The Boston Celtics eliminated a Knicks team with two superstars who were learning how to play together before those two got a chance to figure things out on Sunday, and the Miami Heat got beat by a team with no superstars who figured out how to win in the playoffs just in time to extend that series. Things look bad for Stan Van, Dwight, and old [read ancient] Hedo, and Chris Paul led his Hornets to another improbable win.
Day Nine details below…
Game four: (2) Miami Heat vs. (7) Philadelphia 76ers, Wells Fargo Center
- Final Score: 76ers 86, Heat 82
- Lou Williams capped off a 10-0 Philly run to close game four out by knocking down a deep three with D-Wade’s hand in his face take the lead for good. LeBron’s shot to tie with 2.3 seconds left that was blocked by Elton Brand.
- 76ers’ Lou Williams: 17 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist.
- Heat’s LeBron James: 31 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists.
- Key Stats: The 76ers bench outscored the Heat reserves by 20 (36-16). Evan Turner and Lou Williams each had 17 for Philly, Mario Chalmers led Miami’s bench with 9.
- “Honestly, I think every shot Lou shoots is going to go in – seriously,” Jrue Holiday said. “Definitely in big times, he’s the guy to go.”
- “Lou is a guy who takes and makes big shots for them,” said Wade. “I got a good contest.”
- Miami now leads the series 3-1. Game 5 is back in Miami on Wednesday.
Game four: (3) Boston Celtics vs. (6) New York Knicks
- Final Score: Celtics 101, Knicks 89
- The Knicks trailed by 17 at halftime, cut it to four for a moment behind some surprisingly solid Anthony Carter contributions, but eventually became the first team eliminated from the 2011 postseason. Maybe next year, Spike.
- Celtics’ Rajon Rondo: 21 points, 12 assists, 5 rebounds.
- Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony: 32 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists.
- Key Stats: After talk of possibly not playing due to back issues, Amar’e Stoudemire went 5 of 20 from the floor in 44 minutes. Kevin Garnett, conversely, went 10 of 16 from the field, scored 26 and grabbed 10. Advantage Boston.
- Mike D’Antoni pregame on Rondo: “I’d like to see him play on Minnesota and see how he does.”
- Doc on that second half run: “I thought we dropped the guard a little bit,” Rivers said. “Give them credit, I thought they played desperate and you could see it in their play and their defensive energy.”
- The series is over. Boston sweeps 4-0, awaits winner of Miami / Philly.
Game four: (4) Orlando Magic vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks, Phillips Arena
- Final Score: Hawks 88, Magic 85
- Hedo Turkoglu was 0-5 from three and 2 of 11 from the field overall heading into the final possession with his Magic squad down three. He took the last shot, a three, which he missed. Hedo finished 0 of 6 from deep, 2 of 12 overall.
- Hawks’ Jamal Crawford: 25 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists.
- Magic’s Dwight Howard: 29 points, 17 rebounds.
- Key Stats: Atlanta shot 6 of 15 (40%) from three, the Magic on the other hand shot a putrid 2 of 23 (8.7%) from deep.
- We’ve got a one-two punch,” Josh Smith said. “Jamal pretty much gave it to us the first two quarters and Joe said, ‘I will take it from here,’ in the fourth. Whenever you can have a dynamic duo in the backcourt that can score like that, it’s kind of hard to defend.”
- “I just told ’em if they don’t believe that we can still win, stay in Atlanta,” Howard said. “We’ve just got to keep believing, and guys have got to make shots, simple as that.”
- Hawks lead series 3-1. Game five is in Orlando.
Game four: (2) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (7) New Orleans Hornets, New Orleans Arena
- Final Score: Hornets 93, Lakers 88
- Chris Paul had a triple-double and Kobe Bryant went scoreless in the first half (0-7) from the first time in the playoffs since 2005. Jarret Jack only scored 5 points, but they were the Hornets final five of the game as they won by that many.
- Hornets’ Chris Paul: 27 points, 15 assists, 13 rebounds
- Lakers’ Kobe Bryant: 17 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds on 5 of 18 shooting for the game.
- Key Stats: NO out-rebounded the Lakers as a team by 7 (39-32) and moved the ball more efficiently as well assisting on 25 of their 33 FGM as opposed to only 17 on the LA side.
- “I’ve played a lot of games here,” said Chris Paul. “But tonight was something.”
- “He [Chris Paul] pressed the game in the second half and delivered for them,” Phil Jackson said afterwards.
- The series is tied at 2-2. Game five is Tuesday at 10:30PM EST back in LA.
