NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game5) ( 第3,4節)

The New Orleans Hornets are moving on. And the Dallas Mavericks may be too.

The Hornets have won a playoff series for the first time since their last year in Charlotte and just the fifth time in franchise history. Led by Chris Paul and David West, they silenced the doubters and played like they were the ones with the postseason experience.

Of course, they'll face the same experience-related questions in the next round, especially if they face the defending champs. But they've proven that talent, teamwork and confidence can trump experience when it matters most.

The Mavs showed some life tonight, but it was too little, too late. One might wonder if they could have made this a more competitive series if Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse (who were both banged up and/or rusty) could have gotten things going offensively.

Now, one has to wonder what's going to become of this Mavs team this summer. With another disappointing postseason finish, Mark Cuban may want to shake things up. Or he could think that his team just needs to get healthy and spend a full season with Jason Kidd running the point. The questions start now.


Final: Hornets 99, Mavs 94

Hornets win series, 4-1


Out with the old, in with the new.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

Down 84-67, the Mavs went on a huge run, scoring on 11 straight possessions, including five threes. The Hornets got a few buckets on the run however, and they were still up three with the ball with 33 seconds to go.

Chris Paul missed a fadeaway with eight seconds on the clock, but Tyson Chandler tipped the ball out (he had several of those tonight) and Paul retrieved it and quickly got the ball to Peja Stojakovic, who got fouled. Peja then finished off the Mavs with two free throws.

That Chandler tip out not only won the game, it gave Paul his 10th rebound and a triple-double. His final line: 24 points, 11 boards (he got another at the buzzer) and 15 assists.

Paul's line for the series: 24.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 12.0 apg, 2.00 spg, .500 fg%

Chandler finished with 10 points and 14 boards. And he was a game-high +18 on the night.

Jerry Stackhouse and Josh Howard couldn't hit the side of a barn from the outside tonight. Between the two of them, they had at least five airballs or bricks off the glass from downtown. Meanwhile, Devean George hit three of the threes on that last run. George played 7:36 tonight. Howard and Stackhouse played a combined 56:57.

Howard was -19 for the night, easily the worst +/- in the game. After starting out 4-for-4, he went 2-for-10. He shot .292 for the series.

His team lost the series, but Dirk Nowitzki redeemed himself after last year's playoff performance. He averaged 26.8 points and 12.0 boards in the series and played all 48 minutes tonight.

If the Spurs win tonight, they will be in New Orleans for Game 1 of the Conference Semifinals on Saturday.

More thoughts to come...


End of Third Quarter: Hornets 71, Mavs 63
The Mavs have shown some fight tonight. Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Brandon Bass are giving them good effort especially.

Bass started the third instead of Erick Dampier and had six points and five boards in the period. He's a beast down low.

The Hornets scored on just six of their first 18 possessions of the third, but David West got 'em a three point play on the final possession with a strong back down and spin move on Brandon Bass.

Tyson Chandler had three blocks in the quarter, two of them coming on the final play, as he rejected Jerry Stackhouse twice to keep the lead at eight.


Halftime: Hornets 54, Mavs 49
The Mavs scored on their first five possessions of the second quarter. Going back to the end of the first, it was a 19-8 run to tie the game at 32.

After Chris Paul returned from a brief rest, the Hornets finished the half on a 22-7 run. The Mavs scored on just four of their final 15 possessions of the half.

Paul's got a triple-double in sight: eight points, six boards and 11 dimes at the half.

Tyson Chandler is just one board away from a double-double.

Dirk's being guarded by Stojakovic with double-teams coming often. The Mavs like to isolate him just above the foul line, and he's doing a good job of not settling for the jumper, but rather getting into the lane for his patented running fadeaways. Still, he's got just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting.

With the Hornets going with a Paul-Pargo backcourt, the Mavs posted Jerry Stackhouse on Paul quite a bit. It resulted in scores on two straight possessions, but Paul stripped him on the third.

On the possession after that, as Dirk Nowitzki was getting fouled by David West, Stackhouse hit Paul with an elbow down low. They got hit for double-Ts and, after Stackhouse went to the bench, he continued to jaw with someone on the floor. His teammates had to hold him back at one point.


End of First Quarter: Hornets 28, Mavs 22

CP3 goes to work.
Layne Murdoch/Getty Images/NBAE
For the second straight game, the Mavs gave Peja Stojakovic a wide-open three when they were caught in a mismatch in transition and tried to adjust. This time, Dirk was caught guarding Paul on the perimeter. Kidd came over to swich as Dirk backed up, the other Mav defenders sunk in to help, and Paul found Peja in the opposite corner.

More Mavs miscues. On a Paul-West pick-and-roll, Dirk let CP go right by him. When help came from Tyson Chandler's man, CP hit him under the basket for a dunk.

Our blogger has avoided early foul trouble tonight, and he's off to a good start: six points and six boards in the quarter.

Jason Kidd came out aggressive, scoring seven points in the quarter on 3-of-5 shooting. Josh Howard has also played well. He's got eight on 4-of-4, but he picked up his second foul in the final minute of the period.

The Mavs showed some life at the end of the quarter, scoring on their final four possessions.

The Hornets had zero turnovers in the period.


Pregame:
I have only one question before we get started tonight: Can the Mavs take a punch?

Their inability to do such in the first four games was my focus in Sunday's game blog, and it will be the story of the series if they can't do it tonight.

You know, playing in front of their home crowd, the Hornets are going to make a strong run at some point tonight, and it will likely come early. If the Mavs can respond, it will be a sign of life. If they can't, it will be the mark of death.

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/29/2008 10:58 PM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game5) ( 第1,2節)

The New Orleans Hornets are moving on. And the Dallas Mavericks may be too.

The Hornets have won a playoff series for the first time since their last year in Charlotte and just the fifth time in franchise history. Led by Chris Paul and David West, they silenced the doubters and played like they were the ones with the postseason experience.

Of course, they'll face the same experience-related questions in the next round, especially if they face the defending champs. But they've proven that talent, teamwork and confidence can trump experience when it matters most.

The Mavs showed some life tonight, but it was too little, too late. One might wonder if they could have made this a more competitive series if Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse (who were both banged up and/or rusty) could have gotten things going offensively.

Now, one has to wonder what's going to become of this Mavs team this summer. With another disappointing postseason finish, Mark Cuban may want to shake things up. Or he could think that his team just needs to get healthy and spend a full season with Jason Kidd running the point. The questions start now.


Final: Hornets 99, Mavs 94

Hornets win series, 4-1


Out with the old, in with the new.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

Down 84-67, the Mavs went on a huge run, scoring on 11 straight possessions, including five threes. The Hornets got a few buckets on the run however, and they were still up three with the ball with 33 seconds to go.

Chris Paul missed a fadeaway with eight seconds on the clock, but Tyson Chandler tipped the ball out (he had several of those tonight) and Paul retrieved it and quickly got the ball to Peja Stojakovic, who got fouled. Peja then finished off the Mavs with two free throws.

That Chandler tip out not only won the game, it gave Paul his 10th rebound and a triple-double. His final line: 24 points, 11 boards (he got another at the buzzer) and 15 assists.

Paul's line for the series: 24.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 12.0 apg, 2.00 spg, .500 fg%

Chandler finished with 10 points and 14 boards. And he was a game-high +18 on the night.

Jerry Stackhouse and Josh Howard couldn't hit the side of a barn from the outside tonight. Between the two of them, they had at least five airballs or bricks off the glass from downtown. Meanwhile, Devean George hit three of the threes on that last run. George played 7:36 tonight. Howard and Stackhouse played a combined 56:57.

Howard was -19 for the night, easily the worst +/- in the game. After starting out 4-for-4, he went 2-for-10. He shot .292 for the series.

His team lost the series, but Dirk Nowitzki redeemed himself after last year's playoff performance. He averaged 26.8 points and 12.0 boards in the series and played all 48 minutes tonight.

If the Spurs win tonight, they will be in New Orleans for Game 1 of the Conference Semifinals on Saturday.

More thoughts to come...


End of Third Quarter: Hornets 71, Mavs 63
The Mavs have shown some fight tonight. Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Brandon Bass are giving them good effort especially.

Bass started the third instead of Erick Dampier and had six points and five boards in the period. He's a beast down low.

The Hornets scored on just six of their first 18 possessions of the third, but David West got 'em a three point play on the final possession with a strong back down and spin move on Brandon Bass.

Tyson Chandler had three blocks in the quarter, two of them coming on the final play, as he rejected Jerry Stackhouse twice to keep the lead at eight.


Halftime: Hornets 54, Mavs 49
The Mavs scored on their first five possessions of the second quarter. Going back to the end of the first, it was a 19-8 run to tie the game at 32.

After Chris Paul returned from a brief rest, the Hornets finished the half on a 22-7 run. The Mavs scored on just four of their final 15 possessions of the half.

Paul's got a triple-double in sight: eight points, six boards and 11 dimes at the half.

Tyson Chandler is just one board away from a double-double.

Dirk's being guarded by Stojakovic with double-teams coming often. The Mavs like to isolate him just above the foul line, and he's doing a good job of not settling for the jumper, but rather getting into the lane for his patented running fadeaways. Still, he's got just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting.

With the Hornets going with a Paul-Pargo backcourt, the Mavs posted Jerry Stackhouse on Paul quite a bit. It resulted in scores on two straight possessions, but Paul stripped him on the third.

On the possession after that, as Dirk Nowitzki was getting fouled by David West, Stackhouse hit Paul with an elbow down low. They got hit for double-Ts and, after Stackhouse went to the bench, he continued to jaw with someone on the floor. His teammates had to hold him back at one point.


End of First Quarter: Hornets 28, Mavs 22

CP3 goes to work.
Layne Murdoch/Getty Images/NBAE
For the second straight game, the Mavs gave Peja Stojakovic a wide-open three when they were caught in a mismatch in transition and tried to adjust. This time, Dirk was caught guarding Paul on the perimeter. Kidd came over to swich as Dirk backed up, the other Mav defenders sunk in to help, and Paul found Peja in the opposite corner.

More Mavs miscues. On a Paul-West pick-and-roll, Dirk let CP go right by him. When help came from Tyson Chandler's man, CP hit him under the basket for a dunk.

Our blogger has avoided early foul trouble tonight, and he's off to a good start: six points and six boards in the quarter.

Jason Kidd came out aggressive, scoring seven points in the quarter on 3-of-5 shooting. Josh Howard has also played well. He's got eight on 4-of-4, but he picked up his second foul in the final minute of the period.

The Mavs showed some life at the end of the quarter, scoring on their final four possessions.

