NBA Playoffs Blog – Page 80 – NBA Blog

Heat might want 76ers to beat Celtics

But honestly, the Heat will not be rooting for the Celtics on Saturday. It may have less poetry and glamour, but the Heat most likely would much rather see the 76ers pull the upset.

It is true that the 76ers are younger, more athletic, deeper and healthier than the Celtics at this point. But the Heat have dominated Philadelphia like no other team in the East over the past two seasons; the two teams have played 12 times, including the first round of last year’s playoffs. Eleven times the Heat have won, including sweeping this season’s series 4-0.

The Heat haven’t beaten Boston since the first week of the season back in late December in their home opener. The Celtics are 3-0 against Miami since, though the last meeting was in the final week of the season and neither team played its full lineup. Boston beat the Heat twice in a two-week span in April as Rajon Rondo exploited them in both games. Even with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce limping and Avery Bradley out for the season, it’s not a comfortable matchup for the Heat.

Meanwhile, Miami used the 76ers like an elixir, beating them coming off losses all four times. The Heat held what proved to be a pivotal early-season team meeting on Philly’s own practice court. The last time the teams played, also in April, the Heat gave Wade the night off to rest ahead of a big game with Oklahoma City and won anyway.

— Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com

NBA fines Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has been fined $25,000 for critical public comments about how the Miami/Indiana playoff series was being officiated, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations.

Spoelstra’s comments were made to the media following Miami’s shootaround on Thursday, May 24.

Miami Heat happy for time to rest

Dwyane Wade has been battling knee soreness. LeBron James was hobbling after a falling into a courtside cameraman. Chris Bosh remains sidelined indefinitely with an abdominal strain. Mike Miller looks to be in agony whenever he moves.

An extra day of rest doesn’t sound like much, but it means plenty right now to the Miami Heat.

Now halfway to their goal of an NBA championship, the Heat took a welcomed — and needed — day off Friday after closing out their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with the Indiana Pacers.

The East finals open Monday in Miami against either Philadelphia or Boston, teams that will settle their second-round series with a Game 7 on Saturday night.

“We can use it,” James said after the Heat ousted the Pacers with a Game 6 win in Indianapolis on Thursday. “Any team in the postseason, any extra day that you can get, it definitely helps us. So we’re going to take advantage of it.”

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Kevin Durant already sick of Spurs questions

Kevin Durant was just three minutes into his 10-minute session with reporters Wednesday when he grew a bit testy.

Of the first seven questions lobbed at him, Durant was forced to field five about the San Antonio Spurs.

And he didn’t like it. Didn’t like it one bit.

Once that fifth question came — a reasonable query about what he anticipates from the Spurs defensively against him — Durant tried to supply an answer but soon found himself swerving off script.

“I’m just going to play my game,” Durant started. “I can’t really think about how those guys are going to defend me. They’re a tough defensive group. But every question is about how the Spurs are going to come and how the Spurs are going to play. But you got to ask me how we’re going to come at them. We’re a tough team as well. We come out and play hard. We have a lot of weapons as well. I know they’re the No. 1 seed, they’re a tough group and they haven’t lost in a couple of months but I think that we bring another dimension to the table as well. And we can come out and compete.”

— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman (Blog)

Dwyane Wade scores 41, Heat eliminate Pacers in six games

Miami’s Big Two was more than enough to finish off the Indiana Pacers.

Dwyane Wade and LeBron James turned around a season on the brink with perhaps the most remarkable week of their high-powered partnership, capped off by a 105-93 victory in Game 6 Thursday night that sent the Heat back to the Eastern Conference finals.

Wade scored 41 points, James had 28 and Miami wrapped up the series 4-2, advancing to face either Boston or Philadelphia.

But this was about more than one game.

This was a dazzling trilogy, Wade and James taking control when the Heat were down and looked like they might be out.

