First Round Recap: April 29th

Its been too long since I've blogged. I missed opening playoff games and awards and to make it up I'm doing a Mega-Post recapping all the first round series and story lines that go with them.

Bulls - Nets

1) Game 4: Triple Overtime Thriller

I unfortunately was too tired to watch the fourth quarter of this game and the basketball gods punished me by  making me miss out on one of the zaniest, eye-popping and probably the most unforgettable game in the playoffs. The final score alone was Bulls 142, Nets 134 which is especially surprising because the final score in game 3 was Bulls 79-76. This score personally shocked me when I jumped on NBA.com the next morning and saw the final score totally out of context.

Other than the score this game was chock full of highlights that even two overtime periods couldn't handle them. Starting at the end of the third with Brook Lopez's insane first career three pointer. By the fourth the Nets had essentially won the game with a 14 pint lead with 03:12 to go in regulation until little Nate Robinson decided to be the hero. Nate Robinson willed all 5'9 of himself and decided to go super saiyan in the fourth quarter for the Bulls scoring 23 of his 34 points in the fourth to help sending the game to overtime. This scoring output including 12 unanswered points in two fourth quarter minutes after a missed dunk by C.J. Watson. 

During the overtime periods neither team wanted to give up.  In the first overtime Nate Robinson ran the offense again for the Bulls and delivered a floater that banked into the net with 1.7 seconds remaining. The shot sent the crowd into a frenzy and Robinson into Boozers arms. Unfortunately the celebration was premature for the Bulls as Joe Johnson got open on the Nets inbound pass and sent the game to a second overtime with a floater of his own.

The second and third overtime where is where Nate Robinson, Taj Gibson and Jokiam Noah all got fouled out for the Bulls. This gave the opportunity for Bulls backup center Nazr Mohammed to step up and provide meaningful crunch time minutes in the 3rd OT where the Bulls were able to pull  away for the win.

2) Derrick Rose, where art thou?

I just don't understand how Derrick Rose can just sit there and watch his team give such a huge amount of effort. Especially watching Jokiam Noah playing with plantar fasciitis and running around clearly in pain and putting up a great stat line in game 4. Even without Rose the Bulls could have a chance against the Heat next round and Rose could be the player to get them over the hump. Apparently he has been the best player in the Bull's scrimmages.

3) Jerry "Air Ball" Stackhouse

Jerry Stackhouse has been notorious this series for throwing up  percent air-balls this series even throwing up three air-balls in game two. This prompted both Mo Williams to tweet and Jared Dudley to retweet, "Stackhouse might lead the playoffs in air balls. Smh.".

Stackhouse noting that both Williams (Jazz) and Dudley (Suns) didn't make the playoffs responded,

Wow.. How's Cancun"@jareddudley619: RT @mowilliams: Stackhouse might lead the playoffs in air balls. Smh ( he shot another one tonight?!!!)"

— Jerry Stackhouse (@jerrystackhouse) April 26, 2013

Fist Round Fever 4/21

I'm gonna start most blog blog posts with the outrageous styles Russell Westbrook brings to his post game conferences.

Who's Hot: The Pacers all-star Paul George posted a triple double with 23 pts, 11 ast, and 12 rbs in a Game 1 win for the Pacers. George showed an incredibly complete performance despite shooting 3 for 13, he made up for it by playing lock down defense and going 17 of 18 from the charity stripe.

Who's Not: Jeremy Lin in his first playoff series could not help the Rockets in a loss to the thunder going for 4 pts, 4 ast, and 4 TO in 32 minutes of play. The Rockets have to hope from more from Lin if they expect a competitive series.

Bench Stench: The Lakers bench of Jodie Meeks, Antwan Jamison, Earl Clark and Darrius Morris stank up the Spur's Arena going for a combined 10 points in their 50 minutes of play. This was compared to the 40 points the Spurs bench delivered for the win.

Birdman Soars: Chris "Birdman" Anderson has really become an integral part of the Heat's winning formula with his rebounding and energy. The Birdman brought an assortment of dunks against the Bucks yesterday, including this putback jam. You gotta love the announcer's call on his sweet hair.

First Round Frenzy - Day 1 - 4/20

Who's Hot: Deron Williams (22pts, 7ast) of the Brooklyn Nets looked like the best player on the court last night as the Nets built up a lead as big as 28 points during a 106-89 win for the Nets. Deron Williams looks like a new man since the all-star break returning to the dominant point guard who could score at will. Williams beat Bulls point guards Kirk Hinrich with his athleticism, Nate Robinson with his height and asserted his dominance with this emphatic dunk to close the game.

Who's Not: Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies struggled with foul trouble early in a loss to the Clippers and only managed 12 points and a disappointing 4 rebounds. Randolph's physical presence on the boards was missed as the Clippers out-rebounded the Grizzlies 47-23. This stat was especially  for the Grizzlies because disappointing because even if Zach Randolph is out the Grizzlies have great depth in their front-court to compensate.

