The Lakers and Miami qualified for the conference finals, it’s over for the Warriors

LOS ANGELES LAKERS-GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: 122-101

• Lakers win series 4-2

Who, in January, could have imagined seeing them there? The Lakers are in the Conference final where they will find Denver after having taken out of the table the defending champion, the Golden State Warriors, after a sixth one-sided game (122-101). As often in this series, there was no photo. Blame it on a starving three-point address (27% at 13/48) for the men of Steve Kerr, who lost his first series out of the final there.

At 2/12 behind the arc, Klay Thompson perfectly symbolizes this failed night for the defending champions. Despite his 30 points, Stephen Curry settled for a 4/14 three-pointer. Deprived of their atomic weapon, the Warriors were never able to compete in a match that quickly slipped through their fingers. Opposite, the diabolical address of LeBron James (71.4% success), always ruthless in the matches that really matter, quickly swung the game. Close to the triple-double (30 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists), LBJ was able to count on his faithful lieutenant in the paint.

With 20 rebounds (but also 17 points and two blocks), Anthony Davies cleaned up behind the many failures of the Warriors while the address of Austin Reaves (23 points at 4/5 behind the arc) consolidated LA in his certainties. So here are the Lakers qualified for an unexpected Conference final at the start of the season. The LeBron band becomes only the second team in history to achieve it after starting the current fiscal year with two wins and ten losses. These Lakers are survivors, Denver is warned.

MIAMI HEAT – NEW YORK KNICKS: 96-92

• The Heat win the series 4-2

Miami qualified for the Eastern Conference Finals, winning the sixth game of its series (96-92) against New York, thanks to the combined efforts of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, to answer the untenable Jalen Brunson, Friday . It’s the third time in four years that the Heat have reached this stage of the competition. In 2020, in Orlando’s anti-Covid bubble, he dismissed the Celtics to join the final, which was ultimately lost to LeBron James’ Lakers. Last year, Boston had taken its revenge, at the end of a series of suspense.

And a reunion cannot be ruled out, because the Massachusetts team will have the opportunity on Sunday, at home, to complete its series against Philadelphia (3-3). While waiting for this scenario to be fully realized, the Heat fought to extinguish the inclinations of the Knicks, who started very strong in this meeting, since they led by 15 units in the first quarter, carried by Brunson author of 15 points with a 5/6 behind the arc. The New York leader, still generous – he played 45 minutes – finished with 41 points on the clock (14/22), becoming the first player in the franchise to play three consecutive play-off games with at minus 30 points, since Patrick Ewing in 1990.

Until the last minute, by initiating the reduction of the score to 92-90, he was a constant threat for the Floridians, unlike Julius Randle (15 pts, 11 rbds) and RJ Barrett (11 pts) who shot at 4 /24 between them. Despite a starving long-range address (7/27), the Heat had more offensive weapons to catch up, even if Jimmy Butler was not on his best night (24 pts, at 7/22). To support him, he had Bam Adebayo, who sounded the revolt of the team in the second quarter by scoring 11 of his 23 points (9 rebounds), and Max Strus (14 pts), author of important baskets in money time.

“I like to wet the shirt for wins, that’s what we do best. We’ve been doing it all season (…) There are very good players in this team“, rejoiced Butler, who will necessarily still need them in tune to advance further.

WITH AFP