NBA Conference Semi-Finals Roundup
Written by: Andrew Felton
With the conference semifinals complete, let's take a look at who managed to advance through to the conference finals, with two guaranteed new champions from last season.
Eastern Conference
Philadelphia 76ers vs Atlanta Hawks
This was thought to be a no contest with the 76ers destined to beat the Hawks in convincing fashion and move on to the conference finals. However, this did not go to plan, with the underdogs being led by their talisman, Trae Young, who scored 25+ points in five out of seven games, including five games with 10 or more assists, to shock the 76ers and take the series. Even with Embiid putting in monster games for the 76ers, their fate was decided in game seven, due to what some would call poor judgment from 76ers player Ben Simmons, who created space for what looked to be an easy dunk and passed up on the opportunity, with many sports reporters blaming Simmons, due to him being reluctant to take open shots, with some believing his time in Philadelphia is well and truly over. This will now set up a conference finals game for the Hawks, who will be looking to dig deep and reach the NBA finals, for the first time since 1961.
Result - Atlanta Hawks win the series 4-3
Milwaukee Bucks vs Brooklyn Nets
DOWN GOES THE SUPERTEAM! With another close conference semifinals game going the distance, it was the Milwaukee Bucks who upset a lot of the NBA’s favorites to win the championship, the Brooklyn Nets. With this said, Nets fans will blame injury woes as they lost Irving early in game 4 for the rest of the series when the Nets led 2-1 and had missed James Harden early in the series, leaving Kevin Durant to try carry the Nets throughout the series, which he gave 100% effort into and thought he had won it at the buzzer in the seventh game, only to have the end of his shoe on the three-point line, sending it to overtime, missing out on the conference finals by the smallest of margins. This will set up the Bucks vs the Hawks, with star Giannis Antetokounmpo having showed why he is one of the NBA’s very best and when he turns up can take down any team.
Result - Milwaukee Bucks win the series 4-3
Western Conference
Utah Jazz vs Los Angeles Clippers
The games were not as close in the western conference with the LA Clippers beating the Utah Jazz 4-2 in the series, with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George proving doubters wrong, along with 39 point game from Terence Mann, stamping there authority in these play-offs. The question coming out of this game is, what next for the Utah Jazz? With Mitchell doing all he can to help the Jazz advance and a strong team underperforming, after being the best team in the NBA, do they look to add experienced veterans or go after youth and bolster their roster ready for next season?
Result - Los Angeles Clippers win the series 4-2
Phoenix Suns vs Denver Nuggets
After taking down last years champions the LA Lakers, the Phoenix Suns were in fine form but not many could have predicted them to white wash Nikola Jokic’s (recently crowned MVP) Denver Nuggets. With Devin Booker the star of the show, now being compared to five time champion Kobe Bryant and veteran Chris Paul, who in game 2 had 15 assists with 0 turnovers, showing why he is still consider to be one of the best ever playmakers in the NBA. After two very impressive series wins, it looks like the Suns can not be stopped and the road to the finals is only four games away.
Result - Phoenix suns win the series 4-0
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