Indiana 112, Cleveland 98: Lester Hudson’s streak of three consecutive 20-point games came to an end, but he dropped 10 of his 19 in the fourth and sent another one to OT. Twice in three games Hudson has forced overtime, but Cleveland has struggled to put points on the board in each extra period (just 4 last night). I don’t think Hudson’s worried about that… he’s out there earning himself a long-term deal. Here’s to hoping nobody examines your shooting percentages, Les!
It should be noted that Antawn Jamison is having a 21.5-point-per-game month of April. There are contenders out there who could use that punch right about now.
With this victory, third-place Indiana remains two games up on Boston, Atlanta, and Orlando.
Philadelphia 93, Toronto 75: The Raptors were in this thing until they lost the fourth quarter 30-18. It was a late 21-4 run that did them in. The Sixers, who have been taking advantage of sub-.500 teams all season long, have now beaten New Jersey and Toronto consecutively to maintain their one-game lead on the Knicks. Not that it really matters. Neither team is finishing better than 7th, which means they’re both getting clobbered in the first round.
Boston 88, Atlanta 86: You’ve really got to hand it to the Boston Celtics. In a back-to-back situation they win a game in Miami, fly back to Boston, and grind out an overtime victory over a Hawks team that tends to give them problems. Ask Tommy Heinsohn and he’ll tell you they did all that despite playing at a three-man disadvantage…
Vintage, classic, prime Tommy Heinsohn right there. I enjoyed no part of my Wednesday night more than that overtime.
Rajon Rondo shot 3-16 and turned the ball over 6 times, but he posted a substantial, well-rounded triple-double: 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 20 (TWENTY) assists. Rondo has now dished 10 or more assists in 19 consecutive games. He’s had six triple-doubles on the season. I’ve never argued that he’s not a numerical monster.
To say Atlanta couldn’t find the range… that would be an understatement. They went 2-20 from three-point land. Eight of the ten Hawks that played missed at least one three-pointer. Kirk Hinrich, Joe Johnson, Willie Green, Jannero Pargo, Ivan Johnson, Tracy McGrady, and Marvin Williams combined to go 0-15. By comparison, Josh Smith (1-4) was en fuego.
Phoenix 93, Memphis 104: The Grizzlies have dealt a devastating blow to playoff hopes in the desert. The Suns now trail the 8th-place Rockets by two games and also trail the 9th-place Jazz, who leapfrogged ‘em, by a half game. If there’s good news in Arizona it’s that Phoenix still has upcoming meetings with both Houston and Utah, but with seven of their final eight against .500+ teams… it’s just not gonna happen.
Rudy Gay scored a season-high 32 points in this one. Gilbert Arenas went 0-3, and that’s news; he’d made 15 of his last 24. Markieff Morris followed up a 21-point game by scoring 17. Memphis has won four in a row.
New Orleans 105, Sacramento 96: The Kings were looking competitive for a while. Since March 31st… not so much. They’ve lost eight of their last nine, and by an average of 10 points. They’ve been blown out by the Nets in their own building and just lost to a Hornets team without Jack, Ariza, Gordon, and Okafor. Jason Smith, who recently showed Kevin Love how to record 26 and 10, made 10 of 12 shots on his way to 22 points. Says Monty Williams: “He’s 7 feet tall. He can shoot to 18 feet. He can dunk. He can go to the basket. He plays solid defense. He’s not afraid of the moment.”
Well I would hope he can dunk. You just told me he’s 7 feet tall.
Los Angeles (Clippers) 100, Oklahoma City 98: Webster’s doesn’t have words to describe how good Chris Paul has been in fourth quarters this season. I’m going to have to draw you a picture and show you a video.
If you skipped the video, the shot he made at 1:19 was incredible. It was a tip in off of his own miss–the only shot he missed in the fourth, as the chart indicates. A game high of 31 points was his total on the evening.
Oklahoma City went 12-26 from three, but just 19-50 from two. According to ESPN’s shot chart they went 3-21 (14.2%) on two-point shots between 5 feet and the three-point arc. Also according to ESPN’s shot chart they missed 11 shots that were basically at the rim. The Clippers only blocked two of those. This resulted in their sixth home loss of the season, and one which obviously fails to alleviate any of the concerns regarding their outside tendencies.
Playoff implications: Clipps remain 1.5 behind the Lakers, 0.5 ahead of Memphis. Thunder stay a game up on the Spurs.
New York 111, Milwaukee 107: The Bucks won’t be playing postseason basketball (that’s not official, but they’re toast) and they have no one to blame but themselves. This was one of three games that really could’ve changed the course of their season. They lost all three of them and completely failed to show up for the first two. In this particular game incredible offensive nights from Monta Ellis (35 PTS, 10 AST) and Brandon Jennings (22 PTS, 7 AST) facilitated a comeback after a horrible first quarter. However, they were unable to contain the Knicks (51.2% from the floor) at any point. How you come out in a must-win game and allow 36 first-quarter points, many of which came on uncontested layups… I have no idea.
Carmelo had another big night… 32/10 for him. JR Smith went 5-13, but he did knock down the go-ahead three-pointer with a minute left. Melo made a key defensive close out on Mike Dunleavy with 23 seconds left. I’m not sure if he deflected the shot (he was credited for a block, but I’m still not sure), but he certainly caused Dunny to miss the go-ahead J. It was a pure hustle play from Melo, who was guarding someone else.
Utah 103, Houston 91: It’s awfully tough to win when your leading scorer goes 3-13. That’s what happened to the Rockets, who shot about 35% from the field. Houston, Dallas, and Denver are all 32-26 right now. They occupy the 6th, 7th, and 8th spots.
Gordon Hayward and Paul Millsap want to play playoff basketball. The two of them combined for 50 (29 for Hayward, 21 for Millsap). They’re gonna need some help, though, as Utah currently trails that aforementioned pack by two games in the loss column.
Los Angeles (Lakers) 98, San Antonio 84: Andrew Bynum’s thoughts on grabbing 30 rebounds?
While Bynum may not be satisfied (which is a good thing, actually), what he did here was expose the weakness of San Antonio: they’ve got no size. Tim Duncan, yeah… but DeJuan Blair, Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter… that isn’t size. The entire Spurs roster collected a total of 33 boards. They barely beat Bynum, let alone the Lakers (60).
Denver 113, Minnesota 107: The Wolves are without Kevin Love (0-5, left with a concussion) and trail by 21 at halftime.
Anthony Randolph sighting.
The Wolves have the ball and a chance to tie with 18 seconds left.
Randolph went 8-9 in the second half, scoring 19 points during the scare of Denver’s season. I don’t really care that the Nuggets ended up winning. The fact that they allowed the Wolves–without Love–to come back from 24 down in the second half… that’s why they don’t deserve a playoff spot. This team doesn’t take care of business.
Portland 118, Golden State 110: Portland tried to get the tank back on track by sitting LaMarcus Aldridge, but Golden State wasn’t about to let that happen. Jamal Crawford finally had a good game–34 points–and JJ Hickson exploded for 23 and 13. Other Blazers, such as Raymond Felton, also did numbers, leading me to believe that absolutely no defense was played in this battle for ping pong balls.
