The Celtics went up 3-0 with a 100-98 win over the Heat. Here is Pierce’s game-winner:
Pierce always wants to get to the same spot — about 20-feet out to the right of the top of the key. The defender needs to force him left and make him uncomfortable. By having his left leg back, the defender invited Pierce to go right, and that played right into his hands.
It looks like Miami is done.
There are a few things to take from this game:
— Derek Fisher is having a tough time guarding Russell Westbrook. Don’t be surprised if we see more Shannon Brown in the next few games (but it was Jordan Farmar who was in the game at the end). Phil Jackson trusts Fisher, but he just can’t keep athletic guards in front of him anymore. Westbrook had 27 points last night.
— The win gives the Thunder confidence. They know now that they can beat the Lakers in a playoff situation. Even if they don’t come back to win the series, this victory is big for this young team.
— Through three games, Ron Artest is averaging 8-3-2 and is shooting 32% from the field (16% from 3PT). Trevor Ariza averaged 11-4-2 and 50% shooting (48% from 3PT) in last year’s playoff run. If Artest were shutting Durant down it would be one thing, but KD posted 29-19-4 last night. He only shot 33% from the field, but he went 12 of 13 from the free throw line.
— After 17 blocks in Game 2, OKC had just three blocks in Game 3. I’m not sure what this means, but I thought I’d mention it anyway.
Not to break my arm patting myself on the back, but it looks like my prediction a few days ago was spot on. Aaron Brooks has won the 2010 Most Improved Player award.
The speedy, 6-foot point guard was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player on Thursday, after setting career highs in points (19.6 per game), assists (5.3) and rebounds (2.6). His scoring average went up 8.4 points from 2008-09, the highest increase of any qualifying player.
Brooks earned 403 of a possible 615 points, including 62 first-place votes, from a panel of 123 sports writers and broadcasters. Kevin Durant of Oklahoma City and George Hill of San Antonio tied for second with 101 total points.
This marks the 9th straight year that the award has gone to a player drafted with the 16th pick or later. Sixteen of the last 17 MIP winners were drafted #13 or later (or not at all, in the case of Darrell Armstrong). The award simply doesn’t go to former lottery picks.
Kevin Durant finished second, but as a former #2 overall pick, his superstardom was expected. I am a little surprised that Andrew Bogut didn’t finish in the top three. I thought that the somewhat mediocre start he had to his career would have lowered the bar enough that his drastic improvement both offensively and defensively would have been noticed by the voters.
As for George Hill, after only one TrueHoop panelist voted for him, this is what I had to say:
What about George Hill? He only got one vote from the TrueHoop panel, but the former 26th overall pick improved his numbers from 6-2-2 last season to 12-3-3 this season, and was a big reason why the Spurs stayed in the playoff picture even though they lost Tony Parker for part of the season.
Congratulations to Brooks. He had a very nice season.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
I wonder if they’ll invite him back…
After a rather lackluster first season with the Spurs, Richard Jefferson made his presence felt in a positive way, posting 19 points and seven rebounds in the Spurs’ impressive 102-88 win in Dallas last night.
It was the kind of performance that the Spurs were expecting on more of a regular basis from the 29-year-old swingman, but after coming over in a trade from Milwaukee, Jefferson averaged just 12-4-2 on the season. But he did play pretty big minutes (31.1 per game) and shot pretty well from the field (47%). Digging a bit deeper, from his player page at 82games.com, he was a member of each of the Spurs’ top 20 five-man units and he outproduced his opponent by 1.6 in terms of PER. It’s tough for Jefferson to score consistently seeing as that he’s the fourth option when Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are on the floor as well.
To put his game into perspective, Jefferson scored 19 or more points just 11 times this season in 81 games. And his fine performance couldn’t have come at a better time. Game 2 is so important to the road team when they lose Game 1. A win completely shifts the momentum of the series heading back home, while a loss would have put the Spurs’ playoff chances on life support.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
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