Category: NBA (Page 567 of 595)

Indiana 90, New Jersey 88 (Indiana leads series, 1-0)
The Pacers surprised the Nets, taking away home court advantage via a balanced attack. Five Indiana players scored in double figures, and the Pacers were able to contain Jason Kidd. Despite losing their last two regular season games, the Nets had won 17 of their last 22, and entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the league.

Phoenix 107, LA Lakers 102 (Phoenix, 1-0)
Kobe surprised the Suns by actually passing the ball and led the Lakers with five assists as he tired to get his teammates involved. The Lakers matched the Suns, getting double figure scoring from five different players. The result was a close game that could have gone either way, which must be a confidence boost to the “other” Lakers.

Detroit 92, Milwaukee 74 (Detroit, 1-0)
The Bucks play was spotty, but the game was as tight as four with 9:21 to play before the Pistons went on a 24-10 run to close the game. The Pistons contained Michael Redd, who only shot 4-15 from the field, finishing with 11 points. The young Bucks need to grow up fast if they want to have a chance to compete in this series.

Dallas 103, Memphis 93 (Dallas, 1-0)
With a lot of help from their bench, the Mavericks fought off the stingy Grizzlies in game one. Dallas got 39 points from three reserves (Jerry Stackhouse, Marquis Daniels and Erick Dampier), compared to 32 from the Memphis bench. Dirk Nowitzki dropped 31 on the defensive-minded Grizzlies, going 9-18 from the field while also grabbing 11 rebounds.

Is there a better duo in the league than Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal? All due respect to Steve Nash and Shawn Marion, I don’t think so. The duo combined for 57 points en route to a 111-106 victory. O’Neal had a great game, tallying 27 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks. Meanwhile, Wade scored 30 and dished out 11 assists.

The Bulls made it a game behind great play from Ben Gordon, who scored 35 points on 12-23 shooting. The ever-improving Andres Nocioni chipped in with 18 points and 16 rebounds while Kirk Hinrich scored 19 to go with his 8 dimes.

If nothing else, the Bulls proved they could hang with Miami, so this may develop into a very interesting series. They are deeper than the Heat, but don’t have the starpower of O’Neal and Wade.

I still think the Kings will make this a series, but it certainly doesn’t look promising after their dismal performance in game one. The Spurs scored 73 points in the first half, destroying Sacramento, 122-88. Tony Parker outplayed Mike Bibby, scoring 25 points on 9-15 shooting while dishing four assists. Earlier in the week, Ron Artest guaranteed a series victory, but didn’t play terribly well shooting 7-21 from the field in route to 16 points.

Look for a strong game from the Kings in game two. If they get blown out again, the chances of an Artest meltdown increase exponentially.

The Cavs dispatched the Wizards, 97-86, in game one of their first round playoff series. Cleveland dominated just about every facet of the game and the contest was never as close as the score would indicate.

LeBron James, in his first ever playoff appearance, responded with a huge game, tallying a triple double of 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. The Cleveland crowd chanted “M-V-P” throughout the game, and James seemed to embrace the idea, putting forth a brilliant effort and getting his team off to a great start in the playoffs.

The Wizards suffered through 15-47 shooting out of their top three scorers, Gilbert Arenas, Antawan Jamison and Caron Butler. 32% shooting is not going to get it done, especially when the team plays little or no defense, as they did in this game. Antonio Daniels played well off the Wizards’ bench, providing 14 points, six assists and five rebounds, and was a perfect 6-6 from the field.