DeAndre Jordan and Khris Middleton’s teams both sit down 3-2 and are on the brink of elimination.
The stories of the two series are quite contrasting for the Bucks and the Clippers.
After going down 2-1 in San Antonio, the Clippers found a way to win on the road in San Antonio 114-105 and retake home court advantage to tie the series up 2-2. Jordan scored 6 points in the win and also grabbed 14 rebounds along with dishing out an assist. Jordan had a strong presence on defense and caused problems for the Spurs inside the paint.
Heading into game 5 the Clippers were confident because they were returning home and expecting to grab the commanding 3-2 series lead. The Clippers led early, and as much as 27-13 with 1:40 remaining in the first quarter. San Antonio came back and the game came down to the wire with the Spurs winning 111-107. Jordan had multiple throw downs by lobs from Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. Jordan had his best statistical game in the series scoring 21 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
There was controversy at the end as Jordan appeared to tip in the ball with 4.9 seconds left, which would have given the Clippers a 109-108 lead, but Jordan tipped the ball over the cylinder and was called for offensive goaltending.
Khris Middleton’s Bucks were down 3-0 and a game away from a sweep when things began to click. Milwaukee beat Chicago 92-90 in game 4 to give themselves a life line at 3-1. Middleton scored 10 points in the win and played 46 of the 48 minutes.
The Bucks won game five 94-88 to make things interesting down 3-2 and reignite the series. Middleton scored 21 points in the victory while also grabbing two rebounds and assisting on two occasions. The 23 year old former Aggie hasn’t had a single game in the postseason where he has not reached double digits which is a pretty impressive feat for his first ever playoff series.
Both the Bucks and the Clippers will look to even up their series tonight. Milwaukee and Chicago tip off at 6 p.m. and Los Angeles and San Antonio tip off at 8:30 p.m. Both games can be seen on TNT.
