Monday, April 18, 2011

NBA Playoffs - Sunday Recap

Pretty wild Sunday that saw both the West's #1 and #2 seeds fall. Here's a quick recap:

 Memphis 101 San Antonio 98

Memphis got their first playoff win EVER upsetting the top seeded 61-win Spurs 101-98. Zach Randolph had 25 points and 14 rebounds and Shane Battier hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 23.9 seconds to play as the 16 year drought finally ended for the Grizzlies. Marc Gasol add 24 points and 9 rebounds connecting on 9 of 10 field goals and Mike Conley had 15 points and 10 assists to help pull off the upset. The Grizzles shot 55.2% from the floor and by contrast the Spurs hit just 28 of 70 shots as they sorely missed Manu Ginobili who was forced to sit with an elbow sprain. George Hill started in Ginobili's place and finished with 15 points, but he and Tony Parker were a combined 6 of 23 from the field. Parker led the Spurs with 20 points.


New Orleans 109 Los Angeles Lakers 100

Chris Paul took this game over the in 4th quarter scoring 17 of his 33 points as the Hornets pulled off a surprising upset of the defending champions. Paul added 7 rebounds, 14 assists and 4 steals, and the Hornets bench came up huge hitting 16 of 22 shots for 39 points. Kobe Bryant had 34 points for the Lakers and Ron Artest added 16 points and 11 rebounds for L.A., but it wasn't enough to overcome CP3. Pau Gasol struggled to get going offensively all night hitting just 2 of 9 shots for 8 points. Trevor Ariza owned the worst shooting performance of the evening though hitting just 2 of 13 shots against his former team. The Hornets turned the ball over just 3 times the whole game.


Boston 87 New York 85

Boston did just enough to steal a win from the Knicks in game 1. The C's outscored the Knicks 48-34 in the second half and thanks to a late 3 from Ray Allen with 12 seconds to play emerged victorious. To make matters worse for the Knicks starting point guard Chauncey Billups was injured and is likely out for Game 2. Allen led the Celtics with 24 points and Rajon Rondo chipped in a near triple double with 10 points 9 boards and 9 assists. Amare Stoudemire led all scorers with 28 points. Carmelo Anthony finished with 15 and shot just 5 of 18 from the floor.


Oklahoma City 107 Denver 103

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 72 points as the Thunder edged the Nuggets 107-103. Durant finished with 41 and 9 rebounds while Westbrook had 31 points, 6 boards and 7 assists to lead OKC to a 1-0 series lead. Denver had 5 players in double figures led by Nene's 22, but the Nuggets hit just 4 of 16 3's and shot just 63.6% from the free throw line which was prove costly in the close loss. Raymond Felton had 12 points and 8 assists off the bench for the Nuggets in their first playoff game of the post-Melo era.

No comments:

Post a Comment