BBNBA: AD hurt again as Suns tie Lakers, Hawks push Knicks to the brink

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All four of the playoff games on Sunday began with one team leading 2-1 in a pivotal moment for each first round series. None of them were close, but two ended with the series being tied up, and two resulted in one team pushing the other to a dangerous 3-1 deficit. Knicks fans, be warned: you might not like this one.

RECAP

Davis leaves with injury, Suns tie Lakers 2-2

If it wasn’t for bad luck, Anthony Davis would have no luck at all. Okay, maybe that’s a dramatic thing to say about a multimillionaire who gets paid to play basketball and drink Red Bull. But seeing him go down with yet another injury yesterday that forced him to miss the second half of L.A.’s crucial 100-92 Game 4 loss to the Suns, I couldn’t help but feel for the guy.

The injury in question is a groin strain, which appeared to really start bothering him in the second quarter after he initially hyperextended his leg in Thursday’s Game 3. The pain became too much for him to play through, causing him to sit out after halftime while the Suns — led by Chris Paul, who is playing through a shoulder injury that almost caused him to miss the game — surged ahead to a double-digit lead. Davis finished with six points and four rebounds in 19 minutes after posting 34 in each of the last two Lakers victories. He’s now considered day-to-day ahead of Tuesday’s Game 5.

The circumstances were unfortunate, but it was a break for Devin Booker and the Suns, who were staring down the possibility of trailing 3-1 to the seventh-seeded Lakers should they have lost this one. Instead they immediately capitalized on Davis’ absence, jumping out on a 14-4 run to start the third quarter that was largely fueled by Paul, who finished with 18 and nine assists. Booker only scored two points in the second half after leading all scorers with 15 at the break.

L.A. made a late push in the fourth to get back within seven, but that was as close as it would get. James finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds, but no other Laker eclipsed 12 in the scoring column. Suns center DeAndre Ayton had his way inside with Davis out, pulling down 17 rebounds along with his 14 points.

The series is now squared at two games apiece as they return to Phoenix Tuesday. If there are any updates on the Brow’s well-being before then, we’ll make sure you’re the first to know.

Knicks drop Game 4, trail 3-1 to Hawks

The early game yesterday afternoon promised to be a doozy, especially after the show these two teams put on at Madison Square last Sunday — but unfortunately for the Knicks, it got out of hand quickly. What had been a closely contested game in the first half turned into a 113-96 Atlanta rout, and suddenly the team adopted by much of the BBN this year found itself down 3-1 in the series.

As fun as it is to hate Trae Young, it was the entire Hawks team that buried the Knicks on Sunday. Young scored 27, Danilo Gallinari added 21 and their frontcourt duo of John Collins and Clint Capela combined for 32 points and 23 rebounds while frustrating Julius Randle all day long. The vaunted Knicks defense was run roughshod once again, allowing 15 made threes in this one while countering with only nine.

Facing an emphatic chorus of “overrated” chants from Hawks fans, Randle actually had his best game of the playoffs so far, dropping a near triple-double of 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists along with two steals. However, his production simply wasn’t enough. The Hawks went on a big run in the second half, outscoring New York by 13 in the third quarter and the Knicks simply had no response.

Derrick Rose was inserted into the starting lineup by Tom Thibodeau on Friday in the interest of offense, and he came out firing with 16 points in the first two periods of Game 4. But he scored just two in the second half, deferring to R.J. Barrett, who finished with 21. Reggie Bullock and Immanuel Quickley combined to play 47 minutes without making a single shot.

Nerlens Noel was hampered by an ankle injury that held him to just 15 minutes off the bench. Kevin Knox entered late in the game and earned his first career playoff points with a pair of free throws.

The series shifts back to New York on Wednesday, as the Knicks will have their backs against the wall for Game 5 at home.

Clippers route Mavs to even series 2-2

The last game of the day broke away from the script of those previous, as the Clippers eliminated any suspense by leading big from wire to wire en route to a series-tying 106-81 drubbing. Kawhi Leonard led all scorers with 29, followed by 20 from Paul George and 15 from Reggie Jackson.

Luka Doncic started slowly and never really got his feet under him, finishing with a series-low 19 on 9-24 shooting. His off night ironically came just when Kristaps Porzingis was finally looking serviceable, scoring 18 in 27 minutes. The loss was the second straight at home for the Mavs, and the fourth time in as many games this series where the road team won.

Rajon Rondo had a big impact once again, helping lead the Clips’ second quarter surge with strong defense and some trademark dizzying passes in the fast break on his way to seven points, five rebounds and four assists. He even broke out one of his old trademark moves for this bucket:

Playoff Rondo. pic.twitter.com/s3yFCaGCII

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) May 31, 2021

The series returns to Los Angeles on Wednesday all tied up at 2-2, but the momentum has firmly shifted in the past few days. This might just be an interesting series after all.

Nets take 3-1 lead with another blowout

This series, however, appears as uninteresting as ever. The Nets took care of business in Boston in blowout fashion, rebounding from Friday’s loss easily with a 141-126 win. They led by as much as 27 in this one as the big three of Kevin Durant (42), James Harden (23) and Kyrie Irving (39) combined for a ridiculous 104 points. Yes, they outscored half of the teams playing on Sunday by themselves.

Boston got 40 points from Jayson Tatum, but there’s not much he can do by himself. If Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown are unable to return for Tuesday’s Game 5, it may be all she wrote for the Celtics. A Brooklyn victory would secure a matchup with Milwaukee in the conference semis, since they eliminated the Heat on Saturday.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

STATISTICS

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