May 2012
43 posts
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Late Thunder comeback edges Lakers
From Elias: The Thunder rallied from an 80-71 deficit entering the fourth quarter to beat the Lakers 103-100. This was only the third time that the Lakers have lost a playoff game in which they had led by nine-or-more points entering the fourth quarter. In Game Four of the 1983 Finals, the Lakers lost, 115-108, to the 76ers, after having led, 93-82, entering the final quarter, as Philadelphia...
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Durant and Westbrook look like Jordan and Pippen
From Elias: Russell Westbrook scored 37 points while teammate Kevin Durantadded 31 in the Thunder’s 103-100 win at Staples Center. It was the first time two teammates scored at least 30 points in a playoff road win over the Lakers since June 12, 1991, when Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan scored 32 and 30, respectively as the Bulls wrapped up their first NBA title with a win in Game 5 of...
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Top two scorers, Kobe and Durant, meet in the...
From Elias: Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant faced off in only the fifth playoff series in NBA history matching the players who finished first and second in the league’s scoring race that season. The four previous instances, with the scoring champion listed first:
1951 West Semis George Mikan (Lakers) Alex Groza (Olympians)
1993 East 1st Round Michael Jordan (Bulls) Dominique Wilkins...
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Thunder give Lakers their biggest Game 1 loss...
From Elias: The Thunder defeated the Lakers by 29 points in Game 1 of their playoff series on Monday. That’s the Lakers’ largest margin of defeat in Game 1 of a postseason series since a 35-point loss to the Jazz in Game 1 of their 1998 series. Utah went on to sweep Los Angeles in that series.
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Sixers set playoffs record with third straight win...
From Elias: The 76ers defeated the Celtics by one point on Monday after Boston won the first game of the series by the minimum margin. And Philadelphia won Game 6 of their first-round series against Chicago by one point. The 76ers are the first team in the history of the NBA playoffs to play three consecutive games decided by a single point. The only other NBA playoff series in which the first two...
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Rondo matches Oscar Robertson in playoff...
From Elias: Rajon Rondo scored 13 points in a 17-assist, 12-rebound performance in the Celtics’ 92-91 win over the 76ers. It was the eighth postseason triple-double of Rondo’s career, matching Oscar Robertson’s playoff total. Rondo has recorded more triple-doubles over the past four postseasons than all other NBA players combined (7).
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Lawson helps Nuggets extend series
From Elias: Ty Lawson scored 32 points and handed out six assists in the Nuggets’ win against the Lakers, his third game with 25 or more points and at least five assists in the series. The only other player since the 2004 playoffs who had three 25/5 (points/assists) games versus the Lakers in one postseason series was Deron Williams in the 2008 Western Conference Semifinals.
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Garnett has big series clinching game; first since...
From Elias: Kevin Garnett had 28 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots on Thursday night, helping the Celtics eliminate the Hawks in the first round. Garnett was the first player to reach those three statistical levels in a series-clinching win since Shaquille O’Neal registered 28 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks for the Heat in Game Six of the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals versus...
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Sixers set NBA record with series win over the...
From Elias: The 76ers defeated the Bulls, 79-78, and won their opening-round series in six games. Philadelphia was only 29-for-73 (.397) from the field and was out-rebounded, 56-33. No other team in NBA history won a playoff game in which it recorded a field-goal percentage under 40.0 percent and had at least 20 fewer rebounds than its opponent.
It was the third game in the series in which the...
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Grizzlies win without a made 3-pointer, first time...
From Elias: The Grizzlies defeated the Clippers, 92-80, despite missing all six of their three-point field-goal attempts. They were the first NBA team in 15 years to win a playoff game by at least 10 points while not making a field goal from beyond the arc. That had last been done by the Lakers, in a 104-84 victory over the Jazz in the 1997 Western Conference Semifinals.
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LeBron James extends record for leading playoff...
From Elias: LeBron James had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists -- all team highs — in the Heat’s series-clinching win over the Knicks on Wednesday night. It was the 20th time in his pro career that James led his team outright in points, rebounds and assists in a playoff game. That’s by far the highest such total for any player in NBA history. In fact the only other...
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Josh Smith grabs 16 boards - joins Garnett, O'Neal...
From Elias: Josh Smith collected a game-high 16 rebounds, helping the Hawks achieve a 41-33 advantage over the Celtics in that category, as Atlanta survived by the minimum margin, defeating Boston, 87-86, in Game Five of their first-round series. Smith has 59 rebounds in the four games in the series in which he has played; his average of 14.8 rebounds per game leads all players on any of the 16...
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“What excites me the most is when a coach calls a timeout and chews out his...”
– Karl Malone
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Collison drops 23 assists during series (no...
From Elias: Darren Collison did not start a game for the Pacers in their just-concluded series win over the Magic, but he contributed 23 assists and only one turnover. The last player with 23 or more assists and no more than one turnover in a postseason series was John Paxson for the Bulls against the 76ers in the second round in 1990 (26 assists, 1 turnover).
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“In many ways, my job in soccer was like my job in basketball now. I had to...”
– Hakeem Olajuwon
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Kobe has 43 - most in playoff loss since 2006 -...
From Elias: Andre Miller came off the bench to produce 24 points and eight assists and his teammate and fellow substitute, JaVale McGee, had 21 points and 14 rebounds as the Nuggets held off a furious Kobe-led comeback and defeat the Lakers, 102-99, in Los Angeles. It marked the first time in the Nuggets’ NBA playoff history-a history that encompasses 154 games-that two Denver players have...
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Bulls stave off elimination behind Deng's 24...
From Elias: Luol Deng took game honors with 24 points, making 10 baskets including a four-pack of three-pointers, as the Bulls fought off elimination with a 77-69 victory over the 76ers. Deng didn’t get to the foul line all night, which is just as well; he might have caught whatever was afflicting his teammates, who made only 36.4 percent of their free-throw attempts (four of 11)....
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Griffin and Paul lead Clippers past Grizzlies
From Elias: Blake Griffin scored 30 points and seven assists before fouling out in overtime and Chris Paul finished with 27 points and seven assists as the Clippers held to take a 101-97 verdict from the Grizzlies, giving them a three-games-to-one lead in the series. The Clippers were the first NBA team to have a pair of players with at least 25 points and at least seven assists in a playoff game...
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Sixers beat Bulls for third straight game, match...
From Elias: The 76ers have the Bulls on the brink of elimination after winning three straight games following the season-ending injury to Derrick Rose. Philadelphia is the first eighth-seeded team to win three straight NBA playoff games since the Knicks won six in a row during the 1999 postseason, which also followed an abbreviated regular season. New York won its first-round finale at Miami that...
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Josh Smith has solid all-around game, yet the...
From Elias: Josh Smith led the Hawks with 15 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in their loss at Boston. Smith was the third player in franchise history to lead the team outright in all three of those categories in a playoff game. The others were Bob Pettit (for the St. Louis Hawks on March 29, 1960 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals at Boston) and Dan Roundfield (vs. Washington in the 1979 playoffs).
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Pierce scores 24 points in 16 minutes, first to do...
From Elias: Paul Pierce rested through most of the Celtics’ 101-79 romp over the Hawks, but not before scoring 24 points in 16:37 on the floor. Pierce was the first NBA player in the shot-clock era (since 1954-55) to score as many as 24 points in a playoff game in which he logged fewer than 17 minutes of court time.
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Wade's missed free throws lose the game for Heat,...
From Elias: Dwyane Wade also took a page from Wilt Chamberlain’s handbook by going 4-for-11 from the free-throw line in Miami’s 89-87 loss. Wade was the first NBA player to miss as many as seven foul shots in a playoff game that his team lost by two or fewer points since the Pistons’ Ben Wallace missed all seven of his free throws in an 86-84 loss to the Cavaliers in Game 5 of...
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Anthony joins Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar with...
From Elias: Carmelo Anthony scored 41 points as the Knicks defeated the Heat to stay alive in their first-round playoff series. Anthony, who scored 42 points for New York in Game 2 of last year’s first-round loss to the Celtics, also had a pair of 40-point playoff games for the Nuggets (41 points in 2009 and 42 in 2010). Anthony joined Wilt Chamberlain (Warriors and 76ers) and Kareem...
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Rondo has NBA-leading 7 playoff triple-doubles...
From Elias: Rajon Rondo scored 17 points, handed out 12 assists and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Celtics’ overtime win over the Hawks. It was Rondo’s seventh triple-double over the last four playoff seasons, the most in the NBA over that span. LeBron James (four) is the only other NBA player with more than one playoff triple-double since 2009.
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Sessions hits clutch shot for Lakers, fifth LA...
From Elias: With the score tied at 86-86, it was Ramon Sessions who gave the Lakers the lead they would never relinquish on a three-point field goal (assisted by Pau Gasol) with 48.1 seconds remaining. Over the last four postseasons (2009-12), the Lakers have made five go-ahead field goals in the final minute of either the fourth quarter or overtime in a playoff game, and none were by Kobe Bryant....
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McGee's big Game 3 off bench puts him in Nuggets...
