Indiana – Milwaukee 121:118 PP, Haliburton gave Indiana the lead in the NBA playoffs, Minnesota is a win away from advancing

Minnesota once again showed good defense and Phoenix struggled to get going on offense. The Timberwolves held a tight lead from the start, and when they went on offense in the third quarter to win that stretch by 16 points, their lead ballooned to 24 points. The Suns had no answer for that. Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 36 points. The Suns’ best scorer was Bradley Beal with 28 points.

Minnesota took a 3-0 game lead in the playoffs for the first time in history. “We’re taking this. We have a single goal and try not to be distracted by success or failure. We’re locked in,” said Rudy Gobert, who contributed 19 points and 14 rebounds to the win.

The Phoenix players, who went into the season as one of the favorites, were booed by the fans at the end of the game. “We fell into a hole and we have to dig ourselves out of it. That’s right,” said Devin Booker, who scored 23 points.

Milwaukee again started without Janis Adetokunbo and quickly lost the game by 19 points. But led by Khris Middleton’s playoff career-high 42 points and Damian Lillard’s 28 points, the Bucks clawed their way back into the game and Middleton’s 3-pointer in the final seconds sealed overtime.

Set time was headed for another draw, but Haliburton were against it. He ran across the entire field, slipped between the defenders and decided the match with a shot from the free throw line. In addition, he was fouled and converted a free throw. “I knew I was going to shoot no matter what was happening. I did it intuitively. I saw that Patrick Beverley was going to try to defend me under the screen and as soon as he turned his head I reacted, went the other way and the path opened up for me. Then it was about converting the shot,” said Haliburton, who recorded a triple double with 18 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds. Myles Turner added 29 points.

For Milwaukee, the defeat can be all the more painful because Lillard, the team’s second main star after Adetokunba, has problems with his Achilles tendon at the end of the game. “He still wanted to help the team, but he was more of a bait. We’ll see how he can put it together,” coach Doc Rivers said.

Dallas found a recipe for the defense of the Los Angeles Clippers and made ten baskets in the first half alone, mainly by rookie Dereck Lively. The Mavericks, including stars Luka Dončič and Kyrie Irving, defended the opponent’s bases very well and already in the second quarter created a decisive lead, which they guarded until the end of the match.

“Everybody can see that we’re a defensive team now. We all have a completely different look in our eyes now. It’s about being aggressive and being the aggressor even when they have the ball,” Lively said. Doncic contributed 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to the win, Irving had 21 points. On the other hand, James Harden and Norman Powell gave 21 points each, but the team’s stars Kawhi Leonard, Paul Geroge and Russell Westbrook did not make an impact. Leonard had nine points, George had seven points, and Westbrook had just one point and was ejected.