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3 games were played in the NBA play-offs last night and none of them were close games. Firstly the closest game of the night resulted in an 81-71 win for the Atlanta Hawks in Miami that tied the series at 2-2 with at least 2 more to play. This looks like the series that’s most likely to go to a 7th game and with the teams in it were seeded 4th and 5th that’s not a surprise. In Game 4 last night the Hawks had a comfortable time in Florida holding a 4 point lead going into half time before increasing it in the second half.

Point guard Mike Bibby led Atlanta in scoring with 15 points 9 of which were from 3 point range. Bibby hit every 3-point shot he took last night and finished with 5 of 10 field shooting. Other than that Joe Johnson dropped 14 while playing most of the game and Maurice Evans hit 4 of 6 field shots for 10 points. The other performance of note was Zaza Pachulia who came off the bench to replace center Al Horford and played a greater number of minutes than Horford during which time he scored 12 and grabbed 18 rebounds for a double double.

On the other side Dwayne Wade hit 22 points despite only shooting 9 of 26 while Jermaine O’Neal scored 20. With the win Atlanta took home court advantage in the series back from Miami with the next game in Atlanta.

In New Orleans the Hornets were thoroughly humbled at home to a better team as they lost 121-63 to trail Denver 3-1 in the series, in a game that equalled their worst play-off defeat of 58 points. By the start of the 4th quarter the New Orleans Arena was nearly empty as the Nuggets led by 38 points before rubbing salt into the wounds by out scoring the Hornets 33 to 13 in the 4th to add another 20 to the total.

The Nuggets shot 57 percent on the night while New Orleans managed only 31 percent and in particular the Nuggets completely shut down Chris Paul, who could only score 4 points and 6 assists whilst giving up 6 turnovers. This was his worst play-off showing in his career while on the other end the Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony had a great night. He scored 26 points and 7 assists in only 36 minutes as most of the Denver starters didn’t even both coming out for the 4th quarter. Due to this the bench got some time and with the game wrapped up early they decided to show boat and even these came off. Linas Kleiza came on for 15 minutes altogether and scored 14 points, 9 of which were 3 pointers and he still managed to miss another 3.

The Hornets will now have to go into Denver knowing that a loss will see them out of the play-offs at the first hurdle, surely a shock for a team that in December and January was in 2nd place in the Western Conference. If the Nuggets replicate their performance in New Orleans then Chris Paul and co. won’t have a chance.

Finally in Los Angeles the Lakers wrapped up their series with the Utah Jazz in 5 games as they won 107-96 to win the series 4-1 and advance to the next round. The Jazz started ok and held the Lakers at 26-26 after the first quarter but soon fell to pieces and went into the break 13 points down as their road blues quickly set in. Kobe Bryant had 31 points including 3 of 4 from behind the arc while two more players had double doubles. Firstly Pau Gasol dropped 17 and grabbed 11 rebounds and then Lamar Odom shot 10 of 15 from the field for 26 points and 15 rebounds as Utah just couldn’t cope with the L.A firepower. The Lakers will now go onto face either Dallas or San Antonio and it’s hard to see them losing to either team on the form they are in.

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The second number one seeded team in the league has the chance to win their series tonight in Game 5. That team of course are the L.A Lakers, who despite losing one game to Utah in Salt Lake a few days ago recovered to take the second one and a 3-1 lead back into Los Angeles where they’re fully expected to win against a team that only won twice against teams over .500 on the road in the regular season. Despite having a good line up in Boozer, Williams and the like the Jazz just haven’t been able to shake off their terrible away form that cost them a shot at the 2nd seed in the West and in the end ensured they only had the lowest seed in the division despite having only lost 8 games at home all season.

On the other hand the Lakers will be looking forward to a short break before the Conference Semi-Finals where they’ll play either Dallas or San Antonio (more likely Dallas as they’re currently 3-1 up) in a mouth-watering tie. While they won’t want to go into tonight’s game with any complacency even they’ll know that the Jazz aren’t the best and the home fans at the Staples Center will be fully expecting Kobe Bryant and the team to put on a show worthy of the play-offs. Tip off is at 10.30ET.

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4 games were played in the NBA play-offs on Sunday night starting in Chicago where the Bulls refused to lay down against the Boston Celtics and eventually won in the second period of overtime 121-118 thanks to some late free throws to tie the series at 2-2. The Bulls might have won it late on but the first late dramatics were provided by Boston and Ray Allen in particular. Allen, who had won game 2 for the Celtics with a late 3 did exactly the same from 27-feet away from the basket to tie the game at 96-96 with only 9 seconds left in regular time. Chicago failed to convert their last possession of the quarter and the game went to OT.

