By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In the East Bradley Beal and backcourt mate John Wall took over in the fourth quarter, combining to score 20 of Washington’s last 21 points in a 109-101 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. Beal finished with 31 points, 16 on 6-of-9 shooting in the final period.
Polish center Marcin Gortat added a double-double (14 p. 10 r.) and Croatian Bojan Bogdanovic had 6. Backup French center Ian Mahinmi sat out again with a strained left calf and he is expected to miss Game 3.Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 27 points and 10 rebounds and German guard Dennis Schroder scored 23 point. Turk Ersan Ilyasova had 2 points and Spaniard Jose Calderon had 2 points and 2 assists.
The Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 110-81 in Game 2 as Kevin Durant sat out injured. Draymond Green put together another fantastic all-around game, getting 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 6 points and 3 more blocked shots after swatting five in Game 1. Steph Curry went 6 for 18 for 19 points and also had 6 assists and 6 rebounds. Georgian big man Zaza Pachulia added 10 points for the winners, while Bosnian Jusuf Nurkic was missing again for Portland.
Last but not least the Houston Rockets got a 115-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder despite a historic game for Russell Westbrook. James Harden scored 35 points and the Rockets overcame 51 points from Westbrook in the highest-scoring triple-double in playoff history. Westbrook set a franchise playoff scoring record and added 13 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the sixth career playoff triple-double for Westbrook, who had an NBA-record 42 in the regular season. Swiss center Clint Capela had 7 points and 10 rebounds for the winners, Turk big man Enes Kanter had 4 points for the Thunder.