NBA Games Recap 4/12/09
6 games were played in the NBA last night starting at the first game in New Orleans. The Hornets played the first game of the day against Dallas and won thanks to a 4th quarter blitz. With the scores level at 69 after 3 quarters New Orleans turned up the heat on the Mavs and held them to 23 points in the final 12 minutes and outscored them by 10 points to win this one 102-92. Chris Paul and David West both had 31 points with Paul shooting 11 of 15 from the field and no doubt helping West with 17 assists. New Orleans now sit at the top of the pile of 3 teams that aren’t good enough to battle for the Western Conference’s 2nd seed (along with Utah and Dallas) and sit in 6th place.
Cleveland moved to 39-1 at home for the season with a blowout win over the Boston Celtics, their main rivals in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs held Boston to only 9 1st quarter points to give themselves a 19 point lead going into half time and won 3 of the 4th quarter of play. LeBron James led them with 29 points while Zydrunas Ilgauskas got a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cavs to a 107-76 victory. Cleveland, who have already clinched the Eastern Conference’s 1st seed, can clinch home court advantage in the Finals (if they get that far) with a win in Indianapolis on Monday.
In Miami the Heat held off the New York Knicks thanks to a show stopping 55 points from talisman Dwyane Wade. In a high scoring game Wade wasn’t the only one to put up very good numbers, Michael Beasley dropped 28 points himself, and capped the night off with a double double after jumping for 16 rebounds in a 122-105 win. This win puts Miami into 5th spot in the East after Philadelphia loss to Toronto and with two games to go and Wade seemingly back at his best they’ll hope to cling onto that seed.
The aforementioned Philadelphia 76ers damaged their chances to getting into the second round of the play-offs with a road loss to the Toronto Raptors, 104-111. This loss meant the 76ers were pushed down to 6th spot in the Eastern Conference with two games to go and means that if they can’t get back to 5th they will be playing Orlando in the first round, a daunting task. All five of Toronto’s starters had solid games last night and every one of them scored double figures. Power forward Chris Bosh led them with 22 points while Jose Calderon had 11 points and the same number of assists for a double double to give Toronto their 31st win of the season.
In Sacramento the San Antonio Spurs had to rely on their main two starters to overcome the Kings in a tight 95-92 win. With Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan still out injured the Spurs were led by Tony Parker, who scored 25 while their other big player Roger Mason dropped 22. This win kept San Antonio in the hunt for 2nd spot in the West and in a 3 way tie for 3rd place with Houston and Portland with two games to play.
Finally in Los Angeles the Lakers comfortably beat the Memphis Grizzlies 92-75. L.A encounted no trouble whatsoever winning 3 quarters of play and tying one in a game when they needn’t get out of first gear. They let most of their bench have time on the court and due to this Kobe Bryant only had 16 points while Andrew Bynum led with 18. Pau Gasol got his usual double double with 12 points and 13 rebounds but it looks like the Lakers will have to go into the play-offs without home court advantage all the way through since the Cavs don’t feel like losing any time soon.
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