Wednesday night's two games have taken us through 16 playoff contests, as all eight of the higher seeded teams have now hosted two playoff games each. The Magic beat the Bobcats 92-77 with all five starters scoring in double digits. Carter led the way (19 points) while Howard added 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Jackson had 27 for the losers, as the Magic went up 2-0 in the series. Popovich "called out his team" after Game 1 (excluding the "Big 3") and it seems to have worked, as Jefferson (1-of-4 with just four points in Game 1) responded with 19 points, as the Spurs evened their series at one-game all, with a 102-88 win at Dallas.
Dallas, which shot 47.3 percent in its wire-to-wire Game 1 win, made just 36.5 percent last night. Nowitzki was held to 9-of-24 from the floor (24 points), after scoring 32 points in Game 1 while making 12-of-14 FGs and 12-of-12 FTs. Getting back to San Antonio, its "Big 3" came through again, as Duncan had 25 points with 17 rebounds, Ginobili had 23 and Parker 16 with eight assists. Duncan's effort was the 29th career 25-point/15-rebound playoff game, the second-highest among active players to Shaq's 34. No wonder Cuban "hates" the Spurs.
Through 16 games, home teams are 13-3 SU and 10-6 ATS. Both games went under last night, making it seven overs, seven unders and two pushes in the postseason to-date. "Zig-Zaggers" were 1-1 last night, moving to 5-3 ATS. The Cavs, Hawks and Magic own 2-0 leads in the East, with only the Boston/Miami series tied at one-all. The West is the flip-side of that, as only the Lakers lead a series 2-0. The other three series are all tied at one game apiece. NBA history buffs should note that teams with a 2-0 lead in a best-of-7 series have gone on to win the series 209 of 223 times. That's 93.7 percent!
TNT's doubleheader tonight features the Cavs/Bulls at 7:05 ET and then the Lakers/Thunder at 9:35 ET. The Bulls played poorly while losing the opener by 13 points but were much better in Game 2. However, LeBron's 15 fourth-quarter points were too much (James is averaging 32.0-7.0-6.5 in the series). Rose is averaging 25.5-4.5-9.0 for Chicago and Noah is coming off a strong 25-point, 13-rebound effort in Game 2. LA was hardly dominant in the first two games of this series and the Thunder will be playing their first-ever home playoff game tonight.
They own the youngest scoring champ in NBA history in Kevin Durant (30.1) and as of Wednesday, the reigning NBA coach-of-year. Scott Brooks led the Thunder, owners of the youngest roster in the league, to a 27-game turnaround this season (50-32). For that best-in-the NBA turnaround, Brooks was recognized Wednesday as the NBA's coach of the year. Of course, the Thunder face the Lakers (the defending champs), led by Kobe (four titles) and coached by Jackson (10 titles, the most-ever). The third game tonight is Phoenix at Portland, where the Suns will try to win back the home court advantage they lost in Game 1 when the Blazers won 105-100 (Suns won Game 2, 119-90).
The Cavs are four-point road favorites in Chicago (total is 193), the Thunder 3 1/2-point favorites at home over the Lakers (total is 191 1/2) and the Suns are a one-point road choice at Portland (total is 204).
Good luck...Larry