.
The Knicks rallied from a 20-point deficit in the third quarter with 29 points from Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby.
Tom Thibodeau, the coach of the Knicks, said, “This team has been a pretty good road team all year.”
“It’s a game,” The play-offs have a lot of emotional highs and lows, but you have to keep moving forward no matter what happens.
With three more seconds left in regulation, Brunson missed a layup, and Jayson Tatum, who had 23 points for the Celtics, missed a long-range shot at the buzzer before the Knicks won in overtime.
Coach Joe Mazzulla for the Celtics, “We left some of their good shooters open.” There is “detail stuff” that needs improvement.
On Wednesday, Boston will host Game 2 of the series at 19:00 local time (2:00 Thursday BST).
The Thunder, who finished in the top division, were defeated 121-119 by a visiting Nuggets team, who had been inspired by Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon.
After Chet Holmgren missed two free throws for Thunder, Jokic scored a game-winning three-pointer in the closing seconds while Gordon went up the other end and added six more points.
With 22 points and 14 rebounds, Gordon came out on top.
Denver put up a 19-6 run to end the series, which they had been 13 points apiece at one point in the fourth quarter.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander top scored for the Thunder with 33 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, “I didn’t think our execution was as flawless as it can be.” However, we will take its lessons. It’s a series, really.
On Wednesday, Oklahoma will host Game 2 of the series at 21:30 local time (03:30 Thursday BST).
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Source: BBC
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