The Hornets had zero turnovers in the period.


Pregame:
I have only one question before we get started tonight: Can the Mavs take a punch?

Their inability to do such in the first four games was my focus in Sunday's game blog, and it will be the story of the series if they can't do it tonight.

You know, playing in front of their home crowd, the Hornets are going to make a strong run at some point tonight, and it will likely come early. If the Mavs can respond, it will be a sign of life. If they can't, it will be the mark of death.

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/29/2008 10:58 PM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game4) ( 第3,4節)

The Dallas Mavericks just can't take a punch. In Game 1, they had a 12-point halftime lead and folded once the Hornets made a run in the third quarter. In Game 2, New Orleans started out strong and the Mavs never countered. The Hornets never really made a run in Game 3, but tonight, they showed some fight. And again, the Mavs rolled over.

Dallas is still alive, but let the blame game and shakeup talk begin. Expect plenty of columns in the next two days about how the Jason Kidd trade hasn't worked out, and about Avery Johnson's future.

But let's not take anything away from the Hornets. They came back from Friday's disappointment, and while they weren't as sharp offensively as they were in Game 2 (or the second half of Game 1), they did enough to get the win tonight. They were able to play solid D without putting the Mavs on the line, and while Chris Paul didn't go off, he got plenty of support from his supporting cast.

David West missed more shots than he made again, but he was the key to the third-quarter run that gave the Hornets control of the game. Peja Stojakovic had another strong game, and the bench was able to keep pace with Dallas' reserves.

So, the Hornets head back home up 3-1. They can close it out on Tuesday, or they can let the Mavs back in the series. They say that the fourth win in a series is always the toughest. The Hornets have passed every test they've faced so far. There's no reason they can't pass this one ... especially if the Mavs continue to show a glass jaw.


Final: Hornets 97, Mavs 84

West rebounded from his Game 3 struggles.
Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

Another quarter, another Hornets run to start it. This one was 13-4, as the Mavs scored on just two of their first 12 possessions of the fourth. That made the lead 19 points and essentially ended the game.

Julian Wright gave the Hornets another big lift, picking up an assist and two points on the first two possessions of the period. The two points came on a where-did-that-come-from drive, spin and fade move from the left wing. A few possessions later, Wright pinched on a Jason Kidd post-up, stripping Kidd and getting fouled on the other end. Wright finished with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, two boards and two steals.

Kidd was ejected with 7:16 to go when he committed a flagrant 2 foul on Jannero Pargo. Kidd was running alongside Pargo on the break and wrapped his hands around Pargo's head when he went up, sending Pargo head-first towards the floor. Fortunately, Pargo was able to break his fall.

Ugly line for Kidd: 1-for-6 shooting, three points, four rebounds, three assists. But there is no truth to the rumor that he has asked Mark Cuban for a trade.

The Mavs shot just .360 from the field, the Hornets shot .500 and New Orleans actually got to the line more, with a 21-16 advantage in FTA.

Interesting night for Tyson Chandler: He picked up two fouls in the first 3:22, but only one after that. And even though his numbers (two points, five boards) were low, he was a game-high +22 in the Lenovo column. He did defende Dirk Nowitzki pretty well.

First Hornets win in Dallas since Jan. 24, 1998, and their first ever at the American Airlines Center.

More to come...


End of Third Quarter: Hornets 76, Mavs 66
The Hornets scored on their first six possessions of the period, part of a 16-7 run that gave them a 13-point lead. David West did most of the work, scoring 10 of the 16 points and assisting on the other six, two Peja threes. He was mostly taking advantage of his matchup with the slower Erick Dampier, but the last Peja three was the result of some Dallas defensive confusion when Jason Terry matched up with West in transition.

The Mavs didn't get to the line at all in the second quarter, nor for the first nine possessions of the third. But they ended a five-possession scoreless drought by getting to the line on three straight possessions.

A little scare to end the third: Chris Paul turned his right ankle on a drive in the Hornets' final possession. He was fouled by Jason Kidd on the play and hit both free throws though.

West leads all scorers with 22, while Terry leads the Mavs with 20.

Dallas continues to control the boards. They have 16 offensive rebounds.


Halftime: Hornets 48, Mavs 44

Howard continues to struggle.
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/NBAE
15-4 run for the Hornets to start the second quarter, giving them a 38-34 lead. Jannero Pargo was involved in 11 of the 15 points: 7 points for himself and two assists.

The highlight of the quarter was one of the other buckets on the run: Rookie Julian Wright stripped Jerry Stackhouse near midcourt and then threw one down on the other end.

It was looking a lot like Game 3, with the Hornets making a second-quarter run with Chris Paul on the bench. But this time, they were able to stay ahead after Paul came back in. He picked up two assists in his first two possessions after checking back in with 4:34 to go in the half.

The Mavs had just two turnovers in the first quarter, but they had five in the second. The most interesting one occurred when Jason Terry threw the ball to assistant coach Mario Elie on the sideline with none of his teammates in the vicinity. In Terry's defense, Elie was wide open.

Josh Howard has been pretty awful. He's got four points on 2-for-12 from the field and just looks very uncomfortable when he goes up for a shot.

Brandon Bass has been the Mavs' best player. He's got 12 points and eight boards (six offensive).


End of First Quarter: Mavs 30, Hornets 23
For the second straight game, Tyson Chandler picked up two quick fouls. His second came with 8:38 on the clock. It was 8:55 in Game 3.

Erick Dampier also picked up two fouls before the first timeout.

Quick start for Morris Peterson. He had a fast-break layup, a long two from the left wing and an un-Mo-Pete-like lefty runner in the lane, all in the first six minutes. He and Peja Stojakovic lead the Hornets with eight points apiece.

Dallas was in the penalty with 4:34 to go in the quarter. They know how to get to the line.

The Mavs scored on nine straight possessions near the end of the period, a 20-9 run that gave them a 30-21 lead. Jason Terry had 10 of his 12 points during the run. Transition defense is an issue for the Hornets.

Rebounds: Dallas 15 (5 offensive), New Orleans 7 (1 offensive)

Slow start for Chris Paul. He's got two points on 1-of-2 shooting (his miss was an airball fadeaway in the lane) and three assists. Terry is doing another solid job of keeping him contained.

The Hornets are going with the gold road uniforms tonight (they were in teal on Friday). The gold joints are one of my favorite unis in the league. I want a pair of the game shorts, and my birthday is coming up (hint).


Pregame:
With a win, the Mavs will make this a three-game series. Otherwise, they'll need to win three straight. The word "pivotal" is usually reserved for Game 5, but I'm pulling it out right here, right now. Avery Johnson says his team plays well when they have a sense of urgency. Well, they better have such a sense tonight.

Dallas needs to bring the same defensive energy and offensive aggressiveness that they had on Friday. They don't necessarily have to get to the line 25 more times than the Hornets, but a significant advantage at the stripe sure would help.

For the Hornets, David West needs to hit his shots and Tyson Chandler needs to stay out of foul trouble. Chris Paul needs to do what he do and his shooters need to knock 'em down. Defensively, they can let Dirk do his thing, but letting someone else get 20-plus could spell trouble.

Phoenix's win today means that we'll have four Game 5s on Tuesday. Mavs @ Hornets will be at 7 p.m. ET on TNT.

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/29/2008 12:55 AM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game4) ( 第1,2節)

The Dallas Mavericks just can't take a punch. In Game 1, they had a 12-point halftime lead and folded once the Hornets made a run in the third quarter. In Game 2, New Orleans started out strong and the Mavs never countered. The Hornets never really made a run in Game 3, but tonight, they showed some fight. And again, the Mavs rolled over.

Dallas is still alive, but let the blame game and shakeup talk begin. Expect plenty of columns in the next two days about how the Jason Kidd trade hasn't worked out, and about Avery Johnson's future.

But let's not take anything away from the Hornets. They came back from Friday's disappointment, and while they weren't as sharp offensively as they were in Game 2 (or the second half of Game 1), they did enough to get the win tonight. They were able to play solid D without putting the Mavs on the line, and while Chris Paul didn't go off, he got plenty of support from his supporting cast.

David West missed more shots than he made again, but he was the key to the third-quarter run that gave the Hornets control of the game. Peja Stojakovic had another strong game, and the bench was able to keep pace with Dallas' reserves.

So, the Hornets head back home up 3-1. They can close it out on Tuesday, or they can let the Mavs back in the series. They say that the fourth win in a series is always the toughest. The Hornets have passed every test they've faced so far. There's no reason they can't pass this one ... especially if the Mavs continue to show a glass jaw.


Final: Hornets 97, Mavs 84

West rebounded from his Game 3 struggles.
Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

Another quarter, another Hornets run to start it. This one was 13-4, as the Mavs scored on just two of their first 12 possessions of the fourth. That made the lead 19 points and essentially ended the game.

Julian Wright gave the Hornets another big lift, picking up an assist and two points on the first two possessions of the period. The two points came on a where-did-that-come-from drive, spin and fade move from the left wing. A few possessions later, Wright pinched on a Jason Kidd post-up, stripping Kidd and getting fouled on the other end. Wright finished with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, two boards and two steals.

Kidd was ejected with 7:16 to go when he committed a flagrant 2 foul on Jannero Pargo. Kidd was running alongside Pargo on the break and wrapped his hands around Pargo's head when he went up, sending Pargo head-first towards the floor. Fortunately, Pargo was able to break his fall.

Ugly line for Kidd: 1-for-6 shooting, three points, four rebounds, three assists. But there is no truth to the rumor that he has asked Mark Cuban for a trade.

The Mavs shot just .360 from the field, the Hornets shot .500 and New Orleans actually got to the line more, with a 21-16 advantage in FTA.

Interesting night for Tyson Chandler: He picked up two fouls in the first 3:22, but only one after that. And even though his numbers (two points, five boards) were low, he was a game-high +22 in the Lenovo column. He did defende Dirk Nowitzki pretty well.

First Hornets win in Dallas since Jan. 24, 1998, and their first ever at the American Airlines Center.

More to come...


End of Third Quarter: Hornets 76, Mavs 66
The Hornets scored on their first six possessions of the period, part of a 16-7 run that gave them a 13-point lead. David West did most of the work, scoring 10 of the 16 points and assisting on the other six, two Peja threes. He was mostly taking advantage of his matchup with the slower Erick Dampier, but the last Peja three was the result of some Dallas defensive confusion when Jason Terry matched up with West in transition.

The Mavs didn't get to the line at all in the second quarter, nor for the first nine possessions of the third. But they ended a five-possession scoreless drought by getting to the line on three straight possessions.

