The Lastest News From The NBA Finals

Congratulations to the Milwaukee Bucks. They’ve advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2001. The Bucks, with seven players scoring in double figures, eliminated the Boston Celtics in five games by beating them 116-91 on Wednesday night.

The Celtics, at times brilliant this season and at times leaderless and rudderless, looked more of the latter for the most of this series and that leaves the sullen Kyrie Irving’s future with the team in question.

The Bucks dropped the opener of this series, then won four straight.

“I think our mindset changed,” Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “In the first game, we weren’t focused enough. We weren’t ourselves. The next four games, we came out with a different approach, a different mindset.”

The Bucks will play the winner of the Toronto Raptors-Philadelphia 76ers series, which goes to Game 6 on Thursday night. The Raptors lead 3-2.

In the Western Conference semis, the Golden State Warriors finally got the type of performance from Stephen Curry that had been lacking. He scored 20 points in the second half to power a 104-99 victory that gives the Warriors a 3-2 edge in the series. The Warriors lost Kevin Durant to a right calf strain. Game 6 is Friday night and his status is uncertain pending an MRI.

Lastly, we have the bumbling Los Angeles Lakers, who are not in the playoffs. Their negotiations with Tyronn Lue to become head coach – which has been a foregone conclusion for more than a week – fell apart when the club offered him a contract short on years and money.

Lue and LeBron James won a championship together with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lue was seen as a way to keep James happy as this organization otherwise flails and flounders.

In the end, it couldn’t hire an unemployed coach with no other job prospects.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman