Milwaukee Bucks Kept their fourth straight win over the Orlando Magic

Following their boycott Thursday and Friday, the Eastern Conference top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks wrapped up their quarterfinals over the 8th-seeded Orlando Magic, 118-104, with four-straight wins after Orlando surprised with the game one upset in the National Basketball Association playoffs.

It was a close opening quarter at the ESPN Wide World Sports Complex, with the lead going back-and-forth and with Milwaukee closing the quarter with a 26-21 lead. But the Bucks turned it up in quarter two, outscoring the Magic, 40-29, for a 67-50 halftime advantage.

After the intermission, Orlando closed the gap to 90-79, and in the fourth quarter, it was Milwaukee maintaining an 11-point lead n a 118-104 final that advanced the Bucks to the next round against the 4th-seeded Miami Heat. They only outscored the Magic, 28-25, in the last quarter but had led since the end of halftime.

Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo once again led Milwaukee with 28 points, 17 rebounds and three assists. Eric Bledsoe had the team-high assists for the Bucks. For Orlando, it was Nikola Vucevic leading the way with 22 points and 15 boards.

In the Western Conference game 5 of the semis, the 5th-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder held its own in the first half, taking a 48-45 lead at the intermission, but the last two quarters told a different story as the 4th-seeded Houston Rockets rolled to a 114-80 victory to go up 3-2 in the series.

James Harden led the second half run with 19 of his game-high 31 points as Houston soared to a 85-63 lead after three quarters and then out scored the Thunder 29-17 in the final quarter.

Jeff Green scrubbed the boards for 10 rebounds for the Rockets and Russell Westbrook, back off the injury list, handed out the team-high seven assists, scored the same number of points, and brought down six boards.

Up-and-coming Dennis Schroader tossed in the team-high 19 points for OKC, while Steve Adams pulled down 14 rebounds and scored a dozen points, and Shai Gilgeous dished out four assists.

In the finale, the Western Conference’s No. 1 seeded Los Angeles Lakers clinched their series over the game, 8th-seeded Portland Trailblazers, 131-122, but it took a late surge led by the one-two punch of 7-foot Anthony Davis and superstar LeBron James. The two combined for 79 points, Davis scoring 43 and James 36.

It was tied at 68-all at the intermission break, and still tight when LA led 97-92 heading into the final quarter. And that’s when Davis and James led a 17-2 surge to wipe out a 112-112 tie with 2:10 remaining.

In that span, Davis scored 10 and James 5, and Portland, without its best player and top scorer, Damian Lillard, won game one led by Lillard, but when he injured his calf, the Lakers won the next four. The Blazers had to beat out the Memphis Grizzlies and the Washington Wizards to get the last playoff spot.

Davis included four blocks on his stellar night also brought down nine rebounds, while James took down 10 boards and dished out the same number of assists.

For Portland, C.J. McCollum tossed in a team-high 36 points and handed out seven assists, and teammate Jusuf Norkic came down with 10 rebounds to go with 16 points.