Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks win – NBA Playoffs Roundup May 2, 2011
Atlanta Hawks 103 – Chicago Bulls 95
Joe Johnson erupted with a game-high 34 points and 4 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks stalled the streaking Chicago Bulls 103-95 in the game-2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Hawks were considered by many as mere push overs in the Eastern Conference semi-final series but the team stood confident against all the odds and took 1-0 lead in the contest on Monday night. Jamal Crawford came off the bench
and provided a significant support, especially down the stretch, with his 22 points.
For the Bulls, All-Star Derrick Rose landed a team-high 24 points and dished out 10 assists whereas the spirited forward Luol Deng ended the night with 21 points and 6 rebounds.
Hawks romped to a 9-0 run in the preliminary minutes of the first quarter as Atlanta clinched an early advantage. Deng lifted the momentum for the Bulls and scored 8 points in the period however the Hawks continued the action and
procured a comprehensive 28-18 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Chicago bounced back impressively and managed to bring down the lead to 51-50 on the back of five 5 blistering 3-pointers as the game progressed into the second half. Johnson took the charge dominantly and scored 11 points in the
third quarter to neutralize Chicago as the Hawks managed to sustain 1 point lead before entering the final quarter.
The Atlanta went for 12-4 run in the start of the fourth period and took the game away from the home team.
Dallas Mavericks 96 – Los Angeles Lakers 94
At the Staples Centre on Monday night, Dirk Nowitzki posted a brilliant double-double with a team-high 28 points and 14 rebounds to overpower the Los Angeles Lakers 96-94.
Five players from the Dallas Mavericks landed double figures as they took 1-0 lead in the Western Conference semi-final series.
Lakers’ guard Kobe Bryant had a dominating scoring performance with his game-high 36 points; however the home team failed to sustain the Dallas onslaught in the clutch.
Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson said after the game."Well we went in the locker room and we gave (the game) away. I'm not so sure Dallas didn't outplay us, but I just felt like we gave it away."
Bryant surged with a series of jump shot, 3-pointer and hook shot in the starting minutes of the game to seal an early advantage 7-2. The Mavericks retorted with three successive blows from downtown followed by a couple of jumpers
as the visiting Dallas snatched the lead 25-23 with the end of the period.
Odom joined the action with the top scorer of the night Bryant and reclaimed the advantage 53-44 going into the halftime after restricting the Mavericks to 19 points in the second period.
The Lakers wrapped up 16 points advantage early on in the second half of the game followed by a sizzling 3-pointer from Kobe, however Nowitzki picked up the slack tremendously against the mighty Bryant and scored 16 points in the
last two quarter to thrash the Lakers out of the game. Dirk also dished out significant opportunities to his teammates that enabled the Mavericks down the stretch to snatch the victory from the two-time defending champion Lakers.
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