NBA PLAYOFFS - 03/09/2020

Aditya Srivastava

Risk Consulting Specialist | Digital Risk, Internal Audit & Compliance in Financial Services Delivering strategic risk management, regulatory assurance, and operational resilience for global institutions.

Published Sep 3, 2020

+ Follow

Milwaukee Bucks vs Miami Heat : Like the great mind Aristotle once said, 'The Whole is greater than the sum of its parts', the Miami Heat were an embodiment of this ideology in today's NBA. Under the hard-nose leadership and guidance of Pat Riley (President) and coach Erik Spoelstra, the Jimmy Butler led Miami Heat defeated the reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo's Milwaukee Bucks 116-114 in a close Game 2 of the Eastern conference semi-finals. The Heat had a 6 point lead with 19.8 seconds left in the 4th quarter, which got blown by Jimmy Butler's turnover to Brook Lopez's bucket and a foul on Khris Middleton by Goran Dragic from the 3pt line. Drama unfolded in the final seconds of the game with the score tied at 114 as it saw Giannis Antetokounmpo foul Jimmy Butler on a shot to win the game with 0.1 seconds left on the clock. Butler made both the free throws with no time left on the clock to help the Heat take a commanding 2-0 lead on the previous years Eastern Conference finalists. The Milwaukee Bucks stuck to their plan of protecting the paint on defense which saw them out-rebound the Heat 50-38, and finding the open shooter on the 3pt line when their players would drive into the paint, but could only manage a 7/25 from the 3. The Heat as a collective unit had 7 of it's players score in double digits led by Goran Dragic's 23 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds and Bam Adebayo's inspiring effort on both ends of the court. Giannis tried to keep his team in the game with 29 points and 14 boards, but failed to convert 2 clutch free throws in the 4th quarter with 43 seconds on the clock. The Bucks are facing an uphill battle down 2-0 in the series against the gritty Heat, and the only chance they have of turning the tide is if the support players start making their shots and Giannis can drive it to the hole and make his shots from the charity stripe, i.e, free throw line. Game 3 will be taking place on Saturday morning (05/9) at 4:00 AM IST.

Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder: 'Game 7' - Strategies, game plans and matchups go out the window when it's a Game 7 in the NBA, and we saw a mind-boggling series of events which quite justify this notion. James Harden, who is known for his offensive dominance, had the play of the night by blocking rookie Luguent Dort's potential game winning 3 to send the Rockets to the Western conference semi-finals, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-102 in regulation to advance to the Western conference semi-finals. The highlight of this match was OKC rookie Dort's stellar offensive night, which saw him score a playoff career high 30 points on 6-12 shooting from the 3pt line. The interesting part is that Dort isn't know for his offensive skill set but rather for his defensive prowess which he had been showcasing throughout this series with his defense on James Harden. But this is game 7, anything can happen, and we weren't disappointed. One thing that remained constant was Harden's poor offensive record in game 7s' which saw him shoot 4-15 from the field, but thankfully had his teammates cover it up in Robert Covington scoring 21 points, Eric Gordon with 21 points (5-9 from 3PT) and Russell Westbrook chipping with 20 points and 9 rebounds. In October, ESPN gave the OKC Thunder a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs; they not only sealed the 5th seed in the tough Western conference but took a Rockets team with 2 MVPs to 7 games and almost beat them. Under the astute leadership of Chris Paul and coach Billy Donovan this OKC team was the dark horse of the playoffs and even had a few pundits picking them to win the series. CP3 always comes up clutch in games when it matters most, and he delivered again with a triple double and was supported by his talented and hard working squad in the rookie Dort, young guards in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dennis Schroder and the big man Steven Adams. The future looks bright for this Thunders squad. The Rockets will be facing the rested Los Angeles Lakers for a place in the conference finals, where we will see James Harden face Lebron James in a series again after he was beaten by him 4-1 in the 2011-12 NBA Finals, when the Miami Heat defeated the Westbrook and Kevin Durant led OKC Thunder. Game 1 of the western conference finals will take place on Saturday morning (05/9) at 6:30 AM IST.