NBA Games Recap 4/5/09
A gigantic 11 games were played in the NBA last night to make up for the empty card tonight due to the opening day of MLB:
We’ll start in Cleveland where the Cavs did a nice job over the San Antonio Spurs in the first day game to win comfortably 101-81. The Cavs raced away in the 2nd quarter to lead by 13 at half time and coasted in the second half. LeBron James shot 66 percent from the field for his 38 points while Delonte West and Mo Williams both had 22 a piece to keep themselves warm for the upcoming play-offs, they’re still fighting the Lakers for home court advantage throughout the play-offs and have a slim 1 game lead over the team from California with both teams having 5 games to play. The Spurs look to have surrendered 2nd spot to Denver and are now 2 games behind the Nuggets with 6 games to play, 2 more than Denver. They’ll now probably focus on holding onto 3rd spot where they’re currently a half game in front of Houston.
The biggest game of the day saw the Dallas Mavericks effectively shut out the Phoenix Suns’ chance of making the play-offs by comprehensively beating them at home, 140-116. This loss leaves Phoenix 4 games off of Dallas with both teams having 5 to play, meaning to pip Dallas to 8th spot in the Western Conference the Suns would have to end the season 5-0 and the Mavs 0-5. Since the Mavs have to play Minnesota at home in their penultimate game that sequence of events won’t be happening. Dirk Nowitzki had 28 points while shooting 10 of 12 from the field to lead the Mavericks to their 46th win of the season.
Detroit did no harm to their play-off hopes by beating their nearest rival to the 8th spot, Charlotte at the Palace of Auburn Hills, 104-97. Will Bynum came off the bench to score 32, shooting 14 from the foul line and Tayshaun Prince had 14 in a slow night for him only shooting 7 of 16 from the field. This leaves the Pistons 3 games in front of Charlotte with each team having 5 to play. Detroit are slowly limping to the play-offs but thankfully for them the Bobcats have failed to really put a run of wins together.
In Toronto the Knicks got revenge for their loss to the Raptors only a day earlier to ensure that the Raptors wouldn’t be playing in the post-season after the Raptors ensured the same thing happened to New York on Saturday. The Knicks won this one 112-103 with a solid performance, all of their starters scored double figures with another two coming off the bench to do the same thing. Wilson Chandler top scored with 17 while Al Harrington and David Lee both had double doubles; 12 points, 10 rebounds and 16 points and 10 rebounds respectively. Both teams will be hoping for better next season.
Utah finally managed a win away from home against a team over .500 since early November when they beat New Orleans, 108-94, to secure their place in the play-offs. This was the Jazz’ most impressive road win for a long time and they can thank Ronnie Brewer and Deron Williams, who had 23 and 21 respectively, for that. Utah are still stuck in 7th place though, a half game behind New Orleans who are in 6th. With 5 games left to play the Jazz will be hoping to use this win to build momentum and try and get the highest seed they can possibly get to avoid playing Denver in 2nd place.
Houston managed to beat Portland at home but despite this Portland secured a play-off berth thanks to Phoenix’s earlier loss at Dallas. The Rockets won this one 102-88 thanks to Yao Ming’s double double (21-12rebounds) and Luis Scola’s 16 points and this win left them in 4th spot, a half game off of San Antonio with 5 games to play. If the season ended now the Rockets would play the ‘Blazer in the first round with home court advantage but they’ll hope that they can still push the Spurs for 3rd place despite having a game less to play then San Antonio.
Denver cemented themselves in 2nd place with an away win at Minnesota, 110-87. This leaves them 2 games in front of San Antonio with 6 games to play and they look good value for their current high seeding. This last win was ensured by Carmelo Anthony’s 23 points while Chauncey Billups also had 17. Minnesota just want the season to end.
Despite not being able to make the play-offs unless Detroit or Chicago go the rest of the season winless, Indiana will at least be able to hold their heads high at the end of the season. They’re currently in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and have come on strong in recent weeks but left it a little too late to make a push for the play-off. They’ll be aiming to take 9th spot off Charlotte to make the end of season standings look respectable. They did that aspiration the world of good by beating Oklahoma in Oklahoma, 117-99 to take them within a game of the Bobcats. They won this due to out scoring the Thunder by 12 in the first quarter and 14 in the third quarter to inflict damage to the Thunder that they couldn’t come back from. Danny Granger scored 24 despite missing all 5 of his 3 point attempts, to lead the Pacers to their 33rd win of the season.
New Jersey handed the 76ers their worst loss of the season at the IZOD Center beating them by 29 points, 96-67. The 67 points put up by Philly was their worst performance of the year with none of their starters getting into double figures and Andre Iguodala only shooting 1-8 from the field. New Jersey need a situation like Phoenix to make the play-offs but like Indiana will be hoping to end the season on a high before regrouping in the summer. For the ‘Sixers this loss means they drop to 40-36, a half game behind Miami who are in 5th place and will be hoping to recover in their last 6 games to wrestle that 5th spot from the Heat.
In a pointless game between two relatively bad teams in the West Golden State managed a 105-100 win at Sacramento, despite a late Kings comeback. Kelenna Azubuike top scored for the Warriors with 30 points and got himself a double double with 15 rebounds to see Golden State to their 28th win of the season.
Finally the Lakers, who were 1/33 to win this game pre-match, made a meal of a simple home game against the woeful L.A Clippers but still managed to win, 88-85. The Lakers were up 12 points at the start of the 4th quarter before letting the Clips out score them by 9 to make this scoreline look slightly embarrassing for a team that have won their division. Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom led the Lakers with 18 points a piece with Odom collecting a double double with 10 rebounds. The Lakers are still hopeful that Cleveland will drop a game before the end of the season so that they can get home court advantage throughout the play-offs.
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