NBA Games Recap 3/25/09
There were 11 games played on Wednesday night, some results were important while some were not:
In the important column the first game of the night was San Antonio’s trip to Atlanta. The Spurs, having just come off a 1 point win at home to Golden State to avoid losing 3 straight at home, had to face the daunting prospect of the Hawks in Atlanta where before last night they’d only lost 7 games, however they managed to power past Atlanta thanks to Tony Parker, who filled the hole created by Tim Duncan’s absence with 42 points and 10 assists in a game winning performance. Roger Mason also pitched in with 18, shooting 7 for 10 from the field. Despite this loss Atlanta clinched their second play-off spot in as many seasons and are currently sitting in 4th spot in the Eastern Conference.
New Jersey went into Cleveland needing something if they were to get anywhere in the remainder of the season. On Sunday night in New Jersey they had lost to the Cavs 96-88 and this loss was larger than that, 98-87 to be precise. LeBron James and Anderson Varejao both had double doubles, 22-11assists and 16-11rebounds respectively. The Cavs are still the best team in the league with a record of 58 and 13. This win was the Cavs 10th straight.
In Indiana the Pacers relatively good home form claimed another victim, this time Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat. Danny Granger returned for the Pacers with 28 points whilst shooting 50% from the field whilst T.J Ford came off the bench and dropped 20 with 9 rebounds. Both teams were particularly bad from behind the arc, Miami shot 17 percent while Indiana only managed 26 percent. With this win Indiana keep their slim play-off hopes alive and are currently 4 games off of 8th place. Miami are now facing a real fight for 5th spot and are now only a half game in front of Philadelphia, who won last night.
Speaking of the ‘Sixers Philadelphia dispatched Minnesota at home comfortably to close in on the aforementioned Heat. Minnesota haven’t looked the same team since Al Jefferson was injured a few weeks ago, Thaddeus Young had 29 with Iguodala and Miller both getting 15 a piece to carry Philly to within one game of getting into 5th spot in the East.
Charlotte went into Washington knowing that, with 8th placed Chicago beating 7th placed Detroit the previous night, a win would put the pressure on both 7th and 8th place. They went to the Verizon Center with a full squad but will be ruing this missed opportunity to go within a half game of 8th place, a chance they may not get again. Antawn Jamison carried the can like most nights for the Wizards, shooting 50 percent from the field and chipping in with 27 points, Andray Blatche and Mike James both had 15 while Nick Young came off the bench to play 25 minutes and dropped a solid 23 while shooting 10 of 15 from the field. With this 95-93 loss the Bobcats move 2 and a half games behind 8th place and will be praying that the Pistons don’t upset the Lakers tonight, a result that would probably see their task of catching up on 8th a lot, lot harder.
The Toronto Raptors saw off the Milwaukee Bucks to underline how bad the Bucks have become recently. In their last 10 games the Bucks have gone 2 and 8 which has seen them go from 8th place in the East to 10th and 3 games out of 8th. Chris Bosh managed a double double (18-14rebounds) along with Jose Calderon (19-11assists) for the Raptors. All of their starters got into double figures along with Jason Kapono from the bench showing another glimpse of the team’s potential. Toronto will be hoping for much better next season.
The New York Knicks underlined why they’re not cut out for a play-off push by losing to the Clippers at home in overtime, blowing a 16 point first quarter lead in the process. Mike Taylor of the Clippers came off the bench to collect 35 points while Zach Randolph managed 33 as a starter. New York are now in danger of dropping behind the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference standings and are only .394, 2 games in front of the Raptors.
The big clash of the night in the Western Conference between Denver and New Orleans ended with the team from Mile High coming out of New Orleans with a 101-88 win. If New Orleans had won they would have jumped into 3rd place in the ultra tight West but 29 from Carmelo Anthony and 26 from Chancey Billups helped stem the loss of Nene, who was suspended by the league. Chris Paul could only find a below average 19 points but still got a double double with 13 assists. This game highlighted the fact that the Hornets don’t have much of a bench with only 22 points coming from it compared to Denver’s 34.
Dwight Howard and his Magic managed to clinch the Southeast Division title with a fantastic win over the Boston Celtics, 84-82. Dwight Howard managed to complete his double double in the first quarter, eventually ending with 24 points and 21 rebounds along with 4 blocks including blocking a potential game winning lay up by Paul Pierce with 3.8 seconds left in the game. With this win Orlando are now tied with Boston for 2nd spot in the East with both teams 5 games off Cleveland.
While Phoenix have won 6 straight including last night Dallas have refused to buckle under the pressure to keep 8th spot in the West theirs. This time they countered the Suns win with an easy win over Golden State at home. A day earlier the Warriors had given San Antonio a real scare in San Antonio eventually losing by 1 point and were hopeful of another close game. The Mavs, however, weren’t playing ball and raced into a 11 point lead by the end of the first quarter, they eventually triumphed 128-106 with Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry having 26 points a piece.
The aforementioned Phoenix Suns will be wondering what on earth they have to do to get closer to Dallas in 8th. This time they beat Utah at home, 118-114, but to no avail. The Suns are still 3 games off Dallas and with the season coming closer and closer to an end things are starting to look bleak. However, if anyone in the Suns camp had had these thoughts pre-game they certainly didn’t show them on the court, all 5 Phoenix starters went into double figures along with 2 bench players. Shaq managed a double double (12-10rebounds) while Grant Hill led the scoring with 26 points and 10 for 16 from the field. Phoenix will just have to keep on winning and praying…
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