Tag: NBA playoff recap.

2 Miami Heat at 1 Indiana Pacers

Heat lead 3-1 coming in

Elimination Game for Pacers

   Paul George had the game of his life on Wednsday, and even that was barley enough. The 6′ 9″ Pacers all-star had 37 points, shooting 12-19 from the field, along with six rebounds, six steals, five three-pointers, and only three turnovers in 45 minutes of play to lead the Pacers top a 93-90 win to stay alive in the playoffs. “My message to the whole team was the light needs to be on green for all of us,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “You need to go, you need to attack, you need to be aggressive. Paul took it and ran with it and took it to a crazy level.”

   The other key factor in this game was that four-time Player of the Year and Heat star Lebron James got in foul touble and was limited to only 24 minutes a career playoff-low 7 points. With 4.9 seconds left Chris Bosh’s game-winning 3 fell short and the Pacers won. “We still had enough opportunities to come away with a win,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We just couldn’t get over the hump.” Lance Stephenson seemed to be messing with Lebron most of the game which could have also thrown off the star’s game. “I’m just here to play basketball, man. All the extracurricular activities, I don’t really get into,” James said. “I’m just trying to win. We need one more win to get to the Finals. That’s my only concern. All the extra stuff, whatever Lance wants to do, I don’t really care about that.”

Game 6 is Friday in Miami and will be an elimination game for Indiana.

Key Stat

The Heat scored a season-low 22 points in the paint.

Fun Facts

• Lebron’s teams are 0-9 when he scores 15 or fewer points in the playoffs.

 

2 Oklahoma City Thunder at 1 San Antonio Spurs

Series tied 2-2

   In game 5 of this two-faced series the Spurs routed OKC. “This is the craziest series I’ve ever been involved in,” Future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan said. The Spurs took a 3-2 lead with a 117-89 crushing win led by Tim Duncan (22 Pts, 12 Reb) “I have no clue, honestly,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of the disparity. “I think every game, it’s a different animal. It really is. We talk to our team about that all the time. You have no clue what’s going to happen, how a team is going to come out, whether they’re going to be lethargic or hold the ball, get 50/50 balls or don’t get 50/50 balls.”

   Manu Ginobli had 19 points and Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green each added 14 more to carry San Antonio to victory.”We gave them everything they wanted,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. “They got the dribble drive, they got the 3-point line and they got to the free throw line.” On the other side the thunder barley scored more point in the 1st quarter (32) than the entire second half (34)”Our shots weren’t falling for us,” Durant said. “We’ve got to stay aggressive and we’ve got to get stops. When we can’t make a shot, we’ve got to play defense, and we didn’t tonight.”

Game 6 is Saturday in OKC and will be an elimination game for the Thunder.

KEY STATS

   The Spurs dominated on the three-point line, shooting 13-26 and outrebounded OKC 48-35, however the main key to victory? Fast-break points. After allowing 21 in Game 4 San Antonio limited the Spurs to 4.

FUN FACTS

• The Spurs have won games in San Antonio in this series by an average of 26.7 points
• The Spurs have won a record seven-straight home playoffs games by 15 or more pointsMOST CONSECUTIVE HOME WINS BY 15+ POINTS IN NBA PLAYOFFS
  

  2014	Spurs	7
  1996	Jazz	6
  1985	Lakers	6

   

2 Heat at 1 Pacers

Score: Pacers 107, Heat 96

Series Score: Pacers 1, Heat 0

Key Player: Paul George: 24 Pts, 4 Reb, 7 Ast

Quote: “There’s nothing to celebrate. It’s not like we won a championship. It’s one game,” Hill said. “Yes, it was good, but if we come out and lay an egg on Tuesday, this game doesn’t mean anything.”

2 Thunder at 1 Spurs

Score: Spurs 122, Thunder 105

Series Score: Spurs 1, Thunder 0

Key Player: Tim Duncan: 27 Pts, 7 Reb, 3 Ast

Quote: “We always want to try to penetrate,” Spurs star Tony Parker said. “We always want our ball movement, that’s how we play — kick and pitch and stuff like that. You know, obviously it’s a little bit better with (Ibaka) not being in the paint, but we’re still going to try to penetrate and make stuff happen.”

5 Wizards at 1 Pacers

Score: Wizards 102, Pacers 97

Series Score: Pacers 3, Wizards 2

Key Player: Marcin Gortat: 31 Points, 16 Rebounds

Quote: “We don’t have anything to lose now,” Gortat said. “We play desperate. At the end of the day, we might lose. We have to play every minute of every game like it’s the last one of the season.”

