The American Professional Basketball (NBA) Los Angeles (LA) Clippers won their first playoff (PO) victory this season with Russell Westbrook’s decisive blocked shot.
The Clippers defeated the Phoenix Suns 115-110 after a close match in the first round of the 2022-2023 NBA Western Conference PO (4 wins in 7 games) held at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, USA on the 17th (Korean time).
As for the Clippers, Leonard, who posted 38 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, played his part as an ace, and veteran guard Westbrook’s performance in the game was brilliant.
Westbrook, who was selected as the MVP of the regular season in the 2016-2017 season, became a ‘backup guard’ at the LA Lakers this season, went to the Utah Jazz through a trade, and after negotiating a buyout, wore a Clippers uniform and survived in the NBA with difficulty. did.
Westbrook, who was criticized for being ‘inefficient’ due to his poor field goal success rate and frequent mistakes, threw 19 shots and missed 16 of them that day.
However, he performed perfectly in other parts except for shooting. He grabbed 10 rebounds, including 5 offensive rebounds, and added 8 assists, 3 blocked shots and 2 steals.
In particular, he added 5 rebounds and 2 block shots only in the 4th quarter, when the game was close by 1 point, tying up Phoenix’s strikers.
When Eric Gordon’s 3 points missed 2 minutes and 40 seconds before the end of the game, leading 100-99, he grabbed a valuable offensive rebound to help Leonard’s 3 points, and 56 seconds before the end of the game, which was chased by 109-108, he got an offensive rebound and took the right to attack.
10 seconds before the end, Devin Booker’s 1-1 breakthrough followed by a left-handed layup in the air to finish the game.
Phoenix (45-37), who finished 4th in the regular league, has been considered a strong candidate for the championship since last February, when Kevin Durant, the best striker in the league, joined as a trade.
In addition, the 5th place (44-38) Clippers had Paul George, who formed a one-two punch with Kawhi Leonard, missing due to injury, so there were many opinions predicting Phoenix’s advantage.
Phoenix went to the PO with expectations, winning all 8 of Durant’s 8 regular league games, but couldn’t laugh from the first game.
In Phoenix, Durant scored 27 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds, and Booker scored 26 points and 4 steals, but the last-minute attacks were repeatedly stopped by Westbrook, and he drank a lot.
The Lakers (43-39), who placed 7th in the regular season, also won their first win by defeating the 2nd place Memphis Grizzlies (51-31) 128-112.
Japanese player Rui Hachimura took the lead in the team’s victory with a ‘surprising performance’ that exploded 29 points including 3 points and 5 shots.
One-two punch LeBron James (2 steals, 3 blocked shots) and Anthony Davis (3 steals, 7 blocked shots) blocked Memphis’ attack by combining 5 steals and 10 blocked shots.
Guard duo Austin Reeves and Dennis Schroeder also added 23 points and 19 points by crossing the inside and outside.스포츠토토
Denver Nuggets (53-29), ranked 1st in the West, defeated Minnesota (42-40), ranked 8th, 109-80 at home.
In the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat (44-38), ranked 7th in the regular league, who had difficulty securing the 8th seed through the play-in tournament, defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, 130-117 (70.7%, 58-24).
Jimmy Butler, who posted 35 points and 11 assists, completely won the ace match against Giannis Antetokounmpo (6 points and 3 assists), who left during the game due to a back injury.
However, Tyler Hiro, who was leading the perimeter attack, suffered a fractured finger and had to leave for a long time.