Butler, Heat get jump on Bucks in East semifinals
Jimmy Butler scored a playoff career-high 40 points, Goran Dragic added 27 and the Miami Heat clamped down defensively in the final three quarters to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 115-104 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Monday night.
Bam Adebayo had 12 points, 17 rebounds and six assists for the fifth-seeded Heat. Tyler Herro added 11 points for Miami, which improved to 5-0 in the postseason in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Khris Middleton scored 28 points for Milwaukee. Brook Lopez had 24 points on 8 for 10 shooting, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 18 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the
Bucks.
But Antetokounmpo’s night will likely be best remembered by what he did at the foul line. The reigning MVP went 4 for 12 from the free throw line, the worst performance by anyone with at least 12 free-throw attempts in a playoff game since Andre Roberson went 2 for 12 for Oklahoma City on April 23, 2017.
NUGGETS, JAZZ SET FOR GAME 7 MATCHUP >>
The Jamal Murray-Donovan Mitchell duel will be settled in the first Game 7 in the bubble.
Murray extended his torrid run with 50 more points, leading the Denver Nuggets to a 119-107 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night.
Murray had his second 50-point game of the series to equal Mitchell, who finished with 44 in this one. No player has ever had more in an entire postseason. They will go at it one more time tonight, with the winner advancing to face the Los Angeles Clippers.
Denver is trying to become the 12th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a series and the first since 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers completed the only one of those comebacks that came in the NBA Finals against the Warriors.
PELICANS’ INGRAM NAMED MOST IMPROVED PLAYER >>
Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram has been named the NBA’s most improved player in a season that saw him bounce back from a life-altering blood clot and a trade from the team that drafted him second-overall in 2016.
Ingram, who came to New Orleans as part of a block-buster trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, averaged a team-leading and careerbest 23.8 points per game while hitting 46.3% of his shots.