Day three of the NBA Playoffs was great as it saw the Knicks win a thriller at home, Cleveland go wire-to-wire in a win over Orlando and the Nuggets defeat the Lakers in thriller decided at the buzzer! Here is a recap of the action from tonight.
Cleveland—- In another physical game in this series, Donovan Mitchell scored a game-high 23 points for the Cavaliers in their 96-86 win over the Orlando Magic. Cleveland holds serve at home and lead the series, 2-0. Orlando will have to find some more physical presence if they want to hang in this series and possibly win it.
New York—- The Knicks had to earn their second victory of the series over the Philadelphia 76ers tonight. Donte DiVincenzo hit a huge three for New York after a steal and that put the Knicks up, 102-101 with :15 seconds to go. Tyrese Maxey then got blocked while trying to convert a layup and after the Knicks made both free throws to go up, 104-101 with :03 seconds left in the game, Joel Embiid then missed a 40-foot three at the buzzer to tie it and Philadelphia is now down, 2-0 in the series as they head home for the next two games to try to make this a competitive series.
Denver— Los Angeles, led By D’Angelo Russell’s six three-point shots in the half, led 59-44. Davis was also hot in the first half as well for the Lakers as Denver struggled to find their footing until late in the third. The Nuggets then scored 10-straight points to make it a ten point deficit, heading into the fourth quarter, down 79-69.
In the fourth, Denver went on a 6-0 run and cut the Lakers lead to 82-77 early in the fourth. The rest of the period was a back-and-forth affair with both teams hitting clutch baskets as the game was 99-97 in favor of the Lakers with a minute to go. After Denver tied it at 99, Jamal Murray hit a game-winner to defeat the Lakers, 101-99. The Lakers have lost 10 Straight to the Nuggets overall and now head to Los Angeles, down 2-0 in the series.