”In the regular season, we’ve had some good games,” Wade said. ”But I don’t know if we’ve ever had three in a row like that in the playoffs.”

Seven days earlier, Miami trailed 2-1 in the series after getting routed 94-75 in Indianapolis. The fired-up Pacers had another game on their home court and a chance to build a commanding lead.

Instead, the Big Three-Turned-Two took over.

With Chris Bosh sidelined by an abdominal injury, James and Wade soared to new heights in their two-man game. Over the course of three dazzling games, James scored 98 points, grabbed 34 rebounds and dished out 24 assists. Wade had 99 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists.

— Reported by Paul Newberry of the Associated Press

“When Wade and James are going like they were tonight and in this series, they’re going to be tough to beat by anybody,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “They were just spectacular in this series, and they were too much for us.”

The Pacers got every conceivable break they could possibly want in this series. They saw Chris Bosh leave the series at halftime of Game 1. They got the one-game suspension of Udonis Haslem for Game 6. They should have taken this thing to seven games, making this a bit of a disappointment in the end.

So there will be regret.

Regret they didn’t take more advantage of the mismatches with Roy Hibbert and David West, the fact they continually failed to feed Hibbert in the post.

Regret they failed to take advantage of Haslem’s one-game suspension in Game 6.

Regret they were sloppy — not soft, but sloppy — turning the ball over 22 times, leading to 26 Heat points.

— Reported by Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star

Miami, led by James and Wade, turned the Pacers’ 22 turnovers into 26 points.

The Pacers averaged 14 turnovers a game during the regular season.

“For whatever reason, we weren’t strong enough with the ball,” Pacers forward David West said. “We didn’t take care of it enough. They’re too good. They capitalize on mistakes. We just got too loose with the ball. They put pressure on you all over the court. We just made some bad plays.”

Three of the five starters had at least three turnovers.

These weren’t normal turnovers, either.

Paul George sent a pass sailing about five rows into the stands on a fast break. Leandro Barbosa attempted to throw a skip pass that landed in the stands.

“I felt the guys were pressing a little bit too much,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “Some of them came from being a little too excited. A lot of these guys are new to this level of play, this level of the playoffs. It’s growing pains.”

— Reported by Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star

“Chris Bosh is an awesome basketball player,” Vogel said, “but when he goes down that means more touches for LeBron and Wade and that’s not necessarily an advantage.”

Then there was the absence of Haslem due to his flagrant foul in Tuesday’s Game 5 free-for-all. While that allowed Pacers power forward David West to step forward with a series-high 24 points, the Heat got enough to offset that with 15 points from point guard Mario Chalmers and 12 from reserve forward Mike Miller.

“I think we’re getting more comfortable playing with a different starting lineup, playing without Chris,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Miller had scored 10 total points in the series’ first five games, before draining four 3-pointers Thursday.

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

But these weren’t the show-stopping, glitz-heavy Hollywood Heat this series in the manner some think them. They lived the Sean Connery line from The Untouchables in this series: “They pull a knife, you pull a gun. They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue.”

Indiana’s Tyler Hansbrough bloodied Wade in the lane? Udonis Haslem bodyslammed Hansbrough to the ground.

Lance Stephenson gave the “choke” sign to LeBron. Dexter Pittman pole-axed Stephenson to the floor in another game.

They came in undermanned without Bosh and the suspended Haslem this Game 6. They fell behind early, kept their composure and ultimately left no doubt who was the better team.

As they should have. As their talent demands. But down 2-1 in this series they faced the kind of crossroads no one expected and Indiana tried to take advantage of.

— Reported by Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

LeBron James says Tyler Hansbrough should have been ejected in Game 5

To LeBron James, the simple solution could have prevented the bigger mess.

