The much-anticipated NBA Western Conference showdown between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets is living up to the hype. The two played out an exciting seven-game series in the conference finals last year, and they’re closing in on another potential Game 7 after the Rockets won Game 4 to tie the series up.
And while the Raptors-76ers series is also all tied up, the Milwaukee Bucks are one win away from booking their ticket to the East finals after once again beating the Boston Celtics on the road.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and co. now have a commanding 3-1 series lead going back home for Game 5, where the NBA 2019 betting odds should have them as overwhelming favourites to close the Celtics out.
Milwaukee Bucks 113-101 Boston Celtics (MIL lead 3-1)
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been the best player on the best team in the league all season, and he played like it in Game 4 as he led the Bucks to another big playoff road win at Boston.
The Greek Freak treated the Celtics’ elite defence like he was facing the Pistons as he went off for a dominating 39 points on 15-of-22 shooting with 16 rebounds.
Giannis’ great performance more than made up for Khris Middleton’s off-night. The Bucks’ second-leading scorer struggled with his shot as he went an abysmal 4-of-19 shooting for 13 points.
Eric Bledsoe was once again relatively with 13 points, but George Hill continued his fine play in this series with 15 points and four assists off the Bucks’ bench.
Playing with a greater sense of desperation, the Celtics started off Game 4 strong and had the lead for most of the first half. But they couldn’t sustain that level of play as the Bucks eventually caught up and pulled away in the fourth quarter.
For the third straight game, Kyrie Irving had a subpar shooting performance. The Celtics’ star point guard had 23 points, six rebounds, and 10 assists, but shot just 7-of-22 from the field and 1-of-7 on 3-pointers in 44 minutes. Irving is shooting an ice-cold 37 per cent for the series, which is definitely not what the Celtics need from their main offensive weapon.
The Celtics got good games from the rest of their starters — Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Morris all had between 16 and 20 points — but Boston’s bench gave them nothing.
The big NBA 2019 news for the Celtics was that Marcus Smart would play his first game in the postseason after suffering an oblique injury. But he didn’t end up making a positive impact for Boston as he went just 1-of-7 on 3-pointers. And Gordon Hayward’s disappointing series continued as he was limited to a mere two points in 27 minutes.
After failing to win a single game at home, the Celtics now face elimination going back to Milwaukee for Game 5. And unless Kyrie Irving breaks out of his current slump, there doesn’t seem to be much hope that they can extend the series much further.
Golden State Warriors 108-112 Houston Rockets (Series tied 2-2)
The Warriors-Rockets rematch is back to square one. After the Warriors took the first two games at home, the Rockets responded by winning both of their home games to level the series up at 2-2.
The Rockets led by as many as 17 points in the second half of Game 4 and looked to be cruising to a relatively comfortable victory. But the defending champion Warriors staged a late comeback in the final five minutes of the game and had not one, but two decent chances to tie the game up in the final 11 seconds.
However, both Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry missed their 3-point attempts as the Rockets held on for the win.
After his disastrous Game 3 which saw him embarrassingly miss an uncontested dunk in the closing seconds, Curry bounced back with 30 points, eight of which came during the Warriors’ late-game run. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant continued his exceptional postseason scoring binge with 34 points on an efficient 12-of-22 from the field.
However, Klay Thompson had an off-night, finishing with a mere 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting. The Warriors bench also remained a non-factor in this series.
For the Rockets, James Harden once again fueled their offence with 38 points and 10 rebounds. Eric Gordon added 20 points, although his hot shooting finally came back down to earth as he went just 6-of-17 and 2-of-12 on 3-pointers. And P.J. Tucker chipped in with 17 big points and 10 rebounds.
This series has been very tight, with all four games decided by six points or fewer. Neither team seems to have that extra gear needed to pull away, which could see this series going the distance.
SBOBET certainly wouldn’t mind having three more games of intense, closely contested basketball between these two evenly-matched teams, and neither would the rest of the NBA-loving community.
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