Then in the first period of overtime the Bulls’ Ben Gordon (who had previously put up numbers of 36 and 42 in the first two games) hit a 25-foot tray with only 4 seconds to go when Chicago were down 107-110 to take the game into 2OT. Gordon had 22 points on the night and shot 10 of 22 from the field in 49 minutes. Then with less than 30 seconds on the clock in 2OT the Celtics’ Paul Pierce fouled John Salmons to send him to the line (the Celtics were over the limit at that point), Salmons hit both shots to make the game 119-115 but the aforementioned Pierce then brought Boston back within a point of Chicago with a 3 pointer to make the game 118-119. Boston had to foul and did so to Salmons again and he promptly put both shots away to re-establish the 3 point lead. The Celtics had one last chance to tie the game with 16 seconds on the clock, however when Pierce went for a 24-foot 3 at the buzzer Salmons completed his heroics by blocking the shot to the crowds delight as the
Bulls won 121-118 to tie the series at 2-2 going into the next game in Boston.

Derrick Rose led the Bulls with 23 points and had a double double with 11 rebounds to boot. Behind him was the previously mentioned Gordon and John Salmons, who scored 20 points in 47 minutes including all 9 of his foul shots. On the other side Paul Pierce had a big game scoring 29 including 3 shots from behind the arc, a total that was only eclipsed by Ray Allen who shot 5 of 11 from behind the arc for 15 of his 28 points. The Bulls are proving tougher than Boston expected but with home court advantage back in their favour they will still expect to get through albeit in 6 or 7 games.

In Detroit the Cavaliers completed their easy sweep of the Pistons with a 99-78 win in Game 4 to progress to the Conference Semi-Finals. Cleveland never looked in trouble in this game and were rarely behind, up by 9 at half time they coasted the rest of the way in the end winning by 21 points. LeBron James led the Cavs with 36 points and 13 rebounds for a double double while Mo Williams impressed with his 3 point shooting as he dropped 4 on his way to a 24 point game. Cleveland will now go onto face either Orlando or Philadelphia and in this form it’s hard to see them losing even a game let alone a series especially with home court advantage.

In the series that will decide who Cleveland plays in the next round the Orlando Magic wrestled home court advantage back from the Philadelphia 76ers in a game where every starter scored double figures. Orlando won this one 84-81 to tie the series at 2-2 with the next game in Orlando and their star performer was Dwight Howard, the towering center, who scored 18 points and 18 rebounds for a commanding double double while Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu (who hit the game winning 3) each dropped 17. On the other side Andre Miller led the Sixers with 17 points while Andre Iguodala had his own double double with 13 points and 11 assists. A special mention also goes to Willie Green who hit all 3 of his shots from behind the arc for 9 of his 11 points. Despite pulling off two good wins Philly haven’t been able to build on them and that leaves them with the task of having to go into Orlando again needing a victory with at least two games to go.

Finally in Houston the Rockets took a 3-1 lead over the Portland Trail Blazers in their second home game to take a two game lead into Portland and Game 5 with an 88-89 win. Talisman Yao Ming led the Rockets with 21 points and 12 rebounds for a double double while Luis Scola dropped 17 and Shane Battier hit 4 of 6 3-pointers for a large part of his 14 points. On the other side Brandon Roy top scored for the ‘Blazers with 31 while shooting 8 of 17 from the field while LaMarcus Aldridge scooped 19 with exactly the same shooting figures. Portland’s task looks a hard one now, having to make up two games on Houston when they’re in this form will be very difficult especially since they will have to go into Houston and get a win to stay alive in Game 6, they just haven’t been able to stop Ming in this series and it has cost them.

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15 games were played in the Major Leagues last night starting in Cincinnati where the Atlanta Braves prevailed thanks to some early power hitting. The Braves were up 6-0 by the 2nd innings as 3rd baseman Jones hit a RBI single to right field in the 1st before hitting a 3 run jack in the second to make it 6-0. The Reds tried to hit back immediately with a 2 run homer from short stop Gonzalez but Atlanta made sure of the win in the 6th innings when Ross hit an RBI double before Escobar homered to left center to score Ross. The game ended 10-2 and with it the Braves moved into a 2-0 lead in the 3 game series. Lowe pitched the win after 7 complete innings during which he only gave up 4 hits and 2 runs while striking out 8. Arroyo moved to 3-1 for Cincy after giving up 9 earned runs in 5.2 innings.

Next up in New York the Mets beat the Washington Capitals 8-2 after an explosive first three innings during which they scored 5 runs. After that they were in cruise control and starter Pelfrey was able to earn the win, pitching 5.2 innings allowing 6 hits and only 2 earned runs. An error by Washington center fielder Elijah Dukes allowed Wright to be get a 2 RBI double that scored Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado to make it 2-0 in the first before Church hit an RBI single to center field to score Wright. Beltran then hit an infield single to score Luis Castillo in the second and Santos scored on a fielder’s choice in the third. The Nats tried to come back in the 4th and 6th when the aforementioned Dukes hit first an RBI single and then an RBI triple to make it 5-2 but the Mets hit back immediately in the 6th and scored 3 runs including an 2 RBI single to center by Church that scored Beltran and Wright. Young Nats starter Daniel Cabrera had a poor game, giving up 6 hits, 5 r
uns, 1 earned run and 4 walks in only 2.1 innings before he was pulled off the field.

