NBA Games Recap 3/31/09
9 games were played in the NBA last night and we start in the Eastern Conference:
The Cleveland Cavaliers showed how to play mediocre basketball and still win at home on Tuesday night as they dispatched the Pistons 79-73. At times in the first half they were down by 9 and looking distinctly average, with LeBron James having an off-night shooting only 9 of 24 from the field but still scoring 25 points. A late run in the 2nd quarter meant they could going into half time tied at 44 before taking hold of the game in the 3rd quarter. Despite their early dominance Detroit lacked any kind of talisman, emphasised by the fact that only two players managed to score double figures and even then their highest was only Rip Hamilton’s 13.
LeBron managed probably his worst double double of the season scoring 25 with 12 rebounds but missing both 3 point shots he took and 13 others from the field. Luckily the Cavs other players stepped up. Delonte West had 12 while Anderson Varejao and Mo Williams had 11 a piece. Cleveland had a slight scare in this one but have still only lost once at home this season.
Indiana carried on their stellar home form by beating the Chicago Bulls at Conseco Fieldhouse to keep their slim hopes of the play-offs alive. Danny Granger led the Pacers with 31 while T.J Ford came off the bench to drop 22 including the game winner with less than 5 seconds to go. This win leaves Indiana 3 and a half games behind 8th placed Chicago with 7 games to go and it’s still a hard task but staying unbeaten at home will help. Chicago missed an opportunity to take back 7th place from Detroit after they lost at Cleveland and due to Charlotte’s win over the Lakers are now only 1 game in front of the Bobcats who are in 9th.
In Philadelphia the 76ers got a priceless win over the Atlanta Hawks to send themselves within a half game of 5th placed Miami in the Eastern Conference. Andre Iguodala scored a team high 19 points while Andre Miller managed a double double (18-10assists) and Marreese Speights came off the bench to drop 16 points to propel the Sixers to a 98-85 win.
The aforementioned Bobcats continued their great run of form over the L.A Lakers by beating them in North Carolina last night. Over the past 4 seasons Charlotte have won 6 of their 7 match-ups against the Lakers and continued last night with help from Gerald Wallace who scored 21 and 13 rebounds, Boris Diaw who got 11 and 12 assists and Raymond Felton who dropped 16. The ‘Cats dropped 51 percent from the field compared to the 39 percent shot by Los Angeles, who couldn’t be saved by Kobe’s 25. The ‘Cats are now only 1 game off 8th placed Chicago after the Bulls lost to the Pacers and must now be dreaming of playing into mid-April.
Dallas moved 4 games in front of 9th place Phoenix in the West after a blow out win at Minnesota, 108-88. With the Suns only having 8 games left the Mavs look to have tied up the last play-off spot. Last night they were led by Dirk Nowitzki who had 23 points and 12 rebounds and Jason Terry, off the bench, who had 21.
Oklahoma City have come close to some road wins recently and finally converted one of those chances away from home with a tight win over San Antonio, 96-95. Kevin Durant did what he had to do if the Thunder were to win this game and led with 31 points while 3 other starters for Oklahoma got 16 a piece. This loss must have hurt the Spurs even more due to the fact that they had Ginobili, Parker and Duncan in the starting line up. San Antonio still clinched a play-off berth later in the day but gave up the 2nd spot in the West to Denver.
The Nuggets clinched a play-off spot with an expected win over the New York Knicks, 1111-104 in Denver. With this win they’re now up to 2nd in the Western Conference and were helped throughout the night by Carmelo Anthony, who scored 29 (and shot over 60 percent from the field) and Nene who had 18 points plus 12 rebounds.
In a big clash in the Northwest Division Portland prevailed at the Rose Garden over Carlos Boozer and his Utah Jazz, 125-104. LaMarcus Aldridge just beat Brandon Roy for the highest points by a ‘Blazers player with 26 while Roy had 25 and 11 assists. With this win Portland moved into 5th place while Utah dropped back into 7th.
Finally in Sacramento the New Orleans Hornets squeaked out a win to avoid dropping a place in the Western Conference standings, 111-110. Chris Paul had an off night with 15 but showed that if he can’t provide in point form he can provide in assists and had 15 of those, some were surely in the direction of David West who had 40 points and 9 rebounds to see this one out on the West Coast.
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