Nuggets stay alive, and it gets worse for the Spurs.
I’m beginning to think “Los Spurs” is Spanish for “massive failure.” Down 2-1 to the Grizzlies in Memphis, the Spurs needed a decisive victory Monday to (re)announce their presence with authority. Instead they folded worse than Ed Helms in “The Hangover,” (I can feel it comin’ in the air tonight…) giving up 104 points and allowing the Grizzlies to shoot over 50 percent from the field en route to an 18-point loss.
Like many others, I expected the Spurs to bounce back with a strong showing after taking it on the chin in Game 3. Instead they were manhandled. Other than the play of Tony Parker (23 points on 9-12 shooting), they were atrocious. They let the Grizzlies carve them up like Boris the Butcher. Even Darrell Arthur.
The Spurs were a train wreck on defense, a car crash on offense. Tim Duncan finally showed his age, scoring just 6 points in 29 minutes. Richard Jefferson laid an egg. And DeJuan Blair may as well be on the side of a carton of Lucerne (even Hamed Haddadi saw more minutes).
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies showed the kind of balance and poise typically reserved for San Antonio teams come Playoff time. Their ball movement was terrific. Mike Conley was terrific. They had five players score in double digits (the third time they’ve done so this series).
They’re rolling right now, as Zach Randolph’s towel-waving jig at the buzzer is testament to. They have all the momentum – not to mention consistency.
The Spurs, the No. 1 seed in the West and the best team in the League throughout much of the regular season, now face the daunting task of winning three in a row to stay alive. Is it possible? Yes. But not if they play like they did Monday. — Patrick Crawley / @BasketballFiend
After playing the role of Superman for Portland in Game 4 with his incredible fourth quarter heroics, Brandon Roy never made it out of the phone booth for Game 5. Dallas, still fighting the demons of its epic 2006 Finals collapse, held the three-time All-Star to just 5 points in 26 minutes off the bench and rolled to a convincing 93-82 victory Monday night to pull ahead 3-2 in its first-round series with the Trail Blazers.
“Frustration is definitely at a high level,” said Dirk Nowitzki at the post-game presser after the Mavs’ Game 4 loss.
The 7-0 foot German sharpshooter absorbed questions about his team blowing a 23-point lead Saturday night like they were bullets, cringing at having to somehow explain his team’s penchant for choking, yet again, in the postseason. Maybe it was the bitter taste of those haunting memories; maybe it was a tongue-lashing by Rick Carlisle, or worse, Mark Cuban; or maybe it was the home cookin’. Whatever it was, the Mavs came out the gate fired up and they never let up on the visitors.
Stymied by foul trouble on the road, Tyson Chandler played to his height in this must-win game, racking up 14 points and a career-Playoff high of 20 rebounds, including 13 on the offensive end. Jason Kidd distributed the rock to the tune 14 dimes and Nowitzki scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the third quarter, helping his team hold on to its lead in the fourth quarter like a rabid mongoose on a rattler.
Portland had the upper hand for much of the first half and was only down 10 when Roy connected on a open J at the start of the fourth, but then it was all downhill for the Blazers, who missed their next 10 shots.
The signature play of the game was when Gerald Wallace raced down the court to block Shawn Marion’s dunk attempt, only to have the rebound end up in Kidd’s hands, who then kicked it out to Peja Stojakovic to nail a wide-open three ball. That was the nail in the coffin.
Andre Miller led Portland with 18 points and 7 assists, while Crash added 16. Jason Terry continued to be a spark plug off the bench with 20 points.
Both teams head back to the Rose Garden for Game 6, where the Blazers are hoping the trend of the home team taking home the W continues to force a Game 7. –Maurice Bobb / @reesereport
Denver avoided a sweep by holding off a fast-finishing Oklahoma City. The Nuggets used an offensive spread reminiscent of their post-trade form to end the regular season, using it to overcome big nights from Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
Ty Lawson was brilliant, 27 points on 16 shots while giving his usual bolt of energy. It was hardly the classic point guard line—just 3 assists while leading the team in shots attempted—but a Nuggets team lacking a true go-to scorer, or even true star for that matter, benefitted as a result. His 13 points in the fourth proved to be the difference.