Scoring Leader Scores: Carmelo Anthony (36 pts) fresh after being named NBA scoring champ lead all players in scoring yesterday. Carmelo scored 10 points in the first four minutes of the game and sealed the game for the Knicks with a three in the fourth quarter.

Old Man in the Clutch: The 37 year old Andre Miller stole the game from the Warriors with 28 points (18 in the fourth) and a diving layup with 1.2 seconds left to put the Nuggets up 97-95 for the win. The Nuggets usually a youthful and athletic team that plays a fast pace put the ball in the hands of the crafty veteran to handle the scoring load. After the game when Nuggets coach George Karl was asked about what he liked about Andre Miller he responded, "his passing and winning." Andre Miller's game is one of kind and is one of the best point guards in the post.

Best of April 4th

Who's Hot: The Bulls Carlos Boozer put a huge night with 29 points, 18 rebounds and 3 assists as the Bulls held off the Nets for a 92-90 win. Boozer matched Nets big man Brooke Lopez's scoring output and destroyed him on the glass by out rebounding him by 13. Boozer carried a shorthanded Bulls team who was missing five key player due to injury.

Who's Not: Tony Parker scored only 2 points in a huge loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. This loss puts the Spurs number one seed in jeopardy as the regular season is coming to an end.

"Guarisci Presto": That means get well soon in Italian and is alluding to Danillo Gallinari's knee injury he suffered last night. Gallinari suffered a non contact injury in the second quarter and from the looks of it he could be out for the playoffs... I guess the basketball gods didn't want to see the Nuggets new Italian celebration they made from him.

Clutch: Andre Iguodala won the game for the Nuggets with a crossover on Vince Carter and floater with 2.8 seconds left on the clock.

Mama's Boy: JaVale McGee is going to get a reality TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network starring him and his mother/manager former WNBA star Pamela McGee. Who knows maybe with JaVale's antics and perhaps some sassy black wisdom from his mother this could actually turn into something watchable

Honorable Mention: Kevin Durant threw down a pretty nasty dunk last night... Carlos Boozer may have been the best player on the court for the Bulls last night but it was actually the little Nate Robinson who made the game sealing shot.

Best of April 3rd

Who's Hot:  Carmelo Anthony followed up a 50 point performance with a 40 point game against the Hawks. The Knicks won their tenth straight game and teams better start triple teaming Carmelo to try to stop him.

Who's Not: I was enticed to put up another Piston in Charlie Villanueva (shot 2 for 17) for my loser of the day until I stumbled up on Philly point guard Jrue Holiday. Holiday shot 2 for 24 which is the worst shooting percentage of the season (for a player taking 20 or more shots) and was just bad enough to be crowned my loser of the day.

"Bellissima!": Being Italian in the NBA just got even more entertaining. Pay attention to the Nuggets bench.

Clutch: No one was clutch today...BUT raptors center Jonas Valinc....??? had a career high in points with 24 points and 10 rebounds doing much of his work in the fourth quarter. 

Choke Artist: What year it's been for Brandon Knight an ankle injury, getting crossed up by Kyrie Irving in the all-star game, getting dunked on by DeAndre Jordan and now this...enjoy

Noteworthy Notes: Jeff Green had 2 of his game high 34 points on this put-back slam. Lately Jeff Green has been so green that he's money ... Keneth Faried threw down a huge half court alley opp from Andre Miller. This was one of many highlight plays from that game.... T-wolves coach Rick Adelman goes for his 1000th career win against the raptors tomorrow. 

The Best of April 1st in the NBA

Who's Hot: The New York Knicks picked up their eighth straight win against the Boston Celtics behind double-doubles from both Carmelo Anthony (24 PTS, 10 RBS) and JR Smith (15 PTS, 12 RBS).  The Knicks are flowing and are my bet to edge out the Pacers for the second seed in the east.

Who's Not: Andre Drummond is my first loser of the day by missing two straight free throws in a tight 94-95 loss to the Chicago Bulls. Those points could have won the game as Detroit loses its 18th straight game to Chicago. Drummonds free throw shooting (35%) is the only blemish on what appears to be a very promising rookie year.

This video is really a summation of the Pistons season this year.

Clutch: Chris Bosh led a Miami team without Wade and LeBron to an impressive victory against the Spurs. A great defensive effort by the heat was capped off with a Chris Bosh 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining in the game. I always enjoy seeing Bosh show his worth in Miami.

Fight for nothing: The Toronto Raptor bench shames my city by being outscored 25-62 in a game where Bradley Beal kills the raptors again from 3 point range. This was barely noteworthy and probably the worst game on last night.

Honorable Mention: Kyrie Irving with a pretty between the legs feed to Canadian Tristan Thompson... Kyrie Irving had a game high 31 points in his return from injury, Greivis Vasquez makes a no look pass to a cutting Anthony Davis for the slam, Kawhi Leonard throws down a mondo slam over Udonis Haslem.