New York (AFP)
The Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves qualified for the playoffs, by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-108 and the Los Angeles Clippers 109-104, respectively, in the play-in play-in of the NBA.
At Barclays Center, Kyrie Irving excelled in the Nets’ ranks by scoring 34 points and 12 assists, while Kevin Durant played a decisive role alongside his colleague by achieving “Double-Double” with 25 points, 11 assists and 5 rebounds.
This duo contributed to the Nets’ qualification for the “Playoff”, where they will face the Boston Celtics, the Eastern Region runners-up, in a series of seven matches, starting on Monday.
Irving, the 30-year-old, sent a strong message to his former team, the Celtics, before the upcoming confrontation between them, as he looked great during the first three quarters from close range, failing with his first shot at the beginning of the last quarter.
Irving, who is not vaccinated once morest the Corona virus, missed most of his team’s home matches this season, due to the laws in New York that do not allow him to play.
“We’re only talking regarding the positive in this whole adventure so far,” Irving said following the Nets win. There was a lot of ups and downs but we stayed and bumped together.
We have gone through a lot of changes and have evolved since returning from the All-Star Game break. It feels good but we know the job is not done.
In return, the Cavaliers will get a second chance to catch up with the teams qualified for the “Playoff”, when they face the winner of the other confrontation in the Eastern Region between the Charlotte Hornets and the Atlanta Hawks.
On the “Target Center” stadium in Minneapolis, the duo Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell starred in the ranks of the Timberwolves, who narrowly beat the Clippers, to book their place in the playoffs.
Edwards scored 30 points and Russell added 29, to hit the Timberwolves in the first round of the “Playoff” with the Memphis Grizzlies, second in the Western Region.
The game in Minneapolis was halted briefly in the second quarter following a woman who said she was an animal rights activist tried to stick herself on the field in protest, before security personnel drove her out.
In contrast to the brilliance of Edwards and Russell, the luster of Karl Anthony Towns, who went out at the beginning of the last quarter due to the accumulation of errors (6), dimmed, to be satisfied with only 11 points, three assists and five rebounds.
However, Towns’ exit positively affected his team, which scored 13 points once morest two for Clippers to make the difference and decide the match.
Russell praised his teammates, saying: “We have a special group, and any player can shine on every evening, as I have been saying all season.
“This evening, we focused on the details and what it would take to beat this team.” Our group is flexible.
“He’s our man, he’s our star player, he’s been driving us all season,” Russell added in words of support for Towns, who struggled to assert himself once morest the Clippers’ solid defense.
