76ers even series with 82-81 win over Celts (Yahoo! Sports)
BOSTON (AP) Evan Turner made the go-ahead layup with 40.4 seconds left and Philadelphia held off Boston the rest of the way with six straight free throws as the 76ers evened the second-round Eastern Conference series with an 82-81 victory Monday night.
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NBA Playoffs 2012: Miami Heat Control 2nd Half, Take 1-0 Lead over Pacers
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade dominated, as the Miami Heat protected home court and beat the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Pacers started off the game hot and were up 11-4 at the 7:22 mark in the first quarter. The quick start was ignited by starting point guard George Hill, who scored seven of the team’s first 11 points.
The quick start from the Pacers may have surprised the Heat, and the opening stretch sent a message to the rest of the NBA that the Pacers will not go down quietly.
The Pacers came out running the floor early and attempted to shoot the ball from three, but they were rather unsuccessful. They will need to shoot the three-pointer better than they did in Game 1, as they shot just 23.5 percent from long range.
Roy Hibbert, the Pacers’ starting center, proved to be absolutely crucial in the first half of Game 1. In the first half, Hibbert clogged up the lane and made it difficult for the Heat players to get solid looks in the paint.
The Heat found success against Hibbert when they used Bosh to draw Hibbert from the paint. This created more room inside, and this allowed Wade to start dictating the game on the offensive end of the floor.
Chris Bosh had an excellent first half, but he had to leave the game before the half due to an abdomen injury.
He got injured when he was fouled by Roy Hibbert during a slam dunk in the second quarter. Up to that point, Bosh had contributed 16 points and five rebounds, and it appeared that the Heat would really miss him in the second half.
However, this turned out not to be the case, as the Heat outscored the Pacers by 15 points in the second half.
The play of James and Wade is the reason the Heat outclassed the Pacers in the second half, although the foul trouble the Pacers were in didn’t help visiting team.
The Heat were successful at getting to the free-throw line, and Wade was the man who led that attack.
Wade got to the charity stripe 14 times and missed only one attempt. His ability to get into the lane allowed him to pace the Heat attack for much of the second and third quarter. He finished the game with 29 points and only James outscored him.
James scored 32 points, hauled in 15 rebounds and collected his third NBA MVP award prior to tip-off. James may have struggled from the floor—he shot 12-of-26 from the field—but overall, this was a great day for James.
James and Wade elevated their games when Bosh was pronounced unable to return to the game.
At the 8:46 mark in the fourth quarter, Wade and James had scored more points than the entire Pacers team. The duo didn’t stop there, though, as they never let the Pacers tie the game up.
The Pacers struggled with foul trouble throughout the entire game. Hibbert and Hill were in serious foul trouble all game long, although starting shooting guard Paul George was the only one to actually foul out.
The Pacers’ bench did an admirable job in the first half, scoring 17 of the team’s first 34 points. The attack off the bench was led by Tyler Hansborough, shooting guard Leonardo Barbosa and former starting point guard Darren Collison. The trio combined to score 27 points, but that wasn’t enough to get the Pacers the win.
If the Pacers hope to give Miami a run in this series, then they must be able to stay out of foul trouble. When Hibbert was off the court, James and Wade got to the basket easier and controlled the game.
The Pacers’ front court, consisting of David West and Hibbert, was dominant when on the floor together. The two combined for 24 points in the loss, and the Pacers will need them to produce like that every game in this series.
West represents an advantage for the Pacers, as Udonis Haslem should have a difficult time guarding him.
This series will come down to the Pacers staying out of foul trouble while still dominating the paint with their superior frontcourt.
In Game 1, the Pacers proved that they would not simply roll over against the Big Three of the Heat. If Bosh misses any time due to the injury he suffered, then the Pacers must take advantage of that opportunity to steal a game.
The Heat have gained the momentum as we head to Game 2, but don’t expect to the Pacers to go quietly into the offseason.
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Clippers advance with 82-72 win over Grizzlies (Yahoo! Sports)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) The Los Angeles Clippers refused to let a third chance to knock the Memphis Grizzlies out of the playoffs slip away.
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Anthony Bennett: Why Elite Prospect Should Choose Oregon over UNLV
One of high school basketball’s final 5-star recruits has narrowed his decision to either Oregon or UNLV, but only one decision would make sense—Bennett has to pick Oregon to have a successful college basketball career.
Bennett hails from Findlay Prep in Nevada, so his consideration of UNLV makes some sense. They also happen to be one of the teams on the rise in the ranks of college basketball.
However, Oregon is the best bet for Bennett. There are multiple reasons, but here are the main points.
