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| Vinsanity stunned the San Antonio Spurs at the buzzer with a game-winning three (Image from: USA Today Sports) |
#Vinsanity #buzzerbeater
In the dying moments of Game 3, the Spurs and Mavs traded baskets a handful of times to put the fate of the game in question. Manu Ginobili gave San Antonio a 2-point lead with less than 2 seconds to go. The Spurs appeared to be on their way to claiming back home-court advantage. But wait a minute. Dallas still had one more chance to tie or win the game. That chance went to Vince Carter and he knew what to do. Carter for 3. BANG! Vinsanity was alive and well in Game 3. VC received a pass near the left corner three-point area. He pump-faked to get Ginobili out of the way then Carter launched a double-clutch three that hit nothing but the bottom of the net. Game over. Mavs win to take a 2-1 lead over the #1 seed Spurs. Carter wasn't shooting particularly well during the game and the series but he was ready to shoot once he got the pass. The shot that he made was reminiscent of a shot that he took on May 20, 2001 as a member of the Toronto Raptors. The biggest difference was that he missed that attempt in Game 7 of the ECF vs Allen Iverson and the Sixers. Well, for this game, he made that shot and that's what matters for Dallas and their fans.
#Bestof3 #backandforth
The Hawks had a splendid chance to go up 3-1 over the #1 seed Pacers but Paul George and David West had other ideas. Both guys nailed clutch threes in the clutch to give Indiana the win and now the series is tied at 2. We have a best of three left and the pivotal 5th game will be in Indiana where the Pacers finished the regular season at 36-5 which was tops in the NBA. However, Atlanta has beaten Indy twice at Bankers Life Fieldhouse including that impressive Game 1 upset. It won't be a problem for the Hawks to steal one more game in Indy but they will need more from Jeff Teague for that to happen. Teague averaged 15 points in losses while in wins, he got 25 points. The Hawks also need more than 5 total points from their starting guys, Pero Antic and DeMarre Carroll. In other news, Roy Hibbert tallied just 6 points and 3 rebounds. His averages for the series are 6 points and 4 boards in about 25 minutes. Both teams have alternated wins and if they follow that trend, the Hawks have a great chance of winning Game 5. Indiana has struggled in this series and even their wins have been unimpressive. Nothing is guaranteed in this series. Cannot wait for Game 5.
#LBJ #StareDown #Sweep?
For one quarter, the first to be exact, Al Jefferson dominated Miami as if he was 100% healthy. Big Al torched Miami with 15 points in the 1st, getting everything he wanted and giving the Bobcats a 4-point lead. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, things changed in the 2nd quarter and for the rest of the game. Miami's defense woke up and so did LeBron James. The Heat exploded in the 2nd with a 35-19 scoring surge that gave them a double digit lead that they never relinquished. LBJ had a big hand in that stretch, scoring 5 straight points near the end of the 1st half. Miami never let up after halftime and they built a 26-point lead before everything was over. Their defense held Jefferson to 20 points while Kemba Walker had 13 points. LeBron decided to take over and he even had a sequence where he seemed to stare down Michael Jordan (who was seated on the Charlotte bench) before taking flight for a dunk. In another sequence, LBJ looked over the Bobcats' bench after making tough jumpers. Maybe the presence of MJ motivated him to dominate. No team has come back to win a series after being down 3 games to zero.
#OT #Reggie
In Game 4, Reggie Jackson was the best player on the court. Heck, he was a lot better than his two All-Star teammates. Jackson had a career-high (playoffs too) 32 points and a very efficient shooting game. He made 11-16 and 8-8 from the line including 4 straight FTs in overtime to put the game away for OKC. How big was his production? Jackson had a combined 15 points in the first 3 games of the series. He more than doubled his output in Game 4 to tie the series. In contrast to Jackson's hot hand, Westbrook and Durant continued to struggle shooting. The scoring duo combined for 11 of 45 and 30 total points. As for Memphis, this had to hurt because they were up 5 near the end of the 4th before Jackson scored 5 straight to send the game to OT. Tony Allen played fantastic defense on KD and he even finished with 14 points and 13 boards. Marc Gasol also had 23 and 11 but Mike Conley had a horrible night making jumpers. Conley was 0 of 6 from deep including a missed three at the buzzer to hopefully send the game to double OT. This was the 3rd straight game in this series to go into OT and I'd love to see them go to 7 (all OTs too)!
#OtherNews #IMO
Part of today's NBA news circulated on the owner of the LA Clippers, Donald Sterling. An audio conversation of him and his girlfriend has been leaked to the media. This dialogue reeked with offensive and disturbing language that focused on racism pertaining to African-Americans. This is not surprising coming from Sterling who has a history of racism. It sucks big time if you're a Clippers' fan because this affects your team a lot especially since their coach and majority of their team are African-Americans. Personally, a boycott or a forfeit of their Game 4 in the playoffs would be a MAJOR slap to Sterling's face but that would be a big disservice to the whole team to simply give up on a game especially when they've had a successful season. This team can make good things happen in the postseason and they should continue with that regardless of how bone-headed their owner is. In other news, Nene of the Wizards was suspended for Game 4. That gives the Bulls a big advantage and this is a big blow to the young Wizards who banked on Nene to be their veteran leader and to provide low-post scoring. I still cannot comprehend why a veteran like Nene would put his team in a position of disadvantage. Nene better hope and pray that he did not cost the Wizards another game. He already lost them Game 3 by getting ejected.
#Players of the Night
LeBron James (Heat) - 30 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists
Reggie Jackson (Thunder) - 32 points, 9 rebounds, 11-16 FGs, 8-8 FTsHighlights of the Night
Vinsanity
Stare Before Dunk
PG24 for 3
#Tweets of the Night
Vince Carter's game-winning shot against the Spurs today was pretty much the same shot he missed in Game 7 of the 2001 playoffs vs PHI
LeBron on whether he looked at Jordan after dunk: "Nah, don't start that. Absolutely not."
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