NBA Playoffs Blog – Page 85 – NBA Blog

Metta World Peace suspension is over

It had been 20 days since Metta World Peace last slipped on his practice jersey with a game to play the next day.

Back on April 22, in the Los Angeles Lakers’ penultimate game in the regular season, World Peace threw his left elbow and connected with the head of Oklahoma City’s James Harden. The mercurial forward hasn’t had a game to look forward to since.

After serving the seven-game suspension levied by the NBA for the Harden hit, World Peace is set to return for Game 7 of the Lakers’ first-round series against the Denver Nuggets.

As his team is teetering, having lost two in a row and three of the past four against the Nuggets to tie the series at 3-3, World Peace did not want his return to the lineup to throw the Lakers off any more.

“(Saturday) is more about, kind of like all bets are off,” World Peace said before the Lakers practiced on Friday. “All in. Whatever we have to do as a team. It’s not about what I can and what I can’t do. It’s about really what I’m going to do.”

— Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA

Grizzlies beat Clippers 90-88 to force Game 7

This time, the fourth quarter belonged to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Long the domain of the Clippers’ Chris Paul, it was the Grizzlies who rallied in the closing minutes to beat Los Angeles 90-88 and force a decisive seventh game in their playoff series.

Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph worked their inside-out game to perfection on a night when Paul and Blake Griffin were limited by injuries and the Clippers’ bench couldn’t quite put them over the top.

”This one has to hurt,” Paul said. ”If it doesn’t hurt, it means you don’t care.”

Gasol scored 23 points, Randolph had 18 points and 16 rebounds, and Rudy Gay and Mike Conley added 13 points each to help the Grizzlies win for the first time in the Western Conference series at Staples Center and stave off elimination…

Griffin scored 17 points despite a sprained left knee that limited his jumping ability, and Eric Bledoe added 14 off the bench to lead the Clippers, who blew an eight-point lead in the fourth along with a second consecutive chance to close out what would have been a landmark playoff victory for the beleaguered franchise…

Only eight teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a seven-game series. Top-seeded San Antonio awaits the winner in the conference semifinals…

The Grizzlies led by nine points in the first half, when they outrebounded the Clippers. Paul twice drew the Clippers within one in the second quarter before Gasol’s three-point play extended Memphis’ lead to 42-38 at the break. Paul and Griffin combined for 12 points and six rebounds in the half, with Paul playing 18 minutes and Griffin 15. The Grizzlies had 13 turnovers in the half, when neither team shot well…

— Reported by the Associated Press

Memphis did all of the little things this time. The Griz got steals, offensive rebounds and made it nearly impossible for the Clippers to score at the rim.

Center Marc Gasol led the Griz with 23 points, and Zach Randolph added 18 points and 16 rebounds.

The Clippers, who led 76-68, early in the fourth quarter, were at full strength despite questions about whether Chris Paul (hip) and Blake Griffin (knee) would play. Both started and didn’t appear limited.

However, the Grizzlies couldn’t have been more impaired handling the basketball if they had tried. They turned the ball over 22 times, breaking a franchise playoff record set against Dallas in 2006.

— Reported by Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal

Paul turned the ball over twice and missed a key free throw in the final five minutes, helping the Grizzlies reclaim home-court advantage in the series before Game 7 Sunday in Memphis.

Despite some poor late-game execution on the offensive end, the Clippers had a chance to make one last push. With 25 seconds left in the game and the Clippers down four, Tony Allen missed two free throws, but after Randy Foye jumped to grab the rebound, his foot landed on the baseline.

— Reported by Dan Woike of the Orange County Register

NBA says foul was called incorrectly near end of Hawks-Celtics game

The NBA says a foul against Boston with 3.1 seconds left in Atlanta’s season-ending loss on Thursday should have been called sooner, which would have given the Hawks a free throw instead of just the ball out of bounds.

The Celtics’ Marquis Daniels held the Hawks’ Al Horford as Atlanta was inbounding the ball trailing 81-79. Referee Eric Lewis called a foul, but ruled it came after Marvin Williams had released the ball, meaning it was just a common foul that resulted in another throw-in.