A little scare to end the third: Chris Paul turned his right ankle on a drive in the Hornets' final possession. He was fouled by Jason Kidd on the play and hit both free throws though.

West leads all scorers with 22, while Terry leads the Mavs with 20.

Dallas continues to control the boards. They have 16 offensive rebounds.


Halftime: Hornets 48, Mavs 44

Howard continues to struggle.
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/NBAE
15-4 run for the Hornets to start the second quarter, giving them a 38-34 lead. Jannero Pargo was involved in 11 of the 15 points: 7 points for himself and two assists.

The highlight of the quarter was one of the other buckets on the run: Rookie Julian Wright stripped Jerry Stackhouse near midcourt and then threw one down on the other end.

It was looking a lot like Game 3, with the Hornets making a second-quarter run with Chris Paul on the bench. But this time, they were able to stay ahead after Paul came back in. He picked up two assists in his first two possessions after checking back in with 4:34 to go in the half.

The Mavs had just two turnovers in the first quarter, but they had five in the second. The most interesting one occurred when Jason Terry threw the ball to assistant coach Mario Elie on the sideline with none of his teammates in the vicinity. In Terry's defense, Elie was wide open.

Josh Howard has been pretty awful. He's got four points on 2-for-12 from the field and just looks very uncomfortable when he goes up for a shot.

Brandon Bass has been the Mavs' best player. He's got 12 points and eight boards (six offensive).


End of First Quarter: Mavs 30, Hornets 23
For the second straight game, Tyson Chandler picked up two quick fouls. His second came with 8:38 on the clock. It was 8:55 in Game 3.

Erick Dampier also picked up two fouls before the first timeout.

Quick start for Morris Peterson. He had a fast-break layup, a long two from the left wing and an un-Mo-Pete-like lefty runner in the lane, all in the first six minutes. He and Peja Stojakovic lead the Hornets with eight points apiece.

Dallas was in the penalty with 4:34 to go in the quarter. They know how to get to the line.

The Mavs scored on nine straight possessions near the end of the period, a 20-9 run that gave them a 30-21 lead. Jason Terry had 10 of his 12 points during the run. Transition defense is an issue for the Hornets.

Rebounds: Dallas 15 (5 offensive), New Orleans 7 (1 offensive)

Slow start for Chris Paul. He's got two points on 1-of-2 shooting (his miss was an airball fadeaway in the lane) and three assists. Terry is doing another solid job of keeping him contained.

The Hornets are going with the gold road uniforms tonight (they were in teal on Friday). The gold joints are one of my favorite unis in the league. I want a pair of the game shorts, and my birthday is coming up (hint).


Pregame:
With a win, the Mavs will make this a three-game series. Otherwise, they'll need to win three straight. The word "pivotal" is usually reserved for Game 5, but I'm pulling it out right here, right now. Avery Johnson says his team plays well when they have a sense of urgency. Well, they better have such a sense tonight.

Dallas needs to bring the same defensive energy and offensive aggressiveness that they had on Friday. They don't necessarily have to get to the line 25 more times than the Hornets, but a significant advantage at the stripe sure would help.

For the Hornets, David West needs to hit his shots and Tyson Chandler needs to stay out of foul trouble. Chris Paul needs to do what he do and his shooters need to knock 'em down. Defensively, they can let Dirk do his thing, but letting someone else get 20-plus could spell trouble.

Phoenix's win today means that we'll have four Game 5s on Tuesday. Mavs @ Hornets will be at 7 p.m. ET on TNT.

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/29/2008 12:55 AM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game3) ( 第3,4節)

Dirk Nowitzki put up the big numbers, but you could make a case for Jason Terry as the Player of the Game tonight. Terry finished with 22 points (on 8-of-18) and six assists, but his most important contibrution came on the other end of the floor.

Terry was given the assignment of guarding Chris Paul, and even though that task takes five, Terry kept his teammates from having to leave their men too open by sticking with Paul as well as anyone could possibly do.

This can't be confirmed, but I think that at the end of the game, Terry looked at Avery Johnson and said, "It was Dentyne."

Who can tell me what in the world I'm talking about in the above paragraph?

Now, the Hornets' shooting struggles weren't just because Dallas played great D. New Orleans, specifically David West, missed a ton of open shots. This just wasn't their night. Or maybe, this just isn't their arena. They're now 0-12 in the American Airlines Center.

The Mavs will try to make them 0-13 and even the series on Sunday (9:30 ET, TNT).


Final: Mavs 97, Hornets 87

Paul didn't have much room to operate tonight.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

We will have a Game 5, Tuesday in New Orleans. The play of the quarter was a Dirk and-one that gave the Mavs a 15-point lead with 6:45 to go. He pump faked David West at the foul line, got bumped, got off a shot as he was falling down, and the ball rolled around the rim and in.

I thought that was the ball game right there, but the Hornets cut the lead down to seven with two minutes to go. Then came the final dagger: A Jason Terry three off a Josh Howard drive-and-kick.

Things got chippy again when Chris Paul drove with less than 30 seconds to go. Erick Dampier picked him up and seemed to lose his balance, but he basically shoved Paul out of bounds. After the whistle, Tyson Chandler got in Damp's face. It was a flagrant on Dampier and double-Ts on Dampier and Chandler. That gives our blogger a tech in every game of the series so far.

Dirk's final line: 32 points, 19 rebounds, six assists, two blocks, 11-20 FG, 9-10 FT. Not too shabby.

Josh Howard's struggles from the field continue. He shot 5-for-16, but he got to the line 10 times and finished with 18 points.

CP finished with 16 points and 10 assists, but shot just 4-of-18 from the field. David West was 6-of-20 and had 14 points and nine boards.

The lone bright spot for the Hornets was Pargo, who finished with a season-high 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting. He was a +14, which means that the Hornets were -24 while he was on the bench.

As a team, the Hornets shot just .379 from the field, though they were 8-for-16 from downtown. More to come...


End of Third Quarter: Mavs 74, Hornets 63
The Mavs shot 22 free throws in that quarter. The Hornets picked up their fifth foul with 8:43 on the clock, and they didn't stop fouling after that. The Mavs are being very aggressive.

We've talked in the past about Jason Kidd's performance in Game 3 against Cleveland last year. His will and fire is similar tonight. He has only taken four shots, but he is looking to punish Chris Paul offensively and has eight points, six boards and four dimes. He had a terrific play early in the third when he snuck in to grab Erick Dampier free throw miss and found Dirk on the other side for an open jumper.

One Hornet player remembered to pack his offense. Jannero Pargo is 8-for-11 for 21 points. And he's a +13.

Jason Terry is doing a terrific job guarding Chris Paul.

Paul and West are a combined 6-for-29. West has missed several wide open jumpers.


Halftime: Mavs 47, Hornets 40

Kidd looked to force the tempo.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
The Hornets scored on their first five possessions of the second quarter and seven of the first eight to take a 32-29 lead. The first four possessions were Bonzi Wells post-ups that resulted in baskets for himself, Peja or Pargo. The fifth was a Wells iso where he airballed a J and Julian Wright provided the highlight of the half by grabbing the board and throwing down a one-hander on Jerry Stackhouse's head.

After the 6-of-7 run, the Hornets then scored on only four of their final 14 possessions of the half.

The Hornets are -14 with Chris Paul in the game and +7 with him on the bench. He's 2-for-9. Six points, five dimes.

The Mavs scored on seven of their last nine possessions of the half. On their final possession, Dirk hit a near-impossible fadeaway from just above the foul line.

Dirk leads all scorers with 13 points and is a rebound away from a double-double.

I said it at halftime of Game 1, and I'll say it again here: The Hornets need more from Chris Paul.


End of First Quarter: Mavs 23, Hornets 16
We're gonna be a little delayed on the not-so-live blog tonight. I'm about 1/2 hour behind on the TiVo. Don't tell me who won!

The Hornets left their offensive efficiency back in New Orleans. Chris Paul and David West are a combined 1-for-11 from the field. New Orleans scored on just one of their first 10 possessions, and on the 11th, it took a Morris Peterson offensive board and jumper to end the drought.

A couple of threes from Peja Stojakovic and Jannero Pargo kept it from being a really ugly quarter.

Jason Kidd is looking to push the ball.

Tyson Chandler picked up his second foul and was replaced by Hilton Armstrong a little bit more than three minutes into the game.

The Mavs started with Jason Terry on Chris Paul.

Terry got in Paul's face after Paul knocked Dirk down when trying to break up a long pass on the break.

Dirk continues to play well. He leads all scorers with nine points on 4-of-7.

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/25/2008 11:38 PM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game3) ( 第1,2節)

Dirk Nowitzki put up the big numbers, but you could make a case for Jason Terry as the Player of the Game tonight. Terry finished with 22 points (on 8-of-18) and six assists, but his most important contibrution came on the other end of the floor.

Terry was given the assignment of guarding Chris Paul, and even though that task takes five, Terry kept his teammates from having to leave their men too open by sticking with Paul as well as anyone could possibly do.

This can't be confirmed, but I think that at the end of the game, Terry looked at Avery Johnson and said, "It was Dentyne."

Who can tell me what in the world I'm talking about in the above paragraph?

Now, the Hornets' shooting struggles weren't just because Dallas played great D. New Orleans, specifically David West, missed a ton of open shots. This just wasn't their night. Or maybe, this just isn't their arena. They're now 0-12 in the American Airlines Center.

The Mavs will try to make them 0-13 and even the series on Sunday (9:30 ET, TNT).


Final: Mavs 97, Hornets 87

Paul didn't have much room to operate tonight.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

We will have a Game 5, Tuesday in New Orleans. The play of the quarter was a Dirk and-one that gave the Mavs a 15-point lead with 6:45 to go. He pump faked David West at the foul line, got bumped, got off a shot as he was falling down, and the ball rolled around the rim and in.

I thought that was the ball game right there, but the Hornets cut the lead down to seven with two minutes to go. Then came the final dagger: A Jason Terry three off a Josh Howard drive-and-kick.

Things got chippy again when Chris Paul drove with less than 30 seconds to go. Erick Dampier picked him up and seemed to lose his balance, but he basically shoved Paul out of bounds. After the whistle, Tyson Chandler got in Damp's face. It was a flagrant on Dampier and double-Ts on Dampier and Chandler. That gives our blogger a tech in every game of the series so far.

Dirk's final line: 32 points, 19 rebounds, six assists, two blocks, 11-20 FG, 9-10 FT. Not too shabby.

Josh Howard's struggles from the field continue. He shot 5-for-16, but he got to the line 10 times and finished with 18 points.