Home Away From Home
Bennett could choose to stay at home, but if he chooses to go to Eugene he’ll still feel right at home. His former high school teammate Dominic Artis has already signed with Oregon, and two of the players on the Ducks’ roster are from Canada, as is Bennett.
Oregon will allow Bennett to get away from his home that he has lived in his entire life, but still be around some people he has close connections with.
The Nike Factor
UNLV is on the rise, but Oregon is in the limelight and won’t be leaving anytime soon. Outside of ridiculously colorful jerseys the Ducks are a prominent national program that plays most of its games on national television.
In this day and age being a great player isn’t enough. College players also have to have great exposure to marketing and media. Playing in Oregon will allow him to have both.
Oregon is a Win-Now Situation
If Bennett is like any other kid, he will want to win consistently. He’ll immediately be the star player at either Oregon or UNLV, but with Oregon he’ll simply be surrounded by better talent. They benefit from playing in the PAC-12 and, as a result, see better recruits come their way.
Facing better competition on a regular basis is also something that will better prepare Bennett for his pro career.
Oregon doesn’t look like a championship contender right now, but that can change mighty quick with the addition of Bennett.
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Doug Collins with Lots of Love for His Sixers After Game 6 Victory over Bulls
While the Philadelphia 76ers didn’t exactly rock history by taking down the No. 1 seeded Chicago Bulls last night, they certainly made their coach proud.
Philadelphia remained steady and calm under pressure in a series that changed drastically after the Bulls lost Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Gritting out a Game 6 victory in the final seconds on their home floor after Andre Iguodala made free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining to give them a one-point win, it was the type of game that a coach wants to see from his team.
It was winning ugly.
Those are the type of victories that galvanize a team and strengthen its resolve moving forward.
You can check out the video for yourself below, via CSNPhilly.
Doug Collins is an emotional guy. His love and appreciation for the game is often on display, and he doesn’t shy away from letting his players know exactly how he feels about them.
In this postgame address to his team, he is extremely heartfelt, eyes shining as he shares the moment with his grandson.
Talking about his team’s journey this year, the struggles that came after the quick start, the hurdles of fighting through a shortened season after the lockout—Collins lets his team know he’s proud while also letting them know he believes in them.
After he’s finished speaking, he calls on Iguodala and Elton Brand to address their teammates, and both talk about the upcoming series against the Celtics, saying they know what they need to do while encouraging everyone in the locker room to “be ready.”
I wouldn’t have predicted this Sixers team making it to the second round, but here they are.
With added confidence after a scrappy Game 6 victory over the Bulls, we’ll see what they do in the next round. Regardless of how far the Sixers go, expect them to finish the season with heart. After appearing to lose it near the end of the regular season, they’re rediscovered it at a good time.
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Nuggets force Game 7 with 113-96 win over Lakers (Yahoo! Sports)
DENVER (AP) Kobe Bryant spent all day under the weather and the way his teammates let him down made him feel even worse.
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Uninspired Lakers hand reins over to Nuggets
Moments after the Denver Nuggets’ easy 113-96 Game Six victory, point guard Ty Lawson ended his national television interview with six words no Laker fan wanted to hear Thursday night:
“Game Seven. Los Angeles. Let’s go,” he said, a large smile crossing his mouth.
So it was onto the chartered plane for the hour-and-a-half flight back to STAPLES Center in L.A. and a chance to make history.
A win Saturday night against the staggering Lakers would make Denver just the 22nd team to win a seventh game on the opponent’s home court. The hosts have won 86 times in that situation.
However, the way the Nuggets have embarrassed the Lakers in the first two close-out games, shows that the momentum has become the sole property of George Karl and company. Also the Lakers have some recent experience in blowing 3-1 series leads, having done so against the Phoenix Suns in 2006.
Lawson, the game’s leading scorer with 32 points (also adding 6 assists and 5 rebounds), is confident about his team’s ability to pull off an upset.
“We already gave away two games in this series,” he told TNT’s Craig Sager. “We gave one away here and another one in L.A.. We can win if we stick to the game plan.”
At least Denver has a plan.
In the last two games the Lakerswith the exception of Kobe Bryant, who shook off the flu Thursday and scored 31 after getting 43 on Tuesday–haven’t had a clue. Especially the two big menAndrew Bynum and Pau Gasol– who combined for 14 points on 5 of 21 shooting. And their bench was outplayed and outscored 40-27.
Defensively, Gasol had a plus-minus of -29, worst in the game, while Bynum wasn’t much more effective with a -22.
The man who breathed new life into the Nuggets with his “close out games are easy” bulletin board material last Monday, said Denver has totally out-worked the Lakers in both losses.
“We haven’t been playing with their kind of intensity,” said Bynum, who did grab 16 rebounds and block four shots despite his offensive play. They’re doing it and we’re not (matching) it.
