‘Don’t want to hear him’: Aussie’s last laugh after rival meltdown; rare move amid NBA bloodbath

A sport obtained so out of hand on Thursday that American broadcaster TNT minimize away in an try and transition viewers to a different contest.

It was in the course of the third quarter of the Bucks’ 135-102 blowout win over the Celtics that studio host, Ernie Johnson, popped on screens with Milwaukee up 100-62.

“So, this game is out of hand, obviously,” Johnson stated after the published minimize to him. “100-62 is the score in Milwaukee. Celtics are resting the rest of their starters for the rest of the night, so we’re thinking let’s see what else is going on in the league.”

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It sounded just like the plan had briefly been to toss it to the Thunder’s sport towards the Trail Blazers.

“And Oklahoma City, by the way, is up 36 at the half so we’re not going there,” he stated with amusing.

TNT determined to show to the Knicks and Mavericks sport that was going down.

TNT did ultimately take viewers again to Milwaukee within the fourth quarter, the place the rating had ballooned a bit extra at that time to 111-73.

The Bucks ended up downing the Celtics, with Bobby Portis and Giannis Antetokounmpo each having large nights.

“We just didn’t have it tonight,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla stated, in keeping with the Associated Press.

“That can happen from time to time.”

Portis completed the sport with 28 factors on 11 of 18 taking pictures from the sphere and 5-for-6 from 3-point vary.

Antetokounmpo had 24 factors on 10 of 13 from the sphere whereas dispensing six assists.Both gamers every pulled down 12 boards.

‘I GOT TO BE BETTER’

A annoyed Jalen Brunson picked up a technical foul within the second quarter for complaining to a referee, and the purpose guard acknowledged it affected his play because the Knicks had been pummeled within the first half of a 128-124 loss to the Mavericks on Thursday evening, with Aussie Josh Green starring.

“Yeah, it’s tough. I can’t be in that mindset of letting things frustrate me,” stated Brunson, who completed with 30 factors however solely shot 4 of 12 within the first half. “I got to be better. And we got to be ready from the start of the game and that’s on me.”

Green was credited with hitting plenty of essential pictures to stifle the Knicks as they threatened to comeback.

He completed with 18 factors, with a quantity coming down the stretch.

“I just play, I wanted to win. I’m a competitor, I see Jalen (Brunson), I don’t want to hear anything from Jalen,” he advised a reporter about developing clutch.

Meanwhile, after selecting up the technical, Brunson claimed on the courtroom that he was directing his phrases towards coach Tom Thibodeau, not referee Danielle Scott. He declined to elucidate his frustration after the sport, fearing a wonderful from the league.

“I love to keep my money,” he stated. “So I’m going to keep my money.”

The Knicks had been whistled for 25 fouls in comparison with Dallas’s 19 however took solely two fewer foul pictures. The discrepancy was rather a lot wider within the first half.

“Hey look, sometimes — and I understand, I don’t really care if the game was called tight or it was called loosely. I just want consistency,” Thibodeau stated. “So there was some frustration there but that’s all part of it. We’ve got to handle that.”

OG Anunoby was making ready to protect Luka Doncic. Instead, with Doncic dominated out the evening prior with an ankle sprain, he drew Kyrie Irving and struggled to carry down the expert level guard.

“Just trying to make him take the most difficult shots possible,” Anunoby stated. “And he makes those shots all the time. Not getting discouraged is the key.”

Irving scored 44 factors and handed out 10 assists to guide the Mavericks in a 128-124 wire-to-wire victory over the New York Knicks.

Dallas, with star Luka Doncic sidelined with a sprained ankle, led by 20 early within the fourth quarter, keeping off a livid rally by the Knicks who minimize the deficit to at least one with 1:08 to play.

– This initially appeared in NY Post and was republished with consent.

DONOVAN POWERS CAVS TO VICTORY IN PARIS, BUCKS CRUSH CELTICS

Donovan Mitchell lit up Paris, scoring 45 factors to guide the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 111-102 victory over the Brooklyn Nets because the NBA returned to France on Thursday.

The Cavs’ victory was only one dominant efficiency on a day that noticed the Milwaukee Bucks rout the league-leading Boston Celtics 135-102 and the Oklahoma City Thunder crush the Portland Trail Blazers 139-77.

Mitchell, a four-time NBA All-Star, added six assists and 4 steals and stated he cherished his Paris expertise — and want to repeat it on the Olympic Games later this 12 months.

“Definitely I’d love to come back and play in the Olympics,” Mitchell stated. “This is a very electric basketball city. Just being able to see this experience, to be a part of it and do it with the NBA, do it with my teammates — incredible.

“I’ve had a lot of fun and I’m glad we got the win as well.”

Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff stated Mitchell’s aggressive method “set the tone for everybody” on the workforce.

“I thought Donovan was phenomenal at giving the audience and us what they came to see and what we needed to win the game,” Bickerstaff stated.

Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas scored 26 factors apiece for Brooklyn, however the Nets supplied little resistance in a sport Cleveland led from begin to end.

Back dwelling the Bucks had been much more dominant, demolishing the Celtics in Milwaukee.

Reserve Bobby Portis and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo each had double-doubles for the Bucks, Portis scoring 28 and Antetokounmpo 24 and each grabbing 12 rebounds.

Portis and Antetokounmpo mixed to attain 20 straight factors because the Bucks put collectively a 25-0 scoring run bridging the primary and second quarters that pushed their result in 56-23.

Damian Lillard added 21 factors to assist the Bucks notch simply their second win in six video games.

One evening after a draining additional time victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in a battle of the league’s finest groups, the Celtics began sluggish and by no means recovered.

A dunk from Boston’s Oshae Brissett minimize Milwaukee’s result in 31-21 with 2:14 left within the first quarter.

But the Celtics wouldn’t rating once more for greater than six minutes, Jaylen Brown ending the drought with a dunk.

Boston coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his weary starters for the second half, Brown ending the evening with 10 factors and Jayson Tatum with seven.

Payton Pritchard led Boston in scoring with 21 factors.

“I think we did a good job just playing together,” Antetokounmpo stated of a Bucks workforce that had misplaced 4 of their final 5.

“We were aggressive defensively. We set the tone the first minute.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla stated he was assured the sport was an anomaly.

“I trust our character, I trust our team,” Mazzulla stated. “Things like this happen.”

– Thunder roll –

The development of lopsided victories continued in Oklahoma City, the place the Thunder’s 62-point margin of victory tied for the fifth-largest in NBA historical past.

The Thunder themselves suffered the largest loss ever within the NBA, a 73-point loss to Memphis in December of 2021.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 factors and Jalen Williams added 21 for the Thunder, who had been already up by 62 going into the fourth quarter.

Josh Giddey notched a triple-double of 13 factors, 10 rebounds and 12 assists for the Thunder, who matched Minnesota for finest document within the Western Conference at 26-11.

It was one other rout in Los Angeles, the place Bradley Beal scored 37 factors and Devin Booker added 31 to guide the Phoenix Suns to a 127-109 victory over the Lakers.

Superstar LeBron James scored simply 10 factors and Anthony Davis added 13 for the Lakers, whose starters sat out the fourth quarter with the sport out of hand.

In Dallas, Kyrie Irving scored 44 factors and handed out 10 assists to guide the Mavericks in a 128-124 wire-to-wire victory over the New York Knicks.

Dallas, with star Luka Doncic sidelined with a sprained ankle, led by 20 early within the fourth quarter, keeping off a livid rally by the Knicks who minimize the deficit to at least one with 1:08 to play.