JaVale McGee scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds off the bench in the Nuggets’ win over the Lakers. McGee is only the second player in the Nuggets’ NBA history to score that many points and grab that many rebounds as a substitute in a playoff game. Bison Dele had 17 points and 19 rebounds in an overtime game at Seattle in 1994.
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Paul leads in points, assists, steals and...
From Elias: Chris Paul recorded game-high totals in points (29), assists (6), steals (5) and turnovers (5) against the Grizzlies on Wednesday night. There have been only two other instances over the last two seasons in which a player led both teams (either outright or tied) in all four of those categories in one playoff game. Paul himself did it against the Lakers in the opening round last year,...
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Spurs stifle Jazz
From Elias: The Jazz lost to the Spurs, 114-83, with Al Jefferson and Josh Howard each scoring a team-high 10 points for Utah. It was only the third NBA playoff game in the shot-clock era in which a team did not have a player score more than 10 points. That was previously done over that span by the Suns in 2000 (87-65 loss to the Lakers) and the Warriors in 1973 (126-70 loss to the Lakers).
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Magic lose second straight to Pacers
From Elias: The Magic lost to the Pacers on Wednesday night, 97-74, after they were defeated two nights earlier by Indiana, 93-78. Orlando is the first NBA team in seven seasons to allow more than 90 points and score fewer than 80 points in each of back-to-back playoff games. That had last been done by the Spurs in the 2005 Finals. San Antonio lost Game 3 of that series to the Pistons, 96-79, and...
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Sixers have second-best shooting night in the...
The 76ers made 46 of 78 shots (59.0%), their second-highest field-goal percentage in a road playoff game, behind a 54 for 91 (59.3%) game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in 1978.
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Kobe joins Kareem and Wilt as only Laker over 33...
From Elias: Kobe Bryant, 33 years old, scored 38 points on Tuesday in the Lakers’ win over the Nuggets. The only other Lakers players to score that many points in a playoff game at age 33 or older are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (three times in the 1980 playoffs, including twice in the NBA Finals) and Wilt Chamberlain (45 in Game 6 the 1970 Finals against the Knicks).
And coupled with...
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Pierce turns back the clock
From Elias: Paul Pierce, 34 years old, had 36 points and 14 rebounds in the Celtics’ win over the Hawks on Tuesday. The only other Celtics players to score 35 or more points in a playoff game at age 34 or older are John Havlicek (twice in 1974, at age 34, including in Game 6 of the NBA Finals) and Sam Jones (in 1968, at age 34).
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Kidd joins exclusive post-season group
From Elias: Jason Kidd had six rebounds on Monday, giving him 1,004 for his career in playoff games. He’s one of five players in NBA history with at least 1,000 points, rebounds and assists in the postseason, along with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
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Tim Duncan surpasses 4000 career playoff points
From Elias: Tim Duncan scored 17 points for the Spurs on Sunday. In doing so, Duncan became the seventh player in NBA history with at least 4000 career points in the postseason. Duncan joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone as the only players with both 4000 points and 2000 rebounds in NBA playoff competition.
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Celtics-Hawks Game 1, match record from 1951 and...
From Elias: The Celtics never recovered from a 31-18 deficit at the end of the first quarter of their Game 1 loss at Atlanta. It was the third time in franchise history that Boston trailed by as many as 13 points at the end of the first period in their playoff opener. The Celtics lost the two previous postseason openers in which that happened, to the Knicks in 1951 (after being outscored 28-14 in...
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Josh Smith had a big Game 1
From Elias: Josh Smith led the Hawks to a Game 1 win over the Celtics with 22 points, 18 rebounds and four assists. Since the franchise relocated from St. Louis to Atlanta prior to the 1968-69 season, the only Hawks players to equal or exceed Smith’s totals in each of those categories in a playoff game were Bill Bridges (24 points, 22 rebounds and four assists in a loss at Los Angeles on...
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Bynum gets big-man triple double, first since...
From Elias: Andrew Bynum scored 10 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked ten shots in the Lakers’ playoff-opening win against Denver. It was the first triple-double by a center in an NBA playoff game since May 7, 1993, when San Antonio’s David Robinson (20 points, 17 rebounds, 11 assists) did it against Portland. In the interim, there were 52 postseason triple-doubles posted by...
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Richardson's threes save Magic, continues hottest...
From Elias: Jason Richardson hit a pair of three-point field goals late in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead basket with 1:04 remaining, as the Magic scored the game’s last 11 points in its 81-77 win over the Pacers in Indianapolis. This is only the fourth time in Richardson’s 11-year career that he has appeared in the playoffs, but he has hit 90 three-pointers in his 33...
