NBA playoff scores 2017: We’re getting a Game 7 in round one thanks to the Clippers

Yes! We’re getting a Game 7 in the first round and we’re getting it from the Clippers and Jazz, the best series of the entire first round. The Clippers were able to win Game 6 on the road in Utah and force a winner-take-all game on Sunday. The prize? The winner of that game plays the Golden State Warriors in the next round. Earlier in the night the Celtics and Wizards both took care of business and sent home the Bulls and the Hawks respectively. Here’s how it all went down.

You can believe it, the Wizards are good and for real. They showed it on Friday night in a must win Game 6 on the road. Sure, the Wizards could have gone back to Washington D.C. for a Game 7 but that’s not what good teams do. Good teams finish a series when they can and that’s exactly what the Wizards did. The reason the Wizards were so good on Friday night was the same reason they were so good all season — John Wall and Bradley Beal.

There are any number of factors you can attribute to the resurgence of the Wizards, experiencing their best season in more than three decades. The biggest one is clear: John Walland Bradley Beal have never been better than this.

On Friday, it was the same story. Wall led the way with 42 points, while Beal tossed in 31 points on his own. They shot 27-of-42 (64 percent) from the field, combined for 11 assists, seven steals, and three blocks, and that was enough to carry the Wizards to a 115-99 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6. The win pushes Washington onto the conference semifinals, and it’ll face the Celtics with a chance to head to the conference finals for the first time since 1979.

The Wizards will go on to face the Celtics in Round 2 where the most petty regular season rivalry turns into a playoff rivalry. This should be good.

The Bulls jumped out to a 2-0 lead on this series back in Boston and that feels like a million years ago now. Since then, the Celtics found their composure and rattled off four straight wins as they should have as a No. 1 seed playing a No. 8 seed. We’ll never know how much Rajon Rondo’s injury played into this series as he went down with a broken thumb after Game 2 and could not return in the series, but either way, the Celtics are moving on. After an emotional two weeks, the Celtics and Isaiah Thomas had something to smile about.

“It’s a wrap for these mother (bleepers)!” Isaiah Thomas screamed to his teammates in the middle of the third quarter. There was plenty of game left, but the Celtics were cruising past a 25-point lead and the Bulls had clearly thrown in the towel.

The Boston Celtics took the word elimination game all too seriously Friday night, absolutely eviscerating the Chicago Bulls 105-83 In Game 6 to complete a four-game comeback and win their first round series.

Avery Bradley had another dominant performance to follow up his Game 5, tying Jimmy Butler for a game-high 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting (3-for-4 from deep). The Celtics finally had the efficient shooting performance they had been seeking all season, going 16-for-39 from deep (41%) with 28 assists to the Bulls’ 13. Of all people, Isaiah Thomas was the only person with a poor shooting night, going 1-for-7 from deep to follow up his 1-for-10 performance in the previous game.

The Celtics transcended the need for Thomas’ efficiency in this series, as they finally figured out how to expose the Bulls’ defense and run circles around them. Once their deep shooting started to kick in, the usual talent gap between a one and eight seed finally emerged.

The Celtics have had plenty of doubters throughout the regular season and into the playoffs. Now is their chance to continue to prove them wrong.

The Clippers did everything they needed to and forced a Game 7 on Sunday afternoon, but as Chris Paul said on ESPN after the game, “It wouldn’t be the Clippers if it didn’t have a little drama.”

Chris Paul keyed a run in the 3rd quarter that put the Clippers up 69-61. He was everywhere on defense, pushed the pace well on offense, and got Jamal Crawford a couple easy buckets. It is simply amazing to watch the man play basketball, and he was clearly expending every ounce of energy he had to keep the Clippers in the game.

The Clippers continued to play well in the 4th quarter, slowly expanding their lead, and answering every Jazz attempt at a comeback. Their defense wasn’t airtight, but it was far superior to that of previous games, especially on Gordon Hayward. The Clips were constantly getting deflections and steals, leading to easy fastbreak points. This was vital, since they have mostly been unable to generate any offense in the halfcourt since Blake Griffin went down. Austin Rivers hit a couple huge 3s, and the game appeared over. Then.. things went crazy.

It wasn’t pretty. In fact, the Clippers nearly blew a 14-point lead in the final three minutes to the Jazz. After two inexcusable turnovers, the Jazz were able to get within three points and a chance to tie at the buzzer but Joe Johnson just came up short. Those talks about breaking up the Clippers will have to wait for another day.

Meanwhile, the Jazz will have to dig deep to win a Game 7 on the road on Sunday. You have to wonder if they gave away their chance with not being able to close the deal in Game 6. We’ll soon find out.

Wizards 115, Hawks 99 (Bullets Forever recap | Peachtree Hoops recap)

Celtics 105, Bulls 83 (Celtics Blog recap | Blog A Bull recap)

Clippers 98, Jazz 93 (Clips Nation recap | SLC Dunk recap)