In Oakland the A’s won their 6th game of the season when they beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 to tie the series at 1-1. In a low scoring game the A’s were up early thanks to a Buck home run to right field in the 3rd innings and a Nomar Garciaparra 3 RBI double to center field in the 4th that scored Cabrera, Giambi and Cust to make it 4-0. Tampa responded in the 5th when Iwamura RBIed to center but Jason Giambi effectively ended the game in the 7th with a solo home run to right to make it 5-2. The Rays added another run in the 8th but it wasn’t enough and Oakland held on. Braden got the win for Oakland after pitching 5.2 innings allowing 4 hits, 1 earned run and 3 walks whilst striking out 2 before Ziegler got the save in the 9th innings.

In a shootout at Fenway Park the Boston Red Sox triumphed over their AL East rivals the Yankees 16-11. New York managed to give away a 6 run lead that they had accumulated in the first 4 innings when the Soxs scored 5 in the bottom of the 4th before taking the lead in the 5th when they scored 3 more. New York made it 8-8 in the 6th but only held a tie for a half innings as Boston responded with 1 run in the bottom of the 6th to make it 9-8. The lead then changed hands again when the Yankees scored two in the 7th to make it 10-9 before the Red Soxs hit 3 runs to make it 12-10. The Yankees tried to find another response but could only muster one run to make it 12-11 before the Soxs but the game to bed in the bottom of the 8th with 4 runs. This of course led to some horrific pitching stats, Burnett, New York’s starter, pitched 5 innings and gave up 8 hits, 8 earned runs, 3 walks and 2 home runs before being carted off the field. It didn’t get any better from there and the Ya
nkees went through their entire bullpen trying to find someone that would stabilize their defense, none of which did. The 6 relievers that they tried all failed to complete one innings with Albaladejo taking the loss after he gave up 3 earned runs in 0.1 innings.

In St. Louis the Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 8-2 thanks to some nice hitting in the 4th and an Albert Pujols grand slam in the 7th to make it 7-1. Before that though Greene hit an RBI double to deep left to score Ludwick before Barden followed up with a single to left that scored Molina and Greene to make it 3-0. Theriot then responded for the Cubs with a single to left that scored Marshall in the 5th to make it 3-1 but Pujols stole the show with his hit to left field in the 7th to make it 7-1 before Thurston hit an RBI single to right to score Greene in the 8th. Theriot then hit another RBI in the 9th but by then the game was over and with it the Cardinals took the series with one game to go as they were now up 2-0.

In Baltimore the Texas Rangers guaranteed at least a tied series as they beat the Orioles 6-5 to take a 2-0 lead in their 4 game road series. Texas were up 5-0 by the end of the 3rd innings as firstly Kinsler homered in the first, Davis homered in the second and Kinsler again homered in the third and in the process scored Andrus before Jones capped off the innings with another homer to make it 5-0. Baltimore then responded with an RBI single courtesy of Wigginton but Byrd sac flyed in the top of the 5th to make it 6-1 to the Rangers, a lead they nearly, but in the end didn’t, give away. In the 6th Wigginton again scored with a home run to center before Izturis hit a double to deep left to score Zaun in the bottom of the 9th. Jones then followed up by singling to right center to score Montanez and Izturis to make it 6-5. Alas the Orioles just couldn’t complete the comeback and with it the Rangers’ starter Feldman earned the win off of 5 completed innings in which he gave
up only 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 2.

In Chicago a 6 run 5th innings took the game away from the Toronto Blue Jays in a 10-2 win for the White Soxs. After trading runs in the 2nd innings to make it 2-2 the White Soxs exploded in the 5th when Paul Konerko singled to center to score Fields before Anderson singled to left to score Dye and move Konerko to third. Ramirez then scored Konerko, Miller and Anderson with a grand slam that made the scoreline 8-2. Jermaine Dye then hit a home run to left field in the next innings to score Quentin to make the 10-2 and end the game. With this it gave Buehrle his 3rd win of the season as a starter for the Chisoxs, he got through 6 complete innings and gave up only 6 hits, 2 earned runs and 3 walks while striking out 4 and has an impressive E.R.A of 3 on the season.