However, replays showed the foul occurred before the ball was passed and should have been treated as an away-from-the-play foul, in which case Atlanta would have been awarded one free throw and retained possession of the ball.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Nuggets rout Lakers 113-96 to force Game 7

The upstart Denver Nuggets are one win from running the lumbering Los Angeles Lakers and their star-studded cast right out of the playoffs.

Ty Lawson scored 32 points, fellow spark plug Corey Brewer added 18 and the free-wheeling, too-young-to-scare Nuggets forced a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series with a dominating 113-96 win Thursday night…

The decisive game is Saturday night at the Staples Center, Denver’s first all-or-nothing showdown since losing to Utah in Game 7 of the 1994 Western Conference semifinals. But it would be a mistake to think the young team will cave under the pressure of a win-or-go-home scenario…

Kobe Bryant followed his 43-point outburst in Game 5 with 31 points in 3 1/2 quarters despite a sour stomach that he said left his hotel room ”looking like a scene from ‘The Exorcist,”’ and also prevented him from attending the Lakers’ morning shootaround and forced him to take intravenous fluids all day.

Bryant’s teammates felt even worse – for letting him down, especially fellow stars Andrew Bynum, who made just 4 of 11 shots for 11 points, and Pau Gasol, who was 1 for 10 for three points with three rebounds…

Bryant said he was eager for Metta World Peace’s return to the lineup Saturday night…

The Nuggets got another great game from rookie Kenneth Faried, who provided even more energy as well as 15 points and 11 rebounds. Danilo Gallinari and Andre Miller both had 12 points for Denver, which led 90-68 heading into the fourth quarter.

— Reported by Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press

Celtics eliminate Hawks in six games to advance to 2nd round

Kevin Garnett had 28 points and 14 rebounds, hitting a jumper to give Boston the lead with 31 seconds left, and the Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks 83-80 in Game 6 on Thursday night to win their first-round playoff series and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the fifth straight year.

The Celtics will play the Philadelphia 76ers, who eliminated East No. 1 seed Chicago in six games with a 79-78 victory earlier Thursday.

Garnett topped his regular-season high of 25 points and had five blocks and three steals for Boston, which has won at least one playoff series every year since the new Big 3 was assembled. Paul Pierce had 18 points despite playing with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, and Rajon Rondo had 14 points and eight assists.

Josh Smith had 19 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta, which failed to advance in the playoffs for the first time in four years. Joe Johnson had 17 points, Marvin Williams added 16 and eight rebounds and Al Horford had 15 points and nine rebounds.

But Horford missed the first of two foul shots with 2.3 seconds left after he was tackled by Marquis Daniels to avoid an easy dunk that would have tied the game. After he made the second, the Celtics got the ball to Pierce, he was fouled and made both free throws…

The Hawks went 5 minutes without scoring early in the fourth quarter as the Celtics turned a two-point game into a 74-65 lead. But Atlanta scored 10 of the next 12 points, with Horford scoring the last three baskets, making it a one-point game on an alley-oop pass from Smith with 3:52 left.

— Reported by Jimmy Golden of the Associated Press

76ers eliminate Bulls in six games, advance to 2nd round

Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner hopped on the scorer’s table and played to the crowd as the catchy 76ers theme song blared in the arena.

Eight years of going home empty was over. The Sixers were ready for a long overdue postseason celebration.

Iguodala made the go-ahead free throws with 2.2 seconds left and Philadelphia rallied for a 79-78 victory over the top-seeded Chicago Bulls in Game 6 on Thursday night, advancing to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time since 2003.

The 76ers will face Boston, which beat Atlanta in six games, in the conference semifinals.

Omar Asik missed two free throws for the Bulls with 7 seconds left that would have sealed the win. Iguodala grabbed the second miss, sprinted the length of the court, and was fouled by Asik on the driving layup. He made both and 20,362 fans went absolutely wild…

Iguodala scored 20 points, and Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams each scored 14. The Sixers won even though the Bulls crushed them 56-33 on the boards…

Luol Deng had 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Bulls. Richard Hamilton scored 19 points and Carlos Boozer grabbed 13 rebounds…

The Bulls lost star guard Derrick Rose to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee late in their series-opening victory. Center Joakim Noah was on the bench Thursday but failed to play in his third straight game with a sprained left ankle.

