Monday Morning Clip May 3, 2022

NBA

 

Golden State 117, Memphis 116

Golden State leads 1-0

In a game that was very close for almost the entire game, Golden State pulled it out at the end to take the 1-0 series lead despite Draymond Green getting ejected in the first half. Jordan Poole led Golden State with 31 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds off the bench, including hitting 5 of his 10 3-pointers. Steph Curry had 24 on 5-12 3-point shooting while Klay Thompson had 15 points on 6-19 shooting, but hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining. For Memphis, Ja Morant had 34 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals, but missed the potential game-winning lay-up. Jaren Jackson had 33 points and 10 rebounds, hitting 6 of his 9 3-pointers.

 

Milwaukee 101, Boston 89

Milwaukee leads 1-0

In a game where neither team shot well, Milwaukee did not shoot as poorly as Boston and had four fewer turnovers. Milwaukee held a 10-point lead at halftime and it never fell below 6 during the second half. They also deployed a big ball starting lineup, with Giannis, Bobby Portis, and Brook Lopez all in the starting five. Giannis hit only 9 of his 25 shots, but still managed 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists while Jrue Holiday had 25 points, 9 assists, and 5 rebounds. Jayson Tatum had 21 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds, but only made 6 of his 18 shots. Jaylen Brown had just 12 points on 4 of 13 shooting, along with 9 rebounds, but also 7 turnovers. Robert Williams, who hit 3 of his 6 shots, was the only Boston starter to make more than 40% of his shots.

 

Tonight’s Games

Game 1: Philadelphia @ Miami (-7.5); 7:30 PM

Game 1: Dallas @ Phoenix (-5.5); 10 PM

 

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MLB

Baltimore 9, Boston 5

Baltimore: Jordan Lyles: 6 IP, 7 H, ER, 6 K

Boston: JD Martinez: 3-5, HR, 4 RBI

Minnesota 9, Tampa Bay 3

Minnesota: Josh Winder: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 7 K; Jorge Polanco: 2-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI

San Diego 5, Pittsburgh 2

San Diego: Joe Musgrove: 7 IP, 7 H, ER, 8 K

Pittsburgh: Mitch Keller: 6 IP, 5 H, ER, 5 K

Toronto 3, Houston 2

Toronto: Kevin Gausman: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 10 K

Seattle 7, Miami 3

LA Angels 6, Chicago White Sox 5

LA Angels: Michael Lorenzen: 8.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 K

Chicago Cubs 2, Milwaukee 0

Chicago Cubs: Marcus Stroman: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K

Milwaukee: Corbin Burnes: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 10 K

NY Yankees 6, Kansas City 4

NY Yankees: Aaron Judge: 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI

St. Louis 7, Arizona 5

Arizona: Jordan Luplow: 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI 

Texas 7, Atlanta 5

Texas: Adolis Garcia: 3-5, 3B, 4 RBI

Colorado 10, Cincinnati 1

Colorado: Kyle Freeland: 7 IP, 4 H, ER, 4 K

Washington 11, San Francisco 5

Washington: Josiah Gray: 6 IP, H, 0 ER, 3 K; Yadiel Hernandez: 3-4, 2 2B, 5 RBI

Cleveland 7, Oakland 3

Cleveland: Triston McKenzie: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 7 K

LA Dodgers 6, Detroit 3

NY Mets 10, Philadelphia 6

NY Mets: Dominic Smith: 4-4, 2B, 3 RBI

Philadelphia: Kyle Schwarber: 3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI

 

Full standings

Home run leaders

 

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NBA Playoffs: Eliminated Teams

 

Toronto Raptors

Pascal Siakam averaged 22.8 points throughout the series (exact same as the regular season), but they did not get the same production out of Fred Van Vleet and Gary Trent Jr. that they got during the regular season, dropping from 20.3 points and 18.3 points, respectively, to 13.8 and 15.3 points during the playoffs. Both are heavy 3-point shooters and both hit exactly a third of their playoff 3-pointers after they both averaged close to 38% during the regular season. On the other end, Tyrese Maxey averaged 21.3 points, shooting more than 50% from the field and 40% from 3. Philadelphia won all four of the games where Maxey scored at least 19 points. Philadelphia will need Maxey to continue scoring, with Embiid missing at least the first two games with a concussion and orbital bone fracture.

