NBA Playoffs Blog – Page 62 – NBA Blog

Unlikely Big 3 has Grizzlies in 1st Western finals

The Miami Heat have LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Spurs have dominated for years with the trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

Now the Memphis Grizzlies, who traded their leading scorer in January, have surged into their first Western Conference finals behind an unlikely Big Three of their own.

Marc Gasol still is Pau’s little brother to some. Memphis thought about trading guard Mike Conley, the son of a track star, early in his career. And Memphis is Zach Randolph’s fourth NBA team.

”Me, Marc and Zach, we all tried to take the team and put them on our back and say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do. This is what we’ve got to do to be great and get to where we want to go,”’ Conley said Friday. ”We knew we had to step up, and we all did that.”

That they have.

The Grizzlies never won a playoff series with Gay on the court. When they beat the Spurs in the first round in 2011, it came with Gay sidelined by an injury.

— Reported by Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press

Pacers guard George Hill to undergo more concussion tests

Pacers guard George Hill will have another concussion test before Saturday’s home playoff game.

Hill missed Thursday night’s game after complaining of headaches. He was diagnosed with a concussion. NBA policy requires players to pass a concussion test before returning to action. Hill did not practice Friday, and coach Frank Vogel said he had not spoken with him. Vogel said Hill was expected to meet with doctors later Friday.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Spurs eliminate Warriors from NBA playoffs in six games

Slow at the start of the series and strong at the end, the San Antonio Spurs wore out the Golden State Warriors the way they have so many other opponents.

Tim Duncan had 19 points and six rebounds, Kawhi Leonard added 16 points and 10 rebounds and the Spurs held off a furious final rally to beat the Warriors 94-82 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Western Conference finals.

”They’ve got great character. They’re competitive. They know there’s not a million chances to do this sort of thing. They wanted it,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his squad.

Tony Parker shook off a poor start to score 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and Tiago Splitter added a career-playoff high 14 points for San Antonio, which had a 13-point lead in the third quarter dissolve to two in the final minutes.

Stephen Curry shot 10 of 25 from the floor to score 22 points on a nagging left ankle, and Jarrett Jack had 15 points as the injury-saddled Warriors finally tired. Rookie forward Harrison Barnes also suffered a head injury in the second quarter, returned in the third and was sidelined in the fourth with a headache.

The Spurs outshot Golden State 45 percent to 39 percent and outrebounded them 46 to 40.

Second-seeded San Antonio will open the conference finals at home against Memphis on Sunday. The fifth-seeded Grizzlies eliminated Oklahoma City in five games…

Klay Thompson, who had 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting, made a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that sliced San Antonio’s lead to three. Then Curry’s pull-up jumper brought the Warriors within 77-75 with 4:52 to play.

— Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

Harrison Barnes gets six stitches in Spurs-Warriors Game 6

Golden State Warriors rookie forward Harrison Barnes needed six stitches to close a cut above his right eye after a hard fall in the second quarter of a playoff game against San Antonio on Thursday night.

Barnes fell hard to the court after leaping to contest a drive from Boris Diaw. After a few minutes on the ground, Barnes was led back to the locker room. Barnes got the stitches at halftime and returned to the court to a loud ovation just before the start of the third quarter.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Memphis Grizzlies on fire in NBA playoffs

The Grizzlies have won eight of their last nine playoffs games, and upended a pair of higher seeds along the way. They have blossomed in the NBA’s elite landscape like a weed, which is to say it’s been pretty darn difficult to get rid of a grit-and-grind team that’s bucking trends in the postseason.

The fifth-seeded Grizzlies’ path to the conference finals was rather remarkable. They lost two straight games to the fourth-place Los Angeles Clippers to start the opening round and then won four straight. Memphis dropped Game 1 against top-seeded Oklahoma City and won the next four contests to capture the West semifinals.

The Grizzlies began their playoff history in Memphis losing their first 12 games. This version of the Griz is 18-13 over the past three postseasons behind the commitment to a core group of Conley, Tony Allen, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.

“It’s just confidence,” Randolph said. “It just continues to build and build, and guys continue to get better and better.”

— Reported by Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal

Knicks in tough spot vs Pacers

Only eight teams in NBA history have climbed out of a 3-1 hole to advance.

“I’m very disappointed to be in the position that we’re in,” [J.R.] Smith said. “We’re still not out of it. We’re still in a good position to where we can still make some noise.”

The Knicks feel good because they’re home, where they have gone 34-12 this season, playoffs included. The Knicks also believe the shots that didn’t fall in Games 3 and 4 in Indiana — they missed 102 of 158 attempts — will drop in the Garden.

But just being home won’t necessarily address their inconsistent defense and the way they have been dominated on the boards by Roy Hibbert and the bigger Pacers.

Hoping to change that, Woodson started Kenyon Martin at power forward and brought guard Pablo Prigioni off the bench in Game 4. Indiana still outrebounded the Knicks, 54-36. The Pacers’ starting frontcourt grabbed 35 alone. Woodson likely will return to his usual starting five of Prigioni, Raymond Felton, Iman Shumpert, Anthony and Tyson Chandler Thursday night.

