NBA Playoffs Blog – Page 39 – NBA Blog

Marcin Gortat steps up in Wizards Game 3 win vs Raptors

Marcin Gortat steps up in Wizards Game 3 win vs Raptors

The Washington Wizards are on a roll. Now up 3-0 in their first-round series against the Toronto Raptors, the team has regained some of the swagger they enjoyed earlier in the season. Here’s the Washington Post blog reporting:

Marcin Gortat’s season reached a nadir in Canada on Feb. 11. He had just watched his Washington Wizards play an entire fourth quarter against the Toronto Raptors from the bench for the third time this season because Coach Randy Wittman had elected to use smaller lineups without him. Gortat was visibly fuming. He had signed a $60-million contract over the summer and he didn’t anticipate sitting in the fourth quarter during marquee matchups as part of the deal.

“It’s tough. It’s really tough especially the last year I played pretty much every fourth quarter,” Gortat said after the game. “It’s a coaching decision. You guys have to ask him why I’m not playing.”

Fast-forward three months and Gortat is starring – and playing fourth quarters –against the same Raptors as the Wizards have taken a commanding 3-0 series lead. The center registered team highs of 24 points and 13 rebounds in 42 minutes while adding strong rim protection at the other end in the fourth quarter of the Wizards’ 106-99 Game 3 win Friday.

Warriors unleash amazing comeback to win Game 3 vs Pelicans

Warriors unleash amazing comeback to win Game 3 vs Pelicans

The Golden State Warriors unleashed an amazing comeback to push Game 3 of their first round playoff series against the New Orleans Pelicans into overtime, and then coming away with a shocking win. Golden State now has a 3-0 series lead. Here’s CSN Bay Area reporting:

The Warriors became the third team in postseason history to overcome a deficit of at least twenty points entering the fourth quarter, and win.

Steph Curry’s miraculous game-tying 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds left in regulation will be remembered forever, but he wouldn’t have been able to play the role of hero without a lot of help from his teammates.

“We were pretty desperate,” Steve Kerr said following the historic win. “We went small. We put Shaun Livingston in there. We gave Steph a brief rest to start the fourth … our small unit in the fourth quarter just came in and turned it into a track meet.

“Draymond was fantastic. When you go small and you have to guard (Anthony) Davis, you’re really not getting much help on the backside and Draymond thwarted several lobs and plays at the rim, and got rebounds and then we were able to get out and run.

But I’m gonna have to watch the tape. I’m not quite sure what happened. I’m as startled as everybody else.”

Tony Parker status for Game 3 vs Clippers: good to go

Spurs need an effective Tony Parker

Here’s the San Antonio Express-News with a key health update on the Spurs:

Tony Parker will play Game 3 vs Clippers

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says perennially hobbled point guard Tony Parker will play in Game 3 tonight against the L.A. Clippers. Given Parker left Game 2 in the fourth quarter with soreness in his right Achilles tendon — to go with a rolled ankle and thigh contusion suffered in Game 1 — it is fair to wonder how effective he might be.

The matchup between a limping Parker and Clippers All-Star Chris Paul has not been a fair fight so far. Paul has outscored Parker 53-11 in two games, a gulf the Spurs have been forced to make up in other areas.

Though the Spurs have used several different defenders against Paul, including newly minted Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard, Parker has drawn the assignment to start the game.

Warriors aiming for sweep of Pelicans

Warriors aiming for sweep of Pelicans

Here’s CSN Bay Area reporting on the Golden State Warriors, who were the best team in the league in the 2014-15 regular season and hope to keep it rocking all playoffs long:

The Warriors are up 2-0 despite some obvious difficulties with New Orleans. With the elongated form of Anthony Davis blanketing half the court, the Pelicans have been disruptive on defense. On offense, they’ve utilized screen-and-rolls to get Davis near the rim or, more damaging, to give Quincy Pondexter and Eric Gordon open looks beyond the arc.

But if the Warriors fix those two problems — and they believe they will — it’s realistic to believe they can win twice at Smoothie King Center and achieve the sweep.

“I like the position we’re in,” coach Steve Kerr told CSNBayArea.com. “I don’t think we’re ahead of the game; you don’t get ahead of the game until you win on the road. But I feel good. I know we can play better.”

The Warriors have put together impressive stretches but no truly impressive game, partly because New Orleans is a well-coached, high-quality team. But the Warriors expect better.

Deron Williams struggles badly in Game 2

Deron Williams struggles badly in Game 2 vs Hawks

Here’s ESPN New York reporting on Nets point guard Deron Williams, who shot bricks in Brooklyn’s Game 2 loss to the Atlanta Hawks:

Coming off one of the worst playoff games of his career, Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams knows he needs to produce at a higher level.

Asked to assess where his game is on Thursday, Williams responded, “Do I really have to answer that? I just came off two points, 1-for-7 [shooting]. I can play better.”

In Brooklyn’s 96-91 Game 2 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, Williams, as he said, had just two points on 1-for-7 shooting. He missed a wide-open, potential game-tying jumper with 10 seconds remaining.