While not directly calling out the officiating crew at Tuesday’s Game 5 of this Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series, James said Thursday that harsher immediate action could have prevented the eventual suspension of Heat power forward Udonis Haslem for Thursday night’s Game 6 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

James said had Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough been immediately cited for a Flagrant 2 foul Tuesday and ejected for his hard hit on Dwyane Wade, then there would have been no retaliation foul from Haslem. Hansbrough instead was cited for a Flagrant 1 foul, which allowed him to remain in the game. The NBA later upgraded the violation to a Flagrant 2 foul, which would have mandated immediate ejection…

“If there was a Flagrant 2 to start with,” James said, “then U.D. would have never fouled him, which means U.D. never would have got suspended. I mean Hansbrough, it’s not the first time that he went after one of our players this year. We have two guys suspended and basically they have no one suspended.”

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Celtics guard Avery Bradley likely done for playoffs

– The Celtics are not expecting to have Avery Bradley for the rest of the playoffs because of a left shoulder injury, a source close to the shooting guard said Wednesday. Asked for a percentage about Bradley having played his final game this season, the source said in the “high 90s.’’

The source said it’s “highly likely’’ Bradley’s left shoulder would pop out again – it has popped out twice in the series against the 76ers – and playing would put him at risk of “serious structural damage.’’

Bradley has missed the past two games with soreness in both shoulders. The Celtics brass, along with Bradley’s representatives, appear close to deciding to sit him for the remainder of the playoffs. Coach Doc Rivers called Bradley’s injury “day to day,’’ but said he was not sure when he would return.

— Reported by the Boston Globe

Sixers force a Game 7 with Celtics

The buzz at the start was for Allen Iverson’s ceremonial return.

By the end, more than 20,000 fans were on their feet and going wild for Jrue Holiday, Elton Brand, Andre Iguodala and the rugged-and-determined play that kept the eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers alive for at least one more game.

Yes, the Sixers are talking about Game 7 – and they’re taking this improbable postseason run back to Boston.

Holiday scored 20 points, and Brand had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Sixers to an 82-75 victory over the Celtics on Wednesday night that tied the Eastern Conference semifinals.

No team has won consecutive games in a series where neither team has played well enough to seize control. But the Sixers were good enough to win Game 6, improving to 5-0 this postseason in games following a loss…

Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo could be playing their last game together Saturday night if they can’t find a way to hang onto the ball and put away a Sixers team that won’t quit…

The Celtics posted ugly numbers across the board: Blame the loss on the 33 percent shooting, the 17 turnovers or the 3 for 14 3-point shooting. Either way, there’s enough to go around. Pierce had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Garnett had 20 points and 11 boards…

Pierce led the parade to the line for the Boston. He made his first 11 attempts for a Celtics team that was 17 for 17 through three quarters. The Celtics made only 19 field goals through three.

— Reported by Dan Gelston of the Associated Press

Rondo’s final line on Wednesday – nine points, six assists and nine rebounds – was the kind you expect to see from in at the half.

“I don’t know” was C’s coach Doc Rivers’ response when asked about Rondo’s very un-Rondo-like game.

“He wanted to play well,” Rivers added. “He attacked early and missed some shots. He probably got caught in between himself because he saw the offense wasn’t working.”

Boston shot 33 percent from the field and turned the ball over 17 times (for 19 points).

You want to know what a recipe for defeat looks like?

Shooting that poorly and turning the ball over that many times, is a start.

And when you consider so much of Rondo’s game is dependent on others making shots, it’s not all that surprising that the Celtics All-Star’s numbers weren’t nearly as impressive as they usually are.

— Reported by A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE

The Celtics flew home for Saturday’s Game 7 with some odious numbers, but none worse than those turned in by the architect of that win in Game 5.

Rajon Rondo, who for long stretches had as many turnovers as assists, finished with perhaps his worst night of the postseason — nine points on 4-for-14 shooting, six assists, four turnovers and his one redeeming stat of nine rebounds.