CP finished with 16 points and 10 assists, but shot just 4-of-18 from the field. David West was 6-of-20 and had 14 points and nine boards.

The lone bright spot for the Hornets was Pargo, who finished with a season-high 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting. He was a +14, which means that the Hornets were -24 while he was on the bench.

As a team, the Hornets shot just .379 from the field, though they were 8-for-16 from downtown. More to come...


End of Third Quarter: Mavs 74, Hornets 63
The Mavs shot 22 free throws in that quarter. The Hornets picked up their fifth foul with 8:43 on the clock, and they didn't stop fouling after that. The Mavs are being very aggressive.

We've talked in the past about Jason Kidd's performance in Game 3 against Cleveland last year. His will and fire is similar tonight. He has only taken four shots, but he is looking to punish Chris Paul offensively and has eight points, six boards and four dimes. He had a terrific play early in the third when he snuck in to grab Erick Dampier free throw miss and found Dirk on the other side for an open jumper.

One Hornet player remembered to pack his offense. Jannero Pargo is 8-for-11 for 21 points. And he's a +13.

Jason Terry is doing a terrific job guarding Chris Paul.

Paul and West are a combined 6-for-29. West has missed several wide open jumpers.


Halftime: Mavs 47, Hornets 40

Kidd looked to force the tempo.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
The Hornets scored on their first five possessions of the second quarter and seven of the first eight to take a 32-29 lead. The first four possessions were Bonzi Wells post-ups that resulted in baskets for himself, Peja or Pargo. The fifth was a Wells iso where he airballed a J and Julian Wright provided the highlight of the half by grabbing the board and throwing down a one-hander on Jerry Stackhouse's head.

After the 6-of-7 run, the Hornets then scored on only four of their final 14 possessions of the half.

The Hornets are -14 with Chris Paul in the game and +7 with him on the bench. He's 2-for-9. Six points, five dimes.

The Mavs scored on seven of their last nine possessions of the half. On their final possession, Dirk hit a near-impossible fadeaway from just above the foul line.

Dirk leads all scorers with 13 points and is a rebound away from a double-double.

I said it at halftime of Game 1, and I'll say it again here: The Hornets need more from Chris Paul.


End of First Quarter: Mavs 23, Hornets 16
We're gonna be a little delayed on the not-so-live blog tonight. I'm about 1/2 hour behind on the TiVo. Don't tell me who won!

The Hornets left their offensive efficiency back in New Orleans. Chris Paul and David West are a combined 1-for-11 from the field. New Orleans scored on just one of their first 10 possessions, and on the 11th, it took a Morris Peterson offensive board and jumper to end the drought.

A couple of threes from Peja Stojakovic and Jannero Pargo kept it from being a really ugly quarter.

Jason Kidd is looking to push the ball.

Tyson Chandler picked up his second foul and was replaced by Hilton Armstrong a little bit more than three minutes into the game.

The Mavs started with Jason Terry on Chris Paul.

Terry got in Paul's face after Paul knocked Dirk down when trying to break up a long pass on the break.

Dirk continues to play well. He leads all scorers with nine points on 4-of-7.

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/25/2008 11:38 PM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game2) ( 第4節)

The story of this game can be told by the quarter-by-quarter scores of the Hornets: 39, 28, 32, 28. Unless you're the Nuggets and you're playing the Warriors (or vice-versa), you're not going to win when your opponent puts up numbers like that.

People will look at Chris Paul's stats, specifically the 32 points and 17 assists, and see that they're just as gaudy (or even more so) as his numbers in Game 1. But Paul's offensive impact wasn't the same in this game. The Mavs were more aggressive with their double-teams, so CP had to rely on his teammates more.

And his teammates came up big. Often, CP gave up the ball early and allowed the other Hornets to make plays, and that's exactly what they did. David West showed great recognition by shooting when he was open and backing his man down when he had a mismatch. If the first guy to get the ball didn't have a shot, they moved it quickly to the open man. Paul's teammates had 13 assists of their own.

Still, CP certainly did some damage himself. It's not like a Dallas double-team could really keep him contained. He split the double a number of occasions to get into the paint and hit one of those floaters he's known for, or drive and dish.

New Orleans' offense was so efficient despite the adjustments made by Dallas, that it makes you wonder what the Mavs are supposed to do now. They could do the same and just hope that the Hornets don't shoot 61 percent from the field, or they could go with Plan C.

I have no idea what that is, though.


Final: Hornets 127, Mavs 103

Once again, the Mavs couldn't keep Paul under wraps.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

Plenty of garbage time in this one. And plenty of opportunities for TNT to switch over to the Magic & Raptors (and my favorite broadcasting team of Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery) for updates over there.

Chris Paul finished with 32 points, five rebounds, 17 assists and three steals. He was also seen selling popcorn at the refreshment stand and ushering fans to their seats before the game.

There's not an ugly number to be found on the Hornets side of the boxscore. Four of the five starters were +24 or better and only one guy, Ryan Bowen, was a minus. He had a -1 in 3:41 of garbage time.

We'll have more in a bit.


End of Third Quarter: Hornets 99, Mavs 79
More of the same on the offensive end for the Hornets. Doubles on CP result in mismatches or open shots.

Morris Peterson got in on the action with eight straight Hornets points in the middle of the period. The first three came off a great look from Paul when he saw the trap coming at him up top, saw the other defenders rotating, and found Peterson open in the corner before the trap got to him.

Eight points for Peja in the quarter.

Again, the Hornets had one small drought (four possessions), but they were as efficient as can be otherwise.

More big plays from Hilton Armstrong. He ended the aforementioned drought with a back-down, spin and lefty hook move, and then picked up a steal, which led to a Peja three on the break, on the next possession.

Brandon Bass is the only real bright spot for the Mavs. He's busting his butt and has 17 points (on 5-of-5 from the field and 7-of-7 from the line) and eight boards.


Halftime: Hornets 67, Mavs 51
After turning the ball over just once in the first quarter, the Mavs turned it over five times in their first 11 possessions of the second and seven times total in the period.

Chris Paul sat the first 5:41 of the period, and the Hornets extended the lead from 10 to 11 in that time.

There is some good news for the Mavs:
1. Their offense is definitely sharper tonight than it was after the first quarter on Saturday.
2. They're doing a better job of containing Paul.

The bad news for the Mavs is that the Hornets are taking advantage of all of the attention paid to CP3 with great ball movement. They're getting lots of mismatches and lots of open shots. They've got 18 assists on 24 field goals and three other Hornets are already in double-figures.

Paul has 10 of the assists. A double-double (12 points) in the first half.

The Hornets went scoreless on six straight possessions early in the second, but after that, their offense was just as efficient as it was in the first.

Dirk is being aggressive. He's made 10 trips to the line so far and leads the Mavs with 16 points.

This might have gone unnoticed. Hilton Armstrong drew two fouls on the Mavs on the first two possessions of the second quarter. It paid off late in the quarter as the Hornets paraded to the line, going 8-for-8 on their final four possessions.

We've got simultaneous games going on for the first time this postseason, so check out Mike Slane's Magic-Raptors game blog while you're here.


End of First Quarter: Hornets 39, Mavs 29

West had it going early.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
The Hornets had 24 possessions in that quarter, and they scored on 19 of them. That's good. They're 17-of-24 from the field.

The final one was a runner from Chris Paul at the buzzer. Jerry Stackhouse had hit a three with 1.8 second to go and Jannero Pargo led Paul beautifully. He was able to get inside the arc on the other end for a shot.

The Mavs are trying to trap Chris Paul as much as possible, and David West is benefiting. He's got 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting. As John Jacobson (my co-pilot tonight) notes, it's nice to have a big man who can stick a jumper.

Jannero Pargo was another beneficiary. After a trap on CP, he got it to West, who backed down Stackhouse and found Pargo wide open for a three.

The Mavs have posted Kidd a few times, but they've posted Dirk more. He leads Dallas with nine points.

The play of the quarter was a Tyson Chandler block & alley-oop combo. He rejected Jerry Stackhouse one on end and caught a lob from Paul for a throwdown on the other.

Each team had only one turnover in the quarter.


Pregame:
Two more reads before we get started....

Scouts Inc. has a few tactical solutions to get Dallas' offense going. Defensively, they just need to get tougher.

And Hornets Hype likes their team's bench tonight.

I think this game could very well determine how the rest of the series goes. If the Mavs come back to win, we should have a long series on our hands. But if the Hornets pick up where they left off on Saturday, the series might go five games tops.

And I like what Scouts Inc. had to say about Dallas' defense. This is just as much about the intangibles (aggressiveness and toughness) than it is about the tangibles (trapping Chris Paul and making some shots).

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/22/2008 10:56 PM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game2) ( 第3節)

The story of this game can be told by the quarter-by-quarter scores of the Hornets: 39, 28, 32, 28. Unless you're the Nuggets and you're playing the Warriors (or vice-versa), you're not going to win when your opponent puts up numbers like that.

People will look at Chris Paul's stats, specifically the 32 points and 17 assists, and see that they're just as gaudy (or even more so) as his numbers in Game 1. But Paul's offensive impact wasn't the same in this game. The Mavs were more aggressive with their double-teams, so CP had to rely on his teammates more.

And his teammates came up big. Often, CP gave up the ball early and allowed the other Hornets to make plays, and that's exactly what they did. David West showed great recognition by shooting when he was open and backing his man down when he had a mismatch. If the first guy to get the ball didn't have a shot, they moved it quickly to the open man. Paul's teammates had 13 assists of their own.

Still, CP certainly did some damage himself. It's not like a Dallas double-team could really keep him contained. He split the double a number of occasions to get into the paint and hit one of those floaters he's known for, or drive and dish.

New Orleans' offense was so efficient despite the adjustments made by Dallas, that it makes you wonder what the Mavs are supposed to do now. They could do the same and just hope that the Hornets don't shoot 61 percent from the field, or they could go with Plan C.

I have no idea what that is, though.


Final: Hornets 127, Mavs 103

Once again, the Mavs couldn't keep Paul under wraps.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

Plenty of garbage time in this one. And plenty of opportunities for TNT to switch over to the Magic & Raptors (and my favorite broadcasting team of Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery) for updates over there.

Chris Paul finished with 32 points, five rebounds, 17 assists and three steals. He was also seen selling popcorn at the refreshment stand and ushering fans to their seats before the game.

There's not an ugly number to be found on the Hornets side of the boxscore. Four of the five starters were +24 or better and only one guy, Ryan Bowen, was a minus. He had a -1 in 3:41 of garbage time.

