The East side of the NBA Playoffs hasn’t produced much drama thus far for SBOBET NBA fans. The Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics both have commanding 3-0 leads and are on a collision course for the second round. And after getting upset in Game 1, the Toronto Raptors have reclaimed command of their series against the Orlando Magic.
The Philadelphia 76ers-Brooklyn Nets series hasn’t exactly been remarkably competitive, either, with the Sixers now up 3-1 after three consecutive wins. But it has been by far the most entertaining of the four East series thanks to the beef that’s developed between the two teams. And in Game 4, the simmering beef finally boiled over in a big way.
Philadelphia 76ers 112-108 Brooklyn Nets (PHI lead 3-1)
For anyone who may have missed the big NBA 2019 news, Ben Simmons and Jared Dudley are in the midst of a beef. It all started when Dudley called Simmons “average” in the half-court before Game 3. Simmons responded by having a dominant performance to give the Sixers their second straight blowout win.
And in Game 4, Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler got into the act as a full-blown fracas erupted. It began with Embiid delivering a hard foul on Jarrett Allen. (Embiid had previously elbowed Allen in the face in Game 2 and seemingly laughed it off.) Dudley, coming to his team-mate’s defence, pushed Embiid, which set off the melee as Butler and Simmons also got involved. Dudley and Butler were both ejected.
But the Sixers were able to survive Butler’s absence as Embiid (31 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 blocks) and Tobias Harris (24 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists) carried them to victory — and a 3-1 series lead.
The Sixers will now have a chance to close out the series at home in Game 5, which the NBA 2019 betting odds should have them strongly favoured to do. But chances are this beef has at least one more incident in it before the series concludes.
Denver Nuggets 117-103 San Antonio Spurs (Series tied 2-2)
The Nuggets have reclaimed home-court advantage from the Spurs after an impressive road win in Game 4 to tie the series up at two games apiece. The win was Denver’s first in San Antonio since 2012.
The Nuggets’ two big stars — Nikola Jokic (29 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists) and Jamal Murray (24 points, 6 rebounds) — both came up big. But so did unsung hero Torrey Craig (18 points 5-7 3-pointers), who was inserted into the starting line-up by Nuggets coach Mike Malone for the struggling Will Barton and delivered in a big way.
The Nuggets also continued their hot shooting from beyond the arc. After going 15-of-29 in their Game 3 loss, they hit 15-of-31 in Game 4.
Neither team has yet to win back-to-back games in this series, but Denver will like their chances coming back home for Game 5 after such a morale-boosting win on the road.
Milwaukee Bucks 119-103 Detroit Pistons (MIL lead 3-0)
The Pistons received a massive boost in Game 3 as Blake Griffin finally returned to the line-up after missing the first two games of the series due to a sore knee. Griffin delivered his typically strong numbers of 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in just 31 minutes. However, it still wasn’t nearly enough to trouble the top-seeded Bucks.
Milwaukee went on to record a 16-point blowout win even with Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring just 14 points and 10 rebounds, which is far off from his strong Game 1 output. Instead, Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, and Brook Lopez did the heavy lifting with 58 points between them. Nikola Mirotic and Ersan Ilyasova also combined for 27 points off the bench.
Barring any unforeseen setbacks, the Bucks should complete the sweep of the Pistons, who have just not been able to put up enough of a fight in this series — with or without Griffin.
Houston Rockets 104-101 Utah Jazz (HOU lead 3-0)
The bad news for the Rockets in Game 4 was that James Harden had a historically bad shooting night. The MVP contender missed his first 15 field goal attempts — the most consecutive misses in his career and the most by anyone in the playoffs in the past 20 years.
But the good news was despite Harden’s horrific start, the Rockets still ended up beating the Jazz to secure a commanding 3-0 series lead.
Donovan Mitchell (34 points, 9-27 FG) did the best he could, but he missed the potential game-tying 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter as the Jazz failed to capitalise on Harden’s epic off-night.
The series is effectively over, and the only question left is whether the Rockets will complete the sweep. But with Harden likely to bounce back and the Rockets aiming to get as much rest as possible ahead of their impending second-round series against the Warriors, it’s hard to see the Jazz forcing this series to a fifth game.
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