— Reported by Dan Gelston of the Associated Press

Blake Griffin has sprained left knee, Chris Paul has strained right hip flexor

Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin sustained a sprained left knee in last night’s 80-92 game five Clippers’ loss in Memphis last night. The injury occurred with 1:31 remaining in the third quarter. After being medically cleared to return to the game, Griffin finished the contest with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three steals in 39 minutes played. Griffin underwent an MRI today in Los Angeles which confirmed that there was no structural damage to the knee.

Clippers All-Star point guard Chris Paul suffered a strained right hip flexor with 5:16 remaining in the fourth quarter last night. Paul also returned to the game, finishing the night with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals in 39 minutes of action.

Both players will be listed as game time decisions for game six tomorrow night at 6:00 PDT vs. Memphis at STAPLES Center.

Grizzlies force Game 6, beat Clippers 92-80

Marc Gasol scored 23 points and Zach Randolph added 19 as the Memphis Grizzlies avoided elimination by beating the Los Angeles Clippers 92-80 on Wednesday night, forcing a Game 6 in the Western Conference first-round series.

With Gasol and Randolph scoring early, the Grizzlies looked like the team that knocked off top-seeded San Antonio last spring and took Oklahoma City to seven games in the conference semifinals.

Game 6 is Friday night in Los Angeles. If the Grizzlies can win, Game 7 would be Sunday in Memphis.

Rudy Gay added 14 points for Memphis.

Mo Williams had 20 points for the Clippers while Chris Paul scored 19 and Blake Griffin had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Paul and Griffin both missed time in the fourth quarter with injuries.

Paul strained a groin muscle and appeared to jam a finger while Griffin hyperextended his left knee…

In the arena nicknamed the Grindhouse in honor of the Grizzlies’ bruising, blue-collar style, Memphis pounded the ball into the paint and banged on the Clippers all game long. The Grizzlies outscored Los Angeles 48-26 in the paint and had a 42-35 edge in rebounds.

— Reported by Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press

Heat eliminate Knicks from playoffs in Game 5

LeBron James had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade both scored 19 points and the Heat ousted the shorthanded Knicks 106-94 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference first-round series Wednesday night.

The Heat won the series 4-1, and will meet Indiana in the East semifinals starting Sunday in Miami…

Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points for the Knicks, including a spinning jumper over James at the end of the third quarter that pulled New York within 81-67. It was far from being enough to stave off an all-too-familiar playoff result for Anthony, part of that 2003 draft class that also yielded James, Bosh and Wade.

Anthony has played 54 postseason games, being part of wins only 17 times. A misleading stat for certain – it’s hardly all on him – and no shortage of people in the Heat organization interrupted their celebrating of a series-clincher to tip their caps Anthony’s way afterward…

James shot 48 percent from the field in the series, Anthony shot 42 percent. James averaged 6.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists, Anthony averaged 8.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists…

Amare Stoudemire scored 14 points, Landry Fields and J.R. Smith both added 12, Mike Bibby had 10 and Tyson Chandler grabbed 11 rebounds for New York, which is 1-8 in playoff games with Anthony and Stoudemire as teammates…

Miami went 7-1 against the Knicks this season, including playoffs. The Heat won three of four games against Indiana this season.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Long rest is helpful to Perkins, Thunder

Perhaps the best part of the time between games has been added recovery time for starting center Kendrick Perkins, who left in the first quarter of Saturday’s game with a strained muscle in his right hip. He has missed both practice sessions while getting treatment and is still considered day to day.

Brooks planned a lighter session Thursday to let his players recover.

”It’s always good to get some time off because you can rest and everybody has aches and pains when you go through a season – any season, not just this short season this year,” Brooks said. ”Just any season, it’s always a physical grind on your body.”

It’s not just keeping his team’s bodies in the right shape, though. Brooks also wants to keep his players mentally engaged, and he’s figured out a simple way to get the most out of them.

”Any time we put a scoreboard into the game, it raises up the competition. We do that with a lot of things,” he said, listing off everything from full scrimmages to free throws.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press