Denver, New York Overwhelm Semis Foes; One Win Away from W-E Conf Finals
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 15 May 2024
Potential NBA Finals rivals, Denver and New York came nearer towards that realization with smashing game 5 victories in the semifinals of their respective conferences.
The Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves, 112-97 to come a win away from a return in the Western Finals.
The Knicks on the other hand demolished the Indiana Pacers, 121-91 to come within a victory of redemption from last season's semis failure and book an Eastern Conference Finals seat in years. New York lost to Miami Heat, 4-2 in last season's semis in the East.
Both the winning teams certainly got the boost of playing before their home crowd as they played inspired basketball throughout their games.
In particular New York needed basically just five of their dependable magnificent seven to put away Indiana after a relatively close first quarter, 38-32, capping the rout with a 25-16 windup.
Jalen Brunson cut loose with 44 points, Josh Hart and Alec Burks scored 18 points each while Miles McBride put in 17 points. Combined with Donte DiVincenzo's 8 points, the total output (105 points) of these five players alone was more than what the entire Pacers team could put up on the scoreboard To punctuate the Knicks night-long dominance, center Isiah Hertenson pulled down 17 rebounds including 12 offensive boards which was the highest total rebounds Indiana's leading rebounder, Pascal Siakam could amass the whole time he was on the floor.
Typifying Indiana's lethargic performance, Siakam was the Pacers top scorer with 22 points, just half of Brunson's. Miles Turner managed just 16 points while Tyrese Halliburton and Aaron Nembhard, heroes of the game four win, could only score 13 and 11 points respectively.
Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic flaunted his all around MVP-worthy form scoring 40 points and 13 assists in leading the Nuggets to another easy win over Minnesota.
The win was their third straight, but only first at home after losing the first two in Denver which enraged coach Michael Malone into reminding them that they are the defending champions and should play like such.
Getting the load of assists from Jokic, Aaron Gordon scored 18 points while hauling down 9 boards.
Jamal Murray and K Caldwell Pope scored 16 points each making up for the low output of Michael Porter Jnr who scored just six points. Christian Braun came off the bench and added 10 points.
Carl Anthony Towns led Minnesota scoring with 23 points. Twin Towers partner Rudy Gobert had 18 points. Anthony Edwards also had 18 points.
If they win again, Denver and New York will be meeting the winners of the other semis series between Dallas vs OKC and Boston vs Cleveland respectively. The Celtics are just one win away from Conference Finals seat while Dallas and OKC are tied at 2-2.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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