May 2013 – Page 15 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Heat crush Bulls, take 3-1 series lead

LeBron James and the Miami Heat didn’t even give the Chicago Bulls room to breathe, practically squeezing the playoff life out of them to take a commanding lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal.

Another effort like this will seal it.

James scored 27 points and the Heat nearly matched a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a playoff game, pounding the listless and short-handed Bulls 88-65 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

”We worked for it,” said Heat forward Chris Bosh. ”I never like to say that things are easy.”

The Heat sure made it look that way, though.

The 65 points allowed were only two more than the all-time postseason low for a Miami opponent, and it was easily the worst offensive performance by a Chicago team in the playoffs.

Never before had the Bulls scored fewer than 69 in a playoff game nor 10 or less in a quarter during the postseason, but both those marks fell on a night when they were dominated on both ends of the floor.

Miami led by 11 at the half and put this one away in the third quarter, outscoring Chicago 17-9 in the period.

Bosh finished with 14 points after scoring 20 and grabbing 19 rebounds in Game 3, and the Heat won again despite another quiet night from Dwyane Wade (six points), whose right knee was bothering him again. He appeared to land hard on it taking a fallaway jumper in the third quarter but was able to return to the game after getting re-taped.

— Reported by Andrew Seligman of the Associated Press

Kobe Bryant`s parents accuse him of lying

The obstacles facing Kobe Bryant no longer consist of healing from a torn left Achilles’ tendon.

Lately, it involves something far more suffocating than navigating a double team.

Bryant’s mother, Pamela, and father, Joe, filed statements in federal court in Camden, NJ. on Monday suggesting the Lakers’ star has lied during his recent efforts to Pamela’s hope to give a New Jersey-based auction house more than 100 of his basketball memorabilia from both his high school and early portion of his Lakers career.

In a declaration filed in federal court in Camden Monday, Pamela insisted sworn statements from Kobe and his wife, Vanessa, “contained many false statements.” That included Kobe’s account of a May 2 phone conversation, in which she allegedly agreed he had never told her she could have his belongings.

Pamela Bryant claimed sworn statements by her son and daughter-in-law contained “many false statements.”

— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

After 19-rebound effort, inside approach will not change for Chris Bosh

In the current playoff series against the Bulls, Bosh had six rebounds in Game 1 and five rebounds in Game 2. So, it begs the question: What happened in Game 3 for Bosh to pull down 19 rebounds, a career postseason high?

Bosh said on Monday after shootaround that much of his effort in the post during the regular season was focused on boxing out opponents, which allowed his teammates to grab rebounds. In Game 3 against the Bulls, Bosh’s strategy shifted. With everyone crashing the boards, securing rebounds became his primary objective.

“Boxing out, there’s a bunch of different techniques you can use and everything,” Bosh said. “I’ve really been searching this season to find what works best for me and a lot of times I’m in situations where people only pay attention to numbers. I never really got caught up in that.”

— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald (Blog)

Carmelo Anthony plans to have a chat with Tyson Chandler

Carmelo Anthony wants to have a couple of words with Tyson Chandler before the Knicks try to even their series against Indiana Tuesday night.

Anthony didn’t sound too happy about Chandler saying the Knicks are playing selfishly and guys are trying to win games on their own. Chandler never mentioned anyone by name, but it’s widely believed he was referring to Anthony, who seemed eager to get his teammates’ point of view.

“I really don’t want to go back and forth about that, because I really don’t know exactly what he was talking about,” Anthony said after practice Monday. “But if he feels that way, we’re about to get together . . . we’ll discuss that among ourselves and figure that out, just get his take, his perspective on that comment.

“We’ll handle that internally and figure it out amongst ourselves.”

— Reported by Al Iannazzone of New York Newsday

Injury to calf hindered Tony Parker in Game 4

The knot in Spurs guard Tony Parker’s left calf had shrunk to less-than-baseball size by tipoff time, so the decision for him to play in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Warriors was easy.

Finding ways for him to be effective while dealing with lingering pain and stiffness was another matter.

Parker made only 6 of 17 shots and had only three assists in a 97-87 overtime loss that tied the best-of-7 series at two games apiece.

Afterwards, he acknowledged that the sore calf affected his play.

“I felt like I was limited a little bit, but nobody cares,” he said. “It’s the playoffs. You have to keep playing.

— Reported by Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News

Steve Clifford interviewing for Bucks head-coaching job

Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford is interviewing with the Milwaukee Bucks for their head-coaching job on Monday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Milwaukee has interviewed Nate McMillan and Houston Rockets assistants Kelvin Sampson and J.B. Bickerstaff for its head-coaching job.

