NBA Playoffs Open Thread - June 10

Before the Philadelphia 76ers play Game 3 of their second-round matchup against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, there are two more games to check out tonight.

Brooklyn Nets vs. Milwaukee Bucks — 7:30 pm ET (ESPN)

The Nets have quickly taken control of this series, and they haven’t even had James Harden since the first minute of Game 1 due to his hamstring injury. After Brooklyn won the series opener 115-107, they won Game 2 in completely dominant fashion, taking a 36-19 lead after the first quarter before going on to win 125-86. The Nets’ defense has been sharp with crisp switching, Kevin Durant has been exceptional all around and leading the offense, and supporting players like Blake Griffin have stepped up.

The Bucks, on the other hand, have been a major disappointment. They’ve often lost their offensive structure and resorted to rushed shots and ill-advised isolations, with Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton in particular playing poorly. This series has started to feel like it’s over rather quickly. The Nets look set to make the Eastern Conference Finals.

Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

LA Clippers vs. Utah Jazz — 10:00 pm ET (ESPN)

The second contest of the day is Clippers-Jazz Game 2, after Utah took a 1-0 series lead with a 112-109 win on Tuesday. As Kawhi Leonard had a fairly quiet game by his standards (23 points on 9-of-19 shooting) and Paul George struggled (9 points on just 4-of-14 shooting), Donovan Mitchell took over and had an answer for anything the Clippers’ defense tried to do, finishing with 45 points on 16-of-30 shooting. The Clippers had a chance to win in the final seconds, but Rudy Gobert came up with a huge block on Marcus Morris in the corner to seal the victory. With Nets-Bucks looking awfully one-sided at the moment, Game 2 between the Clippers and Jazz could be the closer fought contest of the day.

Serge Ibaka (back) remains out for the Clippers, while Mike Conley is out for Utah with a hamstring injury.