Inside Hoops – Page 1368 – NBA Blog

Melo helps Knicks take 2-0 lead vs Celtics

The New York Knicks are heading to Boston, then perhaps finally back to the second round.

The once-mighty Celtics don’t seem capable of stopping them.

Carmelo Anthony scored 34 points, Sixth Man of the Year J.R. Smith added 19, and New York opened a 2-0 lead over Boston with another dominant second half in an 87-71 victory on Tuesday night.

Raymond Felton added 16 points for the Knicks, who used a 27-4 run spanning halftime to blow it open and move halfway to their first series victory since the 2000 Eastern Conference semifinals. This is their first 2-0 lead since sweeping Toronto in the first round that year.

”For us, we know what type of team we are,” Anthony said. ”We know when we really buckle down on the defensive end, it’s been hard for teams.”

It’s been brutally difficult for Boston.

Paul Pierce scored 18 points for the Celtics, who will host Game 3 on Friday in their first home game since the Boston Marathon bombings.

They will have to be much sharper to avoid their first opening-round elimination since 2005, before they became one of the NBA’s power teams again.

”We have to figure out the offensive side of the ball and not be so stagnated,” Boston’s Kevin Garnett said. ”Figure out ways to score more often.”

Garnett had 12 points and 11 rebounds, but battled foul trouble and spent too much time walking back to the bench with a raucous Madison Square Garden crowd finally experiencing playoff success again hounding him every step of the way.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Mike Brown is once again the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach

The Cleveland Cavaliers have named seven-year NBA veteran head coach and Cavaliers all-time winningest head coach Mike Brown as the team’s new head coach, Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant and majority owner Dan Gilbert announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

According to the Akron Beacon Journal, “The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the negotiations, said the deal is for “four to five” years. The Internet news site Yahoo! Sports reported the fifth year will contain a buyout and total compensation will be in excess of $20 million. The Los Angeles Times reported Brown’s deal with the Cavs will provide the Lakers some relief (perhaps half) of the roughly $7 million they still owe him.”

Brown, 43, most recently coached the Los Angeles Lakers and was the head coach of the Cavaliers from 2005-10. He has a career head coaching record of 314-167 (.652) which is the 6th highest winning percentage in NBA history among coaches with at least 400 games coached.

“I am more than excited about Mike Brown’s return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Mike has done nothing but win in this league since he was a first-year assistant many years ago. He is going to instill a much-needed defensive-first philosophy in our young and talented team that is going to serve as our foundation and identity as we continue down the path of building the kind of franchise that competes at a championship level for many years to come, ” said Gilbert.

Brown has won at least one playoff series every full season he has been a head coach in the NBA. Among head coaches who have coached in the NBA 5-years or longer, Brown and Phil Jackson are the only coaches whom have never missed the playoffs in their entire coaching career.

Brown is also the only head coach in NBA history to win the first round of the playoffs every year of his head coaching career (coached five years or longer).

During Mike’s six full years as an NBA coach with the Cavaliers and the Lakers, Brown had the 2nd highest winning percentage (.657%) among all NBA head coaches who were at the helm four years or longer.

In five seasons with the Cavs, he compiled a record of 272-138 (.663). Brown was named the 2009 NBA Coach of the Year by members of the media and compiled a post season record with the Cavs of 42-29 (.592). He led the team to at least the second round of the post season in each of his five seasons, including Cleveland’s first ever trip to the NBA Finals in 2007.

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Heat pull away late, beat Bucks for 2-0 lead

Everyone in the Miami huddle was bracing for a grind to the finish. On the other end, the sense around the Milwaukee bench was that an upset was there for the taking.

Then the Heat landed a swift knockout punch.

Dwyane Wade scored 21 points, LeBron James finished with 19 and the Heat used a frantic start to the fourth quarter to pull away and beat the Bucks 98-86 in Game 2 of the teams’ Eastern Conference first-round series on Tuesday night.

It was 68-65 entering the fourth. With James and four backups on the court, the Heat needed only 2 minutes, 22 seconds to outscore Milwaukee 12-0 and stretch the lead to 80-65 – ensuring the reigning NBA champions would take a 2-0 series lead into Game 3 on Thursday night.

”We held court,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”We protected it for two games. We did what we’re supposed to do. And that’s it.”

Chris Bosh, Shane Battier and Chris Andersen all scored 10 points for the Heat. James’ postseason streaks of 22 straight games with at least 20 points, and 16 straight games of at least 25 points, both came to an end.

Ultimately, none of that mattered.

”We didn’t get into our game like we wanted to in that third quarter,” James said. ”But we went into the fourth with a (three-point) lead and we were able to jump on them.”

Ersan Ilyasova scored 21 points for Milwaukee, which got 16 from Mike Dunleavy and 14 from Larry Sanders. The Bucks’ starting guards, Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, combined for only 15 points – after teaming up to score 48 in Game 1.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Pablo Prigioni returns to Knicks lineup for Game 2

Pablo Prigioni is back in the New York Knicks’ starting lineup for Game 2 of their playoff series against Boston after missing the opener with a sprained right ankle.