 

Chicago Bulls

Other than their one win driven by DeRozan’s 41 point night, Chicago didn’t really do much. Three of their four losses were by more than 15 points and in addition to DeRozan struggling more, both Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic had a harder time scoring against Milwaukee than they did during the regular season. On the other end, Giannis made at least half of his shots in every game and scored at least 27 in four of the five. The scoring burden on Giannis will remain heavy with Khris Middleton nursing a knee injury.

 

Brooklyn Nets

After hitting more than 50% of his shots during the regular season, Kevin Durant made only 38.6% of his shots in the first round against Boston. After Durant and Irving, Seth Curry was their third leading scorer with 14.5 points per game (9 per game from 3-pointers). On the other end, Jayson Tatum had at least 29 in 3 of the 4 games and shot above 45% from both the field and behind the arc. Jaylen Brown also had 23 points in 2 games and 22 points in the other 2 with a 49.7% FG%. 

 

Atlanta Hawks

Trae Young had three games in this series where he had 11 points or less after having only one during the regular season. In each of those three games, he hit less than 30% of his shots and had at least five turnovers. In another game where he did shoot well (10-20 FG for 25 points), he turned the ball over 10 times, which was a large part of why Atlanta had the highest turnover rate of any playoff team. Young wasn’t completely alone in his struggles, as John Collins averaged 9.4 points (16.2 during the regular season) and Kevin Huerter was under 40% from the field and 30% from beyond the arc. One bright spot for Atlanta: De’Andre Hunter had at least 14 points and shot at least 40% in every game (averaging 21.3 on 58.1% FG%). After playing in only 53 games this year and 23 the year before, Atlanta hopes he can play a bigger role next season.

 

Utah Jazz

Mike Conley completely fell off during the series (9.2 pts, 33.3% FG%, 20% 3P%) and Donovan Mitchell really struggled from beyond the arc (20.8%). It’s worth noting that they played the series close throughout - only one of the six games were decided by more than ten points. They were never outrebounded throughout the series and grabbed at least nine more rebounds than Dallas in four of the six. On the defensive end, Luka Doncic was largely able to recreate his regular season output and Jalen Brunson exploded with 27.8 points per game on 48.4% FG%, most critically in the three games when Luka was injured.

 

Denver Nuggets

Other than his 3-point shooting suffering, Nikola Jokic largely remained the same offensive weapon that carried Denver to the playoffs this season without Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray. The issue was that none of his teammates averaged more than 14 points per game. Aaron Gordon shot 42% from the field in the playoffs after shooting 52% during the regular season. Steph Curry mostly came off the bench during the series, but that just enabled him to put up his normal numbers in even fewer minutes (30.2 minutes per game). On top of that, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole also shot more than 40% from beyond the arc for the series. Avoiding a sweep was as much as Nikola Jokic could do, as he was largely on his own.

 

Minnesota Timberwolves

D’Angelo Russell was largely irrelevant throughout the series (12 pts, 33.3% FG%), but Anthony Edwards made up for his relative absence. Considering that some decline in scoring and FG% is relatively normal in the playoffs because the starters are playing more (and trying harder on defense), Edwards scoring more at a higher FG% and 3P% is that much more impressive. They benefited from a few off nights from Ja Morant, but Desmond Bane had an extremely strong performance especially near the end of the series, with at least 23 points in the last four games. Of the teams that were eliminated, I’ll miss Minnesota the most. I’m very much hoping Anthony Edwards keeps the playoff momentum going next season.

 

New Orleans Pelicans

Considering that New Orleans wasn’t even expected to be in this playoff series, winning two games against Phoenix is impressive, even if they didn’t have Devin Booker. They had the highest rebounding rate of any team in the first round, and Brandon Ingram managed 27 points, 6.2 assists, and a 40.7% 3P%. Ultimately, Chris Paul was able to take much of Devin Booker’s scoring burden and Phoenix won all four of the games where he scored at least 22 points. In three of the four, he shot more than 50% from the field, including a series-closing Game 6 where he hit all 14 of his shots. Whether this team gets Zion back next season or gets a large haul in return, they could be even more entertaining next season.

 

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