Friday 4/27
New Jersey v Toronto (Nets up 2-1) – The story here is that Jason Kidd had a game for the ages. Kidd went for 16 points on 7-14 shooting, 19 assists (career playoff high), 16 rebounds and 3 steals. Oh yeah, and Jason did this all on a sprained left knee that forced him to miss practice a day earlier. J-Kidd is now averaging a triple-double for the series with 12.7 ppg, 13.7 apg and 12.3 rpg. Not bad. Vince Carter also enjoyed his return to the swamps (literally) of NJ. Carter managed to shoot above 33% from the field for the first time all series going 15-23 while putting up 37 points. But those hostile Canadians didn’t bother him…right.
For the Raptors, Chris Bosh and Anthony Parker both shot 3-10 from the field after posting 47.2% and 52% respectively in Toronto. Even with their two best players having off nights the Raps weren’t blown out. Remember that this was their first post season road game together too. Bosh and company now know that their intensity needs to be ratcheted up a notch or two away from home in the playoffs. I’m not ready to write T-Dot off just yet, but they *need* to win Game 4 to have any chance to advance.
Miami v Chicago (Bulls up 3-0) – Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I soooo love this. I don’t even care that I’m losing one of my pre-season Finals picks or that my undefeated first round streak is coming to an end. To me the loss of credibility is worth seeing Shaquille O’Neal go down in flames. It doesn’t seem like you can turn it on in March and carry your team through the post season anymore, does it Big Fella? To quote Nelson from The Simpsons, “ha-HA!”
A few quick historical notes for ya: No team in NBA history has come back from 0-3 down to win a series, and trust me, the Heat won’t be the first. Miami is also the first defending champion to lose their first three playoff games the following year. LOVE IT!
If the Heat want to blame anybody for their 8 point loss they need look no further then The Diesel and Dwyane Wade. Shaq shot 3-12 from the free throw line and D-Wade 4-10. That’s 15 points right there. It goes deeper than that though. Miami has been outscored 78 to 67 combined in the 4th quarter while letting Chicago shoot 48.9% as a team for the series.
I think this quote from the Bulls Ben Wallace after Game 3 sums it up nicely. “We're outplaying them right now, outworking them and playing harder. I think we want it more than they want it.” No doubt about it. Big Ben isn’t even afraid of giving the Heat bulletin board material. So much for championship mystique.
Golden State v Dallas (Warriors up 2-1) – I thought this at the time, so I’m going to type it now. The Mavericks should have played to win their game in GS on 4/17. It was the second to last game of the season and Dallas had just played all their regulars the game prior to beat San Antonio. So what does Mavs coach Avery Johnson do? He starts a rookie back court of J.J. Barea & Maurice Ager with defensive specialists Greg Buckner & Devean George at the forwards and DeSagana Diop in the middle. Dallas went on to lose by 29. I didn’t get it then, and I still don’t get it now. It was important to send a message to a *possible* Conference Final opponent, but not to your potential first round match up? Forget that the Mavs may have eliminated the Warriors from the post season all together by winning that game. Even more inexplicable was Avery going back to his normal rotation the next day for the last game of the season against hapless Seattle.
GS is shooting 46.2% from the field for the series, which is right on their season average of 46.3%. Dallas, on the other hand, is shooting 40.7% currently which is down from their 46.7% season average. Here’s the thing, the Mavs were 7th overall in the league in opponents shooting percentage at 44.7%. While the Warriors were 19th 46.16%. So did GS suddenly become a defensive juggernaut? Not quite. To me it looks like the Mavs are feeling the pressure of being the #1 overall seed and are choking it up big time. Frustration is setting in too as evidenced by Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris all getting technical fouls in the 3rd quarter of Game 3.
As bad as it looks for Dallas, and it does look pretty bad, I think they are still in it. The Bay Area peeps had Oracle Arena rockin’ off its hinges in the first NBA playoff game in Oakland since 5/4/94. Now that the Mavs know what they are in for there, I think they will come out and play their best game of the series in Game 4. As such, I’m not wavering from Mavs in 6…yet.
For the Raptors, Chris Bosh and Anthony Parker both shot 3-10 from the field after posting 47.2% and 52% respectively in Toronto. Even with their two best players having off nights the Raps weren’t blown out. Remember that this was their first post season road game together too. Bosh and company now know that their intensity needs to be ratcheted up a notch or two away from home in the playoffs. I’m not ready to write T-Dot off just yet, but they *need* to win Game 4 to have any chance to advance.
Miami v Chicago (Bulls up 3-0) – Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I soooo love this. I don’t even care that I’m losing one of my pre-season Finals picks or that my undefeated first round streak is coming to an end. To me the loss of credibility is worth seeing Shaquille O’Neal go down in flames. It doesn’t seem like you can turn it on in March and carry your team through the post season anymore, does it Big Fella? To quote Nelson from The Simpsons, “ha-HA!”
A few quick historical notes for ya: No team in NBA history has come back from 0-3 down to win a series, and trust me, the Heat won’t be the first. Miami is also the first defending champion to lose their first three playoff games the following year. LOVE IT!
If the Heat want to blame anybody for their 8 point loss they need look no further then The Diesel and Dwyane Wade. Shaq shot 3-12 from the free throw line and D-Wade 4-10. That’s 15 points right there. It goes deeper than that though. Miami has been outscored 78 to 67 combined in the 4th quarter while letting Chicago shoot 48.9% as a team for the series.
I think this quote from the Bulls Ben Wallace after Game 3 sums it up nicely. “We're outplaying them right now, outworking them and playing harder. I think we want it more than they want it.” No doubt about it. Big Ben isn’t even afraid of giving the Heat bulletin board material. So much for championship mystique.
Golden State v Dallas (Warriors up 2-1) – I thought this at the time, so I’m going to type it now. The Mavericks should have played to win their game in GS on 4/17. It was the second to last game of the season and Dallas had just played all their regulars the game prior to beat San Antonio. So what does Mavs coach Avery Johnson do? He starts a rookie back court of J.J. Barea & Maurice Ager with defensive specialists Greg Buckner & Devean George at the forwards and DeSagana Diop in the middle. Dallas went on to lose by 29. I didn’t get it then, and I still don’t get it now. It was important to send a message to a *possible* Conference Final opponent, but not to your potential first round match up? Forget that the Mavs may have eliminated the Warriors from the post season all together by winning that game. Even more inexplicable was Avery going back to his normal rotation the next day for the last game of the season against hapless Seattle.
GS is shooting 46.2% from the field for the series, which is right on their season average of 46.3%. Dallas, on the other hand, is shooting 40.7% currently which is down from their 46.7% season average. Here’s the thing, the Mavs were 7th overall in the league in opponents shooting percentage at 44.7%. While the Warriors were 19th 46.16%. So did GS suddenly become a defensive juggernaut? Not quite. To me it looks like the Mavs are feeling the pressure of being the #1 overall seed and are choking it up big time. Frustration is setting in too as evidenced by Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris all getting technical fouls in the 3rd quarter of Game 3.
As bad as it looks for Dallas, and it does look pretty bad, I think they are still in it. The Bay Area peeps had Oracle Arena rockin’ off its hinges in the first NBA playoff game in Oakland since 5/4/94. Now that the Mavs know what they are in for there, I think they will come out and play their best game of the series in Game 4. As such, I’m not wavering from Mavs in 6…yet.
posted by D$ at 12:13 PM
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