Nuggets win decisive Game 7 against Jazz
Jokic became the hero of the Nuggets by scoring the basket that broke the tie on the scoreboard and allowed his team to win 80-78 against the Utah Jazz in the decisive seventh game of the first round playoff series, which they ultimately won 4-3 in best of seven.
They did it after trailing 1-3 in the series and becoming the twelfth team in NBA history to accomplish this, although they were the first to do it despite letting a 19-point lead slip away.
The Nuggets could have also made negative history if Mike Conley had made the three-pointer he attempted with the last shot of the game.
Now the Nuggets will begin the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers, who won 4-2 against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.
After Jokic's basket, the Jazz passed the ball to their star shooting guard, Donovan Mitchell, after a timeout called by Utah coach Quin Snyder.
The Nuggets stole the ball and ran for a fast break, but small forward Torrey Craig missed the layup.
Utah got the ball back and quickly passed it to Conley, whose shot at the end bounced off the rim and couldn't avoid his team's defeat and elimination.
Jokic finished with a double-double of 30 points and 14 rebounds, while Canadian point guard Jamal Murray scored another 17 points, which also helped secure the decisive victory.
Power forward Michael Porter Jr. came close to a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, while the Nuggets have a record of 3-3 in decisive game sevens.
Meanwhile, Mitchell scored 22 points, but couldn't be the winning factor for the Jazz as he was in the last three games of the Nuggets' comeback.
French center Rudy Gobert did a great individual job in the paint, finishing with a double-double of 19 points, 18 rebounds, and two blocks.
But he missed the decisive points that Jokic managed to score in the end, with whom he had a great individual duel that ultimately fell on the side of the Serbian center.
Tatum leads Celtics' victory over Raptors
Tatum, who contributed 34 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, once again led the scoring for the Celtics, who also played great defense in crucial moments of the fourth quarter.
If Tatum responded as the new undisputed star of the Celtics and the NBA, Smart took it upon himself to bring the fighting spirit and the three-pointers that completely broke the Raptors' defense, the current NBA champions.
Smart immediately showed his disapproval with a foul called on him by the referees at the end of the third quarter, a moment that made it seem like the Raptors were taking control of the game.
Then, in the final quarter, Smart took charge of the game as his own and in his hands, causing the rhythm of the game and the scoreboard to change immediately with the 16 points he scored in the first three dazzling minutes of the last period.
The rest was a well-deserved victory for the Celtics, leaving the Raptors with serious problems for the rest of the series, which they are playing in a best-of-seven format.
Smart made five three-pointers in a span of 3:04, converting the last one into a four-point play as the Celtics erased what had been a 12-point deficit at the end of the third.
The point guard-shooting guard became the second player in the playoffs with five three-pointers in a final quarter. Murray, from the Nuggets, did it twice in the first six games against the Jazz.
Point guard Kemba Walker scored 11 of the last 16 points for Boston since Smart's remarkable three-pointers, with the last one being a step-back jumper in the final minute of the game, and the Celtics continued their dominance over Toronto this season.
Not only do they lead the series 2-0, but they are also 3-0 against the Raptors in the NBA restart bubble and 5-1 against them this season when they play the third game of the series on Thursday.
Smart scored 19 points, Walker had 17, and shooting guard Jaylen Brown reached 16 points for the Celtics, who dominated the boards by grabbing 44 rebounds compared to the Raptors' 41, leaving Toronto without the ability to react in crucial moments.
English small forward OG Anunoby scored 20 points as the leader of the Toronto team, who got an additional 19 points from shooting guard Fred VanVleet, who missed a nine-meter shot as time expired.