Last Night

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It was refreshing to again sit in front of a TV and watch the playoffs all day. I’m going to be sad when some of these teams get eliminated. This first round sure has been something, eh? Game 3’s tend to be win’s for the home team, especially when they are down 2-0. The crowd and the players have that extra emotional ‘oomph’ inside of them. Losing a Game 3 at home is deflating and devastating, unless you were Utah then it was just a wakeup call.

Toronto didn’t lose Game 3, but they sure lost Game 4. And I can tell you exactly when they lost it: the fourth quarter. Everyone is quick to give Rashard Lewis credit, and he will get his due in a heartbeat. But I’ll tell you exactly when and how the Raptors lost this game. From 7:33 to 4:56 in that quarter is when the Raptors saw the game, and this series slip out of their grip. That’s when Jameer Nelson scored 10 straight for the Magic. The Raptors were forced to call timeout down 85-83….and then come back out and watch Nelson drain another three. Before that spurt, Nelson had scored 7 points the entire game. Now he just scored 10 points in 3 minutes and the Magic were up 88-85. After that, Hedo and Rashard just decided to one-up each other until Rashard hit the dagger three to put the Magic up 8 with 1:31 left.

As I said before, when Nelson is scoring the Magic are likely THAT much more dangerous. I would say they are unstoppable with him scoring and the Million Dollar Man playing like he did last year. Where has that been all year, Mr. Lewis? Dwight Howard did not score a point in the 4th and he didn’t have too. Jameer, Hedo and Rashard took care of everything. Think about that. The Raps probably could have played better but at home and how Bosh was playing, all they had to do was keep stopping Nelson. They couldn’t and they lost. Kudos to you Chris Bosh for putting your teammates in a napsack and trying to carry them up the mountain. Maybe next time you could let them know to not feed the beasts. 8 blocks? Stop challenging him, come on people make an adjustment for pete’s sake.

(Sidenote…I don’t know if anybody saw this, but during that semi-awkward 2-3 minute span where the players are just kind of waiting for the tip, the Magic went through one of the most impressive handshake routines I have seen in recent memory. Everyone had one with everyone and they were all different. And they just went through them all like they were in a factory. Hedo jumped up and down with JJ then walked right to Carlos, Dwight went to the next. It was fascinating. I don’t know what Simmons is smoking, give me that and the Toronto crowd and I’m good.)

The Lakers just took Denver’s heart yesterday. Carmelo Anthony as resumed his annual disappearing act in the playoffs. He should take this show to Vegas because it is a real treat. Before I get to the game….I’m just kind of disappointed with ‘Melo. For one I’m still bitter he decided to have the week of his life and give Coup the fantasy title. Also, we could be watching the Warriors right now. But more importantly….it just doesn’t seem like he is getting it. Like some of his visual, his shot selection and his immaturity reminded me of the Melo from his first playoff run. No growth. You can’t argue with a ref instead of getting back on D, watch LA get a layup and then get a tech. You can’t do that. And then, after shooting 5-for-22 and playing horrendous, you can’t go to the media and say that ‘everyone quit’ from the ‘coaches to the players’. There’s just no need for it, especially when you were just arrested for a DUI. Grow up Melo. You know how we talk about ceilings?? People say LeBron doesn’t have one yet, and that D-Wade may be Penny on steroids. Well Melo….Melo might be the next Glenn Robinson. A great scorer but not a winner. You can never say that Big Dog was a bad player at all, but you can’t put him on that upper-tier.

To the game…the Lakers just made plays. They took Denver’s initial punch and then just slowly wore them down. When Denver made their last little run they answered back and took their will away from them. Nothing more, nothing less. Nobody did anything spectacular stat-wise, but as a team the Lakers pulled the Nuggets heart out like they were Kano.

(Another sidenote…Rocky remains my favorite mascot of all-time after yesterday’s stunt. That just had to be said.)

Atlanta pulled off the upset over Boston because they scored points. Off my count, the C’s have had teams drop 100+ on them 16 times this season. In those games they are 7-9 (I think). The keys were the Hawks being able to get out in transition and get easy buckets. In the half-court, against Boston’s D they have no chance. But in the open court, they are as dangerous as anyone when they don’t have to face a set D.

Let’s not forget that the C’s bench did not play worth a dang today. They got 11 points from the bench which is exactly one more point than Atlanta’s bench had. And they only got significant minutes from Zaza Pachulia and Josh Childress. Yikes.

Also…what is up with Philips Arena? How do they keep having so many incidents? How has no one gotten fired? And how did we got the majority of the second half with NO shot clock? I smell a conspiracy here. What happened to trotting the shot clocks and putting them in the corners? I feel like that was a little bit of home-cooking from the Hawks.

The fairweather Hawk fans carried the Hawks to an ’emotional Game 3′ win. But lets face it….the Hawks still have no chance in the series. Josh Smith is as up and down as a rollercoaster, and while he was lightweight BEASTY…he’s not hitting three 3’s every game. Got to give the Hawks their due for finding a way to bounce back after a couple deflating losses and taking the win tonight.

By the way…what was Al Horford thinking? I liked the Hawks enthusiasm, I liked their swagger. I liked how they got the fairweather fans (as Paul Pierce called them to their face during the game) to believe in them and carry them. I liked the smiles, the energy. I liked it all until Al Horford decided to get in Paul Pierce’s face like that for no apparent reason. Why Bibby didn’t grab him and shake him immediately is beyond me. It’s one thing to have a swagger and it’s another to just be dumb. Why would you want to wake Paul Pierce and the rest of the C’s up? It just strikes me as odd and silly and he’ll more than likely pay for it the next game. He was beasty though I’ll give him that, but boy I wouldn’t mind taking a baseball bat to him and Noah.

(Ya know, his constant celebrations kind of reminded me of Alonzo’s when he initially came back from his medical issues. Except that was ok because you were like ‘He loves the game, he almost died, almost had it taken away from him, he should celebrate.’ Ditto for Turiaf after the heart problem. But something about Horford’s constant jumping around just rubs me the wrong way. If this was 1990, Parish would have elbowed him and he’d have bled by now.)

Lastly…Houston/Utah. I called Okur getting that free throw rebound near the end of the game. It’s just one of those things that breaks the Jazz’ way when the play games in that building. I literally looked at my friend and said ‘Don’t you feel like something fruity is gonna happen like they get the rebound’. He agreed. Okur got it and got fouled. If there is one team I’ll never root for it’s Utah. Don’t ask. Again, Houston just can’t score enough to win.