We'll have more in a bit.


End of Third Quarter: Hornets 99, Mavs 79
More of the same on the offensive end for the Hornets. Doubles on CP result in mismatches or open shots.

Morris Peterson got in on the action with eight straight Hornets points in the middle of the period. The first three came off a great look from Paul when he saw the trap coming at him up top, saw the other defenders rotating, and found Peterson open in the corner before the trap got to him.

Eight points for Peja in the quarter.

Again, the Hornets had one small drought (four possessions), but they were as efficient as can be otherwise.

More big plays from Hilton Armstrong. He ended the aforementioned drought with a back-down, spin and lefty hook move, and then picked up a steal, which led to a Peja three on the break, on the next possession.

Brandon Bass is the only real bright spot for the Mavs. He's busting his butt and has 17 points (on 5-of-5 from the field and 7-of-7 from the line) and eight boards.


Halftime: Hornets 67, Mavs 51
After turning the ball over just once in the first quarter, the Mavs turned it over five times in their first 11 possessions of the second and seven times total in the period.

Chris Paul sat the first 5:41 of the period, and the Hornets extended the lead from 10 to 11 in that time.

There is some good news for the Mavs:
1. Their offense is definitely sharper tonight than it was after the first quarter on Saturday.
2. They're doing a better job of containing Paul.

The bad news for the Mavs is that the Hornets are taking advantage of all of the attention paid to CP3 with great ball movement. They're getting lots of mismatches and lots of open shots. They've got 18 assists on 24 field goals and three other Hornets are already in double-figures.

Paul has 10 of the assists. A double-double (12 points) in the first half.

The Hornets went scoreless on six straight possessions early in the second, but after that, their offense was just as efficient as it was in the first.

Dirk is being aggressive. He's made 10 trips to the line so far and leads the Mavs with 16 points.

This might have gone unnoticed. Hilton Armstrong drew two fouls on the Mavs on the first two possessions of the second quarter. It paid off late in the quarter as the Hornets paraded to the line, going 8-for-8 on their final four possessions.

We've got simultaneous games going on for the first time this postseason, so check out Mike Slane's Magic-Raptors game blog while you're here.


End of First Quarter: Hornets 39, Mavs 29

West had it going early.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
The Hornets had 24 possessions in that quarter, and they scored on 19 of them. That's good. They're 17-of-24 from the field.

The final one was a runner from Chris Paul at the buzzer. Jerry Stackhouse had hit a three with 1.8 second to go and Jannero Pargo led Paul beautifully. He was able to get inside the arc on the other end for a shot.

The Mavs are trying to trap Chris Paul as much as possible, and David West is benefiting. He's got 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting. As John Jacobson (my co-pilot tonight) notes, it's nice to have a big man who can stick a jumper.

Jannero Pargo was another beneficiary. After a trap on CP, he got it to West, who backed down Stackhouse and found Pargo wide open for a three.

The Mavs have posted Kidd a few times, but they've posted Dirk more. He leads Dallas with nine points.

The play of the quarter was a Tyson Chandler block & alley-oop combo. He rejected Jerry Stackhouse one on end and caught a lob from Paul for a throwdown on the other.

Each team had only one turnover in the quarter.


Pregame:
Two more reads before we get started....

Scouts Inc. has a few tactical solutions to get Dallas' offense going. Defensively, they just need to get tougher.

And Hornets Hype likes their team's bench tonight.

I think this game could very well determine how the rest of the series goes. If the Mavs come back to win, we should have a long series on our hands. But if the Hornets pick up where they left off on Saturday, the series might go five games tops.

And I like what Scouts Inc. had to say about Dallas' defense. This is just as much about the intangibles (aggressiveness and toughness) than it is about the tangibles (trapping Chris Paul and making some shots).

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/22/2008 10:56 PM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game2) ( 第2節)

The story of this game can be told by the quarter-by-quarter scores of the Hornets: 39, 28, 32, 28. Unless you're the Nuggets and you're playing the Warriors (or vice-versa), you're not going to win when your opponent puts up numbers like that.

People will look at Chris Paul's stats, specifically the 32 points and 17 assists, and see that they're just as gaudy (or even more so) as his numbers in Game 1. But Paul's offensive impact wasn't the same in this game. The Mavs were more aggressive with their double-teams, so CP had to rely on his teammates more.

And his teammates came up big. Often, CP gave up the ball early and allowed the other Hornets to make plays, and that's exactly what they did. David West showed great recognition by shooting when he was open and backing his man down when he had a mismatch. If the first guy to get the ball didn't have a shot, they moved it quickly to the open man. Paul's teammates had 13 assists of their own.

Still, CP certainly did some damage himself. It's not like a Dallas double-team could really keep him contained. He split the double a number of occasions to get into the paint and hit one of those floaters he's known for, or drive and dish.

New Orleans' offense was so efficient despite the adjustments made by Dallas, that it makes you wonder what the Mavs are supposed to do now. They could do the same and just hope that the Hornets don't shoot 61 percent from the field, or they could go with Plan C.

I have no idea what that is, though.


Final: Hornets 127, Mavs 103

Once again, the Mavs couldn't keep Paul under wraps.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

Plenty of garbage time in this one. And plenty of opportunities for TNT to switch over to the Magic & Raptors (and my favorite broadcasting team of Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery) for updates over there.

Chris Paul finished with 32 points, five rebounds, 17 assists and three steals. He was also seen selling popcorn at the refreshment stand and ushering fans to their seats before the game.

There's not an ugly number to be found on the Hornets side of the boxscore. Four of the five starters were +24 or better and only one guy, Ryan Bowen, was a minus. He had a -1 in 3:41 of garbage time.

We'll have more in a bit.


End of Third Quarter: Hornets 99, Mavs 79
More of the same on the offensive end for the Hornets. Doubles on CP result in mismatches or open shots.

Morris Peterson got in on the action with eight straight Hornets points in the middle of the period. The first three came off a great look from Paul when he saw the trap coming at him up top, saw the other defenders rotating, and found Peterson open in the corner before the trap got to him.

Eight points for Peja in the quarter.

Again, the Hornets had one small drought (four possessions), but they were as efficient as can be otherwise.

More big plays from Hilton Armstrong. He ended the aforementioned drought with a back-down, spin and lefty hook move, and then picked up a steal, which led to a Peja three on the break, on the next possession.

Brandon Bass is the only real bright spot for the Mavs. He's busting his butt and has 17 points (on 5-of-5 from the field and 7-of-7 from the line) and eight boards.


Halftime: Hornets 67, Mavs 51
After turning the ball over just once in the first quarter, the Mavs turned it over five times in their first 11 possessions of the second and seven times total in the period.

Chris Paul sat the first 5:41 of the period, and the Hornets extended the lead from 10 to 11 in that time.

There is some good news for the Mavs:
1. Their offense is definitely sharper tonight than it was after the first quarter on Saturday.
2. They're doing a better job of containing Paul.

The bad news for the Mavs is that the Hornets are taking advantage of all of the attention paid to CP3 with great ball movement. They're getting lots of mismatches and lots of open shots. They've got 18 assists on 24 field goals and three other Hornets are already in double-figures.

Paul has 10 of the assists. A double-double (12 points) in the first half.

The Hornets went scoreless on six straight possessions early in the second, but after that, their offense was just as efficient as it was in the first.

Dirk is being aggressive. He's made 10 trips to the line so far and leads the Mavs with 16 points.

This might have gone unnoticed. Hilton Armstrong drew two fouls on the Mavs on the first two possessions of the second quarter. It paid off late in the quarter as the Hornets paraded to the line, going 8-for-8 on their final four possessions.

We've got simultaneous games going on for the first time this postseason, so check out Mike Slane's Magic-Raptors game blog while you're here.


End of First Quarter: Hornets 39, Mavs 29

West had it going early.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
The Hornets had 24 possessions in that quarter, and they scored on 19 of them. That's good. They're 17-of-24 from the field.

The final one was a runner from Chris Paul at the buzzer. Jerry Stackhouse had hit a three with 1.8 second to go and Jannero Pargo led Paul beautifully. He was able to get inside the arc on the other end for a shot.

The Mavs are trying to trap Chris Paul as much as possible, and David West is benefiting. He's got 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting. As John Jacobson (my co-pilot tonight) notes, it's nice to have a big man who can stick a jumper.

Jannero Pargo was another beneficiary. After a trap on CP, he got it to West, who backed down Stackhouse and found Pargo wide open for a three.

The Mavs have posted Kidd a few times, but they've posted Dirk more. He leads Dallas with nine points.

The play of the quarter was a Tyson Chandler block & alley-oop combo. He rejected Jerry Stackhouse one on end and caught a lob from Paul for a throwdown on the other.

Each team had only one turnover in the quarter.


Pregame:
Two more reads before we get started....

Scouts Inc. has a few tactical solutions to get Dallas' offense going. Defensively, they just need to get tougher.

And Hornets Hype likes their team's bench tonight.

I think this game could very well determine how the rest of the series goes. If the Mavs come back to win, we should have a long series on our hands. But if the Hornets pick up where they left off on Saturday, the series might go five games tops.

And I like what Scouts Inc. had to say about Dallas' defense. This is just as much about the intangibles (aggressiveness and toughness) than it is about the tangibles (trapping Chris Paul and making some shots).

-- Edited by John Schuhmann at 04/22/2008 10:56 PM

NBA Playoff 2008 新奧爾良黃蜂 VS 達拉斯小牛 (Game2) ( 第1節)

Instant message transcript...
[21:45] Peterson: Can we re-open the MVP voting?
I think Rob might want to take back his Kobe endorsement.

This game was a true tale of two halves. But the second half was much more telling than the first. Chris Paul and the Hornets absolutely dominated the Mavs after the break, outscoring them 64-40 in the final 24 minutes.

With his team down 12 at the break and having not made his presence felt in the first half, Paul came out aggressive in the third quarter and carried his team as they ran right past the Mavs. With the help of high screens from his big men and a soft Dallas defense, Paul had space to operate, and he used it brilliantly.

On the other end of the floor, the Mavs were out of sorts after the first quarter. They were able to make up for it with second-chance points in the second, but the Hornets took better care of the boards after the break, and they were just more active defensively.

Looking forward, the Mavs need two things. First, they need to find a way to contain Chris Paul. Second, they need somebody other than Dirk Nowitzki to step up offensively. Josh Howard had 17 points tonight, but he was 4-for-16 from the floor. Jason Terry had a huge game in the regular season finale, but he combined with Jerry Stackhouse and Devean George to shoot 6-for-23.

It's just one game, but it was one heck of a statement from Chris Paul and the Hornets. They take a 1-0 series lead, with Game 2 Tuesday night (7 p.m. ET, TNT).


Final: Hornets 104, Mavs 92

This was CP3's night.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

The Mavs scored just twice on their first 13 possessions of the fourth quarter. It was a 15-4 run for the Hornets to start the period and that put 'em away right there.

Our blogger had three offensive boards in the quarter, and seven total.

After shooting 10-for-21 (.476) in the first quarter, the Mavs shot 16-for-57 (.281) the rest of the way. That's pretty bad.

The Hornets had just eight turnovers for the game.

Jason Kidd finished just one rebound and one assist away from a triple-double, but his presence just wasn't felt enough. Trying to guard Paul probably takes a lot out of him.

Obviously, Chris Paul was brilliant, finishing with 35 points on 15-of-23, and 10 dimes. He had 24 points and seven assists in the second half.

More thoughts to come...


End of Third Quarter: Hornets 76, Mavs 72
Did I say that the Hornets needed more from Chris Paul? Well, they got it. CP had 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and five dimes in the third. He was aggressive from the start, scoring on three straight possessions after Tyson Chandler got blocked on the first of the quarter. The Mavs were sagging off, and he made them pay with pull-ups and little runners in the lane.

The Hornets were much more active defensively. Dallas shot 4-for-17 in the quarter and had five turnovers.

The best play was probably Bonzi Wells stealing a pass and then finding Paul heading toward the other end for an and-one.

David West has also found his rhythm. After starting out 1-for-8, he has shot 6-for-7.

The Hornets scored on 12 of their last 14 possessions of the quarter.


Halftime: Mavs 52, Hornets 40
Much slower pace in the second period. Each team had just 19 possessions, but part of that was due to a bunch of offensive rebounds, which extend possessions. There were 13 offensive boards in that quarter.

Chris Paul sat out the first 6:23 of the second period.

Highlight of the half: New Orleans doubles JH on the left side. The ball is swung to Brandon Bass, who drives from the right wing and throws down a monster two-handed jam, with his head at rim-level.

The Mavs went to Bass in the post on two straight possessions, and it paid off both times. He hit a turnaround on the first and got fouled on a baseline drive on the second.

The Hornets went to Bonzi Wells in the post quite a bit, with mixed results.

The Hornets were in the penalty at the 5:37 mark. Dallas is being more aggressive. They've taken 19 free throws. The Hornets have taken seven.

New Orleans needs more from Chris Paul. He's got 11 points and three assists at the break. The Mavs have sagged off him, and he hasn't been able to get into the paint that much. But he did have two straight scores in the lane to end the half.

Each team is 2-for-11 from downtown.

Dirk is a +16.


End of First Quarter: Mavs 26, Hornets 19

Dirk had 11 points in the first quarter.
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
Pretty quick pace. Each team had 27 possessions.

Dirk started out hot. He didn't let the double-team come to him, either shooting off one dribble up at the elbow, or turning baseline in the post.

David West started out cold. He missed his first five shots (mostly off isos or pick-and-pops). He's 1-for-7.

West's teammates aren't much better. The Hornets are shooting 9-for-27 (.333).

New Orleans had a stretch of 10 possessions where they scored just once. They then finished the period with three straight scores.

Dallas scored on seven of their last 10 possessions. They would have a bigger lead, but they turned the ball over five times in the period.


Pregame:
We've had a pretty good Wizards-Cavs game and an instant classic in San Antonio to start playoff action today. I expect this one to be tightly contested as well.

I think the thing to look for early on is how each team chooses to defend the other team's best player. That could affect everything else on the floor.

Do the Mavs try to take the ball out of Chris Paul's hands, like they did on Wednesday? Do they trap him in the backcourt? Do they bring the big man up to contain on the high screen-and-roll?

Do the Hornets double Dirk, or let David West (and Tyson Chandler at times) defend him one-on-one?

-- Last edited by John Schuhmann at 04/19/2008 11:03 PM

NBA Playoff 2008 洛杉磯湖人 VS 丹佛金塊 (Game4) ( 第3,4節)

Aftermath:
On a night when the No. 8 seeded Hawks, owners of just 37 regular season wins, tied up their series with the No. 1 Celtics in the East, the No. 8 seeded Nuggets, owners of 50 regular season W's, bowed out of the Playoffs after being swept by the No. 1 Lakers in the West.

There are plenty of fingers you can't point at Denver; for not playing defense, for not playing with composure, for talking trash instead of respecting its opponent, for "quitting," etc.

But the losers are never the lead story when the Playoffs band plays on, and right now the tune that's playing sounds a lot like Randy Newman's "I Love L.A."

As much as the Nuggets lost the series, the Lakers really just won it. Pau had flashes of brilliance, Luke Walton was an X-factor, Odom used his length to the best of his ability, and Kobe did whatever he could to get out of the First Round for the first time since he had Shaq as a teammate.

In Game 1 he battled through a bad shooting night but still made an impact displaying a mental toughness by not backing down to Kenyon Martin's barking, and his team followed suit. In Game 2, he had one of the most dominant games of his career. In Game 3, he was a part of a team effort again and finally, in Game 4, he waited until the game was in the balance before he stamped his mark on the series by taking over down the stretch to secure the sweep.

Awaiting the Lakers is either the Jazz or the Rockets (Utah leads the series 3-1), with either scenario guaranteeing that L.A. will face a tougher defense than it did in the First Round.

Awaiting the Nuggets? A summer full of question marks.

Game 4 Final: Lakers 107, Nuggets 101 – L.A. sweeps Denver, 4-0

Just when it looked like Denver had the momentum when Kobe fouled J.R. Smith on a 3-pointer for the second time and Smith hit all three free throws, Kobe hit an impossible fadeaway to beat the shot clock with Martin draped all over him, then hit a 3-pointer, then used a spin move to get past Smith and get to the bucket for a layup.

Smith, who as I mentioned earlier is really coming into his own, followed up Kobe’s run with a 28-footer to cut L.A.’s lead to two and then a steal followed by an and-1 layup to give Denver the lead.

Walton, who didn’t see as much time in Game 4 as he saw in Games 1-3 because Jackson was allowing Radmanovic the chance to dig himself out of the 1-for-9 shooting whole he started the game on, hit a corner three to put the Lakers up four with about three minutes remaining. He was huge all series.

Anthony (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Martin (eight point, six rebounds) both fouled out in a matter of seconds. They played well, but had to watch their team try to erase a five-point deficit in the finals minute and a half.

It was a crazy game down the stretch, with Bryant making a very difficult fadeaway off the glass when he was really looking to pass the ball and Marcus Camby hitting a three from the corner when he was 0-for-3 from the field at the time he unleashed the three.

The Nuggets become the first 50-win team in NBA history to be swept from the playoffs.

For all of the bad blood in the series, I was impressed with the cordial way that the two teams exchanged hugs and handshakes when the final horn sounded on the series.

End of Third Quarter: Lakers 79, Nuggets 77

Why is Anthony Carter shooting?

Normally, Kobe is pretty gracious when he deals with Pau Gasol (he is sort of like the basketball version of a hot new girlfriend afterall), but Pau got a little bit of the Mamba wrath when the 7-footer didn’t roll after setting Bryant a pick. Kobe ended up getting called for a traveling violation and pointed at Pau to where he should have been in a knee-jerk reaction to the whistle.

Two things you don’t want to see from the Nuggets – Iverson picking up yet another Technical foul (his fourth of the series) and Anthony missing an easy dunk off the back of the rim and causing the ball to bounce all the way to the stands – if you are a Lakers fan with tickets to Game 5.

That song in the Dockers commercial you’ve been hearing all Playoffs long? “California Soul” by Marlena Shaw. Thank you, Google.

I didn’t think it was possible, the Nuggets’ defense looks, well … great. The Lakers start off the quarter with four turnovers to just one field goal during a 9-2 Denver run thanks to traps, strips, blocks, deflections and rebounds by the guys in white.

Kobe and Kenyon revamped their one-on-one battle during a sidelines out of bounds play where the Lakers ran a stack and Martin penetrated it to go chest to chest with Bryant. The officials had to stop the action before the play even began to tell the two of them to cool it. When play resumed, the refs’ warning didn’t deter Martin from grappling on to Kobe as he made his cut towards the inbounder.

J.R. Smith is really impressing in this series. He got fouled by Kobe on a three-point attempt and stuck all three free throws to tie the game at 71.

It’s turning out to be a good one. All it took was a little Denver D. The Nuggets held the Lakers to only 15 points in the quarter.

Halftime: Lakers 64, Nuggets 54

You have to love super athletic, yet supremely uncoordinated guys like DJ MBenga will do something crazy like smash home a one-handed put-back dunk off a missed free throw once in a blue moon, but usually just worry you whenever they touch the ball on offense. They just make it fun to watch for both the awe and the anxious factors.

Allen Iverson led the league in minutes per game this season, his 12th , and you could see how much it disgusts him to miss any chance at PT when he made a dreary procession to the bench after being subbed out in the second quarter.

Kobe plays basketball at such a higher level of expertise than the rest of the players on the floor. Seeing him turn two pumpfakes and a pivot move in the paint into a feed to his teammate for a wide open dunk shows such a depth of understanding of the all the aspects of his craft that its second nature to mix and match the abilities.

This is an elimination game – do-or-die for the Nuggets – and the home team doesn’t seem to be playing with a sense of urgency. They are playing well on offense, shooting 22-for-43 from the field, but they’re still giving up more points than a pinball machine on D.

Halftime boxscore analysis for the Nuggets … Iverson has 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting = impressive … Camby has 11 rebounds, including four offensive = more impressive … J.R. Smith has 11 points and three assists off the bench = most impressive.

Halftime boxscore analysis for the Lakers … MBenga is 2-for-2 from the field, both of them dunks = impressive … Gasol has 18 points, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks = more impressive … Kobe has 16 points, six boards, four assists, two steals and a block = most impressive.

End of First Quarter: Lakers 32, Nuggets 23

Sure, we might have missed the Lakers messing around with the Nuggets’ mascot again during player introductions because the first five minutes of the game happened while the Hawks-Celtics game came to a close, but who cares? That game was awesome! Second best game of the playoffs after Suns-Spurs Game 1, and Joe Johnson’s performance was the third best individual showing after Duncan’s 40 and 15 and Kobe’s 49 and 10.

Pau Gasol is back to his Game 1 form. The Spaniard put in 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting in the first.

Nene is playing with a lot of energy and doing some things well (hit an open midrange J, pulled down an O-board off of a Melo missed free throw) and some things not so well (doinked a dunk).

Quitters never win, but they do score eight points in the first period, apparently. Melo is 2-for-4 from the field and 4-for-6 from the line.

Kobe’s passing mentality seems to be shared by the whole Lakers’ squad as the L.A. has eight assists on its 11 field goals.

Iverson (eight points) and Bryant (seven points) both have a decent rhythm going. Wouldn’t it be great to see them go bucket for bucket all game?

NBA Playoff 2008 洛杉磯湖人 VS 丹佛金塊 (Game4) ( 第1,2節)

Aftermath:
On a night when the No. 8 seeded Hawks, owners of just 37 regular season wins, tied up their series with the No. 1 Celtics in the East, the No. 8 seeded Nuggets, owners of 50 regular season W's, bowed out of the Playoffs after being swept by the No. 1 Lakers in the West.

There are plenty of fingers you can't point at Denver; for not playing defense, for not playing with composure, for talking trash instead of respecting its opponent, for "quitting," etc.

But the losers are never the lead story when the Playoffs band plays on, and right now the tune that's playing sounds a lot like Randy Newman's "I Love L.A."

As much as the Nuggets lost the series, the Lakers really just won it. Pau had flashes of brilliance, Luke Walton was an X-factor, Odom used his length to the best of his ability, and Kobe did whatever he could to get out of the First Round for the first time since he had Shaq as a teammate.

In Game 1 he battled through a bad shooting night but still made an impact displaying a mental toughness by not backing down to Kenyon Martin's barking, and his team followed suit. In Game 2, he had one of the most dominant games of his career. In Game 3, he was a part of a team effort again and finally, in Game 4, he waited until the game was in the balance before he stamped his mark on the series by taking over down the stretch to secure the sweep.

Awaiting the Lakers is either the Jazz or the Rockets (Utah leads the series 3-1), with either scenario guaranteeing that L.A. will face a tougher defense than it did in the First Round.

Awaiting the Nuggets? A summer full of question marks.

Game 4 Final: Lakers 107, Nuggets 101 – L.A. sweeps Denver, 4-0

Just when it looked like Denver had the momentum when Kobe fouled J.R. Smith on a 3-pointer for the second time and Smith hit all three free throws, Kobe hit an impossible fadeaway to beat the shot clock with Martin draped all over him, then hit a 3-pointer, then used a spin move to get past Smith and get to the bucket for a layup.

Smith, who as I mentioned earlier is really coming into his own, followed up Kobe’s run with a 28-footer to cut L.A.’s lead to two and then a steal followed by an and-1 layup to give Denver the lead.

Walton, who didn’t see as much time in Game 4 as he saw in Games 1-3 because Jackson was allowing Radmanovic the chance to dig himself out of the 1-for-9 shooting whole he started the game on, hit a corner three to put the Lakers up four with about three minutes remaining. He was huge all series.

Anthony (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Martin (eight point, six rebounds) both fouled out in a matter of seconds. They played well, but had to watch their team try to erase a five-point deficit in the finals minute and a half.

It was a crazy game down the stretch, with Bryant making a very difficult fadeaway off the glass when he was really looking to pass the ball and Marcus Camby hitting a three from the corner when he was 0-for-3 from the field at the time he unleashed the three.

The Nuggets become the first 50-win team in NBA history to be swept from the playoffs.

For all of the bad blood in the series, I was impressed with the cordial way that the two teams exchanged hugs and handshakes when the final horn sounded on the series.

End of Third Quarter: Lakers 79, Nuggets 77

Why is Anthony Carter shooting?

Normally, Kobe is pretty gracious when he deals with Pau Gasol (he is sort of like the basketball version of a hot new girlfriend afterall), but Pau got a little bit of the Mamba wrath when the 7-footer didn’t roll after setting Bryant a pick. Kobe ended up getting called for a traveling violation and pointed at Pau to where he should have been in a knee-jerk reaction to the whistle.

Two things you don’t want to see from the Nuggets – Iverson picking up yet another Technical foul (his fourth of the series) and Anthony missing an easy dunk off the back of the rim and causing the ball to bounce all the way to the stands – if you are a Lakers fan with tickets to Game 5.

That song in the Dockers commercial you’ve been hearing all Playoffs long? “California Soul” by Marlena Shaw. Thank you, Google.

I didn’t think it was possible, the Nuggets’ defense looks, well … great. The Lakers start off the quarter with four turnovers to just one field goal during a 9-2 Denver run thanks to traps, strips, blocks, deflections and rebounds by the guys in white.

Kobe and Kenyon revamped their one-on-one battle during a sidelines out of bounds play where the Lakers ran a stack and Martin penetrated it to go chest to chest with Bryant. The officials had to stop the action before the play even began to tell the two of them to cool it. When play resumed, the refs’ warning didn’t deter Martin from grappling on to Kobe as he made his cut towards the inbounder.

J.R. Smith is really impressing in this series. He got fouled by Kobe on a three-point attempt and stuck all three free throws to tie the game at 71.

It’s turning out to be a good one. All it took was a little Denver D. The Nuggets held the Lakers to only 15 points in the quarter.

Halftime: Lakers 64, Nuggets 54

You have to love super athletic, yet supremely uncoordinated guys like DJ MBenga will do something crazy like smash home a one-handed put-back dunk off a missed free throw once in a blue moon, but usually just worry you whenever they touch the ball on offense. They just make it fun to watch for both the awe and the anxious factors.

Allen Iverson led the league in minutes per game this season, his 12th , and you could see how much it disgusts him to miss any chance at PT when he made a dreary procession to the bench after being subbed out in the second quarter.

Kobe plays basketball at such a higher level of expertise than the rest of the players on the floor. Seeing him turn two pumpfakes and a pivot move in the paint into a feed to his teammate for a wide open dunk shows such a depth of understanding of the all the aspects of his craft that its second nature to mix and match the abilities.

This is an elimination game – do-or-die for the Nuggets – and the home team doesn’t seem to be playing with a sense of urgency. They are playing well on offense, shooting 22-for-43 from the field, but they’re still giving up more points than a pinball machine on D.

Halftime boxscore analysis for the Nuggets … Iverson has 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting = impressive … Camby has 11 rebounds, including four offensive = more impressive … J.R. Smith has 11 points and three assists off the bench = most impressive.

Halftime boxscore analysis for the Lakers … MBenga is 2-for-2 from the field, both of them dunks = impressive … Gasol has 18 points, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks = more impressive … Kobe has 16 points, six boards, four assists, two steals and a block = most impressive.

End of First Quarter: Lakers 32, Nuggets 23

Sure, we might have missed the Lakers messing around with the Nuggets’ mascot again during player introductions because the first five minutes of the game happened while the Hawks-Celtics game came to a close, but who cares? That game was awesome! Second best game of the playoffs after Suns-Spurs Game 1, and Joe Johnson’s performance was the third best individual showing after Duncan’s 40 and 15 and Kobe’s 49 and 10.

Pau Gasol is back to his Game 1 form. The Spaniard put in 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting in the first.

Nene is playing with a lot of energy and doing some things well (hit an open midrange J, pulled down an O-board off of a Melo missed free throw) and some things not so well (doinked a dunk).

Quitters never win, but they do score eight points in the first period, apparently. Melo is 2-for-4 from the field and 4-for-6 from the line.

Kobe’s passing mentality seems to be shared by the whole Lakers’ squad as the L.A. has eight assists on its 11 field goals.

Iverson (eight points) and Bryant (seven points) both have a decent rhythm going. Wouldn’t it be great to see them go bucket for bucket all game?

NBA Playoff 2008 洛杉磯湖人 VS 丹佛金塊 (Game3) ( 第4節)

Aftermath:
There was a significant amount of delighted fans in the crowd at the Pepsi Center at the end of the game on Saturday, only they weren't cheering for the Nuggets.

Kobe Bryant has game, will travel and gets "MVP! MVP!" chants even when he's on the road.

Bryant played well (22 points, seven rebounds, eights assists) but not spectacularly.

While the Lakers fans serenaded their star regardless whether his performance on this particular day was up to MVP-caliber or not, the Nuggets fans were left silent and that eerie lack of support sounded like a rousing "LVT! LVT!" chant to me.

Least Valuable Team.

Marv Albert called the showing by the home team an "embarassment", and it was.

Carmelo Anthony was 5-for-22 and added another technical foul to the growing collection the Nuggets have this postseason - perhaps the only statistical category where they're outperforming the Lakers.

Allen Iverson was 5-for-16 and didn't even play for the last six minutes of the fourth quarter as George Karl pulled him and waved the white flag for the game, and maybe for the series.

The rest of the Nuggets team played OK for the first half, but any stats they put up once the Lakers pushed their lead back to 17 in the third quarter were really empty.

Meanwhile, L.A. had four players other than Kobe reach double-digit scoring and two others who totalled nine points apiece. Gasol was efficient again, Luke Walton continued to be a difference maker and Derek Fisher stomped out Denver's short-lived comeback in the third quarter by hitting two huge 3-pointers.

It looked like a No.1 seeded team against a No. 8 seeded collection. The series isn't technically over, but it sure feels that way. If these Nuggets are going to win Games 4-7, they will have to put together as dramatic an upset as the last time the franchise advanced past the first round (Mutombo and the gang vs. Seattle in 1994). It's a tall order, to say the least. Game 4 is on Monday (10:30 p.m. ET, TNT). We'll see if it's a Denver turnaround or a Lakers continuation.

My guess is the latter.

Game 3 Final: Lakers 102, Nuggets 84

It’s been so bad of a blowout that I’ve spent the last 30 minutes having IM conversations about whether the Nuggets are going to dismantle this unit in the offseason. Do they look to trade Melo or A.I.? Is George Karl the right coach? Is there anyway Boston will depart with KG after a year and have him come in and teach these guys how to play D?

Pretty much all you need to know: The three guys on the cover of the Nuggets 2007-08 Media Guide (Iverson, Anthony and Camby) combined to score just 30 points on 10-for-40 shooting. The trio averaged 61.2 points during the regular season.

Things you notice in a 20-point blowout: Ronny Turiaf lost 10 pounds from tonsillitis; The Lakers fans who made the trip to Denver were louder than the hometown Nuggets supporters; Anthony Carter sort of looks like Kenny Smith – only with tattoos; no team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit in a seven-game series and advanced.

End of Third Quarter: Lakers 83, Nuggets 64

Kobe came out of the locker room gunning. He his three of this first four shots to boost the Lakers’ lead to 11 and cause Denver to burn an early timeout.

