Every morning, we’ll give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: Getting out the brooms…. part 1
Break out the brooms, folks, because the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks are on the verge of being swept out of the playoffs.
The Knicks being swept wouldn’t be the biggest surprise. The Heat, when they want to be, are a deadly destructive force that rain hellfire upon foes in an instant… especially foes that had a horribly sick and disoriented center to start the series, and a horribly stupid (at least around fire extinguishers) power forward. Last night, the Knicks made a run in the third quarter and even took a lead for a hot second, but then LeBron James exposed Carmelo Anthony as a strictly one-way player and it was off to the races. Eight straight points to start the fourth and 17 overall in the final quarter from LeBron put the Knicks away for the night, and probably, for the series.
By the way, the last time the Knicks won a playoff game, Iman Shumpert was 10.
2: … and part 2
No such drama in Big D, where the Thunder came out hot, stayed hot, and ended any thoughts by the Mavs of coming back strong on their home court to make a series of it. Well, Durant got hot, more specifically (more on that later), but still…. he and Westbrook combined for 51 points, which out-scored all the Mavs starters by four. The Mavs shot 34% on their home floor and looked like a team nursing a championship hangover in a lockout shortened season.
Let’s face facts, here… Dirk isn’t being “Dirk”, and when you’re playing with a good but not great Nowtizki, you’re not going to go very far. And I’m pretty sure Lamar Odom isn’t welcome back in Dallas anymore.
Still, you had your parade. And this summer you might get another huge prize: Deron Williams… so it’s not all bad, Dallas. Just the part you’re going through right now… the part where OKC is probably going to sweep you… that’s the pretty bad part.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
J.R. Smith with a dunk-contest quality finish in traffic
J.R. Smith again… ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!!
Yes, all of our highlights are from the Heat-Knicks game…
4: Line of the Night: Kevin Durant – 31 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
KD shot 11-15, including 4-6 from deep, to power the Thunder. He and Dirk Nowitzki each took 15 shots. Dirk made 6. Durant was a +22, Dirk was a -20. Such was the night for Dallas.
5: You can quote me on that
“We played two solid games in OKC. Tonight, we picked a bad time to put a stinker out there. We’ve got to win a game. … We’ve got to show some pride on Saturday.”
-Dirk Nowitzki, after the Game 3 loss
“We can’t get frustrated. You’ve got to tip your hat to them. They kicked our butt in every facet of the game”
-Jason Terry
“I thought probably sitting over there that whole third quarter was probably good for him, because he came right in right away and got right at it. He didn’t waste any time. He’s never really in foul trouble, so I thought it was good for him.”
-Dwyane Wade, on LeBron James sitting most of the third quarter with foul trouble
