TODAY’S SPORTSTAT– Milwaukee hopes to buck the odds

By JERRY TAPP

Here are a handful of stats from this last weekend’s NBA playoff games.

• The Bucks have evened their series with the Boston Celtics at 2-2 with victories in Games 3 and 4 in Milwaukee. It has been well documented the Bucks have not won a playoff series since 2001; they have lost seven series since then, losing in first round of those seven playoffs.

The Bucks will try to take the lead in their series with Boston by winning on the road in Game 5 on Tuesday night. However, past history has shown the Bucks have not fared well in Games 5 through 7 in their past seven post-season series: the Bucks are 2-9 in Games 5-Games #7 since 2003. Following is a quick look at the Bucks record in each game of the playoffs since 2003.

Game #1: 1-7
Game #2: 2-6
Game #3: 4-4
Game #4: 4-4
Game #5: 2-4
Game #6: 0-4
Game #7: 0-1

• The New Orleans Pelicans had two players score 40 or more points in a playoff game when on April 21 Anthony Davis had 47 and Jrue Holiday had 41 as the Pelicans swept the Portland Trailblazers 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs. It was only the fifth time in NBA history that a pair of teammates scored 40 or more points in the same playoff contest. The five times:

Anthony Davis (47) & Jrue Holiday (41), New Orleans, 4-21-18
LeBron James (41) & Kyrie Irving (41), Cleveland, 6-13-16
Reggie Miller (40) & Jalen Rose (40), Indiana, 5-6-2000
Clyde Drexler (41) & Hakeem Olajuwon (40), Houston, 5-5-95
Sleepy Floyd (42) & Hakeem Olajuwon (41), Houston, 4-30-88

• Speaking of Davis, in addition to his 47 points in that game, he only recorded one assist. It was the 37^th time in NBA playoff history that a player scored 40 or more points in a playoff game with only one or no assists. It was the fourth most points scored in a playoff game by a player with one or no assists in the game; Sam Jones holds the record … he had 51 points for the Celtics in a March 28, 1967 playoff games with only one assist. Karl Malone holds the mark for most points scored in a playoff game with no assists; he had 50 points and no assists for Utah in a post-season game on April 22, 2000.

Five players have had multiple playoff games with 40 or more points and only one or no assists. Reggie Miller, Shaquille O’Neal and Amare Stoudemire did it three times, while Bob McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it twice.

• The Bucks Thon Maker had a pair of games — Game 3 and Game 4 — where he had five blocked shots in each contest. He is only the second player in league history to have multiple playoffs games (now three, he had one game with five blocks last season) with five or more blocks before the age of 22 (Maker is only 21). The other player is Serge Ibaka who had six playoff games with five or more blocked shots before he turned 22.

Maker has 10 blocks in the playoffs so far this season, ranking him second on that list, Anthony Davis tops the list with 11 blocks so far this post-season. It’s interesting to note, however, that Davis has 11 blocks in 152 minutes played; Maker has 10 blocks in only 56 minutes played.

• Utah rookie guard Donovan Mitchell scored 28 and 27 points in the first two playoff games for the Jazz. He became only the 26^th rookie in NBA history to have multiple playoff games with 25 or more points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tops the list with 10 playoff games with 25+ points as a rookie. He is followed by David Robinson with six such games, Elvin Hayes with five, and Alonzo Mourning and Arvydas Sabonis with four games each.

The last rookie to score 30 or more points in a playoff game was the Bucks’ Brandon Jennings; he had 34 points on April 13, 2010 in a playoff game versus the Atlanta Hawks. The most points scored by a rookie in a playoff game is held by another Bucks rookie, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He tallied 46 as a rookie in an April 3, 1970 playoff games versus the Philadelphia 76ers. Magic Johnson and Chuck Person are the only other rookies to score 40 or more points in an NBA playoff game.

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