|
Geregistreerd op: 04 Jul 2018
Berichten: 145
|
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks showed signs of life Friday night in Game 3 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series with the Boston Celtics.
They’ll try evening the best-of-seven showdown at two games apiece when they welcome the Celtics to Bradley Center on Sunday afternoon for Game 4.
Milwaukee avoided falling into a 3-0 hole thanks to a dominant effort from its bench Ezekiel Elliott Jersey , which was largely a non-factor through the first two games.
Jabari Parker was the biggest surprise of that group. He’d played only 25 minutes and scored two points through the first two games, leading him to suggest he wasn’t on his coach’s “good side” and expressing frustration and disappointment with his lack of playing time.
Given a chance in Game 3, Parker hit 7 of 12 shots for 17 points and grabbed five rebounds while playing 30 minutes.
Thon Maker had 14 points and a career-best five blocks, and Matthew Dellavedova dished out four assists and provided the defensive pressure necessary to keep Boston point guard Terry Rozier in check.
Rozier scored 23 points in each of the first two games in the series but was held to nine Friday night. He hadn’t committed a turnover in 78 minutes through the first two games but had with five in Game 3 as Milwaukee rolled to a 116-92 victory.
“They came out together as a team,” Rozier said. “They punched us in the mouth early. We gotta do a better job of responding on Sunday, and we will.”
Milwaukee’s defensive pressure held Boston to 40 percent shooting and an 8-of-24 showing from beyond the arc. The Celtics maintained their dominance on the offensive glass, grabbing 17 boards, but after being burned in the first two games, Milwaukee limited Boston to 18 second-chance points and only gave up nine points off nine turnovers after committing 35 combined in Games 1 and 2.
“We realized how important this game was Authentic Mark Andrews Jersey ,” Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “I think everyone brought their ‘A’ game, they brought their energy. Game 2, we didn’t do a good job rebounding the ball or taking care of the ball. I think we did a great job of doing that (tonight). It takes effort to rebound, so I think everybody brought effort and hopefully we can carry that on to Game 4.”
Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton had almost all of Milwaukee’s scoring through the first two games, and while the bench stepped up Friday with 50 points, the Bucks will also need another strong showing from Eric Bledsoe if they want to avoid going back to Boston in a 3-1 hole.
Bledsoe had been flustered by Rozier before snapping out of the funk with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. He missed all three of his 3-point attempts, but the Bucks still finished with a franchise postseason-record 16, and he was much more efficient with the ball, committing only one turnover.
Celtics forward Marcus Morris was fined $15 Mark Walton Jersey ,000 by the league for criticizing the officials after Friday’s game. Morris scored seven points, was 2 of 8 from the field and had a team-worst minus-20.
Four times under coach Mike Sullivan, the Pittsburgh Penguins have gone into an elimination game in the playoffs. They have won each en route to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.
On Monday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, the Washington Capitals will try to end the Penguins’ run with a win in Game 6 of a second-round series. Washington, after winning 6-3 in Game 5, leads the series 3-2 and can advance to the Eastern Conference final with a win.
The Capitals are 1-9 all time in postseason series against Pittsburgh, with two of the losses coming the past two years, so they have a sense of needing to get past the Penguins’ roadblock.
“It’s not over yet,” Capitals winger Brett Connolly said. “They’re a good team. We know that. (Game 5 Saturday was) obviously a big win. We just need to find a way this year. We need to find a way to get that last win no matter what it takes.”
The Penguins will need to win not only Monday but also Wednesday in a potential Game 7 at Washington if they are to have a chance to win a third Cup in a row.
Even with that cushion Youth Da'Ron Payne Jersey , the Capitals are taking a conservative approach.
“I can tell you how I feel if there’s four wins,” goaltender Braden Holtby said. “Where it’s at right now doesn’t matter at all. All that matters is the next game. That’s got to be our mindset if we want to have success and take a mature approach to it.”
Pittsburgh can draw on those four elimination games it won in its recent Cup runs for experience. One of those games was a 2-0 victory in Game 7 against Washington last year, also in the second round.
“We’ve done it before,” Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. “We know we’ve got it in this group. We’re going back home. We’ve been good at home all year. We win one game there, come back (to Washington) and play a Game 7. That’s nothing new to us, nothing we’re afraid of. We’ve just got to bring our best effort again in Game 6.”
Sullivan said the Penguins have another intangible.
“It comes down to character and the people we have in our dressing room,” he said.
Washington’s win in Game 5 might have had a couple of caveats, possible injuries to defenseman John Carlson and center Nicklas Backstrom, although coach Barry Trotz said both were expected to travel to Pittsburgh and should be available.
The Capitals already are without wingers Andre Burakovsky (injury) and Tom Wilson (suspension). Wilson would be eligible to return for a Game 7.
Pittsburgh came away from its loss Saturday — in which Washington scored two empty-net goals — feeling pretty good about everything but the final score.
“I liked our effort Youth Durham Smythe Jersey ,” winger Patric Hornqvist said. “I liked our attitude and all that. We just have to clean up our mistakes, and we’ll be fine.”
That is a popular belief among the Penguins.
“Everybody understands the situation,” Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. “It brings out everyone’s best. You don’t have anything to save it for, so you go out there with one focus, and that’s win a hockey game and get to a Game 7. That’s our mindset here.
“We have a lot of good things to build off. We just need to make sure we keep going, keep playing the same way.”
.
 |
|
|
