NBA Playoffs Rundown

Cleveland 74 Boston 69: Man, there have been some ugly games in this series but this one was definitely the ugliest so far. I hope the Eastern Conference Finals aren't as ugly as this but since it will be one of these two teams and Detroit, I'm pretty sure we will see alot of games in the 70's and 80's. The Celtics have still not won a game on the road and now this series is headed back to Boston, where the series is anyone's for the taking.

Lebron James played his best game so far in my opinion in this one. He hit some big shots down the stretch and finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. He did however commit 8 turnovers. Nobody else on the Cavs played particular well but when the other team only scores 69 points, you don't really need much to win.

For the Celtics, Kevin Garnett had another big game scoring 25 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. Even though the Celtics lost, Kevin Garnett has been strong throughout the playoffs and I don't think he should be labeled as a player who can't win anymore. If the Celtics lose it will certainly not be because of Garnett. Paul Pierce had a decent game finishing with 16 points. Nobody else on the Celtics cracked double figures but Doc Rivers did finally use Eddie House of the bench instead of Cassell and he shot 3 of 5 and finished with 8 points. I think that was a good move by Doc but the rest of the role players on the team did not perform well.

Speaking of Doc, he blasted the officials after the game and I have to say they weren't that great in this game. The offensive foul called against Pierce at the end of the game was just a brutal call and the Celtics only shot 13 free throws in the whole game, which is a ridiculously low amount. Hopefully for the Celtics, they will get the same home court advantage from the refs in Game 7 as Cleveland did in this one.

LA Lakers 108 Utah 105: All I need to tell you about this game is that Joey Crawford was reffing it and you should know that the Lakers shot 13 more free throws than Utah, which is a large amount when you are the road team.

The Lakers went to the line 38 times and knocked down 31 of them. Kobe Bryant went to the line 17 times in this one alone and finished this game 34 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Pau Gasol also had a strong game and finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

The Lakers were out rebounded in this game 52 to 38 but Utah was unable to make them pay for it because they shot so poorly from the field. The Lakers also were not hurt by the rebounding because even though they had less shots overall than Utah, they shot the ball extremely well from the floor and the free throw line. Their offense is so efficient that you can't afford to play badly on offense against them. However, I'm sure that they will have a tougher time with the Hornets or Spurs if they do not control the boards. I think both of those teams can make them pay for giving up so many second shots.

Utah made a furious comeback in this game as they were down 19 at halftime and 16 after the third quarter. However, they didn't have enough to comeback and win the game and now they are Gone Fishin'. Deron Williams finished his strong playoff run with another good performance in this game. He finished with 21 points and 14 assists but Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur both struggled from the floor in this one. Boozer finished only 5 of 16 from the floor, while Okur was just 6 of 18 and their poor shooting ultimately cost Utah in the end.