NBA play-offs: Round-up
LeBron James came into the 2010 play-offs with a lot to gain and a poor showing in the post-season could damage his reputation as the league’s most dominant player.
And against the eighth seeded Chicago Bulls anything other than a dominating performance and his critics would have been all over him. Of course LeBron didn’t let that happen as he scored 24 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to an easy 96-83 victory over the Bulls.
LeBron wasn’t quite finished there as he added six rebounds, five assists and four blocks to his box score. In truth neither LeBron nor the Cavaliers were pushed by the Bulls, despite Derrick Rose scoring 28 points and handing out 28 assists, and if this is how every game will go in the series the Cavs will sweep Chicago at a canter.
One upset that some predicted could happen was the Charlotte Bobcats beating the Orlando Magic. But the Magic got the memo and came to play overcoming the strong Bobcats 98-89.
Despite having only seven rebounds and five points Dwight Howard made up for his lack of production by tying his career high in blocks with nine.
Jameer Nelson led the way for Orlando with 32 points overcoming the 25 points and 17 rebounds Gerald Wallace scored for Charlotte.
Elsewhere the Atlanta Hawks got off to a good start in their quest for an NBA ring by beating the Milwaukee Bucks 102-92 at the Philips Arena.
The formula which secured them the third seed in the east proved once again to be successful as teamwork helped the Hawks to a 10 point victory. Each of the Hawks’ starting five scored in double figures with shooting guard Joe Johnson knocking down 22 points in 43 minutes of play.
It may have been a different game if the Bucks had starting centre Andrew Bogut playing, but elbow surgery put an end to his play-offs dreams even before they began.
The Bucks will need someone other than rookie Brandon Jennings to step up to the plate - he scored a game high 34 points - if they are to avoid a clean sweep by the Hawks.
The Utah Jazz were many people’s favourites as the team who could go all the way to the NBA finals, other than the LA Lakers, but they may no longer be fancied with the first game loss to the Denver Nuggets 126-113 and the news that Mehmet Okur will be out for the rest of the play-offs after tearing his Achilles tendon.
The Jazz failed to contain Carmelo Anthony who scored 42 points on 18-25 shooting and if that trend continues Utah will struggle to make it out of the first round, although losing to the pre-season favourites to take down the Lakers wouldn’t be the worst defeat in the play-offs the Jazz have ever had.
Portland are the only team in the 2010 play-offs to record a win over their higher seeded opponents. The Phoenix Suns were on the end of that 105-100 defeat and against the team that played the best defence against the Suns in the regular season Phoenix cannot afford to be losing home court advantage.
Even without Brandon Roy Portland came away with the win as Andre Miller scored 31 points to counter Steve Nash’s 25 to come away from Phoenix with at least one win. Will the Trailblazers be able to sustain such high intensity without Roy? That’s still yet to be seen but taking the first game of the series isn’t a bad way to start.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were supposed to provide the Lakers some major problems in the first round according to some experts, but experience showed as Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers took game one of the series.
Bryant scored 24 points and Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol both chipped in with double-doubles as the Lakers beat the Thunder 87-79. Kevin Durant will have to be more efficient from the floor if the Thunder stand any chance of progressing, the superstar was just 7-24 from the field, but did get to the three throw line 11 times.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 36 points after being given way to much time and space by the San Antonio Spurs in their first round game. The German helped his Dallas Mavericks take the opening match100-94.
Finally the aging Boston Celtics used home-court advantage to cool off the Miami Heat 85-76. In a hot tempered affair Paul Pierce and Rajan Rondo kept cool heads to lead the Celtics to victory. Pierce had a team high 16 points while Rondo handed out 10 assists.
Kevin Garnett was ejected from the game after receiving a double technical following an altercation Quentin Richardson. Garnett will now miss game two after the NBA handed him a one-game suspension after replays showed he threw an elbow during the incident.
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