Not to hate on the Nuggets too much, but is this really a team that went 33-8 at home? The fans are stagnant, the defense is listless, the players seem lackadaisical and were reportedly watching the NFL Draft before the game. I thought today would be a much closer contest.

Just when it looked like Denver was out of it, they went on an 8-0 run by switching to zone on the defensive end and just making shots on offense. Martin made up from his earlier transgressions by imploring the crowd to get into it and it seemed to be working as the Nuggets were feeding off the extra energy. Still, the Lakers lead by 10 because their lead had ballooned to 18.

Just like that, the wheels fell off. Fisher hit two threes, a layup and a technical foul shot after Melo was T’d up, Bryant leaked out and scored on an outlet pass generated layup and the Lakers were up 17 again.

It’s not like the Lakers are playing all that spectacularly – Gasol didn’t even make a shot in the third – they’re just playing as a team with different guys stepping up. The Nuggets are just shooting themselves in the foot, holding on to the results of past failed possessions and letting their collective frustration dictate how they play.

Halftime: Lakers 53, Nuggets 46

The action got going pretty quickly in the second quarter with a few things you don’t see all the time: The Lakers needing to call an early timeout within the first minute of the quarter, D.J. Mbenga being called for a five-second call on the inbounds and Sasha Vujacic getting two free throws after taking an Eddie Najera elbow to the throat – Najera was called for a Flagrant 1 foul.

Despite the flagrant foul, Najera has been huge. He knocked down an open three, finished a fastbreak with a reverse layup and drew an offensive foul on Lamar Odom.

The Lakers bench held down the fort quite ably while Bryant started the quarter on the bench. Mbenga, Walton, Farmar and Vujacic combined for 16 points in the quarter.

Carmelo hit a straight-away open three from the top of the key that Denver fans were hoping would get him going, but it turned out to be one of just two made field goals for him in the game so far. He’s 2-for-10.

L.A. is shooting a paltry 10-for-17 from the line, but at least it’s getting to the charity stripe more. Denver is only 6-for-8 on freebies.

Gasol has been great on offense (13 points, 5-for-7 shootiing, four assists) but he only has one rebound and the Nuggets have a +5 advantage on the glass.

It’s not an ugly game, but it’s certainly not as pretty as Games 1 and 2. Kobe is 3-for-8 for eight points, Iverson is 3-for-11 for 10 points and everybody seems just a little off. Maybe it’s the 3:30 local tip-off time. Most of these guys are napping on a game day at 3:30.

End of First Quarter: Lakers 23, Nuggets 20

When Kobe starts into his shooting motion from midrange, he’s often looking to get to the peak of his elevation and dump the ball down low with a two-handed pass.

You think Denver wants this possession back? Camby gets the defensive rebound, pushes the ball up the court (instead of making an outlet pass to a guard), passes the ball to Kenyon Martin standing on the wing 20 feet from the basket as soon as he passes the half line, Martin shoots it immediately and misses. The Nuggets can get much better looks than that.

The Lakers had assists on all nine of their nine made baskets and Kobe racked up six of those dimes. For all of Denver’s talk about stepping up their defense, L.A. is still getting open jumpers just by making a few passes.

Kobe’s three L’s for his pregame warm-up: Lengthening, Limbering and Loosening. Good thing that that “LFO” on the iPod isn’t one of them. Nor “licorice” as a snack, either. I hate licorice.

Iverson and Anthony have a combined four points on 2-for-12 shooting, but their team is still only down by three. If they start hitting their shots, the Lakers better watch out. On the other hand, Kobe is just 1-for-5 which isn’t likely to stay that way.

Gasol has eight points on 4-for-6 shooting to lead L.A. Martin has eight points to lead Denver and has been very active, also picking up two boards and an assist.

Kobe and Martin both have two fouls. Phil Jackson and George Karl will earn their paychecks making their substitutions today.

NBA Playoff 2008 洛杉磯湖人 VS 丹佛金塊 (Game3) ( 第3節)

Aftermath:
There was a significant amount of delighted fans in the crowd at the Pepsi Center at the end of the game on Saturday, only they weren't cheering for the Nuggets.

Kobe Bryant has game, will travel and gets "MVP! MVP!" chants even when he's on the road.

Bryant played well (22 points, seven rebounds, eights assists) but not spectacularly.

While the Lakers fans serenaded their star regardless whether his performance on this particular day was up to MVP-caliber or not, the Nuggets fans were left silent and that eerie lack of support sounded like a rousing "LVT! LVT!" chant to me.

Least Valuable Team.

Marv Albert called the showing by the home team an "embarassment", and it was.

Carmelo Anthony was 5-for-22 and added another technical foul to the growing collection the Nuggets have this postseason - perhaps the only statistical category where they're outperforming the Lakers.

Allen Iverson was 5-for-16 and didn't even play for the last six minutes of the fourth quarter as George Karl pulled him and waved the white flag for the game, and maybe for the series.

The rest of the Nuggets team played OK for the first half, but any stats they put up once the Lakers pushed their lead back to 17 in the third quarter were really empty.

Meanwhile, L.A. had four players other than Kobe reach double-digit scoring and two others who totalled nine points apiece. Gasol was efficient again, Luke Walton continued to be a difference maker and Derek Fisher stomped out Denver's short-lived comeback in the third quarter by hitting two huge 3-pointers.

It looked like a No.1 seeded team against a No. 8 seeded collection. The series isn't technically over, but it sure feels that way. If these Nuggets are going to win Games 4-7, they will have to put together as dramatic an upset as the last time the franchise advanced past the first round (Mutombo and the gang vs. Seattle in 1994). It's a tall order, to say the least. Game 4 is on Monday (10:30 p.m. ET, TNT). We'll see if it's a Denver turnaround or a Lakers continuation.

My guess is the latter.

Game 3 Final: Lakers 102, Nuggets 84

It’s been so bad of a blowout that I’ve spent the last 30 minutes having IM conversations about whether the Nuggets are going to dismantle this unit in the offseason. Do they look to trade Melo or A.I.? Is George Karl the right coach? Is there anyway Boston will depart with KG after a year and have him come in and teach these guys how to play D?

Pretty much all you need to know: The three guys on the cover of the Nuggets 2007-08 Media Guide (Iverson, Anthony and Camby) combined to score just 30 points on 10-for-40 shooting. The trio averaged 61.2 points during the regular season.

Things you notice in a 20-point blowout: Ronny Turiaf lost 10 pounds from tonsillitis; The Lakers fans who made the trip to Denver were louder than the hometown Nuggets supporters; Anthony Carter sort of looks like Kenny Smith – only with tattoos; no team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit in a seven-game series and advanced.

End of Third Quarter: Lakers 83, Nuggets 64

Kobe came out of the locker room gunning. He his three of this first four shots to boost the Lakers’ lead to 11 and cause Denver to burn an early timeout.

Not to hate on the Nuggets too much, but is this really a team that went 33-8 at home? The fans are stagnant, the defense is listless, the players seem lackadaisical and were reportedly watching the NFL Draft before the game. I thought today would be a much closer contest.

Just when it looked like Denver was out of it, they went on an 8-0 run by switching to zone on the defensive end and just making shots on offense. Martin made up from his earlier transgressions by imploring the crowd to get into it and it seemed to be working as the Nuggets were feeding off the extra energy. Still, the Lakers lead by 10 because their lead had ballooned to 18.

Just like that, the wheels fell off. Fisher hit two threes, a layup and a technical foul shot after Melo was T’d up, Bryant leaked out and scored on an outlet pass generated layup and the Lakers were up 17 again.

It’s not like the Lakers are playing all that spectacularly – Gasol didn’t even make a shot in the third – they’re just playing as a team with different guys stepping up. The Nuggets are just shooting themselves in the foot, holding on to the results of past failed possessions and letting their collective frustration dictate how they play.

Halftime: Lakers 53, Nuggets 46

The action got going pretty quickly in the second quarter with a few things you don’t see all the time: The Lakers needing to call an early timeout within the first minute of the quarter, D.J. Mbenga being called for a five-second call on the inbounds and Sasha Vujacic getting two free throws after taking an Eddie Najera elbow to the throat – Najera was called for a Flagrant 1 foul.

Despite the flagrant foul, Najera has been huge. He knocked down an open three, finished a fastbreak with a reverse layup and drew an offensive foul on Lamar Odom.

The Lakers bench held down the fort quite ably while Bryant started the quarter on the bench. Mbenga, Walton, Farmar and Vujacic combined for 16 points in the quarter.

Carmelo hit a straight-away open three from the top of the key that Denver fans were hoping would get him going, but it turned out to be one of just two made field goals for him in the game so far. He’s 2-for-10.

L.A. is shooting a paltry 10-for-17 from the line, but at least it’s getting to the charity stripe more. Denver is only 6-for-8 on freebies.

Gasol has been great on offense (13 points, 5-for-7 shootiing, four assists) but he only has one rebound and the Nuggets have a +5 advantage on the glass.

It’s not an ugly game, but it’s certainly not as pretty as Games 1 and 2. Kobe is 3-for-8 for eight points, Iverson is 3-for-11 for 10 points and everybody seems just a little off. Maybe it’s the 3:30 local tip-off time. Most of these guys are napping on a game day at 3:30.

End of First Quarter: Lakers 23, Nuggets 20

When Kobe starts into his shooting motion from midrange, he’s often looking to get to the peak of his elevation and dump the ball down low with a two-handed pass.

You think Denver wants this possession back? Camby gets the defensive rebound, pushes the ball up the court (instead of making an outlet pass to a guard), passes the ball to Kenyon Martin standing on the wing 20 feet from the basket as soon as he passes the half line, Martin shoots it immediately and misses. The Nuggets can get much better looks than that.

The Lakers had assists on all nine of their nine made baskets and Kobe racked up six of those dimes. For all of Denver’s talk about stepping up their defense, L.A. is still getting open jumpers just by making a few passes.

Kobe’s three L’s for his pregame warm-up: Lengthening, Limbering and Loosening. Good thing that that “LFO” on the iPod isn’t one of them. Nor “licorice” as a snack, either. I hate licorice.

Iverson and Anthony have a combined four points on 2-for-12 shooting, but their team is still only down by three. If they start hitting their shots, the Lakers better watch out. On the other hand, Kobe is just 1-for-5 which isn’t likely to stay that way.

Gasol has eight points on 4-for-6 shooting to lead L.A. Martin has eight points to lead Denver and has been very active, also picking up two boards and an assist.

Kobe and Martin both have two fouls. Phil Jackson and George Karl will earn their paychecks making their substitutions today.