EASTERN Conference no. 8 seed Orlando Magic and Western Conference no. 8 placer Portland Trail Blazers pulled off stunners to kick off their 2019-2020 NBA playoffs first round series on Tuesday night at Lake Buena Vista in Orlando, Florida.
Nikola Vučević ignited with playoffs career-high 35 points to go along with 14 rebounds as the Magic stunned the Eastern Conference top-seed Milwaukee Bucks, 122-110, in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series.
Orlando, which hosted the entire NBA restart matches, set the tone early behind conversions from Vučević to establish a 51-33 advantage before Milwaukee attempted several runs.
The closest the Bucks came was at six points in the fourth period but a layup by Terrence Ross, followed by three-point conversions from Vučević, D.J. Augustin and Evan Founier gave the Magic a 14-point edge.
The Trail Blazers, meanwhile, leaned on Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum down the stretch as they cruised to a 100-93 victory over Western Conference no. 1 seed Los Angeles Lakers.
Seeing their double-digit edge turned into an 81-87 deficit in the fourth, the Trail Blazers leaned on conversions by Lillard and McCollum to take a 92-89 edge before widening it further to 100-93 on an inside basket by Jusuf Nurkić.
Lillard and McCollum finished with 34 and 21 points, respectively, and Nurkić contributed double-double 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Blazers. Anthony Davis had 28 points, while Lebron James added 23 points, 17 rebounds and 16 assists for the Lakers.
In another Eastern Conference series, Jimmy Butler fired 28 points as Miami Heat edged Indiana Pacers, 113-101; James Harden ignited with 37 points as the Houston Rockets edged Oklahoma City Thunders, 123-108, in Western Conference./PN
