Game Four: (1) Chicago Bulls vs (5) Atlanta Hawks, Phillips Arena
- Final Score: Hawks 100, Bulls 88
- In game four, the Hawks looked to target the Bulls’ strengths in game three. While Derrick Rose still put up 34 points, he was only 12-of-32 from the field. The Hawks also closed out on the Bulls’ three-point shooters, and Josh Smith, who has been booed and criticized lately, bounced back with a near triple-double.
- Hawks: Josh Smith – 23 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks.
- Bulls: Derrick Rose 34 points, 10 assists.
- “We’re always trying to stay in his ear, but obviously when he’s going to the basket and making it easy for himself, we just try to keep encouraging him,” Hawks guard Joe Johnson said about Josh Smith. “He was All-Star caliber. When he’s playing like that, it’s almost impossible for a team to beat us.”
- “I didn’t like our defense in the fourth quarter. We drove the ball hard, but didn’t get a call and that’s the way it goes,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “They got the ball in the paint with far too much ease.”
- Key Stats: After shooting 50 percent from beyond the arch in game three, the Bulls shot a measly 19 percent in game four.
- The series is tied 2-2 Game five will be in Chicago tomorrow night..
Game Four: (2) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (3) Dallas Mavericks, American Airlines Center
Final Score: Mavericks 122, Lakers 86.- While the Lakers tried to put up a fight to extend this series, Mavericks guard Jason Terry did everything he could to extinguish those hopes and end the series in Dallas. In the end, as was the case all series, the Mavericks were just too much for the former NBA champions. While most of Dallas’ starters struggled, they got three double-digit performances from their second unit and gave Lakers coach Phil Jackson the first sweep of his 21-year career.
- Mavericks: Jason Terry – 32 points, 9-of-10 from beyond the arch.
- Lakers: Bryant – 17 points.
- Key Stats: The Mavericks made 20 three-pointers Bryant scored only four points in the second, third and fourth quarter and shot 10 percent from the field.
- “This was a great night,” Terry said. “I’m very thankful that I had the hot hand.”
- They jumped out on us in the second quarter,” Bryant said. “It was just 3 after 3 after 3 and we could never get back in it.”
- Dallas will play the winner of the Oklahoma City-Memphis series in the Western Conference Finals.
