National Basketball Association

NBA playoffs: Flagrant foul flattens Dunleavy, but Bulls beat down Bucks

Published May. 1, 2015 2:45 a.m. ET

foxsports

Best cheap shots: Mike Dunleavy, F, Chicago; Giannis Antetokounmpo, F, Milwaukee, and Michael Carter-Williams, G, Milwaukee

As expected, the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls have engaged in the most physical series of the first round.

Bulls foward Mike Dunleavy didn't waste much time in Game 6 to keep that trend going, as he nailed Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams with a sucker punch to the throat in the game's first minute. No foul was called on the play.

Carter-Williams was subbed out of the game and went back to the locker room after the hit. He would later return.

With Chicago's lead up to 30 in the second quarter, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo decided to exact some revenge for his point guard by nailing Dunleavy with a massive hit.

Antentokounmpo was issued a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected.

Later in the blowout, frustrations continued to bubble over when Carter-Williams took exception to a screen from Dunleavy.

Dunleavy was charged only with a common foul. Carter-Williams was given a technical foul. Afterward, Dunleavy was philosophical about the whole thing.

"Sometimes, you've got to take a hard foul," Dunleavy said. "We've all been there. There's a time and a place for it."

The Bulls got the last laugh by eliminating the Bucks in a 120-66 beatdown.

"He kind of got under our guys' skins," Milwaukee's Zaza Pachulia said of Dunleavy. "Especially he picked the young guys, he picked the right guys, and unfortunately our guys responded and we got hurt. But they're going to learn from it."

Best stat line: Blake Griffin, F, Los Angeles Clippers

On a night when a lot of the big stars struggled to produce at their typical rates, Blake Griffin came through for the Clippers in a big way.

Griffin’s 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists were actually a slight step down from the crazy numbers he’s put up so far this postseason, but his four blocks were indicative of the kind of effort he put forth throughout the Clips' 102-96 win. There was a fire and urgency to his offensive game that hasn’t been seen before.

After trading the title back and forth with Tim Duncan throughout the series, Griffin was clearly the best player on the floor Thursday night. It wasn’t particularly close, either.

Best unexpected contribution: Marco Belinelli, G, San Antonio

The Spurs couldn’t take care of business at home in a potential close-out game, but Belinelli sure made the Clippers used every ounce of energy in the process.

On a night when Spurs wings Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Manu Ginobili couldn’t find the basket and combined to go 7 for 30, Belinelli stepped up big off the bench, going a ridiculous 7 for 11 from the 3-point line.

Belinelli was so hot, even the heat checks of his heat checks seemed to go in, leading to the best photoshop of the night:

pic.twitter.com/oLgV7kxWsu
— John. (@JohnxDiaz) May 1, 2015

Best blowout: Chicago Bulls

Despite holding all of the momentum after winning the last two games and getting to play in front of its home crowd, Milwaukee saw its dreams of coming back from being down 3-0 to win the series dashed rather quickly. The Bulls jumped out to an 18-point lead at the end of the first quarter and finished the first half up 32.

It only got worse from there. Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau, as he’s known to do, refused to take his foot off the gas, playing Joakim Noah fairly deep into the fourth quarter. Eventually, both benches took the floor, and the Bulls closed out the first-round series with a 120-66 win.

The 54-point victory is the biggest playoff win in Bulls history, surpassing one of Michael Jordan’s records that seemed untouchable. Jordan’s 1998 Bulls team beat the Utah Jazz in Game 3 of the NBA Finals by a comparatively modest 42 points (96-54).

For the record, the biggest playoff blowout in NBA history came way back in 1956 when the Minneapolis Lakers beat the St. Louis Hawks by 58 points, 133-75. Yes, those teams and that score are real.

Best appropriate emoji usage: Chicago Bulls

It may have been tempting for Chicago's social media team to finish off the playoff rivalry like the Houston Rockets did to the Dallas Mavericks:

Instead, they took a slightly tamer approach to emoji use.

Not quite as fun, but at least no one will lose their job. Dunleavy's game-high 20 points and a 54-point win sort of do all the talking, anyhow.

Best comeback: Chris Paul, G, Los Angeles Clippers

The columns were writing themselves at halftime. Chris Paul can’t win the big one. Chris Paul isn’t clutch. Chris Paul can never take a team deep in the playoffs.

Given Paul’s lack of postseason success in the past and his 0-for-7 start in an elimination game, you can understand why some vultures were beginning to circle.

That all stopped in the second half.

In a tight game on the road, Paul came back to life with aggressive drives around high screens, crossover step-backs to his favorite spot on the elbow and a more attacking nature overall. It paid off, as he went 7 for 14 in the second half to force a decisive Game 7 back home in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.