When Bucks general manager John Hammond reached out to gauge Stan Van Gundy’s interest in the job, Van Gundy declined but delivered a strong recommendation for Clifford, league sources said. Clifford spent five years on Van Gundy’s Orlando Magic staff before joining the Lakers in the summer of 2012.

— Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports

Stoudemire feels no ill effects from return

There was no problematic aftermath for Amar’e Stoudemire.

After experiencing his first action for the Knicks in more than two months Saturday night, Stoudemire felt fine yesterday morning at a light team workout. There was no sure thing concerning how Stoudemire’s surgically-repaired right knee would respond.

He played nine minutes in the Knicks’ 82-71 loss to the Pacers in Game 3, having been shelved for the final 23 regular season games and the first eight playoff games following right knee debridement. Stoudemire’s last game prior to Saturday was on March 7 — before the Big East Tournament started.

“I feel good,” he said yesterday. “The minutes I played were only nine minutes, but the process before that — I was in shootaround, we’re going hard in shootaround and then the pregame of training — [was] equivalent to about an hour’s worth of work. Hard intensity work. I feel good today.”

— Reported by Mark Hale of the New York Post

Knicks try to recover from illness, offensive woes

A sick feeling is emanating through the New York Knicks.

The offense is struggling, their playoff hopes teetering and key players are missing practice.

That’s not how coach Mike Woodson intended to spend Sunday afternoon following an abysmal Game 3 performance that left the Knicks in a 2-1 hole and in a precarious position heading into Tuesday night’s game at Indiana. Two of his top players — guard J.R. Smith and forward Kenyon Martin — didn’t even make it to the workout because they were ill.

”We’ve got to be careful that this thing doesn’t spread and other guys start dropping so we kept them back at the hotel,” Woodson said.

There’s no telling if either player will return in time to make an impact in Game 4, which has become essential for the Knicks to keep their playoff drive alive.

Something is clearly wrong with the sickly shooting Knicks.

On Saturday, New York made just 35.2 percent from the field and its vaunted 3-point shooting vanished as they went 3 of 11 from beyond the arc. The result was a stinging 82-71 loss in which the Knicks flirted with a franchise record scoring low. The record is 67. New York didn’t top that until Martin’s dunk with 1:39 left in a game that had already been decided.

Nobody played well.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

Warriors beat Spurs 97-87 in OT, tie series 2-2

Harrison Barnes had 26 points and 10 rebounds, Stephen Curry scored 22 on an injured left ankle and the Golden State Warriors rallied past the San Antonio Spurs 97-87 in overtime Sunday to even the Western Conference semifinal at two games apiece.

Jarrett Jack added 24 points in reserve and Andrew Bogut grabbed 18 rebounds to help the Warriors overcome an eight-point deficit in the final five minutes of regulation. Golden State scored the first nine points of overtime to whip the yellow-shirt wearing crowd of 19,596 into a frenzy and give this topsy-turvy series another twist.

Manu Ginobili had 21 points and Tim Duncan added 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Spurs, who were outshot 35.5 to 38 percent in what was an ugly offensive game most of the afternoon. The Warriors outrebounded San Antonio 65 to 51.

Game 5 is Tuesday in San Antonio.

The Spurs seized control of a sloppy, slugfest at the start and went cold shooting when it mattered most. Tony Parker, wearing a black sleeve around his bruised left calf, poured in 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting but never broke free the way he did by scoring 32 points the previous contest.

Ginobili hit a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer, and Kawhi Leonard put back a rebound for an easy layup to out the Spurs ahead 80-72 with 4:49 remaining in the fourth quarter. The home sellout crowd sat down and fell silent for one of the few times in the fourth quarter all postseason with the series slipping away…

Bogut picked up three fouls in the first six minutes, plus a technical foul for arguing with an official after giving up a three-point play to Duncan. Bogut sat out the rest of the first half, and backup Festus Ezeli also had four fouls before the break.

— Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin sit out Sunday practice

J.R. Smith, who played 25 minutes in Game 3 on Saturday night despite a high fever, sat out of the Knicks’ morning practice on Sunday.

Kenyon Martin also missed practice. “Kenyon’s kind of coming down with [illness], too,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said, “so we’ve got to be careful that this thing doesn’t spread, and other guys start dropping.”

Smith scored only nine points on 4-for-12 shooting during the Knicks’ 82-71 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. He has shot dreadfully, making just 11 of 52 shots (21.2 percent) in three games this series, and he wasn’t much better in the final two games of New York’s first-round matchup with the Boston Celtics (8-for-27, 29.6 percent).

— Reported by Jared Wade of ESPN New York