Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls win: NBA Playoffs 2011 Monday Roundup
The National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoff games on Monday, 18th April, featured two very close matches in which the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls came out on top.
Here is an overview of the games:
Miami Heat 94 - Philadelphia 76ers 73
In the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Miami Heat defeated the Philadelphia 76ers by a huge margin of 21 points at the American Airlines Arena. Miami won 94-73. The victory gave the second-seeded Heat a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven
Eastern Conference quarter-final series.
Forward LeBron James finished with a game-high 29 points, six assists and seven rebounds in the victory. In addition to that, King James shot 10 of 19 from the field and hit eight of 10 foul shots. Chris Bosh had 21 points and 11 rebounds while guard Dwyane
Wade chipped in with 14 points and six rebounds for the Heat.
Philadelphia's starters played some sloppy basketball as no one except Jrue Holiday could reach double figures. Thaddeus Young and guard-forward Evan Turner came off the bench to score 18 and 15 points respectively in the losing effort.
The second leading scorer for Philadelphia, Andre Iguodala, continued to struggle in the first two games in this quarter-final series. After adding just four points in the first game, Iguodala ended with five points in the second.
The Sixers got off to a quick start in the opening quarter to lead Miami 19-13 after 12 minutes. However, Miami found their rhythm in the second and outscored Philadelphia 30-18, taking a 49-31 lead at half time.
The third quarter belonged to the Southeast Division Champions again as they extended their lead to 75-52, heading into the fourth. The Heat consistently made it to the free throw line in the fourth quarter to walk away with their second consecutive victory
of the first round of the playoffs.
Chicago Bulls 96 - Indiana Pacers 90
The Indiana Pacers fell to the Eastern Conference Champions, the Chicago Bulls, in their second game with Chicago coming out on top 96-90 at United Centre.
The favourite for this season's most valuable player (MVP) award, Derrick Rose, added a game-high 36 points in the Bulls second straight victory of the playoffs. Forward Carlos Boozer had 17 points and 16 rebounds while Luol Deng contributed 14 points and
six rebounds for the Bulls.
Danny Granger ended with a team-high 19 points while guard A.J. Price added 13 points in the defeat for the eighth-seeded Indiana. The Pacers led 18-17 after the first quarter and were ahead 47-44 at half time.
Trailing by three points at half time, Chicago fought hard in the third quarter and tied the score at 67-67. The fourth quarter was a completely different story as the Bulls got their hot shooting touch back and put themselves ahead by five at 90-85 with
a minute remaining in the game.
The Pacers then scored three unanswered points to make it a two-point contest at 88-90. However, Chicago went on a 5-2 run in the closing seconds to seal victory.
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