NBA Playoffs: Nets Advance To Take Crack At Giannis And Bucks; Nuggets, Suns Take 3-2 Series Leads

 Three games were contested in the NBA Playoffs on Tuesday.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

At Brooklyn, New York:

James Harden (who grabbed ten rebounds), Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant scored 34, 25, and 24 points respectively as the Brooklyn Nets closed out the Boston Celtics' season with a 123-109 home win in game five of their conference quarterfinal series, enabling the Nets to take the series four games to two.

Jayson Tatum topped the Celts with 32 points while pulling in nine boards.

The Nets will open their conference semifinal series with the Milwaukee Bucks at home on Saturday (4:30 PM Pacific Time, TNT).

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

At Denver:

Nikola Jokic scored 38 points, grabbed eleven rebounds, and dished out nine assists while Monte Morris came off the bench and played a huge part by scoring 28 of his own as the Denver Nuggets survived a 55-point performance from Portland's Damian Lillard (who hit clutch three-point shots to force both overtime periods) and outlasted the visiting Trail Blazers 147-140 in double overtime to take a three-games-to-two series advantage.

Michael Porter, Jr. added 26 points and 12 rebounds to the Nuggets' coffers.

The Blazers fell despite having all five starters scoring in double figures.

The aforementioned Mr. Lillard also dished out ten assists while grabbing six rebounds.

The Nugs, up three games to two, can close out the series with a game-six victory in Portland on Thursday night (5:00 PM Pacific Time, TNT).

At Phoenix, Arizona:

Devin Booker scored 30 points to help lead the Phoenix Suns to a 115-85 home dismantling of the Los Angeles Lakers in game five of their conference quarterfinal series, which they now lead three games to two.

LeBron James topped the Lakers with 24 points.

The Suns can de-throne the defending NBA champions with a game-six victory in Los Angeles on Thursday (7:30 PM Pacific Time, TNT).