NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports (via blog):
The Pacers showed that the roster isn’t the only thing they want to change this offseason when they fired Sam Perkins as their vice president of player relations after two years on Friday.
General manager David Morway didn’t divulge why Perkins was fired, but he thanked him for his services.
Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune reports:
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For the second time in three games at EnergySolutions Arena, Paul Millsap’s grit, athleticism and uncanny ability to put a ball through a hoop propelled the Utah Jazz past Denver. This time, however, the victory Friday night meant the Jazz was advancing to the second round.
Millsap turned in a better-than- workmanlike line of 21 points and 11 rebounds. Spectacular, considering Carlos Boozer scored 22 and had 20 rebounds. It wasn’t the first time this series Millsap proved to be the guy who holds the Jazz together. In Game 3 he erupted for 22 points and 19 rebounds. And he comes off the bench.
Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reports:
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It is conceivable LeBron James could continue to produce at an MVP level for another seven years. He has avoided major injuries. His granite, sculpted body is unmatched in the NBA. There might be better scorers or rebounders or distributors or even penetrators, but no one amasses those skills into one punishing body of work as James does.
His 6-foot-9-inch, 250-pound frame delivers as many hits as it withstands and James has made it a priority to be known as more than just a high flyer. Comparisons with Michael Jordan are natural, especially since both put downtrodden franchises on their shoulders and lifted them to elite status.
And what Jordan brought to the game in flare, athleticism, and dominance, James equals with strength, all-around skill, and speed. There is only one Jordan, but James is making a loud enough impression on today’s NBA to create his own mystique for a new generation of children to emulate.
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register reports:
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Ron Artest just played his Western Conference championship series and won it. He won’t have to work this hard to earn his keep again until the Lakers face the other elite scorer in the league: Cleveland’s LeBron James.
The Lakers might not play any team that tough the rest of the way through the West, either. With that in mind, what Artest just did for them is even more meaningful.
To understand just how great a series Artest had on defense, look at Kevin Durant’s stats: 35 percent field-goal shooting after 47.6 percent in the regular season. Durant’s assist-to-turnover ratio was 14-to-22.
This is a guy who went more than two months of the regular season (29 consecutive games) never scoring fewer than 25 points, something no one has done since Michael Jordan in 1986-87. It’s no coincidence that in the two games in this series the Lakers won comfortably, Durant couldn’t reach 25.
The AP reports:
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Carlos Boozer had 22 points and 20 rebounds, rookie Wesley Matthews scored 23 and made a key block, and Utah pulled away late in the fourth quarter and beat the Denver Nuggets 112-104 on Friday night, winning the playoff series in six games.
Deron Williams added 14 points and 10 assists for the Jazz, who went on an 11-0 run after Carmelo Anthony had tied the game at 95-all midway through the final period.
Matthews went 13 for 15 from the free throw line as Utah persevered in the foul-filled game, making 34 of 51 free throws after drawing 39 fouls by the Nuggets.
Chauncey Billups led Denver with 30 points and Anthony finished with 20 points on 6 for 22 shooting…
Joey Graham scored 18 of his 21 points in the second quarter to get the Nuggets back in the game after they fell behind by 15.
Paul Millsap had 21 points, 11 rebounds and blocked three shots for Utah.
The AP reports:
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Pau Gasol tipped in a missed jumper by Kobe Bryant with a half-second left and the Los Angeles Lakers survived a late comeback effort by Oklahoma City and eliminated the Thunder 95-94 in Game 6 of the first-round playoff series on Friday night…
Gasol pumped both fists after the basket, and the Lakers moved on when Russell Westbrook missed a desperation 3-pointer at the final buzzer.
Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 26 points on a dreadful 5-for-23 shooting night. Westbrook had 21 points and nine assists.
Bryant scored 32 points and Gasol had nine points and 18 rebounds, scoring his only basket of the second half at the end…
Bryant almost single-handedly kept Los Angeles out front with 16 points in a dazzling third quarter—until it came to an early end for him when he picked up his fourth foul while guarding Westbrook.
The AP reports:
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Jamal Crawford saw the end to his series-long shooting slump coming, making a promise after the pregame shootaround: It’ll be back tonight.
Crawford then went out and finally played like the NBA’s sixth man of the year in the playoffs, scoring 24 points to help the Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks 83-69 on Friday night to force a seventh game in the first-round series…
Carlos Delfino scored 20 for the Bucks, who came into the game hoping to finish off their heavily favored opponent but instead went completely flat coming out of halftime and couldn’t pull off a late rally attempt…
Brandon Jennings scored 12 points on 4-for-15 shooting, including 1 of 9 from 3-point range…
John Salmons finished with eight points on 2-for-13 shooting.
Joe Johnson scored 22 points, and Al Horford had 15 points and 15 rebounds for Atlanta.
Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings, Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors were unanimous selections to the 2009-10 NBA All-Rookie First Team, the NBA announced today.
Rounding out the NBA All-Rookie First Team are New Orleans’ Darren Collison (46 points) and Chicago’s Taj Gibson (41 points).
The NBA All-Rookie Second Team consists of New Orleans’ Marcus Thornton (31 points), San Antonio’s DeJuan Blair (30 points), Oklahoma City’s James Harden (22 points), Minnesota’s Jonny Flynn (22 points) and Detroit’s Jonas Jerebko (22 points).
Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News reports:
An off-season of second-guessing coach Rick Carlisle commenced during Game 6’s fourth quarter, as rookie guard Roddy Beaubois’ sat the bench despite playing a huge role in Dallas’ third-quarter comeback against the Spurs.
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But Beaubois insists he isn’t, and won’t be, among the second-guessers.
“Everybody told me to just try to be ready and when they called my name, I just played my game,” Beaubois said, after scoring 16 points in 20 mostly-electrifying minutes Thursday.
But when he was helping Dirk Nowitzki lead the Mavericks comeback, didn’t part of him think, “See, Coach, this is what I could have been doing all series”?
“You don’t think about it,” he said. “Like I said, it was coach’s decision. I think everybody tried to play very hard and did a good job. It’s OK. But when he called my name I just wanted to push myself and try to win the game. That’s it.”
The AP reports:
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Jason Richardson wanted to be the wild card in the playoffs for the Phoenix Suns.
So while the Portland Trail Blazers were focused on Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash, Richardson came up big for the third time in the first-round series, scoring 28 points in a 99-90 Game 6 victory Thursday night…
Richardson had 29 points in the Suns’ 119-90 victory in Game 2 before scoring a career playoff-high 42 in a 108-89 win in Game 3…
Martell Webster had 19 points for Portland, which failed to advance out of the first round for the second straight year…
Amar’e Stoudemire finished with 22 points for the Suns, while Nash, who said afterward that he had been battling a hip injury since Game 2, had 10 points.
Brandon Roy had 14 points for the Blazers in his first start of the series.