Mid-way through the fourth quarter of last night’s Thunder/Rockets game, Oklahoma City was up 15 at one point and for a minute Houston looked like they were just trying to stay in touch. Russell Westbrook (29 points) was slashing to the cup, Serge Ibaka was knocking down mid-range jumpers and Kevin Martin was pump-faking everyone in red to stick wide open threes. It was about to be bad for Houston. But then a crazy mix of James Harden (36 points), Patrick Beverley and Carlos Delfino happened, everything started falling for Houston and a 21-2 run later the Rockets were somehow up four with a few minutes to go … After starting off the game on fire, Kevin Durant was quiet in the fourth, especially as the Rockets were making their wild run. But when it was winning time, KD stepped up on back-to-back plays, knocking down a crucial deep three and then driving and kicking it out to an open Thabo Sefolosha for an open, dagger triple. Gametime, OKC is up 2-0 … By the way, have some Patrick Beverley. In his first start his line looked like this: 16 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals, one block, and two threes on 7-of-13 shooting in 41 minutes. AND he was described as effectively “annoying Westbrook” about 16,000 times on Twitter during the game … Jeremy Lin couldn’t play in the 2nd half due to a chest contusion …
About :15 after the final buzzer, Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted this:
Obviously, he’s right. That stretch where Houston was getting clobbered is going to haunt them forever. Now they’re headed home down 0-2 with almost no chance of winning the series …
Later on Inside the NBA, Charles Barkley asked if Russell Westbrook is the fastest player to ever play in the NBA …
Earlier in the day we caught some of Kendrick Perkins‘ extreme displeasure with the state of the NBA awards process:
On the next page, check out massive dunks from Gerald Green and Roy Hibbert – both right on various Hawks …
The Georges – Paul and Hill – continue to terrorize the Atlanta Hawks. After Paul George unloaded a triple double on Atlanta in Game 1 of their series, he came back last night to give them an 27 on 11-17 shooting. And when he wasn’t giving Atlanta the business, George Hill was picking up the slack, scoring 22 on 7-12 shooting, leading Indy to a 113-98 W to put them up 2-0 in the series …
As good as those two were, the best highlights of the night belonged to two other Pacers. Watch Gerald Green put a “man’s jam” on Josh Smith:
And then there was this yam-bag Roy Hibbert put on Ivan Johnson:
After shifting to Newark from MSG last summer, it looks like this year’s NBA Draft is moving to another new location:
We will always prefer MSG for Draft night, with the rabid Knicks fans and the “Fire Layden!” chants that were still happening six or seven years after Scott Layden was fired as GM …
Warning: You may not be able to unsee the Brittney Griner image on the next page …
We have zero idea what to make if this Instagram post from Brittney Griner:
Here’s an amazing stat about Carmelo Anthony‘s playoff scoring, an output that puts him second in Knicks history to a truly incredible Bernard King stat:
Two days after winning a coveted award and a day after this wonderfulness came to light, J.R. Smith is still not feeling the love from everybody:
Amar’e Stoudemire playoff update:
We don’t even … Why … Who asked for this?
On the next page, it’s time to put the Lakers’ season out of its misery…
Unless you’re a die-hard Spurs fan, that game last night against the Lakers was tough to watch. The Spurs toyed with L.A. – something they would have likely done to the Lakers even if L.A. wasn’t hobbled. But an injured, foul-plagued, generally discombobulated Lakers team didn’t have a prayer and they were swept away, 102-91. L.A.’s entire predicament was embodied by Steve Nash, who re-aggravated his hamstring. Old, slow, and limping, Nash was chum in the water for Tony Parker (28 and seven assists) …
We know Reggie Miller wants people to watch his next telecast and all, but standing there on national TV after watching San Antonio effortlessly swipe away a broken, rotten Lakers team and tell viewers that they shouldn’t count out L.A. in the series? Come on …
A joke, but so true:
Another player supports Kobe Bryant tweeting during games (it would have made last night waaay more entertaining):
From Marc Stein earlier in the day:
How big are the NBA Playoffs? The Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary Tour is taking a backseat:
We’re out like what’s left of the Lakers’ season.
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