In Cleveland the Twins gave a good performance in an easy win over the Cleveland Indians to make sure of a series win in the second game of their 3 game series. Minnesota now lead the series 2-0 and won this one 7-1 after a good performance by starter Kevin Slowey in which he pitched 8 full innings and gave up only 8 hits while striking out 7. He gave up the one Indians run in the 9th before being taken off but will still be happy with his 3 win of the season to take him to 3-0 despite an E.R.A of 4.44. Morneau started the scoring for the Twins with a single to right in the 1st that scored Casilla before Young singled to left in the 4th to score Joe Crede. It didn’t end there in the 4th though as Redmond singled to right to score Cuddyer to make it 3-0. Jason Kubel then homered to right to make it 4-0 in the 5th before Span hit a sac fly to left to score Young in the 6th. To make sure of no Indians comeback Jason Kubel and Joe Crede each hit a solo home run in the top of th
e 9th to make it 7-0 before Shoppach tacked on Cleveland’s only run with an RBI single to left center in the 9th to score Martinez.

Milwaukee needed extra innings to get past the Astros in Houston but triumphed thanks to a Braun RBI single in the 11th to win 9-8. With this DiFelice got his first win of the season for the Brewers after pitching the last Houston innings in the bottom of the 11th during which he struck out 2 of the 3 outs. The runs didn’t get flowing for a while though with the first one coming in the 4th as Fielder homered to left to put Milwaukee 1-0 up. Houston then responded with 3 runs of their own with a 2 run homer from Lee to center field to score Berkman before Matt Hampton RBI singled to right to score Geoff Blum. Bourn then hit a solo homer in the 5th to make it 4-1 before Milwaukee tied the game in the 6th with a Hall 3 run jack that scored Braun and Hardy. They then took the lead with a Hall RBI single in the 8th before Kendall hit a sac fly in the same innings to score Cameron to make it 6-4. The hitting didn’t stop there though as Houston regained the lead in the bottom of
the 8th as Towles singled to shallow center to score Blum before Matsui doubled to left to score Towles and Erstad to make it 7-6 in favour of Houston. Fielder then stepped up to hit a 2 run homer to left field in the top of the 9th to make it 8-7 Milwaukee before Pence got safely on base thanks to a throwing error by the third baseman that scored Berkman and tied the game at 8-8. With this we went into extra innings and finally after an innings of nothingness Braun stepped up to single to right to score Hart and eventually win the game after DiFelice did his business.

In Kansas City the Detroit Tigers tied up their 3 game road series with the Royals after they won 9-1 on Saturday night. The Tigers won this won in the 6th innings during which they scored 4 runs, an Anderson 2 RBI triple to deep right and a Paul Polanco 2 RBI double to deep left to score the aforementioned Anderson and Curtis Granderson. This made the score 8-0 and despite a Mike Jacobs ground out that scored Coco Crisp immediately after that Detroit flurry of runs the Royals couldn’t find anything else and eventually lost this one 9-1 after a Ordonez homer to left center in the 9th. Detroit starter Miner therefore got the win after his pitched 5 innings during which he only gave up 3 hits and 1 earned run before the Tigers’ relievers kicked in and did their job.

In Florida the Marlins carried on their bad run of form with their second loss in the same number of days to the Phillies, 6-4. Despite being up 4-2 after a 4 run 4th innings the Marlins couldn’t hang on. In that innings Cantu homered to center to score Baker and Ramirez before Dan Uggla hit a solo home run to make it 4-2 but Philly fought back and tied the game in the 9th when Bruntlett grounded out to third to score Werth and therefore took the game into extra innings. It didn’t take long for the winning runs to come though as Chase Utley RBI singled to center to score Victorino before Werth again RBI singled to center to score Utley and make it 6-4 in the 10th. Brad Lidge then got his 4th save of the season as he struck out each out despite giving up a run and two walks as the Phillies took the series regardless of what happens in tonight’s game as they made it 2-0 in the 3 game series.

In Colorado the Los Angeles Dodgers won their 13th game of the season with a 6-5 win over the hapless Rockies. The Dodgers were ahead early in this one thanks to a Ethier RBI single that scored Furcal, a 2 RBI single that scored Ethier and Loney off of the bat of Martin and a Blake single to right that scored Martin. All of these in the first innings that made it 4-0. Colorado never really recovered despite getting 3 runs back in the 3rd after Smith singled to right to score Jimenez and Hawpe singled to right to score Fowler and Smith. After that the Dodgers made sure of the win when Martin singled to shallow center to score Hudson and Ethier to make it 6-3. Colorado gained another 2 runs after Atkins homered to left to score himself and Helton in the 5th but couldn’t find that extra run to take the game to a tie in the remaining innings and the Dodgers escaped with a series win whatever happens in the last game as they took a 2-0 lead in the best of three.

In Arizona the San Francisco Giants moved to .500 in their so far short season after they beat the Diamondbacks 5-3. The Giants move to 8-8 in an NL West division where you don’t have to be that great to win it and did so after a 4 run 5th innings eventually won the game for them. 2-0 down after Upton homered to left to score Young for the D’backs the Giants responded with Renteria’s double to deep center that score Ishikawa and Torres before Winn homered to left to score Renteria himself to make it 4-2. While a Byrned home run made it 4-3 in the bottom of the innings Arizona couldn’t find anything else and San Fran made sure of the win in the 6th when Burriss singled to center to score Schierholtz to make it 5-3. Despite only giving up 3 runs the Giants used 6 pitchers and in those 6 Miller got his first win of the season as he pitched out the 4th and 5th Arizona innings and gave up only 1 hit and 1 run in his 1.2 innings of chucking.

