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Detroit 90 Orlando 89: Orlando really blew a great chance to tie up this series. With Chauncey Billups out of this game and Orlando having a 15 point lead in the third quarter, this loss certainly has to hurt the Magic. Detroit became the first team to win on the road in the second round and they look like they are on their way to a 6th consecutive Eastern Conference Finals.
Richard Hamilton really picked up the scoring slack with Chauncey Billups out, as he poured in a game high 32 points. Hamilton has shown in the past that he can be a big time scorer, he even had a stretch of 40 point games in his rookie season. However, Detroit's system doesn't really need for him to score as many points but I'm wondering if maybe Hamilton should be more aggressive the rest of the way for the Pistons. They certainly would be a tougher team to stop if Hamilton could pour in 25plus points a night.
For Orlando, this game really has to hurt being up 15 in the third quarter at home and then blowing the lead. I really did not like the play they ran at the end of the game. I wouldn't have ran Hedo Turkoglu one on one against Tashuan Price at the end of the game. They had around 8 seconds left in the game and I thought they maybe could have actually ran an actual play and just hit the open man or even dumping it down to Howard and seeing if a double team came. I think you just really limit your options when you go one on one at the end of the game and just try to take the last shot. Unless your guy shooting the ball is Jordan or Kobe then I don't think it's the best option in the world, and Hedo Turkoglu is no Michael Jordan.
Detroit also did a great job on defense against Dwight Howard, who finished with only 8 points on 3 of 12 shooting and 12 rebounds. Howard is not ready to lead a team to a championship and he won't be until he refines his offensive game. He is not a Shaq-like center who can just pound you down low and get to the rim because his lower body is not as strong as Shaq. He also isn't a center in the mold of Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, or David Robinson because he can't shoot that 15-18 foot jumper. Basically, if you keep Howard away from the rim by banging on him and pushing his weak lower body out of the post, then he isn't going to hurt you. He can only score on offensive putbacks, layups, or dunks.
I fully expect this series to end in Game 5 in Detroit, I think this game broke Orlando's spirit and I wouldn't be surprised to see Detroit wax them at home.
Richard Hamilton really picked up the scoring slack with Chauncey Billups out, as he poured in a game high 32 points. Hamilton has shown in the past that he can be a big time scorer, he even had a stretch of 40 point games in his rookie season. However, Detroit's system doesn't really need for him to score as many points but I'm wondering if maybe Hamilton should be more aggressive the rest of the way for the Pistons. They certainly would be a tougher team to stop if Hamilton could pour in 25plus points a night.
For Orlando, this game really has to hurt being up 15 in the third quarter at home and then blowing the lead. I really did not like the play they ran at the end of the game. I wouldn't have ran Hedo Turkoglu one on one against Tashuan Price at the end of the game. They had around 8 seconds left in the game and I thought they maybe could have actually ran an actual play and just hit the open man or even dumping it down to Howard and seeing if a double team came. I think you just really limit your options when you go one on one at the end of the game and just try to take the last shot. Unless your guy shooting the ball is Jordan or Kobe then I don't think it's the best option in the world, and Hedo Turkoglu is no Michael Jordan.
Detroit also did a great job on defense against Dwight Howard, who finished with only 8 points on 3 of 12 shooting and 12 rebounds. Howard is not ready to lead a team to a championship and he won't be until he refines his offensive game. He is not a Shaq-like center who can just pound you down low and get to the rim because his lower body is not as strong as Shaq. He also isn't a center in the mold of Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, or David Robinson because he can't shoot that 15-18 foot jumper. Basically, if you keep Howard away from the rim by banging on him and pushing his weak lower body out of the post, then he isn't going to hurt you. He can only score on offensive putbacks, layups, or dunks.
I fully expect this series to end in Game 5 in Detroit, I think this game broke Orlando's spirit and I wouldn't be surprised to see Detroit wax them at home.
Cleveland 108 Boston 84: After this game, we still don't know if the Celtics have what it takes to win on the road in the playoffs. However, out of the 13 road playoff games in the second round, Detroit is the only team to win a road game, so it is not only Boston that is in this position. The Celtics were out of this game immediately from the first quarter on when Cleveland blitzed them 32 to 13 to start the game.
The difference in this game from the first two was that the Cleveland role players were alot better at home. This is no surprise as role players tend to play alot better at home then on the road, which is one of the reasons why it is so hard to win on the road in the NBA. The other reason being that the refs tend to favor the home team, so you get to shoot more free throws at home than on the road.
Lebron struggled again in this game scoring 21 points on only 5 of 16 shooting but he only turned the ball over twice. He is now shooting 13 of 58 in the series. If I'm the Celtics, I wouldn't know whether to be encouraged or scared to death that Lebron is due to go off.
That being said, Cleveland's role players came up big in this game like I stated before. Delonte West had a great game, scoring 21 points with 7 assists and 5 rebounds, while knocking down 4 of 6 from deep. Wally Szczerbiak chipped in with 16 points and Joe Smith had a huge night off the bench with 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting.
The Celtics offense struggled from the opening quarter and they finished the game shooting only 40.5% from the floor. Rajon Rondo and Sam Cassell combined to shoot 3 of 16 from the floor. The Celtics also continue to try to get Ray Allen off but he shot only 4 of 12. These three players really hurt the Celtics on offense last night combining to shoot 7 of 28 from the floor, which is the main reason why the Celtics shot only 40.5% from the floor. The rest of the Celtics shot 50% from the floor.
Paul Pierce didn't play bad but I don't think he was aggressive enough, only shooting 3 of 8 from the floor and 6 of 6 from the free throw line to finish with 14 points. James Posey played well off the bench again with 11 points and 3 of 5 from deep and I would like to see him out there more than Ray Allen at this point. Kevin Garnett had his usual solid performance shooting 8 of 13 from the floor and finishing with 17 points and 9 rebounds.
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