NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
NBA playoffs blog
 |
Heat forward Chris Bosh may miss Game 3 of Miami’s Eastern Conference first-round series in New York on Thursday after being summoned home because his wife was preparing to give birth.
The Heat were told late Wednesday that Bosh had to return home. Bosh left from New York on a private plane, and his wife, Adrienne, posted a photo on a social media account saying ”hurry home.”
— Reported by the Associated Press
O.J. Mayo felt so responsible for how Memphis blew a 27-point lead in the series opener with the Clippers that he had barely slept since that loss. He made sure all the Grizzlies can sleep well now.
Mayo scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, and Memphis bounced back to beat Los Angeles 105-98 on Wednesday night in Game 2.
”We’ll get some good rest tonight and go to L.A. for two more games,” Mayo said.
The Grizzlies collapsed Sunday night, letting the Clippers grab home-court advantage in the best-of-seven, first-round Western Conference series. Down 21 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Clippers tied the NBA playoff record for largest final-period comeback…
Gay also scored 21 points and Memphis showed off its depth with six players reaching double figures. Mike Conley had 19, Zach Randolph 15, Marreese Speights 11 and Tony Allen 10.
Paul led the Clippers with 29 points. Blake Griffin had 22, and Mo Williams and Nick Young 11 apiece…
The Clippers shot 64.7 percent (11 of 17) in the first quarter and hit 4 of 6 at the free throw line. But they just couldn’t match the Grizzlies who outrebounded the Clippers (37-2) with a big edge on the offensive boards (16-4), which they used to outscore them 18-6 on second-chance points. Memphis also had a 46-38 edge in the paint…
The emotions are starting to boil in this series, and the Grizzlies brought out wrestler Jerry ”The King” Lawler came out and delivered a pile driver to someone dressed up as a Clippers’ fan. That almost seemed to help spark the Grizzlies.
— Reported by the Associated Press
|
Danny Granger had 26 points and nine rebounds, Roy Hibbert added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and the Indiana Pacers beat the Orlando Magic 97-74 on Wednesday night to a take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.
The Pacers regained home-court advantage with the victory, riding good shooting early and building a 29-point lead in the fourth quarter.
They also dominated scoring underneath thanks to a 46-33 rebounding edge and have outscored the Magic 81-43 in the third quarter in the series.
Glen Davis led the Magic with 22 points, and J.J. Redick added 13. The Magic never led, struggled to get any scoring in the paint, and made a series-low five 3-pointers.
Game 4 is Saturday in Orlando.
Indiana coach Frank Vogel’s implored the Pacers after each of the first two games to make better shot selections.
They finally did it in Game 3.
It translated into their best shooting of the series as the Pacers built a 23-point lead in the third quarter and led 76-55 entering the fourth.
— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press
 |
Tony Parker scored 18 points and Kawhi Leonard added 17 as the Spurs raced to a 114-83 blowout victory over Utah Wednesday night at the AT&T Center.
The victory gave the Spurs a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Game 3 will be played in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.
It was the third largest victory in the Spurs’ playoff history and the largest since a 122-88 victory over Sacramento on April 22, 2006.
The Spurs shot 57 percent from the field and had a balanced scoring attack featuring seven players in double figures.
It stretched the Spurs’ consecutive winning streak to a season-best 12 games, including the last 10 games in the regular season.
Josh Howard and Al Jefferson scored 10 points apiece to lead Utah, which shot 34 percent from the field.
Wednesday’s victory punctuated a big night for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who was presented the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA’s Coach of the Year in ceremonies with Tim Duncan and David Robinson on the court shortly before tip-off.
The Spurs blew the game open with a run of 20 consecutive points late in the first half. During the run, Utah missed 12 straight shots and committed three turnovers in the drought that stretched for nearly seven minutes.
— Reported by Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News Blog
 |
Kobe Bryant scored 38 points, Andrew Bynum followed up his playoff-opening triple-double with 27 points and nine rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers weathered Denver’s late rally for a 104-100 victory over the Nuggets on Tuesday night, taking a 2-0 series lead.
Pau Gasol had 13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the third-seeded Lakers, who still haven’t trailed in this series despite nearly crumbling against a much-improved effort by the Nuggets and Ty Lawson, who scored 25 points and led the fourth-quarter charge.
Los Angeles’ 19-point lead in the third quarter dwindled to four with 3 minutes to play, but Ramon Sessions scored four key points in the final 1:14 before Bryant’s icing free throws with 9.4 seconds left.
Game 3 is Friday in Denver.
Lawson shook his awful series opener with 17 second-half points, but the sixth-seeded Nuggets lost their ninth straight road playoff game despite playing much closer to their preferred speedy tempo after the Lakers muzzled them in Game 1.
Sessions scored 14 points for Los Angeles, which played just enough fast-break ball of its own to stay ahead of Denver – and now the Lakers are halfway to the second round. They have only lost one playoff series in franchise history after winning the first two games, going 42-1.
Kenneth Faried had 14 points and 10 rebounds while Danilo Gallinari and Corey Brewer added 13 points apiece, but Denver still couldn’t consistently defend Bryant or negate Bynum, who played another outstanding low-post game on both ends until disappearing a bit in a three-point fourth quarter.
— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press
|
Jrue Holiday scored 26 points, Lou Williams added 20 and the Philadelphia 76ers beat Chicago 109-92 on Tuesday night to even their first-round series in the Bulls’ first game since Derrick Rose’s season-ending knee injury.
The superstar point guard received a standing ovation and waved to the crowd as he limped onto the court to present the game ball, then watched from a suite as the 76ers simply blitzed the Bulls in the third quarter.
They outscored Chicago 36-14 in the period, turning an eight-point deficit into an 83-69 lead, and pulled even with the league’s top-seeded team. Game 3 is Friday in Philadelphia.
Holiday was 11 of 15 from the field, and the Sixers shot 59 percent overall. Williams came up big, going 8 of 13 after hitting just 1 of 6 shots in the opener, and Chicago product Evan Turner chipped in with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Joakim Noah led the Bulls with 21 points and eight rebounds. John Lucas III scored 15 points, but Carlos Boozer scored just nine and Luol Deng finished with eight. More alarming, the Bulls simply couldn’t stop the Sixers, particularly in the third quarter.
Turner scored 11 points in the period, and Philadelphia wiped out a 55-47 deficit.
— Reported by the Associated Press
|
Amar’e Stoudemire’s difficult season may be over.
Stoudemire had a small muscle in his left hand repaired Tuesday and will not play for the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat on Thursday.
Stoudemire met with a hand specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, a day after he was badly cut when he punched the case surrounding a fire extinguisher after the Knicks’ 104-94 loss in Miami.
The Knicks are listing Stoudemire as doubtful for Game 4 on Sunday.
Stoudemire apologized on his Twitter account for the act, which leaves the Knicks without another key player as they try to rally from a 2-0 deficit. Jeremy Lin is still recovering from knee surgery and Iman Shumpert is out for the season after tearing a knee ligament in Game 1.
— Reported by the Associated Press
|
Last postseason, Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks rode a wave of late-game comebacks to win the franchise’s first NBA title.
Now the Oklahoma City Thunder are showing the Mavs how it feels to be on the other side.
Russell Westbrook scored 29 points, Kevin Durant added 26 in an off-shooting performance and Oklahoma City clawed out a 102-99 victory over Dallas on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series…
Durant hit two free throws with 50.4 seconds left to give Oklahoma City a 98-97 lead, and reserve James Harden hit all four of his foul shots after that to close it out for the Thunder.
Jason Terry missed two 3-point attempts from the left wing in the final 5 seconds that could have tied it and set up overtime. Instead, the defending champs head back home facing what amounts to a must-win Game 3 on Thursday night in Dallas.
”That’s really all we need right now is to get on the board on Thursday,” said Nowitzki, who led Dallas with 31 points but missed both his shots in the final 75 seconds.
— Reported by the Associated Press
An Orlando team without its top rebounder, injured All-Star center Dwight Howard, dominated the boards in the first half to take a two-point lead. The heavily favored Pacers stewed in their locker room as they faced the possibility of taking a two-game deficit to Orlando for Game 3 on Wednesday…
The Pacers responded, asserting complete control inside during the second half of a 93-78 win in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Indiana grabbed 12 of the first 13 rebounds in the third quarter and outrebounded Orlando 26-13 in the second half…
Indiana lost Game 1 81-77 on Saturday and felt its season slipping away in Game 2 before rallying…
David West had 18 points and 11 rebounds and has emerged as a stabilizing force for the Pacers…
Granger and George Hill each added 18 points and Paul George had 17 points and eight rebounds for Indiana. The Pacers won despite making just 2 of 20 3-point attempts and Granger, the team’s leading scorer this season, shooting just 7 for 21 from the field.
Indiana held the Magic to 36 percent shooting overall. Indiana has held the Magic below 40 percent shooting in both games…
Davis led the Magic with 18 points and 10 rebounds, but he shot 5 for 16 from the field. Davis, the loudest talker after Saturday’s win, was the first player off the court on Monday.
J.J. Redick scored 13 points and Jameer Nelson added 12 for Orlando.
— Reported by the Associated Press
|
|
Drops of blood stained the carpet leading up to the back entrance of the New York Knicks’ locker room. The glass portion of a nearby fire-extinguisher case was quickly replaced. And Amare Stoudemire needed doctors and paramedics to treat a cut on his left hand.
Game 2 probably wasn’t all the Knicks lost in Miami on Monday night.
Stoudemire left the building with his arm in a sling and what appeared to be a bulky wrap over his left hand, long after the Heat took control of the teams’ Eastern Conference first-round series with a 104-94 win over the Knicks, going up 2-0.
It resumes Thursday in New York, and although the Knicks were saying nothing for certain, it seems most unlikely that Stoudemire would be able to play…
Dwyane Wade scored 25 points, Chris Bosh added 21 and LeBron James finished with 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Heat, but their night was completely overshadowed by whatever went on with Stoudemire in the hallway that’s just a few steps from the edge of the court…
Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points on 12-for-26 shooting for New York, which got 18 points from Stoudemire and 13 apiece from Chandler and J.R. Smith. The only other team to lose 12 straight playoff games is the Memphis Grizzlies, who dropped their first dozen postseason contests from 2004 through 2006.
— Reported by the Associated Press