Prigioni was hurt last Wednesday in the regular-season finale, but coach Mike Woodson says Tuesday the 35-year-old NBA rookie has practiced the last few days and seems to be moving well.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Cavaliers set to hire Mike Brown as coach

Mike Brown and the Cavaliers have reached a handshake agreement on a new deal, a league source told the Akron Beacon Journal on Tuesday. An official announcement should be made Wednesday.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

Brown is the Cavs’ most successful coach in team history and his .653 winning percentage ranks sixth all-time (minimum 450 games) among coaches. His hiring marks a fascinating return to the organization that fired him just three years ago in a futile attempt to keep LeBron James in Cleveland.

Brown is 314-167 in parts of seven seasons and his team has reached the playoffs and won in the first round in each of his six full seasons. Brown was fired five games into this season by the Los Angeles Lakers, but returns to a Cavs team that has spent the last three years rebuilding under Byron Scott, who was fired last week after compiling a 64-166 record in three years.

— Reported by Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal

Nate Robinson discusses unfriendly relationship with C.J. Watson

Chicago Bulls guard Nate Robinson doesn’t hide his dislike for the Brooklyn Nets’ C.J. Watson. In fact, Robinson views it as a positive.

“We’re just competitors,” Robinson said Monday after helping the Bulls even their Eastern Conference quarterfinals at a game apiece. “I don’t like him, he don’t like me. That’s how it’s going to be. There’s animosity between the two of us, and for us, that’s good.”

The cause of the animosity isn’t certain. Robinson essentially filled Watson’s role on the Bulls, who waived Watson last offseason and then signed Robinson to a non-guaranteed contract.

— Reported by ESPN Chicago

Josh Smith expected to play Game 2 for Hawks

Josh Smith, the Hawks’ leading scorer, will play in Game 2 against the Pacers Wednesday after suffering a sprained right ankle in the playoff series opener.

Smith was a full participant in Tuesday’s workout. He missed the on-court portion of Monday’s workout after suffering the injury in the third quarter of the Game 1 loss.

“I should be all right,” Smith said. “It’s still a little sore but it’s playoff time and I have to suck it up.”

— Reported by Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Battle will get tougher for Clippers in Memphis

The first game was a blowout and the second was a buzzer-beater, but both were wins for the Clippers and that means they hold a 2-0 advantage over the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the Western Conference NBA playoffs.

It’s a good omen for the Clippers, who have been up, 2-0, in a playoff series only one other time in franchise history. That time, in 2006, they went on to defeat the Denver nuggets, four games to one. It also holds an historical advantage as only 15 times in NBA playoff history has a team lost a series after winning the first two.

Those things mean little to the Clippers, however. Nobody in their locker room was satisfied after Chris Paul’s buzzer-beating bank shot gave the Clippers a 93-91 victory in Game 2 at Staples Center.

“All we did was protect our home court,” Vinny Del Negro said. “You have to win four games. We did what we were supposed to do. We know we’re going to have to play better in Memphis.”

It would be difficult to play better than Paul did down the stretch. He scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half and was the only Clippers’ player to score in the final 3:46 of the game. But the Clippers held a 12-point lead with just under 10 minutes to play and let the Grizzlies get back in to tie the game. They were able to get away with that at home, but trying that on the road would be playing with fire.

— Reported by Peter Yoon of ESPN Los Angeles

Charlotte Bobcats fire coach Mike Dunlap

Charlotte Bobcats President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins announced today that the team has relieved Mike Dunlap of his duties as head coach. The search for his successor will begin immediately.

“Rich Cho and I conducted our season-ending review and met with Coach Dunlap to reflect on this season. As an organization, it was decided that we needed to make a change with the head coach position,” Higgins said. “We want to thank Mike for his contribution and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

Dunlap was hired as the fifth head coach in franchise history on June 20, 2012 and posted an overall record of 21-61.

According to the Charlotte Observer, “Dunlap’s strength was player development and his greatest success was probably the improvement of point guard Kemba Walker. But he appeared to have friction at times with some of the veterans, including a verbal altercation with guard Ben Gordon during a shootaround. Players were asked in their exit interviews last week for a review of Dunlap’s coaching style. It’s unclear how much that factored in the decision to let him go. In a post-season interview with the Observer Friday, Dunlap said he had evolved as a coach this season. He noted that he had backed off on managing every aspect of games from the sideline and had shortened practices.”

Wizards inspired by Randy Wittman crying

On Nov. 26, the Wizards lost a home game to San Antonio, 118-92. It was the 12th straight loss to start the season, and the postgame locker room for the Wizards was an emotional scene. On Thursday, a tale told by Martell Webster revealed for the first time just how emotional it was.

“After we lost that 12th game and he came into the locker room – I don’t even know if he wants me to share this, but I don’t care – and he was crying, man, after that game,” Webster said. “And he told us that he cared about us. And for me, that was a point in the season where I was just like, I’m in. I’m totally in. I bought into the system. And when I did that, that’s when my season began to turn to a positive light, and I started to succeed after that point.

“That meant a lot because it showed that he really cared. He didn’t care about his job. He didn’t. He just cared about the guys that he was coaching. And that was amazing. That was touching for me. But that’s when I realized that I really wanted to buy into this system.”

A.J. Price said he also committed to the system after that night.

“I definitely remember that,” he said. “That showed me how passionate he was as a coach.

— Reported by Sarah Kogod of the Washington Post DC Sports Bog