NBA playoffs on Apr. 17: 'Uncle Drew' takes over to help Boston win

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The three leading teams of their series continued to win in the 2019 NBA playoffs on Wednesday. The Boston Celtics claimed a comeback victory against the Indiana Pacers 99-91 at the TD Garden, the Milwaukee Bucks continued to smash the Detroit Pistons 120-99 at the Fiserv Forum and the Houston Rockets took another easy win against the Utah Jazz 118-98 at the Toyota Center.

Celtics vs. Pacers: Irving's first playoff with Boston

Kyrie Irving of the Boston Celtics walks towards the logo of the TD Garden in the game they win against the Indiana Pacers 99-91, April 17, 2019. /VCG Photo

Boston owe this victory to Kyrie Irving, who scored 37 points, six rebounds and seven assists and Jayson Tatum who had 26 points. Al Horford only got four points but he grabbed 10 rebounds and delivered four assists. Gordon Hayward from the bench contributed 13 points.

Indiana had four payers score double-digit points. Bojan Bogdanovic had the highest of 23 points and eight rebounds. Thaddeus Young and Darren Collison dropped 15 and 13 points respectively. Tyreke Evans got 13 points off the bench.

Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Pacers shoots a three-pointer in the game a gainst the Celtics, April 17, 2019. /VCG Photo

The Pacers again proved that they are not a lamb waiting to be butchered as they actually led in the first three quarters of the game (79-68), thanks to their tough defense, which is reflected by their lead in steals (11-3).

Irving stood out for the Celtics in the fourth quarter to put down nine points including two three-pointers. Meanwhile, Boston enhanced their defense, denying all the opponent's shots within the 3-pt line. Though Indiana buried four three-pointers this quarter, that's all they got in offense (12-31).

The head coaches of both teams praised Irving after the game. "It's hard when you're out there on an island by yourself and you're trying to keep Irving in front of you," said Nate McMillan, coach of the Pacers.

Jayson Tatum #0 of the Celtics dunks in the game against the Pacers, April 17, 2019. /VCG Photo

"Kyrie was incredible in coming back, and when he gets on a run like that, he's going to draw even more attention than he already draws, which is as much as anybody draws in the league. And so, in the last couple minutes of the game, he just made the right play," said coach Stevens of the Celtics.

By contrast, Irving himself seemed quite peaceful after the first playoff moment with Boston. "I'm just happy to be able to be part of a lineage of great players that have put on some unbelievable performances here in the TD, as well as in the old Garden. But it felt good to be here in this position."

The series will move to the Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday and have two games there. Though the Celtics are the better team, in order to take down a tough rival like the Pacers, they need Irving to be special.

Bucks vs. Pistons: Sorry, Detroit, you're outmatched

Sterling Brown #23 of the Milwaukee Bucks celebrates in the game they win against the Detroit Pistons 120-99 at the Fiserv Forum, April 17, 2019. /VCG Photo

Though they suffered a painful loss on April 14 in this arena, the Pistons were not ready to give up and gave something new to Wednesday's game. Coach Dwane Casey put Luke Kennard, the team's best shooter, in their starting lineup to improve Detroit's offense. In defense, Casey asked his players to try standing in the penetrating path of Giannis Antetokounmpo to stop him from getting easy dunks.

Both tactics worked. The Pistons earned two offensive fouls on Antetokounmpo in the second quarter, forcing him to sit on the bench in most of the time in Q2. Without the Greek Freak, the Bucks suddenly lost their connection in offense and watched Detroit launch a scoring run to lead 59-58 after the first half.

Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Bucks dunks in the game against the Pistons, April 17, 2019. /VCG Photo

However, Milwaukee started the second half with the solution of having Antetokounmpo move to his comfortable spots where he will receive the ball from teammates and get easy points. The Bucks soon regained the initiative of the game and established a 17-point lead (93-76) after Q3 before claiming their second straight win of the series.

Games 3 and 4 will happen at the Little Caesars Arena, the home court of the Pistons, on April 20 and 22.

Rockets vs. Jazz: Game 2 ends in the first quarter

James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets shoots a three-pointer in the game they win against the Utah Jazz 118-98 at the Toyota Center, April 17, 2019. /VCG Photo

It's no surprise that Utah lost to Houston again, but the way they did was frustrating. Instead of defending James Harden by standing behind him, the Jazz chose to have their players remain in front of Harden. Furthermore, in order not to let Rudy Gobert take on both Harden and Clint Capela by himself, Utah prepared more help defense for their French center.

Then, did their new plan work?

After the first half, Harden dropped 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists-he sank four three-pointers, earned a 3-pt foul and delivered four assists in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Rockets made in total 13 three-pointers in the first half. So the answer is "no". Utah neither stopped Harden from scoring nor kept him from creating opportunities for his teammates.

Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz shoots a three-pointer in the game against the Rockets, April 17, 2019. /VCG Photo

In offense, the Jazz still did not find out a way to assault Houston's paint. The team's best scorer, Donovan Mitchell, took 19 shots in the game and eight of them were from the 3-pt line. Gobert was their biggest advantage only shot six times. Utah's outside players were hesitating in most of the game and kept doing meaningless passes which led to nothing. As a result, Utah's players often shot unprepared three-pointers in the last seconds of their positions.

Though Mitchell said it was "only a loss" after Tuesday's game, it must be pointed out that this was their second loss in a row in this series, and the next two games will happen at the Vivint Smart Home Arena, Utah's home court.