Jokić – Titan's NBA Coverage

Written by Titan Frey

NETS 96
BUCKS 107

The NBA injury bug has struck again and in a big way. With about six minutes to go in the second quarter, the Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Irving landed on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foot.

Irving’s ankle turned hard as he landed on the Greek Freak’s foot. Irving grabbed his ankle and screamed in pain as the play continued down the other way.

After a timeout and after taking some extra time to lie on the floor, Irving gingerly walked off the court.

It was later reported that Irving suffered a right ankle sprain and would not return to the game. The big question is now: how long will Kyrie Irving be out?

With the chances of Irving missing the remainder of this series and possibly longer, if the Nets advance, the need for James Harden to return is extremely great.

If everything has to fall on Kevin Durant, that could be bad news for the Nets, despite how great Durant is.

You have to remember, this is still the first season Durant has been back since his terrible Achilles injury. If his workload has to be expanded, you’d hate to see what it might do to his body.

So, having James Harden back in the lineup is crucial to the Nets success for the remainder of this series. But at the same time, you don’t want to rush Harden back if he’s not ready, or he could hurt himself even more.

This series, which started out looking like it may end in a Nets sweep, is very much a REAL SERIES, and the Bucks have the advantage.

For the Milwaukee Bucks, their star, Giannis Antetokounmpo had himself another great game. The Greek Freak had 34 points and 12 rebounds.

The Bucks had great balance today, with four other players scoring in double figures besides Antetokounmpo.

Plus, P. J. Tucker has played incredible defense on Kevin Durant. In game four, Durant scored 28 but only shot 9-25 from the field.

To dive deeper into the stats and to realize how good Tucker’s defense has been on Durant, Tucker held Durant to 9 points on 25 percent shooting.

Game five will be played on Tuesday, June 15th at a time yet to be determined.

SUNS 125
NUGGETS 118

The Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets went through a straight battle in game four.

There were hard fouls. Mid-range jumpers. Technical fouls. A windup and smack in the face… this game had it all, and it ended with the Phoenix Suns making it to their first conference finals in eleven years.

The Nuggets may have the MVP (Nikola Jokić), but the Suns have the MVP of the series in Chris Paul.

Chris Paul dominated with his patented mid-range jumper. He finished with 37 points while dishing out 7 assists… he’s truly the “Point God”, as they call him.

Devin Booker also came up big for the Suns. He scored 34 while grabbing 11 rebounds.

As I stated earlier, the Nuggets had the MVP, but they didn’t have him for the entire game.

Late in the third quarter, Jokić slammed down after the ball in a forceful way. In the process of swinging his hand at the ball, he smacked Cameron Payne directly on the nose.

This wind-up and swing by Jokić was enough for the referees to throw him out. It was determined to be a flagrant two foul.

The other Nuggets battled hard the rest of the way, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the sweep.

The Phoenix Suns will now have to wait to see who they play in the conference finals. Will it be the Utah Jazz? Or the Los Angeles Clippers?

The Jazz and Clippers play tomorrow, June 14th at 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Written by Titan Frey

SIXERS 127
HAWKS 111

The city of Atlanta was buzzing before game three of the conference semifinals, between their Hawks and the top seed in the easy, the Philadelphia 76ers.

After coming out of Philly with a split, the Hawks felt as a team; they were where they wanted to be.

It was a very familiar feeling to their first-round matchup with the New York Knicks, where they won game one, lost game two on the road, and eventually swept the rest of the series.

Would this series against the number one seeded Sixers turn out the same? Absolutely not.

The Sixers have a couple of things going for them that the New York Knicks did not. First, the Sixers have a solid all-around team, and second, the Sixers have Joel Embiid (no offense Julius Randle).

After becoming the first Sixer to score 40 in a playoff game since Allen Iverson in 2003, in game two, Embiid followed that performance up with 27 points, 9 rebounds, and a playoff career high 8 assists.

Even though Embiid didn’t win the MVP this year, he proved once again that he sure can play like the MVP.

This loss was a major blow to the Atlanta Hawks for numerous reasons. Of course, you don’t want to lose any game, especially at home.

But this loss not only gave the home court advantage back to the Sixers, but before this game the Hawks were 19-2 at home since Nate McMillan took over.

Trae Young scored his normal points (28), but if the Hawks can’t figure out a way to slow Embiid, this series might not last much longer.

Game four will be played on Monday, June 14th at 7:30 PM Eastern Standard Time.

SUNS 116
NUGGETS 102

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The series victory against the Los Angeles Lakers gave the Phoenix Suns supreme confidence that might help carry them to the finals.

On the night where Nikola Jokić received his MVP trophy, he came ready to show everyone that he was deserving.

Jokić had a monster game scoring 32 points, grabbing 20 rebounds, and dishing out 10 assists.

How good was this game for the MVP on MVP trophy night? Well, Jokić joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history with a 30/20/10 playoff game.

So, with this type of performance, you would figure the Nuggets got the win. The problem is, you know they didn’t.

The reason why the Nuggets lost, even with the MVP playing like the MVP, is because the Suns had a lot more players who had pretty darn good games themselves.

The Nuggets, on the other hand, didn’t give Jokić a lot of help. Nuggets players Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. combined to score 19 points on 7-23 shooting… this is not going to get it done, not against these red-hot Suns.

How dominant have the Phoenix Suns truly been playing? Well, in game three the Suns held a double-digit lead for the entire fourth quarter. This was their fifth straight game holding a double-digit lead in the fourth… yes, that’s how dominant they’ve been.

Make sure you sit around your TV on Sunday, June 13 at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time to see if the Suns remain hot or if the Nuggets can figure a way to cool them off.

Tag: Jokić

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