In Anaheim the L.A Angels couldn’t complete a late comeback against the Seattle Mariners and went down 9-8 in the second game of the 3 game series (which Seattle now leads 2-0). Trailing 5-3 after 5 innings the Angels proceeded to give up 4 runs in the next two Seattle innings. First up Johnson hit a sac fly to left to score Branyan in the 6th before Ken Griffey Jr. singled to right to score Ichiro, Beltre singled to center to score Chavez and Branyan singled to right to score Griffey Jr. to make the game 9-3 in the 7th. Then the Angels started to play but despite a Bobby Abreu RBI single in the 7th, Kendrick double to deep center in the 8th that scored Morales and Rivera and Hunter 2 run homer in the 9th Los Angeles just fell short and lost 9-8.

Finally in San Diego the Padres lost in a blow out to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-1, and in doing so moved to 10-7 after a good start. This win for Pittsburgh tied the series at 1-1 and they managed it thanks to some great pitching from Duke who pitched 8.1 innings during which he gave up only 6 hits, 1 earned run and 2 walks and struck out 5. Thankfully his effort wasn’t in vain as the runs flowed for Pittsburgh. Monroe hit an RBI single in the first to score Morgan before Adam LaRoche grounded into a double play at first that scored Sanchez in what turned out to be the winning run. The Pirates didn’t stop there though and in the 4th Duke hit a sac fly to center to score Vazquez before Morgan did the same to score Jaramillo in the same innings to make it 5-0. In the 6th Monroe doubled to deep right to score Morgan and Sanchez before Gonzalez got San Diego’s only run after he grounded out to second to score Hairston to make it 8-1. Pittsburgh then polished off their win with a 2 run 8th innings in which Hinske singled to right to score Sanchez while Adam LaRoche hit a sac fly that scored Monroe to make it 10-1.

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After Utah’s late victory a couple of days ago in Salt Lake City the Jazz are hopeful of doing the same to the Lakers to level the series, a great achievement considering they were looking so down and out after the two games in Los Angeles. Doing this would put, at least, a little bit of pressure on the Lakers, something they haven’t had to cope with for a while. I say a little because the Jazz’ away form is so atrocious that even if they do win tonight to level up the series they still won’t pose that much of a threat to L.A, the team with the home court advantage.

However, hope springs eternal and to keep that hope alive they’ll need to win tonight and will need Carlos Boozer and co. to step up a la a couple of days ago. If they can take this series to Game 6 or 7 at least they can hold their heads high even if they do go out as expected. This could even have an effect on the Lakers, who I’m sure were expecting an easy 4-0 sweep that hasn’t materialised. However, if they can get the job done in 5 games they will still be relatively happy and to do this they’ll have to win tonight and will hope for a bigger night from Kobe Bryant, who was quite quiet in Game 3. Tip-off is at 9pm ET and the game’s on ESPN.

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There were 3 NBA play-off games played last night starting in Detroit where Cleveland took another step towards sweeping the Pistons after they won 79-68 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Despite a bad 3rd quarter when the Cavaliers scored only 9 points LeBron and co. got through the game thanks to a 4th quarter when they outscored the Pistons 26-15 to win by 11. LeBron James led the Cavs with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists, just missing out on a triple double whilst shooting 9 for 19 from the field. Behind him Joe Smith came off the bench to make 6 of 8 of his field shots and 6 foul shots to score 19 and also grabbed 10 rebounds for a double double.

On the other side Rip Hamilton led the Pistons with a paltry 15 points while Rodney Stuckey was just behind with 12 as Cleveland shut out Detroit in a defensive game. With Detroit now just about out of the play-offs they’ll just hope to salvage some pride and win their last home game in a couple of days to avoid a 4-0 sweep.

In Philadelphia the 76ers took the lead once more in this series and kept their home court advantage with a 96-94 win over the Orlando Magic thanks to a strong first half that Orlando couldn’t come back from. The Sixers were up 11 points by half time and despite an good Orlando fight back they just couldn’t complete it and fell behind 2-1 in this series.  Philly won this one thanks to a Thaddeus Young lay up with only 2 seconds left on the clock but despite hitting the game winner Young had a quiet game, scoring only 6 points off of 3 of 7 shooting. The big scorers in the Philadelphia team were Andre Iguodala and Andre Miller who scored 29 and 24 respectively. The 76ers will be confident that they can replicate this success and take their next home game in the series to make it 3-1 and in a tie winning situation. I don’t think anyone could see them not winning 1 of 3 games after that.

