NBA Roundup 26th March: Charlotte Bobcats, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Piston win (Part-1)
Charlotte Bobcats 114 – New York Knicks 106
On Saturday night at Time Warner Cable Arena, the Charlotte Bobcats forced their way back into the playoff contention as they overpowered the slumping New York Knicks to clinch a magnificent 114-106 victory. Desperate to make it to the playoffs for a second time in a row, the spirited Bobcats are making their every opportunity count and have now taken down two elites of the Eastern Conference in as many games, the other being the mighty Boston Celtics.
The home team was massively supported by the bench who provided 38 points to outshine Carmelo Anthony’s game-high 36 points. Knicks lost their sixth straight and fell three games below 50 percent mark.
Boris Diaw landed a team-high 20 points and gathered eight rebounds while Bobcats leading scorer of the season, Stephen Jackson scored 19 points to put the team on the frontline.
Charlotte looked confident right from the beginning and played a very pro-active offensive game. After an evenly fought first 12 minutes of play, the Bobcats rattled off a 26-9 spurt in the opening 8 minutes of the second frame, sprinting to a massive 13 points lead into the halftime.
Anthony spurred on the Knicks with 20 points of his 36 in the second half of the game, but every time New York franchise came close, the Bobcats had enough steam to pull away. The Knicks keyed by Anthony and Landry Fields however gave the Bobcats a late scare when they keyed a 21-10 run in the final minutes of the game and came within a four point cushion. The Bobcats hung tough though as they sealed a 114-106 victory in the end.
Atlanta Hawks 98 – New Jersey Nets 87
Atlanta Hawks romped with 19-2 run in the preliminary moments of the game from where they never trailed and sealed a comprehensive 98-87 win over the New Jersey Nets at Philips Arena.
Al Horford was truly impressive with the ball as he scored a team-high 23 points and gathered 12 rebounds to spearhead Hawks to a brilliant victory. Josh Smith joined the action with Horford and landed 22 points to completely dominate the opposition.
Anthony Morrow clinched a game-high 25 points but he couldn’t help to avoid the sixth defeat in seven games for the Nets.
Atlanta absolutely thrashed the visiting team out of the game in the first half leaving no option for New Jersey to gain any sort of momentum. The Hawks starters were in their groove and grabbed a 57-31 advantage going into the halftime.
The Nets strived to retaliate in the second half; however they only succeeded to cut down the deficit. Jamal Crawford came off the bench and took the charge after halftime including two scorching blows beyond the arc as the home team cherished a 98-87 win.
Detroit Pistons 100 – Indiana Pacers 88
Detroit Pistons snapped three games losing streak as they clinched an outstanding 100-88 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Palace of Auburn Hills on Saturday night.
Presently the Pacers are in a cut-throat completion with the Bobcats to secure the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. With this loss though, the Pacers have lost two straight from below 0.500 teams and have put themselves in a rather precarious position.
Richard Hamilton landed a game-high 23 points and dished out six assists to decelerate the pace of Indiana. Brandon Rush was the top scorer for the Pacers who came off the bench and scored 19 points.
Both the teams showed some great aggression in the first half as Indiana kept themselves close to the home team. The Pacers landed five blistering blows from downtown before halftime however Pistons managed to acquire 48-47 advantage.
The Pistons utterly thrashed the opposition after halftime, leaving few options for the visiting team to gain any sort of momentum. The home team romped with 21-3 run during the third quarter as Indiana failed to pick up their pace. The Pistons never looked back after that as they cruised to a victory.
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