Cleveland 93, Washington 86
With all the roster changes, Mike Brown has had to shuffle and reshuffle the lineup several times, so it’s interesting to see whom he’s going with in the clutch. Down the stretch he had Delonte West and Boobie Gibson in the backcourt, LeBron and Joe Smith at forward and Ilgauskas at center…I think it’s safe to say that today’s performances from Ben Wallace (0 points, 6 rebounds, 0 blocks) and Wally Szczerbiak (2-10 shooting, 8 points) didn’t do much to make Danny Ferry feel any better about those midseason trades. It looks like the best thing to come out of those moves was Delonte West (16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), who has been quite good in his short career when he’s able to stay healthy. He and Gibson are a pair of combo guards that have the ability to knock down open shots and are quick enough defensively to stay with Gilbert Arenas and DeShawn Stevenson…I really liked how LeBron went to the hole in crunch time. He sometimes has a tendency to pull up for a jumper when he doesn’t need to, but he was terrific in the fourth quarter today.
San Antonio 117, Phoenix 115
The Suns really let this one slip away. How often does a team go 5-6 from the field in overtime and not win the game? It was Amare Stoudemire’s three costly turnovers that allowed the Spurs to stay in the game…Is it just me or does it seem like Tim Duncan is constantly complaining to the officials? In fact, the entire Spurs team seems to gripe on just about every call that doesn’t go their way. They’re starting to remind me of a couple of the teams in my Tuesday night adult rec league, and that’s not a compliment…Jeff Van Gundy says that every young player should learn to execute Manu Ginobili’s “European” steps to the hoop. The only problem is that Ginobili’s change of direction is typically called a travel in high school and college here in the U.S. It occurred to me that might be one of the reasons that white European players have had more success in the NBA than white American players. On that same point, Ginobili needs to stop asking the ref to call traveling on other players. He gets away with more steps than anyone since MJ…The Suns let this one get away, but psychologically they should be feeling pretty good. Shaq and Amare were in foul trouble the entire game and the Big Fundamental went for 40, and the Suns still almost won. If Duncan doesn’t hit that three (it was his first of the season), they win the game. They just need to take better care of the ball and the rest will fall into place.
New Orleans 104, Dallas 92
Most NBA playoff games are decided in the fourth quarter, but this one was decided in the third when the Hornets went on a 16-3 run that gave them a working margin in the fourth. Chris Paul (35 points, 10 assists) was electric and it doesn’t look like the Mavs have anyone to match up with Tyson Chandler (10 points, 15 boards). For the Mavs, Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse shot a combined six of 25, and Devean George didn’t help matters by missing six shots in just twelve minutes of playing time. I bet Mark Cuban is really excited about George still being on the roster after he initially blocked that Kidd trade.
Utah 93, Houston 82
Utah just picked the Rockets apart. The Jazz once again showed just how efficient they are offensively, shooting a blistering 52.1% from the field…T-Mac didn’t score in the fourth quarter, which will only add to his (mostly undeserved) postseason reputation. The big problem offensively for Houston was the absence of Rafer Alston, but the damage is already done. Now the Jazz have home court advantage and it’s next to impossible to beat them in Utah.
