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).
(Source: ESPN)
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.
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 the Conference Semifinals in 2006. Chamberlain did that three times in such close playoff losses, the most for any NBA player.
(Source: ESPN)
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 Abdul-Jabbar (Bucks and Lakers) as the only players in NBA history with at least two playoff games of 40 or more points for each of two different franchises.
(Source: ESPN)
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.
(Source: ESPN)
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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. Derek Fisher made the Lakers’ only last-minute go-ahead field goal during the 2009 playoffs. Fisher, Gasol and the man then known as Ron Artest each made one in 2010.
(Source: ESPN)
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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.
(Source: ESPN)