3 Clippers at 2 Thunder

Score: Thunder 105, Clippers 104

Series Score: Thunder 3, Clippers 2

Key Moment: After KD made a 3-pointer LA’s Jamal Crawford drove down the court but missed the jumper. KD came right back with a layup to cut the Clipper lead to two. On the ensuing Clipper possession Russell Westbrook stole the ball, passed it up-court to Reggie Jackson who fumbled the ball out of bounds. I can’t show you footage because of copyright claims but go online and watch the play, you will agree with me, it was off OKC. HOWEVER  the referees call it was off the Clippers and after reviewing the play, the call stood. So now Thunder ball, down 104-102 and Chris Paul is called for a phantom foul on Russell Westbrook as Westbrook was attempting a 3! Westbrook made all three free throws to give his team a 1-point-lead with 6.4 seconds to play. On LA’s final stand Chris Paul dribbled off his foot, giving OKC the ball and the guaranteed W in a extremely poorly officiated game.

Quote: “Everybody knows it was our ball,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “Let’s take away the replay. We were robbed. It was our ball, whether it was a foul or not.”

6 Nets at 1 Heat

Score: Heat 96, Nets 94

Series Score: Heat 4, Nets 1

SERIES WINNER: HEAT

Key Moment: Losing by 8 with 5 minutes left it looked like it was over for the Heat. But when you have Lebron on your team, it’s never over. The Heat went on a 13-0 run and forced the Nets to miss 9 straight shots to go from down 91-83 to be up 96-91. Ray Allen hit a 3 with 32 seconds left to give the Heat the lead and Lebron stole the ball from Joe Johnson on the final play to give the Heat the win and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Quote: “It’s always been like that for us,” LBJ said. “It’s never easy. It’s never easy for us.”

5 Trail Blazers at 1 Spurs

Score: Spurs 104, Trail Blazers 82

Series Score: Spurs 4, Trail Blazers 1

Key Player: Danny Green: 22 Points, 9 Rebounds

Quote: “Whoever’s the best team, I want to play them,” Leonard said. “It’s gonna prepare us for the (NBA) finals.”

1 Pacers at 8 Hawks

Score: Pacers 91, Hawks 88

Series Score: Pacers 2, Hawks 2

Key Moment: The Pacers needed this win, and thanks to Paul George and David West they got it. George and West each had key three’s down the stretch to carry the Pacers to a series-tying victory.

Quote: “We were just in desperation mode,” West said. “You just can’t go down two games in a playoff series. The odds are against you.”

2 Thunder at 7 Grizzlies

Score: Thunder 92, Grizzlies 89 OT

Series Score: Thunder 2, Grizzlies 2

Key Moment: CSD’s 6th man of the year Reggie Jackson came off the bench and outscored KD and Russell Westbrook. Jackson had 32 points and carried the Thunder to the win.

Quote: “Reggie played an outstanding basketball game,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “He was able to attack and finish around the rim like he’s done all year, and I knew he would bounce back. … He’s done a great job of coming in and giving us that lift offensively when we needed it as a sixth man.”

4 Bulls at 5 Wizards

Score: Wizards 98, Bulls 89

Series Score: Wizards 3, Bulls 1 3

Clippers at 6 Warriors

Score: Warriors 118, Clippers 97

Series Score: Warriors 2, Clippers 2

Quote: “We wanted to come out and focus on all the work we’ve put in over the summer, throughout the course of the season to get ready for this moment in the playoffs and just have fun and enjoy it — not let one person ruin it for everybody,”Stephen Curry said.

3 Raptors at 6 Nets

Score: Raptors 87, Nets 79

Series Score: Raptors 2, Nets 2

Quote: “That’s just us, man,” DeMar DeRozan said. “We’re definitely resilient. We’re never going to give up until the game’s over.”

4 Rockets at 5 Trail Blazers

Score: Trail Blazers 123, Rockets 120 OT

Series Score: Trail Blazers 3, Rockets 1 Key Moment: With only a 1-point lead in overtime for his Trail Blazers Mo Williams needed to knock down these two free-throws…and he did, sealing the win.

Quote: “The playoffs are a grind,” Houston coach Kevin McHale said. “It’s a different game than the regular season. You’ve got to be built for the grind.”

2 Heat at 7 Bobcats

Score: Heat 109, Bobcats 98

Series Score: Heat 4, Bobcats

SERIES WINNER: HEAT!

Key Moment: Lebron lied down on the ground and clutched his right thigh, the Charlotte fans cheered, but that just seemed to energize him more. He came back score 19 more points en route to sweeping the Bobcats.

Quote: “We got tested by a young, scrappy Bobcats team,” said James, who averaged 36.2 points in eight games against Charlotte this season. “We responded with a championship-type attitude.”

1 Spurs at 8 Mavericks

Score: Spurs 93, Mavericks 89

Series Score: Spurs 2, Mavericks 2

Key Moment: With only 30 seconds to play in the game we were tied at 87. But Spurs power forward Boris Diaw made sure it didn’t stay like that for long by hitting a go-ahead 3 that would eventually win San Antonio the game.