“It was tough looking at all those baskets these guys were making. They were playing hard, walking around with kind of a swagger. For us (to be successful) we have to want to stop guys (and) we need to figure it all out before Game Seven.”
And of course he couldn’t let an opportunity to take a swipe at coach Mike Brown, saying he didn’t understand why he wasn’t in the game during the final quarter, saying ‘I didn’t play in the fourth. That kinda sucks.”
For the record, the Lakers were trailing by 22 points at the end of three quarterswith Bynum playing 30 of a possible 36 minutes. And TV cameras once again caught him staring into space, looking unhappy, while Brown was talking during a timeout.
Karl, who said he had an early morning revelation Wednesday that the Lakers weren’t much better than his team, feels his guys once again went out and proved him right.
“There’s no way I thought what happened tonight (with the blowout) was going to happen,” Karl said. “I thought the guys carried on with intensity and aggressiveness and energy.
“I thought the two things that were vastly (better for us) tonight were our passing and out three-ball. We had good playmaking, and guys were making good basketball plays with Ty and Andre (Miller) running (the offense).
“Our defense was also good throughout the game, until the end when the game was out of hand. Then we (let up) a little bit and weren’t very good. But this was a big game…and Saturday will be even bigger.”
Brown felt that his team’s defensive deficienciesespecially in challenging one of basketball’s most fundamental plays.
“We were bad with our pick-and-roll coverage,” said Brown, who had to be disgusted watching his team give up 50 points in the paint. “They got what they wanted. (We) did the coverage correctly maybe eight percent of the time, if that.”
And that obviously isn’t anywhere near enough if the Lakers want to avoid blowing a 3-1 lead for the second time in six seasons.
“We’ve got to do a better job,” Brown said slowly as if to emphasize his point. “It’s going to have to matter to us; we’re going to have to work harder and want to get…the…job…done.
“If we get the same type of effort and execution of our game plan, it’s going to be a long night Saturday night.”
And a much longer summer should they lose a third consecutive close-out game.
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Amare Stoudemire: Heat Get Last Laugh over Embarrassing NY Knicks Squad
The Miami Heat swept away the ailing Knicks, but not before Amar’e Stoudemire was clowned out of the building.
Let’s forget for a moment that the first round is taking longer than most presidential terms because of some memorable moments that should last us well after the NBA Finals.
One such moment took place at the tail end of Game 5 between the Knicks and the Heat. While it may have been viewed by most as a closeout game, I saw it as the Heat putting the Knicks out of their misery.
Let’s get real. We all knew this series was over a long time ago. Amare Stoudemire’s brief boxing match with a fire extinguisher casing was just the turning point.
Stoudemire was able to lend one more joke to the pile that has been mounting in his area. With minutes to go in the game, Shane Battier fell to the court after drawing contact with Stoudemire.
The Knicks forward charged through Battier and then pretended to help him up. Next came the classic psyche-out where Stoudemire took back his hand.
Five-year-olds around the world rejoiced.
Sure that would have been a petulant way for a disgraced athlete to leave the season, but there was one more turn of the dial.
The Heat PA announcer chimed in with a petty joke of his own. It was a wonderful couple minutes of small-minded glory, and we all benefit from the spoils.
Here is video of the PA announcer taking a turn as stand-up comedian, issuing that Stoudemire had been “extinguished form the game.”
The team and announcer, Michael Baiamonte, have now officially apologized to Stoudemire in a statement released on Thursday, via ESPN. The Knicks star doesn’t seem to be all that bothered by any of it though.
Funny, considering his team was just dismissed with ease, he became a joke after an ill-advised punch and then had salt poured on the wound just as he said his fond farewells for the season.
I guess the bigger theme might be to leave Shane Battier alone, because he seems to have loud friends at the scorer’s table.
Follow me on Twitter and we can fight about it.
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Nerlens Noel Investigation: Kentucky Wildcats Should Tremble over NCAA Inquiry
The defending champion Kentucky Wildcats should be very fearful of the NCAA inquiring about top recruit Nerlens Noel. Should anything happen with his eligibility, the Wildcats will be in deep trouble this coming season.
According to Pete Thamel of the New York Times, two members of the NCAA enforcement staff visited Massachusetts to learn more about the people that Noel has surrounded himself with over the years.
The two officials spoke with the principal from Noel’s old high school, but he was not allowed to comment on specifics. They also inquired about some of Noel’s advisers and his finances, as the some of the schools he unofficially visited did not pay for his travels.
Another issue for Noel at this time is whether or not he will qualify academically. The report states that nation’s No. 1 recruit “is expected to take course work after graduation to help him qualify.”
