The Philadelphia 76ers still can’t find a way to complete “The Process.” Despite making significant front office and coaching changes in the offseason, the 76ers were once again handed an unexpected early playoff exit.

This time, the Sixers were eliminated in the conference semifinals after suffering a shocking 103-96 to young and playoff inexperienced Atlanta Hawks team on Sunday night in a home Game 7.

Despite playing inconsistently during the series and blowing significant leads, Philly entered the pivotal game as an overwhelming favorite. And they played the part early on, entering the second quarter with a 28-25 advantage, before going through another meltdown.

Like so many times in the series, the Hawks crawled their way back and found a way to get the better out of their opponent. After erasing Philadelphia’s advantage early in the second period, Atlanta took control of the game and never relinquished it. The 76ers made few runs to get back in the driving seat, but their offensive inefficiency did not allow them to come close enough.

The Hawks were led by Kevin Huerter, who had a career-high with 27 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Philly managed to keep Atlanta’s star guard Trae Young in check, limiting him to 5-23 shooting, but he still managed to score 21 points to go with his 10 assists.

Joel Embiid had a monster outing for the 76ers, managing 31 points and 11 boards despite playing on a meniscus tear. But that wasn’t enough as Philadelphia’s All-Star guard Ben Simmons had another disappointing night offensively. Simmons only had five points, making it the fourth game in the series that he wasn’t in double digits scoring.

The Atlanta Hawks are now headed to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they will face the Milwaukee Bucks. It’s an amazing feat for a Hawks team that opened the season with a 14-20 record and hasn’t been in the playoffs for the past three years.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, will have to make some tough decisions in the offseason if they don’t want to continue finishing their season early.

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En route to last year’s NBA Finals, the Miami Heat embarrassed the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks and handed them a gentlemen’s sweep in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. This year, however, the Bucks are proving themselves to be a much tougher opponent.

The 2020-21 playoffs matched up the Heat and the Bucks once again, this time in the first round, and things aren’t going well for Miami so far. After getting edged out in Game 1 in overtime, the Heat also suffered a 98-132 blowout on Monday night.

The Bucks were dominant straight from the bat, pouring in 46 points in the first quarter alone, and were already 26 points ahead when the second period started. From that point on, Milwaukee kept adding to their lead while disrupting Miami’s comeback attempts with some excellent defense.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was the best player on the court, scoring 31 points and grabbing 13 boards in just 31 minutes. Jrue Holiday dished 15 assists, while the Bucks also got great production from Bryn Forbes, who scored 22 off the bench.

The Heat, on the other hand, struggled to put points on the board the whole night. They didn’t have any player with more than 19 points, while their All-Star forward Jimmy Butler finished with just 10 points, four assists, and two rebounds.

The Heat will have a chance to respond on Thursday when the series travels to Miami.

The Western Conference part of the playoffs also saw a blowout. The Denver Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 128-109 and tied the series 1-1 thanks to a monster night from their All-Star center Nikola Jokic.

Jokic also played 31 minutes but managed to do even more damage. He finished the night with 38 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Michael Porter Jr. and Paul Millsap added 18 points, respectively.

Damian Lillard tried to keep the Blazers in the game as much as possible, but even his 42 points and 10 assists were not enough to make it close. The two teams will meet again on Thursday in Portland.

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LeBron James was once again at his best when it mattered the most. James delivered a strong all-around performance in the play-in tournament on Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors and secured a 103-100 win for the Los Angeles Lakers. This included a clutch go-ahead 34-foot 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter.

The game didn’t start well for the Lakers, who found themselves 13 points behind at the half. To shake things up, Los Angeles’ head coach Frank Vogel decided to pull out Andre Drummond and put Anthony Davis at center. This proved to be a turning point in the contest, as the Lakers rallied back and almost erased the entire deficit.

The fourth quarter saw teams exchanging points, and at that point, it was anyone’s game. The only difference was that one team had James and the other didn’t.

With around a minute left in the contest, both sides had 100 points apiece. The Lakers had the ball, but it looked like they wouldn’t do much with it. At one point, James dished the ball to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the paint, but the 28-year-old shooting guard found himself surrounded by Golden State’s defense.

With nowhere to go, Caldwell-Pope abandoned the layup and gave the ball back. With the shooting clock winding down, James launched a three and hit nothing but the bottom of the net to make it 103-100.

The Warriors tried to respond quickly, but the Lakers tightened up their defense and managed to come up with a win.

James finished the game with a triple-double, scoring 22 points to go with 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Davis had 25 points and 12 boards, while Dennis Schroeder, Alex Caruso, and Caldwell-Pope also achieved double digits scoring.

Golden State was led by Stephen Curry as expected, with this year’s MVP candidate scoring 37 points. Andrew Wiggins had 21 points, and Kent Bazemore and Jordan Poole each scored 10 apiece.

The win propelled the Lakers to the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and will see them play the No. 2-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round. The Warriors, on the other hand, will look to punch their playoff ticket in an elimination game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

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The Philadelphia 76ers still can’t find a way to complete “The Process.” Despite making significant front office and coaching changes in the offseason, the 76ers were once again handed an unexpected early playoff exit.