— Reported by Al Iannazzone of New York Newsday

Knicks need J.R. Smith shooting slump to end

Could Thursday night be J.R. Smith’s last game as a Knick?

Smith, the sharpshooter who has been in a prolonged slump, said Wednesday after practice that he’s not thinking about his future beyond Thursday’s Game 5 of the Knicks-Pacers series. That’s a good thing, because the game is the first out of a possible three win-or-go-home contests for the Knicks.

If the Knicks don’t find a way to come back from their 3-1 deficit, it is likely almost everyone’s future with the team will be up for discussion.

About the same time he won the Sixth Man of the Year award at the end of the season, Smith said he planned to exercise his right to opt out of his contract. Soon afterward, things started to go downhill for him. Over the last six games, dating back to Game 5 of the Knicks’ first-round series against Boston, Smith is shooting 26-for-91 (28.5 percent) from the field. After going 7-for-22 in the Game 4 loss at Indiana, Smith blamed himself for the fact the team was on the verge of elimination.

— Reported by Barbara Barker of New York Newsday

Memphis Grizzlies eliminate OKC Thunder from playoffs in five games

The Memphis Grizzlies advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 88-84 on Wednesday night.

Zach Randolph had 28 points and 14 rebounds, Mike Conley added 13 points and 11 assists for Memphis, the fifth seed.

Kevin Durant missed a 16-foot jumper from the left wing to tie it with 6 seconds left, finishing off a miserable shooting night for the three-time NBA scoring champion.

Durant ended up with 21 points on 5-for-21 shooting, the third-worst performance of his playoff career. The Thunder, who made it to the NBA Finals last season, were eliminated in five games. The top seed in the West went 2-6 after All-Star guard Russell Westbrook went out with a knee injury that required surgery.

Serge Ibaka had 17 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 1:26 to play during a desperation comeback try for the Thunder.

Oklahoma City trailed by 12 with three minutes left before going on a 16-6 rally, with Reggie Jackson’s 3-pointer cutting the deficit to 86-84 with 14.3 seconds remaining.

Randolph missed both free throws with 11.3 seconds on the clock to give the Thunder one last chance to save their season. Durant got the ball beyond the 3-point line on the left wing and navigated around Tony Allen before missing the jumper.

Allen then made two free throws to close it out.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

Miami Heat eliminate Chicago Bulls from playoffs in five games

A fast start and faster finish were enough to send the Miami Heat back to the Eastern Conference finals.

LeBron James scored 23 points, Dwyane Wade added 18 and the Heat rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to beat the Chicago Bulls 94-91 on Wednesday night and close out their second-round series in five games.

Chris Bosh scored 12 points and Udonis Haslem added 10 for Miami, which ran out to a 22-4 lead, then was outscored by a whopping 29 points over the next 27 minutes before recovering. The Heat outscored the Bulls 25-14 in the fourth.

Carlos Boozer finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls, who were without Derrick Rose for the 99th straight game. Nate Robinson and Jimmy Butler missed potential tying 3-pointers on the final possession of the season for Chicago, which dropped the last four games of the series.

Robinson scored 21 points, Butler had 19, and Richard Hamilton 15 for the Bulls.

And there was drama, all the way to the end.

Robinson’s 3-pointer with 1:43 left got the Bulls to 94-91, and Butler knocked the ball away from Chris Bosh for a turnover on the ensuing Miami possession. But Boozer missed an open 15-footer with about a minute remaining and, when Wade knocked the ball off Boozer’s leg after a Miami miss with 45 seconds left, the Heat retained possession – with a fresh shot clock to boot.

But Miami didn’t score, and the Bulls had a final chance. Robinson missed a 3, and Butler faked his way free for a good look that hit the rim, before bouncing away.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

J.R. Smith disappointed in his own play

J.R. Smith says he is letting Knicks teammates down

Carmelo Anthony spoke in a whisper. J.R. Smith took blame for this collapse. Tyson Chandler had no criticism, just praise for the Pacers. Mike Woodson seemed stunned their shotmaking has gone so wayward, so quickly.

The Knicks have sunk in a deep hole, a series deficit from which the franchise never has recovered. The Knicks offense has collapsed — along with their once-promising season. Their first second-round appearance in 13 years is turning into a nightmare.

The Pacers routed the Knicks, 93-82, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to jack their second-round series lead to 3-1. The Knicks never have rallied from a 3-1 deficit — just eight NBA teams have in history.

“I take the blame for this whole series,” Smith said. “I’ve been letting my teammates down, I’ve been letting my coaches down, and it doesn’t feel good.”

Smith, still playing with the remnants of the flu, shot 7-for-22 for 19 points to extend his miserable slump. In six games since his suspension for an elbow in the first round, he is 26-of- 91.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post