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Orlando 114, Toronto 100
Orlando is a year or two and a good shooting guard away from seriously contending in the East. J.J. Redick was supposed to be that guy, but he hasn’t been able to crack the rotation. Magic fans have to be sick of watching Keith Bogans and Maurice Evans bricking threes. They bring some defense, but the team needs a penetrating scoring guard who can create opportunities for the team’s perimeter shooters and knock down the occasional three himself. Corey Maggette immediately springs to mind and the Magic have the cap flexibility to make something happen this offseason…Speaking of the Clippers, Mike Dunleavy called today’s game. Doesn’t he have a draft to get ready for? It doesn’t seem like he should be out moonlighting after the season his team just had…I don’t usually second-guess a Van Gundy, but I’d put Dwight Howard on Chris Bosh and Rashard Lewis on Rasho Nesterovic defensively. Bosh plays more in the post and Rasho on the perimeter, and I wouldn’t want Howard responsible for closing out on Nesterovic 18 feet from the basket. That said, Howard had five blocks, so covering Rasho didn’t really hurt his ability to defend the rim.

Lakers 128, Nuggets 114
Pau Gasol’s playoff debut for the Lakers was a beauty. He posted 36 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks. Maybe he should be MVP…It’s still early in the series, but it just doesn’t look like Denver has the discipline or chemistry to hang with the Lakers…Is it just me, or is Denver the league’s most tattooed team? ‘Melo, AI, K-Mart and Marcus Camby all have some serious ink. I wonder how many hours they collectively spent in tattoo parlors over the years.

Celtics 104, Hawks 81
A somewhat competitive game in the first half, this one got out of hand in the third quarter…Al Horford, my pick for ROY, had 20/10 on 7-10 shooting from the field…Mike Bibby shot 2-10, scoring five points with just one assist. He has averaged 14.7 points and 6.8 assists since the All-Star break but is shooting less than 42% from the field. Every time I look at Atlanta, I wonder how good they would be if they had drafted Chris Paul instead of Marvin Williams three years ago. Imagine running Paul out there with Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Josh Smith and Horford. (Of course, they probably wouldn’t have had a shot at Horford if Paul were running the team last season.)

Sixers 90, Pistons 86
I recorded the fourth quarter of this one just in case it was close. I’m glad I did. The Pistons had their chances – Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace all missed bunnies in the closing minutes, allowing the Sixers to steal a win…Reggie Evans was huge off the Philly bench with 14 rebounds (expected) and 11 points (unexpected), including a few huge buckets down the stretch…The Sixers are playing so well that this one could go six or seven games.

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.