Danilo Gallinari had his best game since the opener with 18 points, and he held Durant as long and as best as he could until a late KD flurry. JR Smith hit timely shots, Kenyon Martin was efficient, and Denver simply had more contributors.
The union that is Durant (31 points) and Westbrook (30 points) must now wait for their first post-season breakthrough. Westbrook reminded us that, while continually growing as a point guard, his game can also be besieged with a hardheadedness that makes him both great and frustrating. Frankly, 30 shots is too many, especially when it produces only one point per shot. He’s a gamer, though, for better or worse.
Durant had a rough first three quarters yet came on late, scoring 16 points in the final 9 minutes to drag the Thunder back from down 9 to within 2. He’ll be ready to go when they return home.
Perhaps appropriately, this series didn’t end in a sweep; Denver saw to that with a fine, balanced effort. Don’t expect it to return to Mile High, however. — Todd Spehr
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i mean, im a fan of his game but i honestly haven’t watched a lot of OKC basketball.
maybe it was cuz they were losing, i dunno.
So glad Tyson and Marion decided to wake up for these playoffs. Just in the nick of time.
Good to see MyungA.T.L in the hizzle.
Rooting for wifeys hometown team = harmony in the humble abode
Without him, all you have to do in neutralize Z-Bo, and put a body on Gasol and you will probably beat them. They lack scoring on the perimeter right now, but the Spurs are so small that the Grizzlies can get whatever they want by feeding the post and waiting for the inevitable double team.
I’m curious to see how it works against the Thunder, barring a massive Spurs resurgence. I think the Grizzlies can possibly beat the Thunder if Z-Bo and Gasol can dominate their matchups because as somebody said up top, the Thunder damn near run the Atlanta West offense. Better known as the Cali Swag District offense.
Gucci Mane is down South. I could have said the Crucial Conflict offense or Nelly offense as a shout out to the Midwest, but I though Cali Swag fit better.
They basically stole a dance from the South, then used it to make money because they had more talent.
See the analogy?
I’m still waiting for Larry Drew’s vaunted motion offense to appear.
But, imagine if they had traded Kevin Love for Eric Gordon! Now that would have been awesome.
Cali Swag dum dums blessed us with ‘teach me how to dougie’, right?
Yeah, that’s the dance they stole from Texas, Dallas to be precise.
I don’t follow modern rap closely either, but I do like to keep a working knowledge of certain pop culture references just to be able to have a conversation with young people.
Man, I agree that isos are everywhere, but y’all seem worse to me, at least every time I watch. The combination of the isos, the lateral pick and rolls and the the ridiculous amount of contested jumpers is just horrible. And I’m a fan of Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford, but I have to keep it real. Plus Josh Smith has regressed like CRAZY. He is back to shooting jumpers and spectating on the perimeter.
The playoff offenses I dislike the most are Atlanta, OKC, Orlando when they get three happy, and New York since the Melo trade.
Offense I like the best are Boston, Los Angeles and Memphis. Everybody other playoff team is in the middle.
i just recently started watching, its faaaaan-tasgreat.
I just think Josh Smith doesn’t understand how great he could be if he turned his motor to high. Or, he just doesn’t care. Either way, that Hawks team is in desperate need of an offense and attitude makeover.
NBK
I thought Memphis would have a tougher time upsetting the Spurs without Rudy Gay, and I expect it will still go to six, but I must say the Grizzlies have shocked me on offense. I didn’t realize how completely Randolph had bought into passing the rock. With him passing, they are so dangerous. They have two bigs who pass and can get buckets inside, they have two lockdown defenders, and they have a point who can score and pass to a certain degree. Plus, they have several quality players coming off the bench. They are in a good situation once Gay comes back. I’m on board with T-Money in saying that if they can develop this summer, they can be legit contenders next year barring a mental setback.
But we commenters can still do it!!
Other than that, and when they show games on there, obviously, I really don’t watch it.
