Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics win – NBA Playoffs Fist Round Game 3 Roundup (Part-2)
Portland Trail Blazers 97 – Dallas Mavericks 92
At the Rose Garden on Thursday night, the Portland Trail Blazers recovered tremendously and outperformed the Dallas Mavericks to snatch an enthralling 97-92 victory and trim down their series lead to 2-1. Wesley Matthews landed
22 points of his 25 in the first half of the game and the home team sustained the action down the stretch in a hardly fought meeting.
The highlight of the night Mathews said after the game, "We had a sense of urgency. That came from everybody. It started when we took the court. The crowd was amazing. It was everything they said it would be. It was a must-win
for us, and we took care of it."
Jason Terry exploded off the bench and notched up a game-high 29 points for the Dallas whereas the star forward Dirk Nowitzki ended the night with 25 points. Both the players posted a top scoring performance, however they failed
to outshine the Trail Blazers this time.
Mathews buried two scorching blows from beyond the arc in the preliminary four minutes of the game as the Portland clinched an early 10-2 advantage. After a poor start, the Mavericks took the charge aggressively and landed a couple
of sizzling 3-pointers before the halftime. However Mathew’s heroics ensured that the home team remained 2 points ahead after the first two quarters.
The game hung in a limbo throughout the second half, until the Portland surged down the stretch to wrap up a brilliant win. Both the teams were quite instrumental from the 3-point range but the Trail Blazers provided a better play
on the night.
Boston Celtics 113 – New York Knicks 96
After dropping two straight games on the road, the New York Knicks faced another wipe out at the Madison Square Garden against the resurgent Boston Celtics. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen had an impressive scoring night as they racked
up 38 and 32 points respectively to thrash the struggling Knicks 113-96. With this win, the C’s lead the first round post-season series 3-0.
After posting outstanding performance in the first two games, the All-Star Carmelo Anthony failed to impress in his own building. Shawne Williams came off the bench and landed a team-high 17 points for the New York whereas Amare
Stoudemire, who was playing with back spasms, finished the night with only 7 points.
Pierce and Allen absolutely dominated the first half of the game and combined for 33 points to put the Celtics on the frontline. Allen landed four 3-pointers before halftime and the Celtics sealed a huge 52-42 lead as the game
progressed into the second half.
The Celtics strengthened their assault from beyond the arc in the second half of the game with Paul joining the action. New York Knicks showed some fight in the last quarter, but that came very late in the game. Behind by 23, Knicks’
surge in the final 12 minutes couldn’t haunt the streaking Boston.
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