Right now, John Calipari and the rest of Big Blue Nation need to fear for the worst.
Noel is very vital to the Wildcats’ success next season, and if he’s unable to play then Kentucky will have another Enes Kanter on its hands. A stud athlete sitting on the bench unable to play but highly likely to depart to the NBA after one year.
Of course, it’s a different story than Kanter, but it would still be incredibly devastating for the Wildcats to lose a dominant big man for a significant amount of time. Here the Wildcats think they’re about to embark on a quest to repeat as champs, but without Noel that will not happen.
It remains a mystery if anything will come of this inquiry, but the fact that it’s going on is certainly cause for concern.
Calipari has a history with his recruits being involved in controversy, and Kentucky was well aware of this before it hired him. The Wildcats received criticism by some for hiring him, saying that he would cheat and their wins would be tarnished.
There’s no proof of that and hopefully Calipari isn’t going against the rules. It doesn’t appear Calipari has a hand with any of this at the moment, but you never really know until all the of the truth comes out.
Even if Noel is ineligible for any games next year it’s a crushing blow for the Wildcats. It looks really bad on the program if they continue to have star players unable to play for the entire season.
This is definitely a story to keep a watch on, as Noel’s eligibility will determine whether or not Kentucky is a major threat next year.
Stay tuned with Bleacher Report and our college basketball coverage as we update you with the news as it comes.
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Horford leads Hawks over Celtics in first start
ATLANTA Al Horford wasn’t feeling any pain. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Or possibly he was numb. Most likely he was still in shock.
Some how, some way, the young Atlanta Hawks center shrugged off the rustiness and steadied his legs and found the breath to grind and battle the Boston Celtics for 41 minutes.
And the Hawks needed all of Horford’s seconds and every one of his 19 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and three steals to take an 87-86 victory on Tuesday night and force Game 6 in this first round series, which the Celtics lead 3-2 heading back to Boston.
“Al Horford was terrific,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said.
Indeed he was, even if his lengthy time on the court seemed to surprise even himself. The Hawks needed a jolt, and they received it in the form of a massive dose of Horford.
“Al Horford was absolutely huge,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “His ability to move around at times when we were forced to make switches on defense, and his foot speed enabled him to stay with the ball. He was a superman for us down the stretch.”
If Horford seemed sluggish at first, it’s tough to blame him. This was only his second game since returning from a torn left pectoral muscle on Jan. 11, and it showed what the Hawks had missed practically all season without their all-star center.
The injury filled his winter with discomfort. Surgery was needed to repair the tear. That led to rehab and sitting and watching his teammates finish strong and make the playoffs.
Horford then gave mixed signals before the series began, going back and forth on whether he was ready to return before deciding he was healthy enough to play. Even then, he sat the first three games, finally returning in Game 4. Horford saw action for the first time in nearly four months in the blowout loss, contributing 12 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
He wasn’t sure what to expect on Tuesday, but thought he and Drew had an agreement that he would play only 15 to 25 minutes. They obviously didn’t shake on it.
Horford not only started, he played 20 minutes by halftime. His stats were lackluster at that point, with only two points and six rebounds, but the score was tied.
When the third quarter began, Horford started scoring. He hit a jumper and another, and then a layup. His inspired play invigorated his teammates and the crowd. Soon, the Hawks led 66-54.
“In the second half, I was able to get going,” Horford said. “The guys found me and I was able to hit a couple of jumpers and that got my confidence going again. After that, I felt pretty good.”
The minutes and fast pace took their toll and Horford went to the bench at the start of the fourth. He sat for a few minutes before returning to the court. The short break was all he needed.
Horford began scoring and rebounding and defending, and with the score tied at 83, there he was again.
His dunk on a pass from Jeff Teague gave the Hawks an 85-83 lead.
Horford then scored Atlanta’s last basket, a driving hybrid hook shot for a four-point advantage with 1:34 left.
He wasn’t done. The Hawks needed him one more time.
After Boston’s Rajon Rondo stole the ball on the Hawks’ final possession, Horford was there to cut off his path to the basket. It forced Rondo to lose his balance and attempt a bad pass, which was deflected by the Hawks’ Josh Smith as the final second ticked off the clock.
“I didn’t want to lose the series that way, so I didn’t want to let Rondo shoot a jumper over me,” Horford said. “You’re fighting for your life out there. I wanted to bring energy to the team. We needed to win this game.”
With Horford on the court, the Hawks are a different team. They started Game 5 with the lineup they thought they’d have all season. In reality, it was the first time that Horford, Smith, Teague, Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams were in the starting lineup since Jan. 6.
“This is the team that they thought they were going to start the season with,” Rivers said. “They now have it, and now we have to deal with it.”
And especially with Horford.
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