NBA: Daily Playoff Report (4-23-06)

by David Pincus
2006-04-24

Pacers 90, Nets 88 (Indiana leads series 1-0)
At the last second, TNT decided to hold the Nets game before the Lakers/Suns affair, making people who tuned in to the “Perfect Storm” receive a playoff game. Hopefully people picked up on the switch because this was the best game of these 2006 playoffs.
The Pacers held a slim lead for the most part of the game, with the advantage occasionally flipping to New Jersey. Jermaine O’Neal scored the bulk of his 15 in the first half. Jackson had 18 and Fred Jones scored 15 off the bench. Indiana was able to dictate the tempo in a pace that best suited them; by keeping the score low, they never fell too far behind.
For New Jersey, something very bizarre happened. Normally the team revolves around Jason Kidd’s ability to pass the ball. And while Kidd did attain 8 assists, it was dwarfed to the 33 shots Vince Carter took. Under the pressure of the playoffs Carter decided that he wanted to win the game. Vince took an array of difficult outside jumpers, all of which he missed badly. Early in the 3rd Carter came down an took a 25-ft three that was an air ball.
Still, the Nets stayed in it. With the Pacers leading 88-86, Vince Carter missed a 5-footer that was tipped up by Krstic. He missed, but Carter was there to slam it in.
After grabbing an offensive board off his own missed three, Austin Chroshere passed the ball to Anthony Johnson with under 10 seconds to play. Rather than passing it, Johnson drove to the basket where he was fouled by Krstic with 0.9 seconds left. Richard Jefferson missed a three that would’ve won it and the Pacers were victorious, Anthony Johnson the hero.
However the call was highly controversial. Sure Krstic grabbed his jersey, and yes it was a foul, but happened to “playoff basketball” or “let players decide the game”? I thought it was a more physical game than the regular season, where the refs left the whistles in the mouths. But if you’re a Nets fan, you can’t say it wasn’t a foul. It wasn’t much of a foul, and it probably shouldn’t have been called, but it was a touch foul. I seriously hope further calls like that don’t get called in the future.
I expect New Jersey to come out and blow away the Pacers in game two. They played well enough to win, but needed better Carter shots. One thing to look at is the minutes the Nets starters will play; New Jersey has a thin bench and played just three men off it yesterday. Four of their five starters played 40+ minutes. Eventually Padgett or Planinic will have to get some playing time.
Jamal Tinsley missed the this game due to an injured Achilles heel, giving Johnson the opportunity to shine (very similar to last year’s playoffs). The Pacers have the talent to do damage, but until Jermaine O’Neal shows he can score 15-20 consistently they cannot win. The Pacers could very well win the series or should at least send the series to six or seven games. But don’t expect them to win their next game. In fact, bank heavily on them losing it.

Suns 107, Lakers 102 (Phoenix leads series 1-0)
Steve compiled a 20 point 10 assist afternoon to showcase his MVP candidacy. Contributing for the first time in what seems like years was Tim Thomas, who went 8-10 on his way to 22 points. Marion, Diaw and Barbosa also had 15+ for Phoenix.
Unlike what everyone had anticipated, the Lakers featured a balanced attack. Bryant led the team in assists and helped Luke Walton to 19, Parker to 15, and Kwame to 14. Lamar Odom was terrific with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Everything seemed in place for an LA victory except that Bryant only scored 22. On 7-21 shooting, Kobe never took over the game and the Suns won late on a late Nash 3-pointer.
For people like me who thought that Phoenix would wipe the floor with the Lakers, this was a surprise. Not only did the Lakers compete with the Suns they did it without Kobe exploding for points, which was supposed to be the only way they could win. They can assume that Tim Thomas won’t play this well in further games and have a decent chance at winning a few games.
However the main issue remains for the LA. Phoenix has the capability to put a ton of points on the board. In the 15 times the Lakers scored 110+, Kobe scored 40.7 a game. On the three occasions LA scored 119+ Bryant scored 48, 81 and 40. So if Phoenix happens to go nuts on offense, they’ll need more from Kobe Bryant than 22 points if they want to win.

Pistons 92, Bucks 74 (Detroit leads series 1-0)
Milwaukee got completely shut down by the Pistons’ defense. Their leading scorer was Charlie Bell with 13 (an immediate indication that they lost). Michael Redd managed only 11 as the Bucks failed to score 20 in any of their quarters. The only Buck who shot better than 50% was Dan Gadzuric who went 2-2.
The Pistons big five did the job, combining for 79 points. Ben Wallace compensated for his 4 points with 17 rebounds. Rasheed Wallace scored 22 and Rip Hamilton had 21.
With 9:36 left the Bucks, who had been trailing big all game, had cut the margin to 68-64. Hamilton appeared to be injured but walked it off and finished the rest of the game. From there Detroit went on a 24-10 to seal Milwaukee.
Milwaukee did manage to steal a game in Detroit two years ago when they played each other, so they can hope to win at least one game. However for it to happen, the Bucks need better production from Ford, Redd and Magloire. Their biggest strength is their offense and putting up 74 is a lost whoever they play. If Redd can manage 30 then maybe Milwaukee can grab a win. If not, then we’re looking at a sweep.

Mavericks 103, Grizzlies 93 (Dallas leads series 1-0)
At the end of the first half certain aspects were going well for the Memphis Grizzlies. They were shooting 61% from the floor, had less turnovers and more assists. And yet they were trailing by 9, mainly because Dallas out rebounded the Grizzlies 24-6 in the first 24 minutes.
Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry had 31 and 20 to carry the Dallas starters. But it was the Mavs supporting cast to come up big when they needed them. Stackhouse, Dampier and Daniels all had productive outings and outscored the Grizzlie’s bench 39-32. Dampier even got a standing ovation (which just shows you how unworthy of a $70 million contract he is).
Bobby Jackson hit a pair of threes to bring the deficit to 1 in the 3rd period. From there it was all Mavericks who pushed the lead to 18. Memphis was down 5 to start the quarter but got outscored 17-4 in the first 6 minutes. Potential 6th Man winner Mike Miller scored only 9 and the Grizzlies fell.
The Grizzlies are a win away from this team officially being the best in franchise history. However several things need to happen in Game 2. Pau Gasol is a very off-and-on player. He rarely dominates games from the start and has scored 40+ only once in his career (against the Sonics). For Memphis to withstand the 60-win Mavs they will need Gasol to have at least 15 by halftime in their next game.
The defense and rebounding that made the Grizzlies so proficient this season were nowhere to be found. 29 rebounds in a postseason game is ridiculous. The score will have to be in the 80s-90s for Memphis to have a legitimate chance of winning.

Overall Game review:
Game 1/Pacers @ Nets: 4.5 out of 5 (Close throughout with a bit of controversy, best playoff game so far)
Game 1/Lakers @ Suns: 3 out of 5 (Down to the wire, but not enough Kobe)
Game 1/Bucks @ Pistons: 1.5 out of 5 (Don’t be shocked, but a Pistons game wasn’t exciting)
Game 1/Grizzlies @ Mavericks: 2.5 out of 5 (Memphis didn’t show up in the 4th quarter)