Antetokounmpo's doubts: he falls to the Heat in the first game of the series

The Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder gave the surprise on Monday after beating the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets, who were the favorites in their respective semi-final matches of the Eastern Conference and first round of the Western Conference, win.

Guard

, claimed his status as a star and franchise player, and with 40 points, his best mark in the playoffs, he led the Heat to a 115-104 victory against the Bucks, in the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals. .

In addition to the great inspiration of Butler, who scored 12 of 24 shots from the field, including 13 of 20 shots from the field, with 2-2 from 3s and 12 of 13 from the personnel line, the defensive game of the Heat, after Giving up 40 points in the first quarter was the key to the victory that allowed them to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Butler's previous record in a Heat uniform was 38 points.

The best record of his career in the playoffs was 36, when last season he played with the Philadelphia Sixers, a team with which he wanted to continue and asked to be transferred.

Slovenian veteran point guard

was also instrumental in directing the Heat's game, contributing 27 points, with six assists and five rebounds.

While center

, although he did not win the Most Improved Player award of the season, it was given to power forward Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans, emerged again as the best in the interior game of the Heat by contributing a double-double of 12 points, 17 rebounds and six assists.

The victory was the Heat's third this season in their four games with the Bucks, the team that finished the regular season with the best record in the league.

Rookie guard Tyler Herro added 11 points and was the sixth Heat player to now have a perfect 5-0 record so far in playoff competition after sweeping the Indiana Pacers 4-0 in a first series. round.

Defending the Heat

The figure of the Bucks, the Greek power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, although he was at the gates of a triple double-double, contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, in the end he could not be a winning factor before the great marking that him did the defense of the Heat.

While the 28 points scored by forward Khris Middleton, who was the Bucks' leading scorer, also did not prevent the defeat of the Milwaukee team, which also lost the first game of the first-round series to the Orlando Magic and then won four consecutive games.

But the night should be taken into account by the Bucks and analyzed, especially Antetokounmpo, who missed no less than eight shots from the personnel line (4-12), the worst performance of anyone with at least 12 free throw attempts in a playoff game since Andre Roberson finished 2-for-12 with the Thunder on April 23, 2017 against the Rockets.

Point guard Chris Paul emerged with his best offensive game and scored 28 points that allowed the Thunder to come from behind and beat the Rockets 104-100 in Game 6 of the Western Conference playoff first-round eliminator. which is now tied at 3-3.

Both teams will have to play on Wednesday the decisive seventh game that defines the winner who will have to face in the semifinals the Los Angeles Lakers who won their elimination 4-1 to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Paul, a former Rockets player, who traded him last year to acquire point guard Russell Westbrook from the Thunder, became an unstoppable force in the fourth quarter and scored 15 points that were the ones that consummated the Oklahoma City team's comeback and that keeps them in the Orlando bubble.

Paul hit two free throws with 13.1 seconds to go and the game tied at 100, and Italian power forward Danilo Gallinari added two more after a Westbrook turnover clinched the victory.

In a game that was close throughout, neither team led by double digits, the Thunder rebounding from the beating they had taken in Game 5.

Along with Paul, Gallinari also improved in offensive production in relation to the fifth game and contributed 25 points as the second highest scorer.

Guard James Harden with 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists was once again the Rockets leader, while forward Robert Covington had 18 and Westbrook reached 17 points in his second game back from a strained right quadriceps. .

The Rockets had their most dominant playoff victory in Game 5, winning 114-80 after holding Oklahoma City to 32% shooting from the field.

But the Thunder reacted in the sixth, just as they did when they trailed 0-2 earlier in the series.

Most of the first half was played with a low point margin on both teams.

The Thunder did not improve much in the offensive game having a 42 percent in the field shots and only 3 of 15 from triples, but they did better defense, which was where the key to their victory was.

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