| 13 April 2009
The Cleveland Cavaliers kept waiting for the Indiana Pacers to roll over and play dead for the soon-to-be team with the best record in the NBA. But Danny Granger and Brandon Rush decided to make the Cavs close out this game with their starters in order to secure an NBA-best 66th win. Indiana used a 37-point third quarter against one of the NBA's best defensive teams that saw the Pacers shoot 14 for 21 from the field with six of eight free throws made. It helped cut the Cavaliers 15-point halftime lead in half.
LeBron James and Danny Granger seemed to be intent on one-upping each other with each score during the second half as the Cavs tried to keep their distance from the Pacers and Indiana attempted to leave home-court advantage up to the final game of the regular season for Cleveland. LeBron James finished with 37 points and Danny Granger ended with a game-high 38 points. The combined to score 41 second half points with 18 coming from LBJ and 23 coming from Granger. But Brandon Rush really stole the show in the second half. Rush scored 18 of his 27 points in the final 24 minutes and did so with the great-defending Delonte West hounding him. Rush scored on a variety of moves and shots to show Jim O'Brien that there will be competition for the wing position that starts with Danny Granger next season.
Toronto Raptors 97, Washington Wizards 96 in D.C. --
In a game in which the Wizards continued to let the Raptors stay in the game by turning the ball over, it was fittingly because of the worst turnover of the night that the Raptors had a chance to win this game in the final minute. After Shawn Marion made a lay-up to cut the Washington lead to two with 21 seconds left, the Wizards inbounded the ball while coach Ed Tapscott pleaded his team to call a timeout if they got into trouble. Juan Dixon took the ball and in anticipation of a Raptors foul as Jose Calderon and Anthony Parker converged, threw the ball up the court where he thought Antawn Jamison would be, only the ball ended up going out of bounds with no one near the errant pass. The Raptors responded with Chris Bosh's 11th three-pointer of the season to put them up one.
On the final possession of the game, Caron Butler attempted to give Raptors fans a replay of what they saw at home Friday night. However, this time the Raptors defense suffocated his lay-up attempt as Shawn Marion funneled Butler into the two big men (Bosh and Patrick O'Bryant) and the Wizards failed to tip the ball in with 0.1 seconds left on a jump ball at their own free throw line. The Raptors ended up winning because Washington turned the ball over 25 times, which led to 32 points. Chris Bosh and Shawn Marion each finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds while Pops Mensah-Bonsu was a difference-maker off the bench with nine points, 12 rebounds, and five steals in 20 minutes of play.
Chicago Bulls 91, Detroit Pistons 88 in Detroit --
Rodney Stuckey is going to have a good career with his ability to lead and score the ball. But for the next decade and a half, he's going to look really bad when trying to defend Derrick Rose. Should he feel bad about this? Absolutely not. Derrick Rose is going to make a lot of guys look bad on defense throughout the duration of his career. The should-be unanimous Rookie of the Year winner created plenty of scoring opportunities in the fourth quarter for his team and led the Bulls to a much-needed victory over the Detroit Pistons to relegate the team from Motown to a first round playoff match-up with the Cavs while the Bulls kept the sixth seed in the East well within their grasp.
Derrick Rose played just under 11 minutes in the fourth quarter but made every single one of them worth keeping the TV tuned to NBATV. He scored 11 points and dished out four assists to account for 20 of Chicago's 22 fourth quarter points. And with the Bulls down three and about 40 seconds left to play, Rose took the ball off a Joakim Noah rebound, busted down the court, and made a lay-up that led to a three-point play when he created contact with Rasheed Wallace at the basket. He continuously pushed the tempo against a Pistons team that couldn't stop him in the open court despite the fact that they often had the numbers advantage against the rookie point guard.
Rose finished with 24 points and eight assists for the game as he kept Brad Miller from costing his team a chance at victory. Brad Miller threw his typical tantrum when he felt that he was being wronged by the officials. He received two technical fouls in the final six minutes of the game and forced the Bulls to not have their best offensive weapons on the floor. Given the fact that Rose set Miller up for three crucial fourth quarter baskets, his hot-head and immaturity could have easily cost Chicago a chance at playing Orlando in the first round of the playoffs.
New Jersey Nets 91, Charlotte Bobcats 87 in East Rutherford --
The two biggest and most important acquisitions of last summer ended up being the difference-makers in last night's win over the Bobcats. Brook Lopez dominated the Bobs inside and Jarvis Hayes made two huge shots as the Nets won their final home game of the seasons to the delight of dozens of fans in attendance. Brook Lopez finished with 18 points and 20 rebounds to help the Nets control the boards for most of the game. Jarvis Hayes who was one of the best values from this past off-season finished with 15 points and three three-pointers made including the two game-winning shots for New Jersey. The Nets also staved off the Bobcats utilization of Sean May attacking the Tri-State Area (footage here).
With two minutes and change left in the game, Brook Lopez secured his 20th rebound of the night and passed the ball off to Jarvis Hayes. As Hayes looked around for a point guard, he took his eye off of Vladimir Radmanovic, who stole the ball. Then the Nets dodged a bullet on the same possession when Radmanovic missed a three that would have put the Bobcats up five with two minutes left. The Nets took the ball down the floor and Vince Carter set Jarvis Hayes up for a three. Then after a defensive stop, thanks to a Sean May jumper, Hayes was set up for another three from Chris Douglas-Roberts that gave the Nets a four-point lead and the final margin of victory.
Milwaukee Bucks 98, Orlando Magic 80 in Milwaukee --
The Milwaukee Bucks took advantage of a home game against a Magic team that sat out Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, and Hedo Turkoglu. That's the ONLY thing that you needed to know about this terrible game. Well, that and Marcin Gortat will always grab 18 rebounds when he's given 43 minutes against the combination of Dan Gadzuric and Francisco Elson. That is all.
Dallas Mavericks 96, Minnesota Timberwolves 94 in Dallas --
After Craig Smith made a short shot thanks to a Mike Miller assist, the Mavericks looked like they might be stuck with the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. However, in the final 2:54 of regulation Dallas decided to stop letting the T'Wolves control this game and ended on a 9-2 run. After a Dirk Nowitzki lay-up to tie the game at 94 with about 40 seconds left in the game, Sebastian Telfair decided to keep the Wolves from winning this game with a missed three and a horrific turnover that took the final possession of the game away from Minnesota and into the hands of Jason Terry. After the missed three and loose ball out of bounds that went to the Wolves, Telfair drove the lane off of a pick and roll, which resulted in him losing the ball to Erick Dampier with 2.7 seconds left. Then on the inbound play, Terry received the pass towards the right baseline, fired up a mid-range jumper and won the game with 0.2 seconds left.
Terry finished the game with 22 points on 10-15 shooting from the field off the bench in his attempt to lock up the Sixth Man of the Year award. Dirk had 34 for a Mavs team, which only had three players score in double figures despite a distinct advantage at the free throw line (27 to 12 attempts). Craig Smith had 24 points off of the bench from Minnesota and Sebastian Telfair had 14 points and 12 assists before he decided to give the Mavs a chance at winning this game. Kevin Love had a double-double in just 19 minutes and Antoine Wright still proved that he has no business being in a lineup unless he's a suspect for a crime.
Houston Rockets 86, New Orleans Hornets 66 in Houston --
I watched the second and third quarters of this game three times last night and it still baffles me that the Hornets played so poorly. With nine minutes left in the second quarter, James Posey pulled up for a mid-range jumper and nailed it to give the Hornets a six-point lead at 31-25. But what happened over the next 21 minutes of play was one of the most excruciating things that I've ever seen on a basketball court. The Hornets followed up that James Posey jumper by being outscored 42-15 over the rest of the second quarter and the entire third quarter to completely change what looked to be a competitive regular season game after the end of the first quarter. In the remaining nine minutes of the second quarter, New Orleans made just one of their 12 shots and turned the ball over five times. And they followed up that pathetic end to the first half with a 5-20 shooting display in the third quarter that gave them a 21-point deficit as the entered the final period of the game.
The Hornets finished the game shooting 34.6% from the field but it was their 18.7% from the field in that crucial 21-minute span that gave this game to a Houston team that didn't exactly light up the scoreboard on offense. Chris Paul (nine points, seven assists) failed to garner double figures in both scoring and assists for the first time since their loss to Utah on April 4th of last season. Coincidentally, the Hornets scored just 66 points in that game as well. Yao Ming scored 22 points and Luis Scola grabbed 15 rebounds as the Rockets abused the pathetic center combination of New Orleans. The Hornets are now tied with the Mavericks for the sixth seed in the West and the Rockets stayed in a three-way tie for the third seed.
Denver Nuggets 118, Sacramento Kings 98 in Denver --
With 8:17 left in this game, the Kings were riding a career night from Ike Diogu and had just forced a missed, desperation three-pointer from Anthony Carter. But instead of grabbing the rebound and potentially being able to cut the lead to a one possession game, Linas Kleiza secured the offensive rebound, pulled it out to the perimeter and then blew by Donte Greene on the baseline for an easy lay-up. It was a four to five point swing that gave the momentum to the Nuggets and ended up taking the wind out of the Kings' sails. J.R. Smith hit five threes in the final seven minutes of the game and finished off the Kings with 23 points in the final 6:54 to put Denver in the driver's seat for the second seed in the Western Conference.