This time, the Sixers were eliminated in the conference semifinals after suffering a shocking 103-96 to young and playoff inexperienced Atlanta Hawks team on Sunday night in a home Game 7.

Despite playing inconsistently during the series and blowing significant leads, Philly entered the pivotal game as an overwhelming favorite. And they played the part early on, entering the second quarter with a 28-25 advantage, before going through another meltdown.

Like so many times in the series, the Hawks crawled their way back and found a way to get the better out of their opponent. After erasing Philadelphia’s advantage early in the second period, Atlanta took control of the game and never relinquished it. The 76ers made few runs to get back in the driving seat, but their offensive inefficiency did not allow them to come close enough.

The Hawks were led by Kevin Huerter, who had a career-high with 27 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Philly managed to keep Atlanta’s star guard Trae Young in check, limiting him to 5-23 shooting, but he still managed to score 21 points to go with his 10 assists.

Joel Embiid had a monster outing for the 76ers, managing 31 points and 11 boards despite playing on a meniscus tear. But that wasn’t enough as Philadelphia’s All-Star guard Ben Simmons had another disappointing night offensively. Simmons only had five points, making it the fourth game in the series that he wasn’t in double digits scoring.

The Atlanta Hawks are now headed to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they will face the Milwaukee Bucks. It’s an amazing feat for a Hawks team that opened the season with a 14-20 record and hasn’t been in the playoffs for the past three years.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, will have to make some tough decisions in the offseason if they don’t want to continue finishing their season early.

The post Sixers Eliminated From Playoffs After Shocking Game 7 Loss to Hawks appeared first on SportzBonanza.

En route to last year’s NBA Finals, the Miami Heat embarrassed the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks and handed them a gentlemen’s sweep in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. This year, however, the Bucks are proving themselves to be a much tougher opponent.

The 2020-21 playoffs matched up the Heat and the Bucks once again, this time in the first round, and things aren’t going well for Miami so far. After getting edged out in Game 1 in overtime, the Heat also suffered a 98-132 blowout on Monday night.

The Bucks were dominant straight from the bat, pouring in 46 points in the first quarter alone, and were already 26 points ahead when the second period started. From that point on, Milwaukee kept adding to their lead while disrupting Miami’s comeback attempts with some excellent defense.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was the best player on the court, scoring 31 points and grabbing 13 boards in just 31 minutes. Jrue Holiday dished 15 assists, while the Bucks also got great production from Bryn Forbes, who scored 22 off the bench.

The Heat, on the other hand, struggled to put points on the board the whole night. They didn’t have any player with more than 19 points, while their All-Star forward Jimmy Butler finished with just 10 points, four assists, and two rebounds.

The Heat will have a chance to respond on Thursday when the series travels to Miami.

The Western Conference part of the playoffs also saw a blowout. The Denver Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 128-109 and tied the series 1-1 thanks to a monster night from their All-Star center Nikola Jokic.

Jokic also played 31 minutes but managed to do even more damage. He finished the night with 38 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Michael Porter Jr. and Paul Millsap added 18 points, respectively.

Damian Lillard tried to keep the Blazers in the game as much as possible, but even his 42 points and 10 assists were not enough to make it close. The two teams will meet again on Thursday in Portland.

The post Bucks Get 2-0 Lead vs. Miami, Nuggets Tie Series Against Blazers appeared first on SportzBonanza.

LeBron James was once again at his best when it mattered the most. James delivered a strong all-around performance in the play-in tournament on Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors and secured a 103-100 win for the Los Angeles Lakers. This included a clutch go-ahead 34-foot 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter.

The game didn’t start well for the Lakers, who found themselves 13 points behind at the half. To shake things up, Los Angeles’ head coach Frank Vogel decided to pull out Andre Drummond and put Anthony Davis at center. This proved to be a turning point in the contest, as the Lakers rallied back and almost erased the entire deficit.

The fourth quarter saw teams exchanging points, and at that point, it was anyone’s game. The only difference was that one team had James and the other didn’t.

With around a minute left in the contest, both sides had 100 points apiece. The Lakers had the ball, but it looked like they wouldn’t do much with it. At one point, James dished the ball to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the paint, but the 28-year-old shooting guard found himself surrounded by Golden State’s defense.

With nowhere to go, Caldwell-Pope abandoned the layup and gave the ball back. With the shooting clock winding down, James launched a three and hit nothing but the bottom of the net to make it 103-100.

The Warriors tried to respond quickly, but the Lakers tightened up their defense and managed to come up with a win.

James finished the game with a triple-double, scoring 22 points to go with 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Davis had 25 points and 12 boards, while Dennis Schroeder, Alex Caruso, and Caldwell-Pope also achieved double digits scoring.

Golden State was led by Stephen Curry as expected, with this year’s MVP candidate scoring 37 points. Andrew Wiggins had 21 points, and Kent Bazemore and Jordan Poole each scored 10 apiece.

The win propelled the Lakers to the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and will see them play the No. 2-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round. The Warriors, on the other hand, will look to punch their playoff ticket in an elimination game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

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