First round play-off review

The first round of the NBA Playoffs was a good one, there have been upsets, sweeps and two game 7’s.

The first team through was the Oklahoma City Thunder, they swept the Dallas Mavericks 4-0, in a series that didn’t live up to its hype, going into the series, the defending champions were expected to take at least 1 or 2 games and maybe take it to a game 6, and one of the favourite for this years title, was expected to face a battle but still come out to win, in game 6 or 7. The first two games were tight, the Thunder winning by 1 point and then by 3, Nowitzki led the scoring for Dallas with 24 and 31 respectively, but game 3, the Thunder won by 16 points and the game 4, they won by 6, in a 4th quarter blow out, and so out of the 8 games they’ve played against each other, OKC won 7 whilst Dallas won 1.

The next team through was the San Antonio Spurs, they swept the Utah Jazz (4-0), and it really was a sweep, the first game, the Spurs won by 15 points, the second by 31 points and the third by 12. With how the Spurs were playing this year, and there record going into the playoffs – they were 50 and 16, and on a winning streak of 10, which has now been extended to 14 – it was expected that they would win comfortably, even though some people did think Utah would win at least 1 game.

The Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat followed with both of their series ending 4-1, against Orlando and New York respectively. Orlando were without Dwight Howard for the whole post season, even if they somehow managed to get to the finals, he woudnt have been likely to have come back, but Indiana lost the first game of the series 81 to 77 but went on to win the next to games comfortably, until the game 4 when Orlando forced Over Time after a great 4th quarter, they ended up wining by 2 and by then were up 3-1 and in the final game Orlando didn’t look with it, without Dwight Howard, there not as threatening, and don’t have no where near as much presence in the paint.

Miami on the other hand, looked dangerous straight from the off, winning the first game by 33 points, 100 to 67. LeBron James getting 32 points, which was more than the Knicks starting 5 put together. However Iman Shumpert tore his ACL in game 1 and will be out for 6-8 months, his injury was just like Derrick Rose’s. The series went on and Miami won the second game by 10 points, this time Dwayne Wade adding 25 points, after the game Amare Stoudamire took his frustrations out on a glass cased fire extinguisher and got a deep cut in his hand, putting the rest of his series in jeopardy, so game 3 saw Miami win by 17 points, LeBron getting 32 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. However game 4 saw a return for Stoudamire and a Knicks win, Wade and LeBron combined for 49 points, but Carmelo done one better, he got 41 points on his own, and was joined by 6 rebounds and 4 assists, which was backed up by Stoudamire’s 20 point 10 rebound performance. Heading back to Miami for game 5, Miami were on fire, not even Carmelo’s 35 points and 8 rebounds could stop Miami big 3, they all combined for 67 points, LeBron being the star, nearly getting a triple double with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, Miami won by 12 points and booked a place in the next round.

The following night saw two more teams join rest in the second round, Philadelphia upset Chicago and the Celtics comfortably beat Atlanta, both series ended 4-2, the shock of the playoffs has to be the 76ers beating the Bulls, even though if Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose were healthy throughout, it may have been different, the first game started well for Chicago and carried on going well until there was 1:20 left on the clock, Rose had nearly had a triple double, he had 29 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, but it all took a huge turn for the worse when Rose went up for a layup, but instead passed it out to the wing and fell awkwardly and tore his ACL, this meant he was out of the game, out of the playoffs, out of the Olympics and out for the first few months of next season.

Philadelphia won the second game by 17 points, then the third by 5 and then the Bulls lost Noah to injury for the rest of the series with a sprained ankle, so Philadelphia won the fourth game by 6, but lost game 5 however 77 to 69, Boozer had 19 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, and Luol Deng had 24 points 8 rebounds. But dream became reality when Andre Iguodala hit the winning free throw with 2.2 seconds remaining to book Philadelphia’s place in the second round. The Celtics lost games one of their series to Atlanta, 83 to 74 and this is when everyone thought, ‘they’re to old, they’re done’ especially when Rondo, after his 20 point, 11 assist night bumped the ref and got ejected and banned for the next game, a 2-0 deficit is hard to come back from, but that wasn’t the case, Paul Peirce had a monster night, finishing with 36 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists, to lead Boston to a 7 point, 87 to 80 win. Rondo was back for game 3 and boy did he come back, the game went to Over Time and finished 90 to 84 to the Celtics, but it was all down to Rondo, the point guard finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists and 4 steals, an incredible triple double, Garnett finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, and the momentum they took into game 4 was huge, they blew the Hawks out by 22 points, Rondo again finishing with 20 points and 16 assists.

Game 5 could have tied it up, Boston could of won and got a well needed 5 day rest, but they didn’t. They lost by a point, Al Horford came back and put up 19 Points, 11 Rebound, 3 Assists, 3 Steals, 3 Blocks, Rondo finished with a another double double, with 13 points and 12 assists. The final game saw the end of Rondo’s streak of games with double-digit assists, he finished with 14 points and 8 assists, but the night belonged to Kevin Garnett, and after the Hawks owner called him old and the dirtiest player in the league, he was ready for revenge, the Celtics won by 3 points, and Garnett finished with 28 Points, 14 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 3 Steals and 5 Blocks.

There are two places left up for grabs and two games going to game 7, Memphis vs. L.A Clippers and L.A Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets. My thoughts are that Memphis and the Lakers will get through, setting up games to which I believe will leave a Final Four of; Boston, Miami, San Antonio and OKC. Here is the play-off bracket before tonight’s games: