| 15 March 2009
This is just a general rule for NBA basketball; if Pops Mensah-Bonsu scores 21 points against your team and that's the difference between you losing by 23 points instead of just two, then you're not a very good basketball team. And that's been the problem with the Pacers all year long. Whether they're healthy or not, they always seem to blow it against teams that they should have enough talent to hang with. Instead, they give up 21 points to guys like Pops and get out rebounded by the Raptors by 17. Andrea Bargnani scored 27 points on just 11 shots and led five other Toronto players in double-figure scoring.
The key to this game was the Pacers failing to take advantage of their opportunities. Indiana took 31 three-point shots during the game, which isn't much of a surprise since they're third in the league in attempts per game. But they only made eight of those 31 attempts. They scored only nine points off of the 15 Toronto turnovers. And yet, they gave up 17 points off of their own 17 turnovers. And in Danny Granger's first game back since his foot injury, he scored just 10 points off the bench on 3-11 shooting and 1-7 from three-point range.
Atlanta Hawks 98, Portland Trailblazers 80 in Atlanta --
Hawks' fans haven't been this excited since Stu Scott was stuttering while calling out Daron Oshay Blaylock's nickname. The Hawks took exceptional care of the ball by turning the ball over just six times and Joe Johnson out dueled Brandon Roy as Atlanta won their fifth straight game. Atlanta also forced a lot of turnovers from Portland and completely dominated the Blazers in the second half by pouring in 56 points. Their offensive explosion in the second half of this game helped them end up shooting 51% from the field.
As for the Johnson-Roy match-up, it showed that the second tier of shooting guards in this league is chalked full of young talent. Roy used his quickness and athletic prowess to attack Joe Johnson for 29 points on 11-19 shooting. But Joe Johnson was relentless all night by making 15 of his 27 shot attempts for a game-high 35 points to go with his seven rebounds and six assists. JJ scored 15 points in the third quarter to help the Hawks pull away from the Blazers. Portland fell from a tie for fourth in the West to holding the sixth seed by a half game.
Memphis Grizzlies 89, Detroit Pistons 84 in Detroit --
This is not the Detroit Pistons team that we're used. This is not the Pistons team who made it to six straight Eastern Conference Finals. This is not a team led by one of the best defensive point guards in the league who keeps his team calm, cool, and collected in crunch time. Despite the fact that this team still has plenty of veterans who know how to take away weapons from a young team, without Chauncey Billups running the show they now are vulnerable at home to just about any team. And all of these factors were evident on Sunday and probably thoroughly depressed Detroit fans.
The Pistons were able to take away O.J. Mayo (7 points, 3-7 fg) and Rudy Gay (15 points, 6-18 fg) from being significant factors on the floor for Memphis but Mike Conley scored with relative ease against Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum to finish with 20 points on 6-11 shooting. The Grizzlies also received a double-double effort from Darko Milicic off the bench with 12 points and 11 rebounds in just 20 minutes. The Pistons attempted to come back from a 17-point halftime deficit but only shot four threes on the day (made two) and attempted just 11 free throws due to a lack of effort and caring on the court.
Milwaukee Bucks 86, Boston Celtics 77 in Milwaukee --
With Kevin Garnett, this team probably breaks the will of the Bucks and turns the Bradley Center into a ghost town by the time the fourth quarter rolls around. But with no KG and Rajon Rondo trying to play through an injury, the Celtics shot extremely poorly and needed Kendrick Perkins to put out a Dwight Howard effort in order to make this respectable. The Celtics played one of their all around worst offensive games of their reign on top of the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics turned the ball over 25 times for 27 points, made just one of their 12 three-pointers, and missed 11 free throws during the game. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo combined for just 28 points and shot like Mike Wilks with an 8-36 shooting performance. Perkins scored 26 points for the defending champs and also had 12 rebounds but he couldn't out do the four Bucks players who scored in double figures, which doubled only two Celtics who managed to score in double figures. This was definitely one of those games the Celtics will look back on in the playoffs when they have to play a game seven in Cleveland.
