It’s kind of hard to get your head around the idea, but maybe everyone really did forget about Chris Paul. Not too long ago, he was being talked about as one of the greatest point guards ever to play the game and now, he’s reclaimed his mojo against the two-time defending champs. CP might’ve even topped his Game 1 performance by coming through with a legendary triple-double (27 points, 13 rebounds, 15 assists). This routine of the Lakers losing close games is starting to get worrisome. We can’t even remember the last time they were in this position and pulled out a tough win. They came out quick, but from then on, and especially in the second half, Paul answered everything. He was scoring against the L.A. bigs. He was crossing-up Kobe Bryant. He was finding Trevor Ariza (19 points) and Carl Landry (16 points) … Bryant (17 points) didn’t score in the entire first half, but still played a solid game. In fact, most of the Lakers all had decent nights. It was just that none of them stood out the way CP did … One quick bullet point before we anoint CP as the best point guard in the league again. This is the Lakers, who’ve never played point guards well. Historically, Paul has DESTROYED L.A. He did it early in his career. He did it in his prime and he’s still doing it now. Does that mean he’s putting up numbers like this against everybody? Well, that’s for you to speculate … If we were Dwight Howard at this point, we might just say screw it and never pass the ball again. Atlanta beat the Magic by three again last night to go up 3-1 in the series, and Howard’s supporting cast must’ve still been out partying. Joe Johnson (20 points, nine rebounds) hit four straight free throws in the final minute, and then down three with a chance to tie it, Orlando went to Hedo Turkoglu (2-12 from the field) of all people. Hedo fumbled the ball then took a tough shot against a double-team that was long. Atlanta is now one win away in a series we honestly didn’t expect them to win. Sure, they’ve now won six of eight against the Magic this year, but they came into the playoffs with six losses in a row and had the look of a team that had either quit or given up on its coach. All series long, the Hawks have different guys stepping up. There’s Johnson, then Jamal Crawford (25 points) and last night, it was a heavy dose of Josh Smith late in the post. For Orlando, outside of Howard (29 points, 17 rebounds), who actually was the only Orlando player to score during a seven-minute run in the fourth quarter, the cupboard is so thin. Turkoglu has been nonexistent. Seriously, every time he holds the ball on the wing and waits for a screen roll, we cringe. They always end up in ugly fallaways. What happened to this guy? … One guy we do have to show love to is Gilbert Arenas (20 points). He lit it up during the second half, hitting pull-up threes, throwing lobs to Howard and he even had one play where he ball faked in the lane before drawing a goal-tending call … Read more: The Sixers stand up to the James Gang, the Knicks go out with a whimper and more…
Wow. That’s about all there is to say. The Miami Heat, up 3-0 in the series, and up six in the final minute, well on their way to the second round, collapsed, losing to the Sixers 86-82. LeBron James (31 points) will shoulder much of the blame because of his missed runner on the final possession. But the Sixers came out of nowhere to play a perfect final 90 seconds, hitting a runner and two threes to take the lead. Then on Miami’s last chance, they isolated James. We don’t understand that. James’ biggest strength in the clutch is his ability to make the right read. The Heat basically took away his passing lanes and said, “You take us home.” That’s not LeBron’s game. Never was. Probably won’t ever be. As a one-on-one player in that situation, he struggles … We think this was the third time in the series that Philly jumped out to a big lead which was then erased by a monster Miami run. This time it was a 22-2 run right before the half that put the Heat up after trailing by as many as 15 in the first quarter. But the Sixers were physical and stood up to Miami, delivering some hard fouls and getting in their faces. LeBron was particularly irritated, especially when Spencer Hawes cracked him as he was coming down the lane in the fourth quarter … Evan Turner (17 points) started to feel himself in this game, especially in the first half where within a few minutes he hit a three, got chippy with James Jones, and hit a pull-up jumper on LeBron. In the second half though, especially in the fourth, it felt like every shot he took was smacked back into his face by Dwyane Wade (22 points). Wade had five blocks and four of them were on Turner shots … After all that happened this year, the playoffs were going to be the ultimate stage, the confirmation that everything the Knicks did was worth it. This was where Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups were going to show their worth. Yet it all ended so quickly. This was a team of walking wounded, going up against their worst possible matchup in the Boston Celtics. The Green finally put them out of their misery yesterday, winning by 12 after opening up a 23-point lead in the third quarter and then holding off one final push from New York in the second half. The Celtics got big games from Rajon Rondo (21 points, 12 assists) and Kevin Garnett (26 points, 10 rebounds) who fueled a defensive intensity that was too much for New York. Anthony (32 points, nine rebounds) and STAT (19 points, 12 rebounds) had nice numbers but shot a combined 15-44 from the field … The sweep was a classic case of two teams going in completely different directions. Boston knows this might be their last real run at a championship. But New York needs to build. The foundation is there, the hard part is finished. Now, the Knicks have to surround it with complementary parts … We’re out like the Knicks’ title dreams.
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