The Nets trail the Hawks 2-0 in their first-round series. Game 3 is Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center.

Chandler Parsons out for playoffs, Rajon Rondo out indefinitely with back injury

The Dallas Mavericks announced that after being re-evaluated today forward Chandler Parsons is out for the remainder of the playoffs. He is currently exploring surgical options to address his right knee injury. The Mavs are currently facing the Houston Rockets in the first round of the postseason.

Parsons (6-10, 230) played 36 minutes in Game 1 at Houston and had 10 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.

Also, guard Rajon Rondo sustained a back injury in last night’s game at Houston. He is out indefinitely and is seeking additional medical opinions.

In two games vs. Houston, Rondo has averaged 9.5 points, 3.0 assists and 1.0 rebound in 18.6 minutes.

In related news, Devin Harris is listed as probable for Game 3 vs. Houston after missing Game 2 with a left great toe injury.

Read fan reaction and share your opinion in this forum topic.

Jason Terry fined for flopping vs Mavs

Jason Terry fined for flopping vs Mavs

Houston Rockets guard Jason Terry has been fined $5,000 by the NBA for violating the league’s anti-flopping rules during Game 2 of Houston’s first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks.

The incident occurred with 6:25 remaining in the third quarter of Rockets’ 111-99 victory over the Mavericks last night at Toyota Center.

To view the play, click on this link.

Former AAU teammates now together in playoffs for Rockets

Former AAU teammates now together in playoffs for Rockets

It’s cool when buddies from your childhood are in your life years later. Especially when they’re your teammate on a really good NBA playoff team. Here’s ESPN Houston reporting:

As kids growing up in Atlanta, they played on the same AAU team, just having a good time and dreaming about the big time: playing in the NBA.

Josh Smith’s dad, Pete, picked the kids up and directed them on basketball. Dwight Howard, a close friend of Josh’s, would ride along and have a good time talking about the future.

“I looked at a picture of me and him in high school that we took together playing AAU basketball,” Howard said Tuesday morning. “It’s crazy that we’re actually competing, hoping for a chance at an NBA title. It’s amazing and we’re blessed that we have an excellent opportunity in front of us and we have to take advantage of it.”

Tuesday night, that future turned into the present as Howard and Smith dominated the second half of a sloppy first-round playoff game at the Toyota Center.

During the middle of the noise and the good times, Smith and Howard gave each other a shoulder bump, just like old times. At the end of the evening, the Houston Rockets took control of this series against the turmoil-plagued Dallas Mavericks with a 111-99 victory to take a 2-0 series lead.

Coach David Blatt is an experienced winner

Coach David Blatt is an experienced winner

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt is an experienced winner. In places other than the NBA, that is. He’s new to the league and had a good regular season, but these playoffs should be a learning experience. Here’s the Boston Herald reporting:

Growing up in Framingham and cheering for the likes of Celtics greats Bill Russell and John Havlicek, Cavaliers coach David Blatt knew what championship basketball was all about.

At the professional level, Blatt has coached 17 champions in various leagues and tournaments, the most recent, a Euroleague title last year for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

None of those championships were the NBA, so critics were interested to see how he would handle his first postseason series against the Celtics.

“I don’t really know if people are aware of just what kind of different competitions I’ve been in based on how they approach my rookie season here in the NBA,” said Blatt, 55, a Princeton graduate. “It’s kind of funny to me. You have to recognize that I’ve been on playoff runs that are national team-oriented. I’ve coached teams that have played 11 games in 15 or 16 days in order to win a medal or European championship.

“They don’t have anything like that in the NBA. That’s extremely difficult.”

Damian Lillard struggles in Blazers Game 1 loss

Damian Lillard struggles in Blazers Game 1 loss to Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Portland Trail Blazers 100-86 Sunday to take a 1-0 series lead. Blazers guard Damian Lillard struggled badly, shooting 5-of-21 for 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Here’s the Oregonian reporting:

Damian Lillard was locked in at long last. This was the stingy and smothering laser-like All-Star effort we’d been promised all week by the guard. It was the defensive performance of a lifetime.

Here was Lillard late Sunday night, long after the Blazers Game 1 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies, shutting down the scrutiny, one dress sock at a time. He’d already toweled off like a retiree watching a sunset. Now, the Blazers All-Star guard sat on a folding chair, back to the room, checking text messages.

It was so crowded with media in Lillard’s corner of the locker room that when guard Steve Blake emerged from the showers he had to dispatch a locker room attendant through the mob of cameras to retrieve his clothes. Also, during the Lillard filibuster a reporter from TNT asked Chris Kaman if he wouldn’t mind giving the network a quote, as Lillard was about to bleed their deadline out.

Kaman obliged and left. Blake eventually dressed, conducted an interview and left the room. So did the rest of the Blazers teammates. One by one, from Robin Lopez to Nic Batum to Wesley Matthews and back, the Blazers absorbed the disappointment and disappeared out the locker room doors.