After a match 1 where the men of Doc Rivers were surprised to enter by Hawks who wanted it more, it was necessary to quickly replace the church in the middle of the village and especially finally to start the series. From the start, it’s Ben Simmons who is responsible for defending on Bring young, which had hurt them so badly in the previous game. The leader is thus more in difficulty and Atlanta struggles to find its rhythm in attack. On the contrary, Philly and especially a Tobias Harris who catches fire with 16 8/9 points in shots on the first 12 minutes take control of this part. The gap quickly reaches 15 points and you have to see the first rotations to see a little better on the Hawks side. The latter play a fundamental role in the series and at the start of the second quarter, even manage to overturn completely in the course of the match. With Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari who shoot 7/8 on shots for 20 points, the Hawks are fully back in the game on a small pull-up of Lou Williams (35-33). Everything is redone for the Sixers but luckily Jol Embiid made a comeback. And that changes everything. Philly plays on her interior which begins its construction, goes on 11 points and tries to revive its own … in vain. Trae Young finally in and John Collins keep watch, Atlanta resists and halftime arrives with the two teams in elbows: 57-55.
The third quarter time remains on this line. The two teams give in blow for blow and when Philly tries to launch a new cart half of this quarter, Atlanta arrives back thanks in particular to the good passage of Bogdan Bogdanovic. Embiid’s 17 points in the quarter are not enough as he represents the only very big threat and Atlanta remains strong and even takes the advantage on a possession. But that will change in the last twelve minutes … The audience pushes, Shake Milton Realized a very good passage with the bench, the defense of the Sixers passes a real cap and Atlanta can not do it any more. The Hawks only score 18 points, Philly quickly widens the gap to 21 points and is too much for Atlanta. In the end, the run of this last quarter time got the better of the Hawks who lost violently 118-102. With 21 points, 11 assists 6/16 on shots, Young had a little more trouble as the duo’s 41 points from the bench had helped a lot. The 22 points of Harris, 21 of Seth Curry, Shake Milton’s 14 but especially Embiid’s 40 points and 13 rebounds hurt the Hawks’ racket too much. Phlly is therefore everywhere.
On the side of Salt Lake City, we started the exciting series against the Clippers, who come out of a seventh game against the Mavs. For that, bad news of entering with the absence Mike Conley… And besides, despite this absence or the lack of rhythm of a longer rest, it was Utah which started the match best and which very quickly took an 8 point lead. But did not last and very quickly, jazz found itself in very great difficulty offensively with only 18% success. None of the players are in rhythm, Clarkson and Mitchell need 8 attempts to return two shots and the Clippers launch a standard run to go from -8 +12 in a few minutes! The very good entry from Luke Kennard and its 3/3 behind the arc helps well and without playing very well, LA takes advantage of the weaknesses of Jazz to take off. (25-18). Utah regains its offensive rhythm little by little, without its exterior success, but the Clippers are not giving up. Tyronn Lue opens his bench a lot, and everyone (even DeMarcus Cousins) brings the building. A few points here, a few points for l and the duo Kawhi Leonard-Paul George does not even need to mount. So the Clippers continue their work and logically lead 60-47 halftime.
But the Jazz are not the best team of the season for nothing. The return from the locker room is completely different. The defense is back and is tight and LA must now rely on its stars to find points. So Kawhi Leonard must multiply to find shots and bring some units to the scoreboard. Opposite, the attack can now play on its player franchise. Donovan Mitchell is perfectly back from the locker room and is on fire: 16 6/8 points on shots and that is enough to revive Utah. The Jazz thus scrambles very quickly to the gap created in the first half and even regains the advantage before seeing the Clippers still equalize to see the two teams 79 everywhere before the final quarter. It is the moment chosen by the bosses to show themselves. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on one side, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and to another extent, Bojan Bogdanovic on the other. The latter will bring some precious shots, the pivot a crazy defense and a few throws while Kawhi and especially Paul George and his 13 points do everything to get the victory. But Utah can count on his torch, his first offensive weapon and after 16 points in the third quarter, Mitchell planted again 16 in the last! The Clippers can not resist him and despite a last attempt which could have changed a lot of things but which is perfectly against by Rudy Gobert, Los Angeles finally bowed in the last moments, 112-109. In this two-part match, Mitchell was nuts with 45 points including 32 in the second half. Gobert brings 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Bogdanovic and Clarkson 18 points each. Kennard also finished 18th, Paul George 20 and Leonard 23 in this defeat which can be a shame for them.
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