by Harry Porter | The Miami Heat took game one of the Eastern Conference Finals while the Denver Nuggets advanced to the Western Conference Finals with a game seven victory.
Eastern Conference Finals:
#3 Boston Celtics vs. #5 Miami Heat, Game 1: 117-114 (MIA Leads 1-0)
The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat played to a thrilling, overtime game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. Jayson Tatum scored a game high 30-points for the Celtics who blew a 12 point fourth quarter lead. In fact, the Heat outscored the Celtics 46-31 between the fourth quarter and the overtime period. Bam Adebayo (18p/6r/9a/2b) saved Miami’s lead by denying Tatum a game-tying dunk with 3.7 seconds left in overtime The Heat were led by Jimmy Butler (20p/5r/5a/2s), Goran Dragic (29p/7r/4a/1b), Jae Crowder (22p/5r/1a/2b) and Tyler Herro (12p/11r/9a). Marcus Smart (26p/3r/1a), Jaylen Brown (17p/5r/2a/1s), Kemba Walker (19p/3r/6a/1b) and Brad Wanamaker 911p/3r/6a/5s) put in solid shifts tonight as the main contributors for the Celtics.
Despite poor shooting down the stretch, the Celtics will look to even the series 1-1 while the Heat will look to go up 2-0. I’m predicting the Celtics even the series 1-1 114-106 behind 30-point performances from Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker. Game two of the Eastern Conference Finals will tip-off Thursday at 5:00pm MST on ESPN.
Western Conference Semifinals:
#2 Los Angeles Clippers vs. #3 Denver Nuggets, Game 7: 104-89 (DEN Wins 4-3)
The Nuggets continue their Cinderella story postseason run with another game seven playoff victory. The Clippers squandered a 3-1 series lead and shot a horrible 38% from the field in the crucial game seven. Paul George only scored 10-points while shooting 25% on the night and Kawhi Leonard scored a playoff low 14-points on an even worse 27.3% from the field. The Nuggets continue to battle in the postseason and advanced to the Western Conference Finals behind outstanding performances from the Nikola Jokić (16p/22r/13a/3b/2s) and Jamal Murray (40p/4r/5a/1s).
The #3 seed Nuggets will face off against the #1 seed Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. I predict Playoff LeBron maintaining his form and leading the Lakers to a dominant 122-103 game one win behind a triple-double from King James. The Western Conference Finals begin Friday at 7pm MST on TNT.
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