The Milwaukee Bucks will not always hit the height of their potential, but Damian Lillard suggested Tuesday's big win over the New York Knicks can be a sign of what is to come.
The Bucks ran out 146-122 winners over the Knicks in their NBA in-season tournament quarter-final.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 35 points and 10 rebounds, while Lillard contributed 28 points, as the Bucks, who are second in the Eastern Conference, teed up a semi-final against the Indiana Pacers in Las Vegas.
Lillard warned it was too much to expect the Bucks to perform like that in every game, but he said the team have laid down a marker.
"I thought this was probably our best offensive game," said Lillard.
"That doesn't mean we're going to turn into a team that does that every night, but I do think we have that type of explosiveness.
"We can't depend on having these types of nights every time, but it's definitely a look at the kind of nights we can have offensively.
"It's been some bumps in that process where we don't play so great some nights but we're still able to win those games.
"I think now is just starting to get a little smoother, knowing where we should be on the floor, knowing how to give each other outlets, knowing how to help each other be who we are.
"It's not perfect, but I just like that we're showing improvement and it's carrying over and you can see it on the floor."
Lillard added that winning the in-season tournament would be a statement of intent.
"You come out of this thing on top, the last team standing, I think it's a pretty strong statement," he said. "It's something that everybody around the league has to respect."
"Tonight was a huge step. We wanted to get to Vegas," Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said.
"But when we get to Vegas, we've got to take care of business. We still got two games to win there."
NBA: Knicks survive 76ers to advance, Pacers eliminate Bucks with rout
Jalen Brunson scored 14 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter and Josh Hart made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 24.4 seconds left as the New York Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 118-115 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday.
Donte DiVincenzo added 23 points, OG Anunoby had 19 and Hart finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists as the Knicks reached the second round for the second consecutive season.
New York will face Indiana in the East semis after the Pacers eliminated the Bucks in six games. Game 1 is Monday at Madison Square Garden.
Brunson became the first player to score 40 or more points to close out a series since Michael Jordan for Chicago against Cleveland in 1989.
Joel Embiid had 39 points and 13 rebounds but was held to six points in the fourth quarter. Buddy Hield scored 20 points off the bench and Tyrese Maxey was a non-factor in the first half and finished with 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting as the 76ers failed to win a playoff round for the first time since 2019-20.
The Knicks led 109-101 with 2 ½ minutes remaining in the back-and-forth game, but Kelly Oubre Jr. hit a 3 and a layup sandwiched around Maxey’s layup to make it a one-point game.
After Brunson’s layup put New York up 111-108 with under a minute to play, Maxey converted a three-point play with 35 seconds left to tie it.
Hart drilled a 3 from the top of the key before Embiid’s layup four seconds later made it 114-113. DiVincenzo and Brunson each sank two free throws to seal it.
Pacers advance with rout of Bucks
Obi Toppin led six players in double figures with a playoff career-high 21 points and the Indiana Pacers won a playoff series for the first time in a decade with a 120-98 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks.
T.J. McConnell had 20 points and nine assists off the bench, Pascal Siakam added 19 points and Tyrese Haliburton contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who had lost their last six playoff series since 2014.
Indiana will face New York in the next round after the Knicks eliminated Philadelphia.
The Pacers went 8-3 against the Bucks this season and handed Milwaukee its second straight first-round exit.
Damian Lillard returned from a right Achilles injury with 28 points and Bobby Portis added 20 and 15 rebounds for the Bucks, who shot just 42.2 percent (35 for 83) from the field and 25.9 percent (7 for 27) from 3-point range.
Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the entire series after straining his left calf on April 9.
The Pacers used a 15-3 run in the first quarter for a 29-19 lead and never trailed again.
Milwaukee cut the deficit to 85-78 with 6:05 left in the third, but McConnell capped an 11-0 run with consecutive 3s to make it 96-78 early in the fourth.
'We'll be better for Game 6' - Lue backs Clippers to make big improvement
Tyronn Lue insisted that the Los Angeles Clippers will be "better for Game 6" after their worst game of the series against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Clippers lost 123-93 in Game 5 on Wednesday, giving the Mavericks a 3-2 series lead as they prepare for the next meeting in Dallas.
Los Angeles struggled against the Mavericks' defence, and at one point, missed 16 straight 3-point attempts.
Asked what went wrong for the Clippers on Wednesday, Lue said: "We just didn’t play well, all round. Offensively, defensively, we just didn’t play a good game. We know that.
"Playoffs, you have to win four games. We didn’t play our best game; we understand that and we all understand that collectively – we’ll be better for Game 6.
"Not making shots, not defending, had some gambles that really cost us early in the game. It was a two-point game, we gave up three gambles, and it became eight points, that got them going.
"We weren’t good on both sides of the basketball, we had a bad game and, to give them credit, they played well.
"We understand how we need to play. We got into our stuff a little slow. We didn’t shoot the ball well; we didn’t play well either – it kind of goes hand in hand. We didn’t play the style of basketball we need."
The Clippers have been in this position against the Mavericks before, going down 3-2 during the first round in 2021.
On that occasion, they won to force a Game 7 and went on to advance to the semifinals.
Shaquille O’Neal, however, does not think the Clippers are consistent enough to beat the Mavericks.
"They tried to play hero ball at the end by shooting those threes. Paul [George] had a surge of scoring late, but too late by then,” he said to NBA on TNT Sports.
"That's why I've never really been on the Clippers bandwagon because those two guys [George and James Harden] are too inconsistent for me. You can't go from 33 to seven."
Irving hails Doncic's resilience after star turn against Clippers
Kyrie Irving was amazed by the "resilience" of Luka Doncic after he led the Dallas Mavericks to a pivotal Game 5 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers despite suffering from injury and illness.
A knee problem that has been troubling Doncic since Game 3 was wrapped with ice by midway through the fourth quarter, but he scored 35 points to lead the Mavs to a 123-93 rout of the Clippers.
That gave the Mavs a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference first-round series and put them on the brink of a series victory.
Doncic had 14 points in the third quarter as Dallas extended its lead to 25 before taking an 89-69 advantage into the fourth. He shot 14 of 26 from the field and finished with 10 assists and seven rebounds.
It was the fifth time in his postseason career that Doncic had produced a performance with at least 30 points and 10 assists, extending what is already a team record.
And Doncic also tied with Michael Jordan for the most consecutive 20-plus point games on the road to begin an NBA playoff career. He has now done that in 15 consecutive games.
Maxi Kleber hit five 3-pointers and Irving added 14 points and six assists on a great Wednesday night for Dallas.
"I always speak on his resilience," Irving said about Doncic after the game, per ESPN. "He's not feeling a hundred percent, but he's still going to go out there and play.
"For me as a teammate, I enjoy that. I enjoy being around somebody like that that's going to push themselves but also be smart and still make an impact on the game – and still empty his clips, as we like to say.
"Even though he is not feeling well or he's not able to be a hundred percent, he's still able to lead our team in his own way."
The Mavericks will try to close out the Clippers at home in Game 6 on Friday. Doncic admitted that, given his condition, he would not have played in Game 5 if it had been a regular season contest.
"It's the playoffs," he said after playing while feeling unwell as well as managing the pain in his knee.
"When you start the game in the playoffs, it's a different thing. There's a lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions. So you just keep going."
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue knows finding a way to stop Doncic will be key if his team are to reverse their fortunes.
"We knew at some point Luka was going to have a Luka game," he said. "We are not going to hang our heads.
"We have got to win four games. We go to Dallas, Game 6 on Friday and we will be ready to go."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
