NBA Play-offs Roundup – March 6, 2011: Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks win
Chicago Bulls 99- Atlanta Hawks 82
Behind the brilliance of the newly crowned MVP, Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls trounced the Atlanta Hawks 99-82 on Friday night at the Philips Arena to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-finals series.
Rose, who posted a career high 44 points on the night, spoke about his own performance, “They were going under [screens], leaving me wide open. Why not shoot?"
The Bulls’ head Coach Tom Thibodeau was overjoyed on Derrick’s performance and stated in the media. “Derrick was in attack mode, when he's not dancing with the ball and he's attacking, he's impossible to stop. He caught it on the run and kept going. ... He wasn't playing around or letting them catch up.”
Joakim Noah grabbed 15 rebounds for the Bulls, who got 13 points from Taj Gibson while reserve Kyle Korver posted 11 points for Bulls’ tremendous victory.
The Atlanta Hawks’ Jeff Teague scored 21 points, but his team high performance could not save the game for his team. Josh Smith gathered 17 while Marvin Williams, Al Horford and Joe Johnson scored 10 points each for the Atlanta Hawks.
From the very start of the game, the Chicago Bulls dominated the Atlanta Hawks and continued their thrust until the end and finished the game with a definitive 99-82 lead.
Dallas Mavericks 98- Los Angeles Lakers 92
On Friday at American Airlines Centre, the Dallas Mavericks made it three in a row as they once again outwitted the mighty Los Angeles Lakers down the stretch to script a 98-92 win.
Dirk Nowitzki posted 32 brilliant points and nine rebounds to lead the Mavs, but urged his team afterwards to be wary of Lakers’ fight back.
“We're not good enough to relax or take the pedal off the metal. You don't want to ever give a champion life, so hopefully we can have the same effort and the same crowd and a great game on Sunday.”
Jason Terry scored 23 points; Peja Stojakovic gathered 15 and Jason Kidd added 11 points in Mavericks’ brilliant win.
For the Lakers Andrew Bynum had 21 while sixth man of the year, Lamar Odom scored 18 points. Pau Gasol gathered 12 points and their ace guard Kobe Bryant was restricted to just 17.
After an even first half, the Lakers found their groove in the third quarter and raced to a 72-66 by its end. However, in the next 12 minutes, the Mavs unleashed a vociferous comeback and outscored the 32-20 to romp with a 98-92 win.
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