On the other side Dwight Howard, Orlando’s towering centre led with 36 points and 11 rebounds for a double double while Rafer Alston scored 17 to help out but Orlando were always battling from behind in this game and their last lead was with 7 minutes to go in the 1st quarter when the score was 11-10, after that Philadelphia just sprinted away with it and this is now set to be an upset unless Dwight and co. can win the next game in Philly.

Finally in Houston the home team again won thanks to a strong first half as the Rockets beat Portland in Texas to take a 2-1 series lead. Houston were also ahead by 11 points at half time before the ‘Blazers tried to fight back, unfortunately they just couldn’t finish it and the final score was 86-83 in a game not dominated by one player. The highest scorers were Brandon Roy and Ron Artest, who both had 19 points but apart from that there wasn’t anything to write home about. This wasn’t a game with one superstar but more of a team performance from both sides, Shane Battier dropped 16 while Yao Ming had a quiet night with only 7 points and 13 rebounds.

On the other side Rudy Fernandez came off the bench to score 17 including 5 3-pointers while Steve Blake had a productive night at point guard as he drilled 16 points and 10 assists for a double double. The Trail Blazers won’t want to lose the next game in Houston which would see them on the brink of a play-off exit at the first hurdle especially since seeing how they ended the regular season it would be a massive disappointment.

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Another 3 games are being played today and while the Pistons get a chance to revive their hopes of a miracle after going 2-0 down after both games in Cleveland and the Trail Blazers try to reassert themselves after a shaky 1-1 start in their series against Houston the biggest game tonight is between Orlando and Philadelphia in Philly.

Once the ‘Sixers had won the first game in Orlando they gained the home court advantage and with the series tied at 1-1 they’ll hope that this can be put to their advantage. However that won’t be a large advantage as the Magic tied the Cavaliers and the Celtics for the best record on the road this season at 27-14, a record that was better than Philadelphia’s home record. Because of this and their convincing victory in game 2 on Wednesday they are being touted as favourites for tonight’s match up and will hope for a large performance from Dwight Howard, who was stifled in the first game and scored less than 20 points, a rare occurrence for him.

Orlando’s objective will be largely to win one of the two Philly home games, as soon as they do that then they have home court advantage back and it would be unlikely for the 76ers to win two games on the road against a team that were 32-9 at home in the regular season. Tip off is at 8pm ET and the game is on ESPN2.

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Three games were played in the first round of the NBA play-offs on Thursday night and there were a couple of shocks. First up in Chicago there was no shock as the Boston Celtic retook the lead in the series 2-1 thanks to a blow out win over the Bulls. The Celtics were up 22 points by halftime and just blew Chicago away to win 107-86, Paul Pierce led Boston with 24 points including 4 3-pointers while Rajon Rondo grabbed a double double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

With home advantage now regained the Celtics will be confident that they can put this series to bed but no one would be surprised if Chicago won the next game in Chicago to take this series to a 6th game. To win in the next game though, they’ll want a bigger performance from their stars, Ben Gordon who had previously put up big numbers in first two games was shut out for only 15 points last night, shooting 5 of 13 from the field while Derrick Rose shot only 4 of 14 from the field for 9 points, a feeble total.

In Dallas the Mavericks bossed the San Antonio Spurs in game 3 of their series and won easily 88-67 in a fantastic display of defensive play. By the half San Antonio had only 30 points on the board and with less than 5 minutes gone in the 3rd quarter and Dallas up 62-36 coach Gregg Popovich called a timeout and benched all of his starters in what he described as a lost cause. The Spurs’ bench players weren’t much better and that all added up to a performance resulting in their fewest points in a play-off game ever with Tim Duncan scoring a career low post-season total of 4 points.

On the other side Dirk Nowitzki paced Dallas with 20 points and 7 rebounds while Josh Howard was a few behind with 17. The most galling stat of the night was the Spurs’ shooting, San Antonio shot just 32 percent from the field all night and missed 15 3-point attempts. Unless the Spurs can up their game then Dallas will be confident of another win at home that would see them take a 3-1 lead to San Antonio and maybe provide us with the first shock of this season’s play-offs. Conversely the rest that the San Antonio big guns gained at the end of last night’s game might prove handy next time round.

Finally the biggest shock of the night was provided in Salt Lake City as the Utah Jazz beat the L.A Lakers 88-86 to keep them alive in this series. The Jazz are still 2-1 down in the best of 7 but will be hopeful that they can call on their stellar home form to carry them to another win and maybe put some pressure on Los Angeles in their next home game. The Jazz won this one with a Deron Williams fadeaway jumper with only 2.2 seconds left, despite this shot falling it wasn’t really Williams’ night and he only scored 13 points from 3 of 7 field shooting. Thankfully Carlos Boozer carried a lot of the Utah load and top scored with 23 points and had an astonishing 22 rebounds for a heroic double double.

