The winner of the clash picks whoever gets the better of Bucks and Nets
The East Coast semifinals are already set. After the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets, last night also defined the Hawks and Sixers rankings. Whoever wins will advance to the final of the Eastern Conference and then compete for the NBA trophy.
Even without pivot Joel Embiid and playing away from home, Philadelphia beat the Washington Wizards by 129 to 112 and closed the series 4-1. Owner of the best regular campaign on the East Coast, the 76ers had a great team game even without the presence of the MVP candidate. Six players scored in double digits. The highlight was for Seth Curry, the team’s basket, with 30 points. Tobias Harris had 28 with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Ben Simmons scored a double triple, with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Wizards, who finished eighth and had to go through the play-in, ended the season with another great performance from Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook. Wearing the shirt of the Washington team, Westbrook became the player with the most triple-doubles in NBA history, totaling 181. Yesterday the shirt 4 almost made more, he scored 24 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. Beal was the Wizards’ team scorer with 32 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
In the Conference’s other game, Atlanta was not intimidated playing at Madison Square Garden and beat the New York Knicks 103-89, also ending the series 4-1. Trae Young, with 36 points and 9 assists, had an excellent second time. and led the visiting team in the duel. Besides him, Clint Capela, with 14 points and 15 rebounds, John Collins, with 13 points and seven rebounds, and DeAndre Hunter, with 15 points, had good performances to guarantee the classification.
For the New York Knicks, Julius Randle led the team with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Reggie Bullock (12 points) had an excellent first quarter and was instrumental in balancing the duel early on. Besides them, RJ Barrett, with 17 points and 7 rebounds, Alec Burks, with 12 points and 6 rebounds, and Immanuel Quickley, with 11 points were also highlighted by the Knicks side.
By Gustavo Castilho
