Milwaukee Bucks’ Nigerian-born star, Giannis Adetokunbo (Antetokounmpo) was again the best in skills and thrills, as his triple-double floored a mammoth 210 points from Miami Heats’ Bam Adebayo in another epic clash of USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA) play-offs series.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, on the night of thrills, Adebayo’s efforts were rendered for naught, as Antetokounmpo had a triple-double and The Bucks completed a 4-0 clean sweep of The Heat in their NBA first-round play-off series on Saturday.
The reigning back-to-back most valuable player finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 15 assists, as The Bucks won 120-103 at Miami to advance to the next round against either Brooklyn Nets or Boston Celtics, with the Nets leading that series 2-1.
Adebayo had 20 points and 14 rebounds for Miami, who led 64-57 after the first half but were swamped 63-39 in the second; as Brook Lopez scored 25 points, Bryn Forbes had 22 and Khris Middleton 20 as The Bucks became the first team to advance to the second round.
Elsewhere in the NBA, Philadelphia 76ers took a 3-0 lead in their series against Washington Wizards with a dominant 132-103 win in the capital.
Joel Embiid scored a career play-off high of 36 points, including 25 in the first half, and was able to be rested for the entire fourth quarter.
Russell Westbrook had a triple double of 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for Washington, while Bradley Beal had 25 points.
Utah Jazz took a 2-1 series lead over the Memphis Grizzlies with a 121-111 away win, as Donovan Mitchell led with 29 points.
That included 10 in the fourth quarter as the top seeds in the West kept a dogged Memphis at arm’s length through the second half, while Ja Morant led The Grizzlies with 28 points while Dillon Brooks had 27 before fouling out.
In Saturday’s other playoff match, the Portland Trail Blazers beat the visiting Denver Nuggets 115-95 to even their series at 2-2.
Normal Powell scored 29 points and CJ McCollum added 21 for the Trail Blazers, while Nikola Jokic had 16 points for Denver.