The Lakers won’t be pleased that they blew an 8 point lead in the 4th quarter but will still be encouraged by what they saw in Los Angeles; the fact that Utah can play on the road. They won’t want to get complacent however, and will want to make sure they win the next game in Utah so that they can wrap this one up early, the last thing they want is a long drawn out series that would tire their players.

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In tonight’s NBA play-offs the L.A Lakers can go a step closer to booking their place in the Conference Semi-Finals with a win over Utah in Salt Lake City. The Lakers took both of their home games to lead 2-0 and looked comfortable in both. The Jazz hope to give them a harder test at home though, where they’ve only lost 8 games all season and will need to win both of their two home games if they’re to have a any chance of pulling off a miracle as 8th seeds. They might have to face the Lakers without center Mehmet Okur who’s questionable to start tonight’s game and even if he does a full strength Jazz will still find it hard to beat Los Angeles who look a well oiled play-off machine with Kobe Bryant averaging 25 points a game and Pau Gasol 21. Utah will have to look for some sturdy defense to stop these two, something that they haven’t done all season. Utah gave up an average of 100 points a game in the regular season and looked to outscore their opponents a la Phoenix to win games but this plan has backfired whenever a team has matched their very good offense and the Lakers are a good bet to do this. The game starts at 10.30pm ET and the game’s on TNT.

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With 16 games played in the MLB on Wednesday it seems stupid not to talk about that instead of 3 NBA play-off games that produced little in terms of excitement. First up in Pittsburgh the Pirates completed their sweep of the Florida Marlins and in doing so gave the Marlins’ their 4th loss of the season. The Pirates were successful in this 3 game home stand because they limited the Marlins’ explosive offense, before last night’s game the Marlins had only scored 2 runs in the last 2 games and only scored 4 in this game. Architect of this was Paul Maholm, who gained the win despite giving up 4 earned runs and 8 hits in 6 complete innings, thankfully for the Pirates though their middle and late relief came through the final 3 innings without giving up a run and in the 9th closer Matt Capps earned his 5th save of the season.

In the first of two games in Boston the Red Sox won the game that had been postponed on Tuesday due to rain 10-1 thanks to some early power hitting. With another game coming up later that evening the Red Soxs wanted to keep their bullpen relatively fresh and luckily for them the gods were smiling. Rain again came down in the bottom of the 7th which would end the game prematurely but since enough innings had been played Boston and pitcher Tim Wakefield took the win. Wakefield thus became the oldest Red Sox pitcher to complete a game and now moves to 2-1 on the season, in this game he only gave up the 1 earned run (the only run of the game for Minnesota) and 5 hits while striking out 4. As for the Sox’s offense that came in quick 2 run bursts to take the game away from the Twins early. In the 1st Kevin Youkilis homered to right to score David Ortiz and himself, in the 2nd Nick Green homered over the Green Monster to score George Kottaras and himself and in the 3rd Mike Lowell
homered again over the Monster to score J.D Drew and himself. After that the game was in Boston’s hands and they didn’t let Minnesota see it adding 4 more runs in the 7th before the game ended.

In New York the Yankees created another piece of history at their new stadium against the A’s by scoring the first walk-off home run. They won this one 9-7 after a long period of extra innings as the game was tied at 7 after 9. With C.C Sabathia starting the Yankees hoped for a long outing that would spare their shaky middle relief from another outing, he gave them 6 and 2/3rds innings but gave up all 7 Oakland runs and 4 walks. Thankfully then for New York their relief kicked in and held the A’s to only 3 more hits in the next 7 and 1/3rd innings eventually leading to Jose Veras to get the win after Miguel Cabrera hit a 2-run homer into right field to score Nick Swisher in the bottom of the 14th.

In Arizona the Diamondbacks shut out the Rockies and won the game thanks to a Ryan Roberts RBI single in the 7th followed by a walk when the bases were loaded. They won this game 2-0 but most of the plaudits go to their pitching, starter Dan Haren came into this game 0-3 but hit back at his critics by pitching 7 complete innings giving up only 6 hits while striking out 9. His work was backed up in the 9th by Chad Qualls who earned his 4th save of the season despite giving up 2 hits.

In another tight game in the West the San Francisco Giants won their 6th game of the season in extra innings thanks to a Brad Molina RBI ground rule double in the 10th against San Diego. Brain Wilson was given the win after he pitched the final two innings for the Giants but starter Barry Zito did no harm to his E.R.A with a 7 innings outing that saw him strike out 5 and give up 6 hits. This win gave San Francisco a 2-0 win in a short series with the Padres and improves them to 6-8 after a couple of weeks gone in the season.

In Baltimore the White Soxs tied their 3 game road series against the Orioles with an 8-2 win. Thanks to some early hitting Chicago were up 4-0 by the end of the 3rd as Baltimore couldn’t find a way of coping with John Danks’ pitching, Danks earned the win pitching 7 complete innings during which he allowed only 4 hits and 1 earned run to improve to 2-0 on the season with an impressive E.R.A of 0.95.

