NBA Round Up: Jazz top Clippers to advance as Celtics draw first blood in semi-finals
The Utah Jazz became the last team to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs, while the Boston Celtics made a winning start to their Eastern Conference semi-final series.
Sunday’s deciding game seven went in favour of the Jazz, who beat the Los Angeles Clippers 104-91 on the road in the Western Conference.
The Jazz became the first and only lower-seeded team to advance past the first round of the playoffs as Utah won their first postseason series since 2010.
Gordon Hayward led the way with a game-high 26 points with eight rebounds and three assists. Derrick Favors and George Hill added 17 points apiece in a balanced scoring effort for Utah.
Hayward delivering early in Game 7. #NBAonABC pic.twitter.com/O9damLl276
— NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2017
Utah’s reward is a semi-final showdown with the Golden State Warriors.
Chris Paul added to his postseason woes. Despite scoring 13 points with nine assists, he has now played 76 career playoff games, which is the most all-time by a player without a conference finals appearance as veteran Paul Pierce officially retired.
Already in the semi-finals, the Celtics drew first blood with a 123-111 win at home to the Washington Wizards.
The @celtics explode for 36 points in the 3rd quarter of Game 1 on #NBAonABC! pic.twitter.com/wjOp4yXOVN
— NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2017
Not only did Isaiah Thomas score 33 points with nine assists, he did so without all of his teeth.
The All-Star point guard took a shot to the face and lost a tooth. Despite the unfortunate injury, Thomas played 38 minutes while orchestrating potent offense.
Jae Crowder and Al Horford stepped up for Boston as well. The former scored 24 points on eight-of-14 shooting while also hauling in six rebounds.
Horford narrowly missed out on a triple-double while scoring 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting with 10 assists and nine rebounds.
After losing their first two games last series against the Chicago Bulls, Boston have won five straight.
