NBA Playoffs Rundown

Two really good games last night and one absolute blowout but all three teams who won are now up 2-0 in each series.

San Antonio 102 Phoenix 96: Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were absolutely huge in this game, combining for 61 points. Tim Duncan threw in 18 points of his own just for good measure. The Suns came out playing well but they never really could pull away. Eventually, the Spurs caught up and at one point had a big lead of their own, before the Suns made a run at them towards the end of the game.

This series goes to Phoenix now which is about all the Suns have going for them. It is very possible that this series comes back to San Antonio tied at 2-2, as we have seen many series where the home teams jumps out to a 2-0 lead only to lose the next two games on the road. I'm not calling this one over at all, especially since the games have been so close.

Orlando 104 Toronto 103: Dwight Howard had another monster game in this one, scoring 29 points and grabbing 20 rebounds. That is his second 20-20 game of the series and that's the kind of performance he needs to have in order for Orlando to keep winning games in this series.

Check out this quote from Dwight:

"But one of the things [coach Stan Van Gundy] has put in my head, and [Magic assistant Patrick Ewing], is just trying to play as dominant as I could on both ends of the floor. Since the last game, the only thing on my mind, when I go to sleep, when I wake up, at the gym with the guys, is to dominate."

Seems like Dwight knows what he needs to do right now and he should continue to dominate against a soft Toronto team, who doesn't have anyone to help out Chris Bosh down low. The question will be whether Dwight can dominate against the Pistons if that is the 2nd round matchup.

This series goes back to Toronto now, so they still have a chance to get back in it but if Dwight continues to play likes he has been then I think Orlando should be able to pull the series out in the end.

New Orleans 127 Dallas 103: Wow, I can't believe how bad Dallas looked in this game. I thought for sure they would come out and win this game but they didn't even have a chance in this one. Chris Paul went off for 32 points and 17 assists, hooking up with David West and Tyson Chandler for a ton of easy buckets. Dallas tried to double team Paul but didn't have much success with that. I definitely underestimated the Hornets coming into this series and Chris Paul may be even better than I thought he was.

Dallas just looked slow and old in this game and I was not impressed with their energy level at all. Their defense got torched by New Orleans and it looks like this team is headed in the wrong direction after just being in the NBA Finals 2 years ago. I really expected this to be a 7 game series because Dallas has some much experience but so far New Orleans has dominated both games. The only saving grace for Dallas is that they get to go home and try to even up the series but right now I don't think it matters where these two teams play because New Orleans is just flat out better.