But he had company. Brandon Bass, the Game 5 hero, had eight points on 2-for-12 shooting against some intensified trapping. Ray Allen, now maneuvering on two bad ankles and struggling to keep up with Philadelphia’s quick guards, fell into foul trouble and shot 4-for-11.

They could only get so far on Kevin Garnett’s jump shooting this time. Keyon Dooling can only dig into his speech file so often.

The Celtics, now 2-11 in potential road game closeout opportunities over the last five years — the new Big Three era — are thus thanking the skies for the fact they have homecourt advantage.

— Reported by Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald

Jrue Holiday led the Sixers with 20 points and dealt six assists. Brand gutted through a sore neck and shoulder for 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Iguodala and Turner had 12 each, and Williams chipped in with 11.

Defensively, the group held Celtic guard Rajon Rondo to only nine points and six assists, and limited Boston to 26-for-78 (33.3 percent) from the floor and turned them over 17 times. And with starting ‘two’ guard Avery Bradley sidelined again with a shoulder injury, there weren’t many able bodies for Rivers to look to.

“It’s what we have,” Rivers said. “Avery is a great defender, but I can’t worry about [not having him]. The penetration hurt us and the isos and they were picking who they wanted [to isolate]. That’s what I would do. I know Doug well. I’m gonna give him a call and say, ‘Listen, none of that.’ We have to do a better job of helping those who can’t keep guys in front of them.

“They’re athletic, young, they’re very fast, and they play with a lot of energy. We knew coming in this would be hard. They have a quickness advantage and we understand that.”

— Reported by Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News

Evan Turner hasn’t exactly been an offensive machine during this series, but with Allen assigned to him this appeared to be a game where he could break out.

The previous two games saw Turner score in double figures, but his shooting (10-for-35) has been anything but stellar.

By halftime on Wednesday, even with the Sixers struggling to hit shots from the field – they were just 14-for-35 from the field – Turner was off to a decent enough shooting start (3-for-5) that it didn’t look too far out of the realm of possibility that the former No. 2 overall pick might put up some impressive numbers.

And while he never really got his offensive game untracked, that was less important than what he did at the defensive end.

— Reported by John N. Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Heat players Dexter Pittman suspended 3 games, Udonis Haslem suspended 1 game

Miami Heat center Dexter Pittman has been suspended three games without pay for striking the neck and shoulders of Indiana guard Lance Stephenson, and Miami forward Udonis Haslem has been suspended one game without pay for striking the head and shoulders of Indiana’s Tyler Hansbrough, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

Both Pittman and Haslem had their Flagrant Foul Ones upgraded to Flagrant Foul Twos, as did Indiana’s Hansbrough, who struck the head of Miami’s Dwyane Wade on a foul that occurred shortly before Haslem’s foul.

The incidents occurred during the Heat’s 115-83 victory over the Pacers on May 22 at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami.

Haslem will serve his suspension on Thursday when the Pacers host the Heat in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. Pittman will begin serving his suspension in Game 6.

Danny Granger thinks Udonis Haslem foul on Tyler Hansbrough deserves upgrade

We won’t know until late Wednesday afternoon if the NBA will hand down any suspensions for Game 6 in this knock-down, drag-out Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers series.

But Pacers forward Danny Granger left little doubt what he thought should happen in the wake of Udonis Haslem’s flagrant foul on Tyler Hansbrough in the first half of Tuesday’s 115-83 Heat blowout win.

“Obviously it was retaliation for Tyler’s foul on [Dwyane] Wade,” Granger said of the play a few trips earlier at the other end of the court. “I mean, I saw it was bad in the game. Then I came back here and I saw the replay. It looked about three times worse. That was all-out. I expect to see Flagrant 2. I’d be shocked if they don’t upgrade it after looking at that play. …

“Seeing it in slow motion, it was obvious what [Haslem’s] intent was. I think it was just as dangerous as what Metta World Peace did to James Harden. I know he was trying to protect his teammate, but it was a hard foul.”

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel