Former protege mercilessly dunks on mentor in NBA playoff
JOE Ingles’ Utah Jazz was torched by James Harden’s Houston Rockets, Thon Maker’s Detroit Pistons were demolished by the rampaging Milwaukee Bucks and Aron Baynes sent a new NBA injury scare through the Boston Celtics in the first round of playoffs yesterday.
Harden, with 29 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, led the Rockets to a 122-90 win over the Jazz in Houston in the opening game of their best-ofseven western conference playoff series.
Ingles has been in hot shooting form in recent weeks but the Australian managed just three points, missing three of his four field goal attempts.
Maker’s Pistons had no answer against the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee, Maker’s former team, held a 70-43 halftime lead and went on to hammer the Pistons 121-86 in game one of their eastern conference series. Antetokounmpo, the main challenger to Harden for league MVP, had 24 points and 17 rebounds in 25 minutes.
Antetokounmpo took Maker under his wing when the young Sudanese-born Australian-raised forward/centre was drafted by the Bucks in 2016. However, Antetokounmpo — the Greek star of Nigerian descent — showed no mercy as he dunked on and outplayed Maker.
The Celtics opened their first-round series against the Indiana Pacers with a comprehensive 84-74 victory in Boston. The Celtics’ big man Baynes missed 31 regular season games with a broken hand, bruised foot and ankle sprain and appeared to have suffered a new injury when he howled in pain after colliding with the Pacers’ Thaddeus Young in the second half. Baynes, who had his left leg treated on the bench, dismissed it as nothing serious.