gpikeTop seeds aim to tie series's up
April 20th 2011 01:36
Wednesday's games include the top two seeds in the Western Conference who went down to defeat on Sunday, with the Lakers and Spurs hosting the upstarts one more time. Memphis knocked off San Antonio, then the New Orleans Hornets calmly beat the Los Angeles Lakers. But first before these two tip off, the game between the four and five seed kicks off with the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Denver Nuggets.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook couldn't be stopped by Nuggets defenders. Durant went off for 41 points and Westbrook contributed 31. But still the Nuggets were close throughout and had a great chance to win in the four-point loss. Nene led the way for Denver with 22 points. The Nuggets are used to these high scoring games, while the Thunder can win any style of game. Westbrook and Durant knocked down shot after shot with hands in their face. The Nuggets played decent defense, those two were just on fire. They have been shooting like this all season long, as seen with Durant winning the scoring title and Westbrook being up there. All the Nuggets can do is hope those shots stop falling and playing the same intensity.
The Nuggets had a great game plan on the offensive side of things with the ball going inside to make up for the loss of Aaron Affalo. The guard from UCLA will be out once again for game two, making it likely the ball will go once again to the big guys in the middle for Denver. Look for Danilo Gallinari to score more then 18 points as he did in game one, with the Nuggets evening the series out.
Will he or won't he? Manu Ginoboli makes the San Antonio Spurs a different team just being out there and taking the ball to the hole or knocking down a jumper. San Antonio has gone from a inside scoring team to a guard-oriented team with Ginoboli and Tony Parker as leaders. Without Ginoboli, the Memphis Grizzlies took care of business. I find it hard to see the guard from Argentina sitting down another game after Sunday's loss. He will be out there.
Memphis dominated the paint with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. Mike Conley did just enough and Shane Battier knocked down a huge shot in guiding Memphis to the win. Battier's wife was in labor right around game-time making his three-pointer to seal the game even more priceless. Memphis will likely have to rely on their outside shooters a little more Wednesday as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will improvise some defense to slow down Gasol and Randolph. Look for the Spurs to even out this series with Ginoboli playing a huge part.
Wow. Game one was quite the wake-up call for the defending champs, the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Hornets. The Lakers don't have anyone who can guard Chris Paul, as the guard had the game of his life. Paul scored 33 points on the game and had 14 assists. He did a perfect impression of Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, maybe even a little better. Paul did it all, even leading the team in rebounds with seven. What a game he had. One of the other big men on the Hornets need to step up and grab more boards, namely Emeka Okefor who looked lost out there for game one. Aaron Gray, backup center for the Hornets came out and looked great in scoring 12 points. He has a sprained ankle and is listed as doubtful for game two.
Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, and Andrew Bynum played great in game one. The Lakers need more from Pau Gasol, who seemed un-interested as did mostly eveyone else who played. Bryant goes for over 40 points here as the Lakers come out and set the tone early, in coasting to a game-two victory. I don't see the Hornets keeping up if the Lakers are agressive early on, and can contain Paul.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook couldn't be stopped by Nuggets defenders. Durant went off for 41 points and Westbrook contributed 31. But still the Nuggets were close throughout and had a great chance to win in the four-point loss. Nene led the way for Denver with 22 points. The Nuggets are used to these high scoring games, while the Thunder can win any style of game. Westbrook and Durant knocked down shot after shot with hands in their face. The Nuggets played decent defense, those two were just on fire. They have been shooting like this all season long, as seen with Durant winning the scoring title and Westbrook being up there. All the Nuggets can do is hope those shots stop falling and playing the same intensity.
The Nuggets had a great game plan on the offensive side of things with the ball going inside to make up for the loss of Aaron Affalo. The guard from UCLA will be out once again for game two, making it likely the ball will go once again to the big guys in the middle for Denver. Look for Danilo Gallinari to score more then 18 points as he did in game one, with the Nuggets evening the series out.
Will he or won't he? Manu Ginoboli makes the San Antonio Spurs a different team just being out there and taking the ball to the hole or knocking down a jumper. San Antonio has gone from a inside scoring team to a guard-oriented team with Ginoboli and Tony Parker as leaders. Without Ginoboli, the Memphis Grizzlies took care of business. I find it hard to see the guard from Argentina sitting down another game after Sunday's loss. He will be out there.
Memphis dominated the paint with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. Mike Conley did just enough and Shane Battier knocked down a huge shot in guiding Memphis to the win. Battier's wife was in labor right around game-time making his three-pointer to seal the game even more priceless. Memphis will likely have to rely on their outside shooters a little more Wednesday as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will improvise some defense to slow down Gasol and Randolph. Look for the Spurs to even out this series with Ginoboli playing a huge part.
Wow. Game one was quite the wake-up call for the defending champs, the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Hornets. The Lakers don't have anyone who can guard Chris Paul, as the guard had the game of his life. Paul scored 33 points on the game and had 14 assists. He did a perfect impression of Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, maybe even a little better. Paul did it all, even leading the team in rebounds with seven. What a game he had. One of the other big men on the Hornets need to step up and grab more boards, namely Emeka Okefor who looked lost out there for game one. Aaron Gray, backup center for the Hornets came out and looked great in scoring 12 points. He has a sprained ankle and is listed as doubtful for game two.
Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, and Andrew Bynum played great in game one. The Lakers need more from Pau Gasol, who seemed un-interested as did mostly eveyone else who played. Bryant goes for over 40 points here as the Lakers come out and set the tone early, in coasting to a game-two victory. I don't see the Hornets keeping up if the Lakers are agressive early on, and can contain Paul.
Manu Ginoboli is listed as day to day going into game two with the Grizzlies
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