Hometown Broadcasting Sports Friday 7/2/21
2 July 2021 Sports
Sports for July 2nd
Brook Lopez scored a playoff career-high 33 points and the Milwaukee Bucks withstood Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence to beat the Atlanta Hawks 123-112 on Thursday night for a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. The Bucks are one win away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 1974. They won their lone NBA title in 1971.Four of their starters had at least 22 points: Lopez, Khris Middleton (26), Jrue Holiday (25) and Bobby Portis (22). Middleton also had 13 rebounds and eight assists. Holiday had 13 assists and six rebounds.
Game 6 is Saturday in Atlanta, with the winner of the series facing the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals. Each team was missing its biggest star as Antetokounmpo dealt with a hyperextended left knee and Atlanta’s Trae Young sat out a second straight game due to a bone bruise in his right foot. Bogdan Bogdanovic led the Hawks with 28 points. Atlanta also got 19 points each from John Collins and Danilo Gallinari, and 17 from Lou Williams.Portis took Antetokounmpo’s spot in the starting lineup.
The Bucks never trailed and led by as many as 20 in the first quarter, making most of their shots and getting second-chance opportunities on their rare misses. The game was nearly eight minutes old by the time Cam Reddish got Atlanta’s first defensive rebound.
Milwaukee led 36-22 after a first quarter in which the Bucks outscored the Hawks 28-8 in the paint. Bogdanovic’s 13 first-half points helped the Hawks close the gap to 65-56 at the break. Atlanta cut the lead to 65-59 when Bogdanovic hit a 3-pointer to open the third-quarter scoring, but that’s as close as the Hawks would get in the second half. This marked the second straight game in this series without any lead changes. The Hawks never trailed in Game 4. The Bucks made their first two 3-point attempts but missed their next 12 and finished 9 of 29.
During his pregame availability, Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer offered no update on when Antetokounmpo might be able to return.
Corbin Burnes went beyond seven innings for the first time in the majors, helping the Milwaukee Brewers match their longest winning streak in seven years with a 7-2 victory over the Pirates in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. The NL Central-leading Brewers have won nine in a row for the first time since April 4-13, 2014, outscoring opponents 66-23 during the streak. Burnes (4-4) allowed one run on four hits with five strikeouts in a career-high 7 1/3 innings. He lasted seven innings twice before in the majors, once this season against the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 6.
Pirates starter Wil Crowe (1-5) went 4 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts. Clay Holmes didn’t get an out on 20 pitches (13 balls) in the sixth for the Pirates, who have lost four straight. He allowed an RBI single to Keston Hiura that extended Milwaukee’s lead to 3-1 following a balk and walked the bases loaded. Daniel Robertson made it 4-1 on a sacrifice fly with one out after Holmes was pulled for Chris Stratton. Burnes’ one noticeable mistake came in the fifth, when Ben Gamel drove his cutter over the wall in right-center field to cut Milwaukee’s lead to 2-1. The right-hander used just 42 pitches to get through the first four innings. Pirates closer Richard Rodríguez gave up three runs in the ninth, one on a double from Omar Narváez and two more on a single from Tyrone Taylor with the deficit expanding to 7-1.
RHP Adrian Houser (4-5, 4.16 ERA) will take the mound for the Brewers, facing Pirates RHP JT Brubaker (4-7, 3.82) on Friday. Houser has allowed a combined nine runs his past two starts; Brubaker hasn’t surrendered more than three runs in five straight starts. First pitch is at 6:05 and the game can be heard on AM 1100/98.3 FM, WISS.
Elsewhere in the NL Central Thursday the Reds nipped the Padres 5-4 and the Rockies beat the Cardinals 5-2. The Brewers lead the Cubs by 6 ½ games, the Reds by 8, the Cardinals by 9 and the Pirates by 19.
NHL Stanley Cup Finals
Tampa Bay at Montrea (TB leads 2-0)
On the Men’s PGA Tour Davis Thompson shot a 9-under 63 to take the first-round lead in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. He leads by two strokes over three other golfers.
On the LPGA Tour Jin Young Ko has a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Volunteers of America Classic in Texas. She shot 8-under to lead two other golfers.
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