In Cleveland the Kansas City Royals levelled their 3 game series with the Cleveland Indians with a 2-0 win on Wednesday night. Cleveland have looked inconsistent in the early runnings and carried on that kind of play with only 5 hits all night as the Royals pitching was dominant. Brian Bannister started for the Royals and pitched 6 complete innings giving up 4 hits and striking out 1 for his first win of the season while Joakim Soria earned his 5th save of the season by pitching out the 9th. Kansas City were ahead early when in the 1st David DeJesus hit a sac fly to right to score Coco Crisp from third before right fielder Willie Bloomquist hit an RBI single to center in the 7th to score designated hitter Mike Jacobs.

In Washingon the Nationals were subjected to a cruel loss at the hands of the Atlanta Braves thanks to a walk when the bases were loaded to lose this one 1-0. Despite this loss they still took their first series of the season beating Atlanta 2-1 and are 3-11 on the season. Jair Jurrjens started for the Braves and gave 7 and 2/3rds innings of seamless pitching during which he gave up 6 hits and struck out 4. It wasn’t him that got the win though, that went to Mike Gonzalez despite Gonzalez pitching only 1 out in the bottom of the 8th. Rafael Soriano then pitched out the 9th with the 1 run lead to get his 2nd save of the season.

In Philadelphia the reigning champions carried on their questionable form this time losing at home to the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1. The game was won for the Brewers in the middle innings when they broke through the Phillies defense to score 3. In the 5th short stop J.J Hardy hit a homer to right before in the 6th center fielder Mike Cameron hit a 2 RBI double to score Corey Hart and Ryan Braun. Despite giving up a run in the bottom of the 9th Todd Coffey earned his second save of the year to tie the 3 game series at 1 each.

In Toronto the Blue Jays levelled their home stand with the Texas Rangers at 1-1 thanks to a walk off RBI single by Kevin Millar that scored Vernon Wells in the 11th innings. The game ended 8-7 and the Blue Jays must have feared the worst when closer B.J Ryan blew a 3 run lead in the top of the 9th but thankfully their smoking hot offense came through again to keep them at the top of the AL East at 11-5 on the season.

Back in Boston the rain had stopped by the time had come to start the other game of the day against the Twins and the Red Sox duly won that one as well, 7-3. It was another quick start by the BoSoxs as in the 2nd first baseman Jeff Bailey hit a 3 run homer to score himself, J.D Drew and Jason Varitek before an innings later David Ortiz doubled to left to score Josh Ellsbury and David Pedroia. 5-0 and Boston never looked back despite giving up 2 runs in the 4th to complete a day sweep of the Twins in a rainy series.

In Chicago the Cubs failed to score against the tame Cincinnati Reds and as a result lost 3-0. Despite keeping relatively close to the Reds all game the Cubs only had 6 hits in a convincing outing by Reds starter Johnny Cueto who pitched through 7 innings and gave up only 4 hits. Francisco Cordero earned his 6th save of the season in the 9th and was helped earlier in the innings when Cincinnati put another run on the board to make it 3-0. This win ties the series at 1 each with one to play.

In Houston the Astros beat the high flying Dodgers to at least win the series and will have a chance at a sweep tonight. Houston won this one 6-5 thanks to a 2 run 8th innings that saw them retake the lead, Ivan Rodriguez won the game with a 2 RBI single to center to score Hunter Pence and Geoff Blum. Los Angeles starter Randy Wolf will be disappointed to have gone so deep into a game and not earn the win, he didn’t get the loss though, that went to Ronald Belisario who gave up the all important single in his one innings on the mound.

In St. Louis the Cardinals can thank starter Joel Pineiro for their win against the New York Mets as he earned his 3rd win of the season pitching 8 innings in the process. Two Albert Pujols RBIs set the Cards on their way and they were 5-1 up by the 5th innings in a game where the Mets’ offense was stifled. Ryan Franklin came in to pitch the final out and in the process earned his 4th save of the year.

In Anaheim the Detroit Tigers won their 8th game of the season a shootout, 12-10. In a game where quality pitching was nowhere to be found each team signalled their intent early with the Angels leading 3-2 after one innings after Kevin Morales 3 run jack. With so many runs scored it would take too long to go through all of them in a game where 10 pitcher were used with the unlucky one being Scot Shields who didn’t manage an out at the start of the 7th innings as he gained the loss after giving up 4 earned runs and 2 walks. L.A have made a slow start to the season and are only 5-9 after nearly a tenth of the season has been played.

Finally in Seattle the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Mariners thanks to some relentless scoring in the first 6 innings. Tampa were 7-0 up before Seattle got on the board thanks to a Jose Lopez 3 run homer but couldn’t find anything else where as the Rays added another 2 to see the game out easily.

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