Quote: “You’ve got to give up something,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who was running at Diaw as the shot was released. “That was a tough one.”

1 Pacers at 8 Hawks

Score: Hawks 98, Pacers 85

Series Score: Hawks 2, Pacers 1

Key Moment: As the last few seconds ticked off the clock in the Hawks 13-point dismantling of the Pacers the “OVERRATED” chants rung through Phillips Arena. All Jeff Teague could do was smile. The team that had no chance, that didn’t even make .500 had the series lead over the best team in the NBA.

Quote: “We have a dream of winning it all,”Indiana star Paul George said. “We’ve got to be much more tougher than that. I don’t think it’s there. Our toughness is questionable right now.”

2 Thunder at 7 Grizzlies

Score: Grizzlies 98, Thunder 95 OT

Series Score: Grizzlies 2, Thunder 1

Key Moment: The Grizzlies won their 2nd straight overtime game on Thursday. But they almost didn’t. After blowing a 17 point lead Courtney Lee hit 3 free-throws in the last 10 seconds to clinch the win for the Grizz.

Quote: “Obviously, we’re happy with the win but disappointed at the way we handled that last quarter,” Conley said. “We knew they were going to make runs. We knew they’d keep fighting because that’s what they do, and it’s the playoffs. They’re going to make runs. They’re going to make plays. They have two of the best players in the league.”

3 Clippers at 6 Warriors

Score: Clippers 98, Warriors 96

Series Score: Clippers 2, Warriors 1

Key Moment: As the clock ticked below 5 seconds and down two Stephen Curry had to take the 3, it was contested but he had no choice, the shot missed but on the way down it looked as if Chris Paul had fouled Steph BUT NO FOUL WAS CALLED! And the Clippers win.

Quote:”When we needed it, we got stops,” Blake Griffin said. “And that’s why we were successful.”

3 Raptors at 6 Nets

Score: Nets 102, Raptors 98

Series Score: Nets 2, Raptors 1

Key Moment: They Nets nearly blew a 15-point lead but 2 Joe Johnson free throws with 3 seconds to play sealed the win for Brooklyn in front of the home crowd at the Barclays Center.

Quote: “It feels good to win, but at the same time you know you can be a lot better,” Paul Pierce said. “I’m looking for down the road, I’m looking for when it’s like that Game 6 or 7, if we’re ever in that situation with this team, it’s going to come to those little things and we can’t afford those small mistakes.”

4 Bulls at 5 Wizards

Score: Bulls 100, Wizards 97

Series Score: Wizards 2, Bulls 1

Key Moment: Tied at 97 Jimmy Butler drained a g0-ahead 3-pointer to give the Bulls the lead and the win.

Quote: “He was in the zone, man,”Bradley Beal said. “I guess the hoop looked like an ocean to him.”

4 Rockets at 5 Trail Blazers

Score: Rockets 121, Trail Blazers 116 OT

Series Score: Rockets 2, Trail Blazers 1

Key Moment: Chandler Parsons had 15 points, Dwight Howard had 24 points, Patrick Beverley had 16, James Harden had 37, and Jeremy Lin had 13 but it was lowly rookie Troy Daniels who spent time in the D-League this year was the hero. With 11 seconds left Daniels took his opportunity, draining a 3-pointer to give the Rockets the win.

Quote: “I thought we had some good looks down the stretch,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “Lin, Harden and Daniels made their shots. And we didn’t.”

1 Spurs at 8 Mavericks

Score: Maverick 109, Spurs 108

Series Score: Mavericks 2, Spurs 1

Key Moment: Exactly 13  years ago to the day Vince Carter tried at a game-winning buzzer-beater to give his team the playoff win, he missed it then, but today he was spot on. It wasn’t the most simple shot, more like a fade-away fling at the buzzer. But it went in none the less.

Quote: “I don’t mind taking the game-winning shot,” said Carter.”I don’t mind missing them, and dealing with it. So I think having that mentality helps me.”

2 Heat at 7 Bobcats

Score: Heat 98, Bobcats 85

Series Score: Heat 3, Bobcats 0

Key Moment: As Lebron pick-pocketed the Bobcats and drove the other way he looked over at Bobcats owner Michael Jordan and smiled. He went up and slammed down a thunderous one-handed dunk.

Quote: “We were locked in on what needs to be done and our keys to win this game,” James said.