Smith finished with 45 points off the bench, including 11-18 from three-point range. During his five threes and 23-point assault to end the game, he also was fouled on two three-point attempts in which he converted all six attempts. He along with Chris Anderson (10 rebounds, five blocks) and Linas Kleiza (17 points) gave big performances off the bench to hold off the young Kings. Ike Diogu validated all of the gushing reviews that Kelly Dwyer has ever given him with a 32-point, 11-rebound performance off the bench for Sacramento. The Kings had forgotten that he was even on the team until he stepped out of obscurity and into the limelight if only for a few brief moments.
The Kings lost Spencer Hawes in the first quarter after Kenyon Martin fouled him in a flagrant manner. Hawes hurt his knee on the play and will undergo an MRI to make sure he didn't damage anything.
Utah Jazz 106, Los Angeles Clippers 85 in Salt Lake City --
The Jazz tried to end their terrible play as of late by beating up on Los Angeles' other NBA team before the face the Lakers in the playoffs this weekend. The Jazz used a completely dominating performance to right their ship and beat up on one of the weakest teams in the league to get some swagger back into their walk. Utah scored 24 points off of the Clippers 15 turnovers, outrebounded the Clips 50 to 36, and had a 39-18 advantage in terms of free throws attempts in this game to secure the easy win.
The Jazz had five players in double figures and received 46 points from their bench thanks to strong performances by Paul Millsap (19 points) and Andrei Kirilenko (17 points). Deron Williams overcame a bad shooting night (3-11) by making 11 of his 12 free throw attempts and scoring 17 points to go with his nine assists. Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the team. The most (and only) positive aspect of this game for Clippers' fans was seeing DeAndre Jordan go for 16 points and 11 rebounds off the bench as he progresses towards becoming a positive contributor to this team on a consistent and nightly basis next season.
Phoenix Suns 119, Memphis Grizzlies 110 in Phoenix --
This win had to be completely frustrating for Suns fans as they saw an effort that should have been there all season long for Phoenix. Steve Nash was brilliant with the basketball, Shaq was a force and intimidator inside, and Grant Hill along Jason Richardson made plays shooting the ball and slashing towards the basket. If you added an offensive juggernaut in a healthy Amare Stoudemire to that group and their effort and the Jazz would be on the outside looking in with the playoffs this season. Instead, the Suns will miss the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
Phoenix used seven double figures scorers led by Shaq's 19 to overcome three 20 points games by Rudy Gay (26 points), O.J. Mayo (20 points), and Hakim Warrick (26 points, 10-11 shooting off the bench). The Suns were opportunistic on defense by converting 19 Grizzlies turnovers into 28 points to mask the fact that they allowed Memphis to shoot 50% from the field. Planet Orange shot 54% from the field and won despite missing 11 of their 37 free throws. Nash finished with 18 points and 12 assists.
Portland Trailblazers 113, Oklahoma City Thunder 83 in Portand --
The Portland Trailblazers put on an absolute basketball clinic for the OKC Thunder and dominated them in a way that you usually have to pay for (assuming you're into that kind of thing, of course). PDX forced turnovers, created bad shot attempts for the Thunder, and scored at will as they established the tone of the game early on and ended up leading 62-31 at halftime, which led me to believe that they could double the score of their opponents for an entire 48 minutes. It was a total team effort throughout the whole night that was led by Brandon Roy and Travis Outlaw and finished off by the young quartet of Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez and Jerryd Bayless.
Roy scored 20 points, Outlaw led the team with 21, and Greg Oden had one of his best games of the season with 16 points and nine rebounds while staying out of foul trouble. The Blazers dominated the small front line of the Thunder with their size and Greg Oden was able to push his way around inside to get easy baskets. Oden moved seamlessly without the ball, filled the running lanes, and dunked on OKC quite a bit. Joel Pryzbilla dominated the boards with 12 rebounds in 21 minutes. And the rest of the Blazers got into the paint and scored at will throughout the game with 54 points in the paint.
San Antonio Spurs 101, Golden State Warriors 72 in Oakland --
This was a terrible game that was barely worth watching except for two things. First, Drew Gooden was incredible for the Spurs, despite the fact that he was playing against a bad Warriors frontcourt. He rebounded the ball like he was playing for a cont ract (oh wait, he is) and scored efficiently inside. Gooden finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds off the bench for the Spurs, which gave Tim Duncan a nice and easy 23 minutes on the floor.
Secondly, Anthony Randolph was completely showcased in this game for Warriors fans and proved that he has the skill set to warrant 35 minutes per game next season. Randolph scored inside, outside and from the mid-range against a tough Spurs defense and did all of this without much help from his teammates. With Jamal Crawford, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson (injured), and Corey Maggette all missing this game, Randolph was the focal point of the offense and performed incredibly. He finished with 24 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
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