Sportscenter is wack this time of year, too many damn baseball highlights and y’all know how I feel about baseball.
Y’all know what I really miss though? The NBA on NBC.
From their theme music to their dope off-the-court stories, they were much better than the cats at Walt’s Empire.
Rose still turns over the ball at a high rate just like Westbrook does, still shoots a bad percentage similar to westbrook and still from time to time takes questionable shoots like westbrook. They both still aren’t where they need to be in terms of fully mastery of the position, so let’s not act like one is above the other.
It was perfectly in character as far as the shots Westbrook took and the game he played. He always takes those shots. Every singe game. Usually Durant just gets more shots as well.
Westbrook is still learning, but I like his attitude. He doesn’t care at all. No back down.
NBK, CP’s supporting cast is average so why doesn’t he take as many shots as Rose does?
I mean isn’t tha your excuse for why DRose takes as many shots as he does, shouldn’t that be the case for CP also?
I think he should just take more them after running the offense, and not so many after sprinting down on a 1 on 4 break all by himself.
Look back and see for yourself.
Chris Paul will have a great game, and many go on about how superior he is to Rose.
Rondo has a great game, same thing.
And it works both ways, someone has a bad game, and people wanna compare him to Rose either favorably or unfavorably.
It doesn’t bother me, I mean no basketball-related topic should be off limits on here in my opinion, but it’s just mind-boggling because I can’t think of any other NBA player whose name inevitably will pop up whenever another player at his position has a game worth mentioning.
It’s kind of like Rose has become the League’s “Official Point Guard Measuring Stick”.
I’d rather we discuss Westbrook and Westbrook alone in this case, but it’s all good.
Soop, care to elaborate? Are you saying OKC would be better off with Westbrook scoring more in like the 12 – 15 ppg range?
Where they do that at?
Whether it’s fair or not, who knows but it comes with the territory.
I said it doesn’t bother me, I’m more fascinated by it than anything else.
But whatever you say, SonicShow.
Nah, I’m not sensitive in the least.
But apparently you are.
And you can literally hope until you go blue in the face, but number one in attendence for I lost count how many years running, and third largest market in the US?
It ain’t happening.
Actually I was mostly making fun of your flip-flopping allegiance from the Sonics to the Lakers.
If I wanted to make fun of you for losing your franchise I’d tell you to run along and go watch Sonicsgate with your Sonics Payton jersey and Slick Watts headband while clutching a stuffed Squatch with one hand and throwing darts at a picture of Clay Bennett with the other…again.
All while wearing a Lakers Payton jersey under that Sonics Payton jersey, of course.
Enigmatic Posted: Apr.26 at 4:47 pm
Who’s whining?
I said it doesn’t bother me, I’m more fascinated by it than anything else.
But whatever you say, SonicShow.
LakeShow Posted: Apr.26 at 4:53 pm
You really are Mr. Sensitive aren’t you? You whine like a lil b*tch everytime Rose’s name is brought up, so just calm the f*ck down. And i literally hope that the Bulls leave Chicago like the Sonics did to Seattle just so i can laugh in your face like u do to me everytime u do that, you f*cking douche. No offense man – (your clearly the one who needs to reread the exchange. You said matic was whining, he said he wasn’t, called you “sonicshow” which isn’t offensive and is actually true (according to you) and then you said that highly offensive, stupid, contradictory comment. – why does it have to be broken down? can’t you just seperate yourself from the situation and use that thing inbetween your ears, what’s it called again?
You playfully clowned me, I playfully clowned you back.
It’s all good, we all get heated when certain topics are brought up on here.
For most of us it’s when loved ones are brought up, but apparently for you it’s the “S” word.
Noted.
…or something like that…
That goes for you too, Allen.
That be y’all little secret…
but tonights a good night, bulls on the verge of closing the pacers, and right after its the blackhawks game.
im tellin you chicago guys, hop on this now before you’re an annoying bandwagoner like me, they came back 0-3 to force game 7!
i see you eboy, i don’t know what the team is in miami but i bet the blackhawks would whup em! haha (i know absolutely nothing on the sport, yet)
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