The first seeded teams in the Eastern and Western NBA Conferences began their 2nd round playoff series with victories against Cleveland and Dallas respectively. On East, the Celtics won 120:95 against the Cavs at TD Garden behind Jaylen Brown’s 32 points. Derrick White added 25 while Jayson Tatum concluded the game with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. For the Cavaliers Donovan Mitchell was the highest contributor with 33 points but only Evan Mobley of his teammates managed to score more than 15, ending with a double-double of 17 points and 13 boards. One of the main advantages for the Celtics during game 1 was that they outrebounded the Cavaliers 55 to 38. The semi-finals series will remain in Boston for game 2 which will take place on Thursday at the TD Garden.
Boston and OKC take 1-0 leads in the Conference Semifinals!
The #NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel continue Wednesday on TNT 🍿 pic.twitter.com/HhguW8Dr9F
— NBA (@NBA) May 8, 2024
The Thunder cruised past the Mavericks 117:95 in the only game in the other NBA game on Tuesday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ended with a near triple-double of 29 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists for OKC, while Dallas’ star Luka Doncic was not up to his usual best, recording 19 points and hitting only 6 of 19 shots. Kyrie Irving was the leading scorer for the Mavs with 20 points and Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams added 19 and 18 respectively for OKC. Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Thursday at Paycom Center.