A moment of silence was observed before the game in honour of Georgetown coach John Thompson. Thompson, the first Black coach to win a NCAA championship, coached many players on their way to the NBA including Hall of Famers Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning. He died on Sunday at the age of 78. Condolences to this family.
Milwaukee began the first quarter of game one of their semifinals with a scoring frenzy. They posted 40 points and it looked like the result was a given.
Miami tightened up and the game was close up to the half. Miami led by Jimmy Butler out scored the Bucks in the 3rd and 4th quarter to get the win.
Butler had 40 points, Goran Dragic 27 and they held Giannis Antetokounmpo to 18 frustrating his attempts in the paint. Kris Middleton (28) and Brook Lopez (24) tried to fill the gap but the Heat would not be denied. Game 2 is Wednesday at 6:30pm EST.
OKLAHOMA 104 – HOUSTON 100
Houston was looking to close out their quarterfinals with this hard fought and at times very emotional game. With 4 minutes remaining they were up by 6 but Chris Paul took over, scoring two three pointers to tie the game at 100.
The Rockets failed to score. Chris Paul was fouled and after a useless challenge by Houston coach Mike D’Antoni made two free throws and OKC was up by two. Rushing to the basket Russell Westbrook’s pass was off the mark and went out of bounds. Miami’s Danilo Galinari got the ball, was fouled and OKC secured the win.
Paul had 28, Galinari 25. James Harden had 32 for Houston. Can OKC win three in a row? We’ll see on Wednesday when they play game 7 at 9pm EST.