Philadelphia 76ers 85, Miami Heat 77 in Philadelphia --
Remember that unreal streak that Dwyane Wade was on where it looked like he was a steal and a dunk away from curing cancer while pleasing a dozen women at one time? Well, it took a bit of a break yesterday against the Philadelphia 76ers. Wade scored just 18 points on 8-21 shooting with three assists, four rebounds, one steal and one block after going on an unreal streak of 38 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, three steals, and 1.2 blocks per game. The result of this "down" game for Dwyane Wade, who is battling a hip injury right now, was a loss of futility for the Heat and a notch in favor of Dwyane Wade's legitimacy for MVP.
The big difference for the 76ers winning this game was transition defense and solid rotations throughout the game with only giving up three points off of their 10 team turnovers. Miami couldn't get comfortable at any point in the game, shot poorly and were just outlasted by the 76ers. The Sixers allowed just nine points to the Heat in the entire fourth quarter. The Heat made just three baskets in the fourth quarter and ended up shooting 3-18 for the final period.
Los Angeles Lakers 107, Dallas Mavericks 100 in Los Angeles --
Kobe Bryant has tortured the Mavericks and their fans for years now and Sunday afternoon, he decided to do it again. The Mavericks charged through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter with a 15-2 run that erased a seven-point Lakers lead and gave the Mavericks the upper hand. Unfortunately, Kobe Bryant was still on the Lakers team and decided to do something about it, once again. Kobe scored 10 points in the final seven minutes of the final quarter including two big three-pointers that helped break the backs of the Mavericks, who scored five points over those final seven minutes.
Kobe finished with 28 points and Pau Gasol made 12 of his 13 shots in route to his 25 points as the Lakers won 53rd game to go 40 games over .500. James Singleton and Jason Terry combined to score 45 points off the bench for the Mavs to make up for the paltry 47 points from the Dallas starters who were led by Dirk Nowitzki's 20 points. Trevor Ariza killed the Mavs throughout the game with a season-high 26 points.
Cleveland Cavaliers 98, New York Knicks 93 in Cleveland --
When these two teams play, we expect an offensive barrage by the New York Knicks which can't match the effort put out by LeBron James while he fields dozens of rumors that he's purchased hundreds of homes in the Tri-State area to prepare for his move to NYC in the summer of 2010. Instead, we saw a relatively boring game in which the Knicks failed to score 100 points in a game for the first time in a long time and LeBron had just 19 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds in a far from legendary game. Mo Williams led the Cavs with 23 points to help combat the 26 points from Al Harrington and the 20 points from Nate Robinson in a starting role with Chris Duhon out.
Orlando Magic 105, Utah Jazz 87 in Orlando --
When Rashard Lewis is struggling, the Orlando Magic know that Dwight Howard is there to save the day. Like a superhero. Now, I don't think that Superman would turn the ball over seven times like Dwight did. But perhaps someone like the Green Lantern could have put up a 28-point, 20-rebound performance like Dwight did and completely dominate Mehmet Okur. The Jazz were completely dominated inside and shot terribly from the outside as they crumbled and crippled under the power of
Washington Wizards 106, Sacramento Kings 104 in D.C. --
These two teams have a combined record of 30-103 after this game and are fighting (sort of) for the best chance to win the number one pick in the draft this summer. So ultimately, who gives a damn what happened in this game? But Francisco Garcia kind of got screwed on a three-point make that was called a two and would have tied the game at 105. The Wizards then made one of two free throws and prayed that Kevin Martin's last second three-point attempt would miss, which happened. The result was the Kings falling to 14-52 on the season, thanks to an 0-26 record against the Eastern Conference this season.
Phoenix Suns 154, Golden State Warriors 130 in Oakland --
Zero defense was played in a game in which the Suns had nine players score nine points or more. Nine players! The Suns poured in an NBA-high 154 points in a regulation game this season and won by 24 points despite giving up 130 to the Warriors. Phoenix shot 62% from the field and had 40 team assists, which was led by
Los Angeles Clippers 107, New Jersey Nets 105 in Los Angeles --
Steve Novak is a Golden God!
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