Well hello there friends, did you have a good night? Well why not come on in for a little playoff nightcap. We don't bite, and even Blazers fans are welcome in.
Only 2 games on the schedule last night but on the plus side, the Suns are no longer the only team to lose a playoff game at home! Little victories!
Monday April 19th Playoff Results:
Cleveland Cavaliers 112 Chicago Bulls 102 (Recap) - For 3 quarters it seemed like the Bulls were going to be more than just a 4 game speed bump on the Cavs romp to the Eastern Conference Finals - then the fourth quarter happened. Cleveland used a 35-25 final quarter and 40 from the human being that the LeBron James puppet is based on, to take a 2-0 series lead. James had 15 of his 40 in the final period after the Chicago Bulls players dared him to take jump shots - he happily obliged. Note to Chicago, don't mess with LeBron.
Utah Jazz 114 Denver Nuggets 111 (Recap) - The Utah Jazz roster seems to be falling apart. Andrei Kirilenko is already done for this series and Mehmet Okur joined him on the injured list - but Deron Williams and the Jazz still took Game 2 from the Nuggets. Williams pumped in 33 points (including 16/18 from the line) and 14 assists to lead Utah while Carlos Boozer chipped in 20/15. Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 32 but did so on 9/25 shooting, not to mention the fact that he fouled out of the game with 25 seconds left and the Nuggets down 1. No matter how banged up the Jazz are I don't see them going away in this series.
Series Standings:
(1) Lakers v. (8) Thunder: 1-0 Lakers
(2) Mavericks v. (7) Spurs: 1-0 Mavericks
(3) Suns v. (6) Trail Blazers: 1-0 Blazers
(4) Nuggets v. (5) Jazz: 1-1 tie
(1) Cavaliers v. (8) Bulls: 2-0 Cavs
(2) Magic v. (7) Bobcats: 1-0 Magic
(3) Hawks v. (6) Bucks: 1-0 Hawks
(4) Celtics v. (5) Heat: 1-0 Celtics
Tuesday April 20th Playoff Games:
Game 2 - Bucks @ Hawks: I find this series generally unfortunate. The Bucks were a fun team to watch all year but with the loss of Andrew Bogut they just don't have the horses to hang with the Hawks.
Game 2 - Heat @ Celtics: The big story of this one is the Celtics Kevin Garnett being suspended due to his issues with flailing elbow issues. Miami isn't perfect by any means but they held a 12 point lead in the 3rd quarter last time out and should be able to even the series with Garnett watching from home.
Game 2 - Trail Blazers @ Suns:Check back later today for the game preview. I'd advise the Suns to win this one.
Game 2 - Thunder @ Lakers: This game will probably play out a lot like Game 1, with Durant improving and Westbrook playing a bit worse, the Thunder will hang around but the Lakers won't let them get close enough to win.