Portland Trail Blazers 97, Dallas Mavericks 92 (Series: 2-1 Dallas)
Wesley Matthews was a mad man for the Portland Trailblazers last night. The Marquette alum was smoking hot early in the game and his team-high 25-points were the deciding factor. Of course it helped that LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy and Andre Miller combined for 52 points, as well, but Matthews was the spark early on.
As for the Mavericks, hoo boy what a bad game. Jason Terry led the Mavs with 29-points and Dirk Nowitzki added 25, but the rest of the team played like their alarm clock never went off. Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler and Shawn Marion combined for 19 whopping points to secure their day of shame today.
Miami Heat 100, Philadelphia 76ers 94 (Series: 3-0 Miami)
This is a good news/bad news series for the Philadelphia 76ers. The good news is that they’ve got some great young talent that could really thrive with the addition of some quality veterans in the offseason. The bad news is that the Miami Heat’s Cerberus is awake and just crushing them. Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh combined for 75 of the team’s 100 points, which meant that the 6ers could either sit there and take it or try desperately to stop the other guys from scoring their 25-points.
Philly chose the former, and is now in a 3-0 hole to arguably the hottest team in the playoffs right now…
Chicago Bulls 88, Indiana Pacers 84 (Series: 3-0 Bulls)
The difference between the Bulls and the Heat, and their respective 3-0 series leads, is that the Bulls seem to be fighting so much more to get their wins than the Heat, as Miami is just pillaging right now. But that really doesn’t mean anything beyond the first round, so we’ll save this argument for another day.
Danny Granger did his best to keep the Pacers out of their bottomless playoff pit, but his 21-points wasn’t enough against Chicago’s advantage at the free throw line. Derrick Rose has 23 points to lead the bulls, but the bulk of that came from 15 trips to the line. He was just 4 of 18 shooting otherwise, but a win is a win, says teams that win.
Tonight’s predictions: Hawks over Magic, Knicks over Celtics, Lakers over Hornets
