NBA Games Recap 3/23/09
7 games were played in the NBA on Monday night, exactly the same as Sunday night. A couple of upsets but you had to wait a while before you saw them.
The first game of the night was Atlanta’s clean win against the Minnesota Timberwolves, 107-97. Al Horford had a double double (12-13rebounds) in this game while Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby both chipped in with 20 points a piece. Atlanta are fighting off a good Miami team for the 4th spot in the East with a late surge and are now 8-2 in their last 10 games and have only lost 7 games at home all season. A scary prospect for Miami, who are currently 5th seed and would have to play them in the Conference Quarter-Finals with the home-court advantage being in Atlanta. Minnesota will welcome back Al Jefferson, their star power forward, from injury in the post-season and boy are they missing him.
At the Verizon Center in Washington the Bulls narrowly escaped falling to the Wizards late in the 4th quarter after a spirited comeback by Antawn Jamison (who went on a solo 8-0 run) saw Washington come back from 10 down with 6 minutes to go to only be behind by 1. Unfortunately Washington only really had one player while Chicago had 3 stand out performers. Brad Miller came off the bench for a double double (11-10rebounds), Ben Gordon dropped 21 and John Salmons had 19 including shooting all 8 of his foul shots in a tight game. This win keeps Chicago firmly in 8th spot, 1 and a half games in front of 9th placed Charlotte and 2 games behind 7th placed Detroit.
The L.A Clippers managed an upset of sorts, they managed to win a quarter of play in Boston. The 2nd quarter to be precise and this was largely done by holding Boston to only 13 points, this didn’t make much difference though Boston still went into half-time leading 44-42. After that wake up call the Celtics finally started playing and rallied in the second half to win by 13 points, 90-77. Performances to note were Zach Randolph’s double double (17-14rebounds), Kendrick Perkins’ double double (12-13rebounds) and most importantly Kevin Garnett’s 12 points and 18 minutes of play, in which time he managed to shoot 5 of 5 from the field and made both of his free throws. That sight will have pleased the Celtics, even if they had to work harder than they had hoped in this game.
Miami coasted to victory at home to the Memphis Grizzlies, 94-82. At the end of the 3rd quarter they had a lead of 18 before letting Memphis win the last quarter by six points. Jamaal Magloire helped himself to a double double (10-12rebounds) and Dwayne Wade led the Heat with 27 points and 8 assists.
Orlando made hard work of beating the Knicks at Madison Square Garden last night. New York were leading by 9 going into the 4th quarter before the Magic staged a comeback thanks to Dwight Howard’s double double (29-14rebounds) and Courtney Lee’s 22 points. Orlando looked sluggish throughout and shot only 28 percent from behind the arc with 25 attempts and 44 percent shooting from the field. They were also only 71 percent from the foul line but still managed to win against the hapless Knicks. Any hopes of the play-offs must surely now be dead for New York, who dropped to 4 and a half games behind 8th place. The Magic are getting closer and closer to winning their division.
Phoenix managed to keep Dallas within touching distance with a 118-115 win over the Denver Nuggets. Phoenix, who are still hoping for a Dallas collapse, gave up 3 figures for the umpteenth time this season but their strategy of out-shooting their opponents worked again. Grant Hill managed a double double (23-10rebounds) along with the game winning jumper and Shaq had 19 points, shooting 6 for 8 from the field. Denver are now tied with New Orleans in the Western Conference standings, with both teams 11 games out of 1st place. This loss opened up the Northwest Division with Utah and Portland both only 1 game behind the Nuggets.
Finally the 76ers went into Portland and won in overtime, 114-108. With Denver losing Portland will be ruing this loss which would have seen them tie the Nuggets at the top of the Northwest. Andre Miller lead Philadelphia with 27 points and 10 rebounds with Iguodala and Thaddeus Young both dropping 25 points. Brandon Roy had an off night, shooting 5 for 18 from the field for only 12 points despite playing 46 minutes. The Sixers kept the pressure on Miami for 5th spot in the East and are still only a game and half behind the Heat.
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