NBA Playoffs: Rockets Even Series against Warriors after Jimmy Butler injury; Celtics and riders take 2-0 tracks

THE NBA playoffs Following Wednesday with three games 2, including the Celtics facing the Magic without Jayson Tatum, and the Warriors trying to take a 2-0 lead against the Houston Rockets.

Discover Yahoo Sports' Predictions for each first -round seriesIn addition to Kevin O'Connor ranking of 40 best players in the NBA qualifiers.

Here are the results and main dishes of Wednesday matches:

Rockets 109, Warriors 94

The Warriors entered Match 2 with an advantage, but Lose Jimmy Butler And Brandin Podziemski left them in disorder throughout the night. The Rockets had no trouble enjoying it.

Houston maintained a two -digit lead for the second half, powered by Jalen Green during one of his best nights. The top scorer of the Rockets equaled a record of qualifying series with 38 points on 13 shots out of 25, plus one of the best dunks in the playoffs.

The Warriors found feet over the game, including a wild sequence in which the two teams exchanged six consecutive 3 points.

Match 3 is scheduled for Saturday at 8:30 p.m. he in San Francisco (ABC).

The warriors deeply dig into the bench with Jimmy Butler, Brandin Podziemski injuries

The Warriors head coach Steve Kerr probably did not expect lose two runners at the first quarterBut it was reality in front of him after Butler and Podziemski left the ground.

Podziemski later returned to the third quarter, but Butler was excluded for the rest of the game after having undergone a pool contusion And should undergo an MRI on Thursday.

With these two unavailable in the second quarter, Kerr had inserted 12 different players in the game when butler status was announced in the second quarter. It included Jonathan Kuminga, who was a bench of the rotation of match 1.

The deep bench was a mixed bag, especially with Gui Santos recording two points, two reversals and four faults in nine minutes.

This game has become chippy, and you will never guess who was at the center

There is really no player in today's game like Draymond Green, who delivered a vintage performance when it comes to, uh, physics.

All this culminated in green and Fred Vanvleet exchanging words face to face during a game breakup and triggering a clearing of the benches. Green would have been ejected if he had received another technical fault, but the officials only made one at Tari Eason, who threw a towel which landed in the face of Pat Spencer of the Guardian of the Warriors.

The crowd of Toyota Center responded with “F *** You, Draymond!” Songs.

Kerr thought that fans of the Rockets could have been a little more subtle.

– Jack Baer

Celtics 109, Magic 100

The Celtics Tatum reigned for the match 2 hours before the blowAnd their backup plan was a big night for Jaylen Brown.

While Tatum looked from the bench in a golf shirt and a wrist, his long-standing co-star conducted Boston to another flight victory to mount 2-0 in their series against The Magic. Brown finished with 36 points on 12 shots out of 19, with 10 rebounds and five assists.

It was not the most dominant night of the Celtics, but it certainly showed that they can push the teams without a tatum in the first missed eliminatory match in his career.

Match 3 is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. He in Orlando (ESPN).

Kristaps porziņģis comes out, comes back immediately after a bloody cut at the head

Goga Bitadze made Porziņģ bleed for his own blood, to say it slightly.

A wild elbow of the Magic Center in the third quarter left the great man of the Celtics with a massive and bloody cut on his forehead. Porziņģ is immediately run for the locker room and soon returned with a huge bandage on his head – and a smile.

The room was examined and considered a blatant 1 on Bitadze. Porziņģs had to pull the free throws or miss the rest of the match, so he rushed to try them and was immediately underlying afterwards.

Porziņģs returned to the locker room after that and returned to the fourth with a smaller bandage to the big cheers of the crowd. He finished the match with 20 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.

The Celtics showed that they were much more than a Jayson Tatum Star vehicle. (Photo by Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

(Maddie Meyer via Getty Images)

Take Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on the list of Boston Christmas cards

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope magic wing Entered the court in a choir of hoots from the crowd of the TD garden after His fault in match 1 eliminated Tatum for Wednesday. He did not bother to try to tackle the masses in the next 48 minutes.

Caldwell-Pope Antonié more the crowd at the start of the game And later triggered a confrontation when he came across Al Horford in transition. Brown had a few words for him the next day.

Of course, KCP did not do much either to tackle magic fans. He finished with three points on a 1 out of 9 shot.

A call had a big impact on the game

We simply check, but when a player reaches an opponent with enough weight for the opponent leaning on the waist, then gets the ball and launches a gunshot with one of his tangled arms with said opponent, is this a fault on this player or the opponent?

In the case of Porziņģis and Wendell Carter, it was a fault on Carter, alias the player who was obviously not going. We don't know what officials have seen here and Nice either.

This fault found itself quite important. It was the third in Carter's match, when the magic was only behind two just before half-time. Carter was back to open the second half, but recorded only two rebounds and a turnover in the third quarter.

The Celtics extended their two -digit advance during this period.

– Jack Baer

Riders 121, heat 112

The Cleveland offensive is frightening. When he pulls like that, good luck.

The riders made a wave of shooting at 3 points in the second quarter on Wednesday evening to stall A Victory of Match 2 On the heat of Miami. The dam built an advance of 17 -point riders they needed to postpone a late thermal rally.

The best classified riders now have a 2-0 lead after two home victories.

Miami kept things close early when Cleveland took a 25-24 lead in the second quarter before the opening of the valves. Cleveland scored 25 points in the 5:54 am in the second quarter en route to an advance from 68-51 at halftime.

Cleveland logged into 11 3 in the second quarter, which is most in a eliminatory match in one neighborhood since the NBA began to follow the game game in the 1997-98 season.

For fun – unless you are a heat fan – here is an overview of the 11.

In total, the horsemen connected on 14 out of 23 (60.9%) in the first half at 3 points. It was a team effort. Eight different riders struck at least one 3 points in the first half. Four of them struck two or more, led by the 4-en-6 effort of Max Strus.

Cleveland did not follow the pace after half-time. He didn't have to do so. A 17-point half-time cushion was sufficient to push the heat, which cut things as close to 103-101 in the fourth quarter.

The riders are an offensive power station that has displayed NBA's best offensive note during the regular season. They finished the night by pulling 22 out of 45 (48.9%) of 3. Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 30 points, including 20 after half-time, while pulling 7 out of 10.

When the Cavs pull like that, they will be very difficult to beat.

Davion Mitchell makes a difference, but not enough

Heat Erik Spoelstra coach adjusted the departure training after a defeat of 121-100 match 1. Alec Burks was Alec Burks, who did not see the court in match 2. in a play hero and Spark 3 and Davion Mitchell.

This decision made sense. And it almost paid. Mitchell is a defender of the locking perimeter and the Cleveland guards burned Miami in match 1.

Mitchell had an impact on Wednesday evening. He finished with 18 points, six assists and a flight. He helped trigger a 13-2 race in the fourth quarter which reduced Cleveland's advance to 101-99 with a pair of 3 points and this flight.

In the end, Cleveland found another wave of offensive to counter the Miami rally and guarantee victory. But expect Mitchell to continue to play an important role for the heat while the series moves to Miami.

Match 3 is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. HE on TNT.

– Jason Owens

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