 

7 Grizzlies at 2 Thunder

Score: Grizzlies 111, Thunder 105 OT

Series Score: Grizzlies 1, Thunder 1

Key Moments: Zach Randolph hit a layup with 26 seconds left in OT to give the Grizzlies a 2-point lead, But then Serge Ibaka turned the ball over on the next Thunder possession so OKC has to foul, they foul Courtney Lee, but Lee made both of his free-throws, making it a two-possession game. After KD missed a 3-pointer the Thunder had to foul again, Zach Randolph made both free-throws and the Grizzlies won by 6.

Quote: “Tremendous game to be a part of,” Said Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger. “I honestly can tell you that, whether you win or lose. I know that we won. But I thought it was a great game to be a part of. The game was never over. There was a lot of great plays and not just the-ball-going-in kind of plays — loose ball, passion, playoff basketball.”

6 Warriors at 3 Clippers

Score: Clippers 138, Warriors 98

Series Score: Clippers 1, Warriors 1

Key Moments: In a 40-point beatdown there are no key moments

Quote: “We were awful,” Said Warriors coach Mark Jackson. “They disrupted us with their intensity. That was a desperate basketball team we played against.”

8 Hawks at 1 Pacers

Score: Pacers 101, Hawks 85

Series Score: Hawks 1, Clippers 1

Key Moments:  The Pacers routed Atlanta by 16 so there wasn’t really any “Key Moments”

Quote: “We want to build on what we’ve got going,” Indiana forward David West said. “We want to continue to be aggressive. We know they’re going to play better at home, but we’re going down there to get back in charge of this series.”

6 Nets at 3 Raptors

Score: Raptors 100, Nets 95

Series Score: Raptors 1, Nets 1

Key Moments: This was a back-and-forth matchup, KG hit two free throws to cut the Toronto lead to 2 but the Raptors responded with a Kyle Lowry drive which was followed by a free throw to make it a 5 point Raptors lead. But Paul Pierce answered… he goes up and is fouled AND-1! He makes the free throw to cut the lead to 2. But DeMar DeRozan hit 6 free-throws in the final 2 seconds to carry the Raptors to a win.

Quote: “We knew he was going to bounce back from the first game,” Brooklyn’s Deron Williams said. “He took over the game, hit some crucial shots, some tough shots. We’ve got to do a better job of stopping him, especially late.”

6 Wizards at 3 Bulls

Score: Wizards 101, Bulls 99 OT

Series Score: Wizards 2, Bulls 0

Key Moments: Let’s begin Bulls down four until Joakim Noah hits 2 free-throws to cut the lead to 2, and then one last chance for the Bulls, Kirk Hinrich drives AND IS FOULED! If he makes both of these we go double-OT…he misses the 1st so he’s going to have to purposely miss the 2nd and get the rebound and score, all within 2.4 seconds. He misses it  BUT THE WIZARDS GET THE REBOUND! WIZARDS WIN!

Quote: “I think we did a great job staying calm and composed,” Said Wizards star John Wall. “Early in the season, we would get rattled and guys would try to make plays one on one on their own. Tonight, we trusted in our offense like we’ve been doing.”

7 Bobcats at 2 Heat

Score: Heat 101, Bobcats 97

Series Score: Heat 2, Bobcats 0

Key Moments: Miami was up 97-94 with 50 seconds left when Lebron drove and was stopped by McRoberts whose elbow flew, right into the 4-time MVP and 2-time Champion’s throat, James fell to the floor and immediately began clutching his throat, he got up and was ok. No flagrant was called. James split the free throws to increase the lead to 4 until Kemba Walker nailed a three with 11.9 seconds left to cut it to one but the Bobcats wouldn’t score again. After a few free-throws your final score: Heat 101, Bobcats 97.

Quote: “They’re going to keep coming at us,” Miami star Dwayne Wade said. “And that’s good.”

8 Mavericks at 1 Spurs

Score: Mavericks 113, Spurs 92

Series Score: Mavericks 1, Spurs 1

Key Moments: WOW, the 3rd game in this article where I have to say this. But in a beatdown like this, there are no key moments.

Quote: “It’s a bad combination to not play good defense at one end and give the ball up at the other end and not shoot free throws very well, either,” Spurs coach Greg Popovich said. “That’s a bad combination at both ends of the floor. That means you get your butt kicked and that’s what happened tonight.”

5 Trail Blazers at 4 Rockets

Score: Trail Blazers 112, Rockets 105

Series Score: Trail Blazers 2, Rockets 0

Key Moments: Let’s start, under a minute to go in regulation and James Harden nails a 3 for Houston to cut the lead to 3! Then the Rockets would intentionally foul Lillard he makes both free throws to make it a five-point game at 108-103. But After James Harden was called for an offensive foul to foul this game was all but over. A pair of Lillard  and a pair of Mo Williams free-throws seal the win for the T-Blazers.

Quote: “I made tough shots,” LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 43 points said. “I don’t think too much was easy tonight. I just got in that rhythm and started making shots.”