By Jacob Bugarin
This week is the NBA play to see who is going to get the 7th and 8th seed in the Western and Eastern Conference. The games that were played in the West were the Golden State Warriors vs Sacramento Kings in a go win or go home match and The New Orleans Pelicans vs Los Angeles Lakers for the 7th seed to play against the Denver Nuggets. In the Eastern Conference, it was the Miami Heat vs the Philadelphia 76ers and The Chicago Bulls vs the Atlanta Hawks in a do or die match. Let’s recap these matches.
Pelicans vs Lakers/Kings vs Warriors
The Lakers and Pelicans faced off for the 7th seed to play against the defending champs, Denver Nuggets. In the game, the Lakers were mostly in the lead against the Pelicans until the fourth quarter. Forward Zion Williamson took control of the fourth quarter dominating in the paint against Leborn James and the Lakers defense. The Pelicans defense was forcing turnover, mostly by Guard Jose Avalrado and Herb Jones locking the perimeter down. Later in the game Zion scored a layup in the paint where he looked like he was in pain and had to leave the game with soreness in his left leg, but it was actually a hamstring injury. With that injury sustained they didn’t have the force to stop Lebron and Anthony Davis, which was why the Lakers were able to win the game 110-106. The Pelicans are facing the Sacramento Kings in the last play-in game for the 8th seed to play the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In a rematch during last year’s playoffs, the Golden State Warriors faced off against the Sacramento Kings in a do or die game. The game in the first quarter was Keegan Murray draining threes, scoring 11 points in the first half. The second quarter consisted of both teams keeping it close, but Jonthan Kuminga scoring six straight points only made it a four point game at half time. The third and fourth quarters were straight up picks and warriors players not being able to step up. Guard Keon Ellis, who was an undrafted player, stepped up defensively, having 3 steals and 3 blocks this game, holding Stephen Curry to only 18 points. The Warriors on the other hand had Klay Thompson shooting 0-10 and scoring a donut. The Kings stepped up physically and defensively causing them to win the game 118-94 where Keegan Murray scored 32 points. The Kings will now play the Pelicans for the 8th seed and the Warriors are officially in Cancun.
76ers vs Heat/Hawks vs Bulls
The Hawks and Bulls faced off in a go win or go home match. This game was all about guard Coby White who dropped 42 points on the Atlanta Hawks. The Bulls kept their lead the whole game and didn’t let up. Even though the Hawks had two guards who are superstars, Trae Young and Dejounte Murray couldn’t stop Coby White that night. The Atlanta Hawks defense was not there at all, not stopping Coby White and Bulls center Nikola Vucevic taking care of the boards for the Bulls lead them to their win. Atlanta Hawks are officially knocked off the play in and the Bulls will be playing the Miami Heat for the 8th seed.
The Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat faced off for the 7th to be able to play against the New York Knicks. This game was physical and had a lot of trash talk going on mostly between forward Jimmy Butler on the Miami Heat and 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. Nicholas Batum who plays power forward on the 76ers, and was one of the reasons why the 76ers won this game. With clutch 3s and all star Joel Embid having 15 rebounds, they were able to win this series to play against the Knicks. The Miami Heat on the other hand, had a lot of heat with Jimmy Butler and guard Tyler Herro because Herro shot 9/27 from the field, even though he had 25 points. Jimmy Butler got heated with him and both players had to be separated from each other and this was their downfall. Jimmy Butler also went down with an MCL injury when Kelly Oubre Jr was in the way, this caused more drama where Jimmy Butler comments on an Instagram post saying, “We throwing hands”. That is some crash out mentality, but with that the Miami Heat will be playing against the Chicago Bulls for the 8th seed to play the Boston Celtics.
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