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NBA Playoffs: Memphis’ Big Men Wake Up In Time

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The Memphis Grizzlies’ frontline has awakened just in time to save the season. After a strong showing in a must-win Game 5, the Grizzlies’ inside duo of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol again played big in a 90-88 survival win in Game 6 against the Los Angeles Clippers last night. The Grizzlies have now rallied to the tie the series at three games apiece and hold homecourt for Sunday afternoon’s decisive seventh game.

Randolph scored 18 points and pulled in 16 rebounds, while Gasol knocked down 23 and grabbed nine boards. As a team, Memphis destroyed Los Angeles on the boards to the tune of 48-32, thanks in part to Blake Griffin being a complete non-factor inside. Griffin has had some good games in this series, but these disappearing acts are also way too frequent for someone who has to join Chris Paul in an inside-out combo if the Clippers are going to win this series and be a threat going forward. And not just forward in the sense of a potential matchup with San Antonio in the second round, but going forward in terms of how high this franchise can sky, now that they have both Griffin and Paul together. The last thing an NBA player wants is the reputation for freezing in big games. Regardless of what happens this year I won’t slap the label on Griffin—this is his first time in the postseason—but it will be something to watch for.

The Clippers still nearly stole the win because Memphis couldn’t take care of the ball, turning it over 20 times. The Grizzlies’ bench had six of the turnovers while only scoring 13 points. Contrast that with the Los Angeles reserves. Eric Gordon knocked down 14 points and dished six assists, while Reggie Evans got 10 rebounds. The bench nearly pushed Los Angeles through.

Both Los Angeles teams are headed for Game 7s now. The Lakers host the Nuggets tonight in a game that will feature the return of Ron Artest/Metta World Peace or whatever you want to call a player who’s a dirty cheap shot artist, but also likely to play a key role in this game. The Lakers need someone who can play some shutdown defense on the perimeter, be it against Danilo Gallinari, or Andre Miller off the bench and Artest fills the bill. He’s also got fresh legs. I picked Denver to win this series, but the one caveat was that they needed to get their road win in one of the first three trips to LA and to sweep their home floor. They won Game 5 on the road, but didn’t defend their home floor and tonight it costs them. No way does Kobe lose a seventh game at home against a team like the Nuggets. Tonight’s game will follow the formula of the Boston-Atlanta game on Thursday night—look for some real clutch play from the superstar, some frustrating play by Denver in the closing minutes and some helpful officiating at key spots and the Lakers survive.

NBA Playoffs: Celtics & Sixers Clinch, Lakers Don’t

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The Eastern Conference semi-finals are set, as Philadelphia and Boston each won Game 6 thrillers at home to clinch and set up a second-round date with each other, joining Indiana and Miami. Out west, there’s still more work to be done, as the Denver-LA Lakers series will go to a seventh game. TheSportsNotebook looks back on last night’s three games and ahead to tonight’s Game 6 with Memphis and the LA Clippers…

Philadelphia 79 Chicago 78: No one can fault the Bulls’ effort. Even without Joakim Noah they hit the boards with a vengeance, demolishing the Sixers on the glass to the tune of 56-33. Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer alone combined for 30, nearly matching the entire Philly team. But the Sixers play good defense and Chicago’s missing its star, and the combination produced some ugly offensive numbers for the Bulls. Boozer shot 1-for-11, while Derrick Rose stand-in C.J. Watson went 2-for-11, concluding a series in which he definitively established he’s not meant to be more than a backup point guard, at least on a team with serious postseason aspirations. In spite of a good game from Rip Hamilton and Deng’s best efforts—he scored 19 to go with his 17 rebounds, Philly got 20 from Andre Iguodala and was able to survive. The question has been raised about whether the 76ers need to in effect, apologize for their series win because of the injuries to Rose and Noah. The answer is clearly no—injuries have been a part of every sport since the first time man started keeping score. But on the flip side, to suggest even having just one of Rose or Noah couldn’t have swung one of three close games in Philly the other way is to live in an alternative universe.

 

Boston 83 Atlanta 80: The Celtics didn’t shoot the lights out the way they did in the Garden in Game 4—they laid bricks from behind the three-point line all night, going 2-for-15 as a team with Ray Allen ice cold. Atlanta hit its own threes, with Marvin Williams connecting on 4-of-5. But Kevin Garnett bailed out Boston with a 28 points/14 rebounds night that included a big turnaround jumper in the paint that gave the C’s the lead for good in the closing minute. Boston also had a big edge from the foul line, scoring 19 points to Atlanta’s 9. And it’s the one point the Hawks didn’t get from the line that the fans will remember—when Al Horford missed the first of two shots when he had the chance to tie the game with three seconds left. It was the classic formula for a win by one of the league’s marquee teams on their home floor—they got a genuinely clutch game from a star, the opponent came up short at a key moment and you kick in a little favorable officiating—I almost flipped when they whistled Josh Smith for a technical foul because he didn’t check in properly in the second half of a close game. It all came together to give the Celtics a series win, and improbably, homecourt advantage for the second round against Philadelphia.

Denver 113 LA Lakers 96: Speaking of that whole formula for a marquee team theory, the Lakers didn’t have homecourt, nor did they have a star playing well—in fact, Kobe Bryant played with the flu—but they did get some help from the officials, getting 30 free throw attempts to Denver’s 17, with Bryant and point guard Ramon Sessions alone going to the line 12 times. I guess a “don’t touch the guards” rule was in effect. It didn’t matter last night, because the Nuggets shot the lights out, at 51 percent from the floor and 10/20 on treys. Ty Lawson buried five shots from behind the arc on his way to a 32-point night, Denver got contributions up and down the lineup and this game was never even as close as the score makes it sound, with the lead being up over 20 most of the second half. But watch that officiating tendency—could be a warning sign for Denver of what awaits in Game 7  at Staples on Saturday night.

We’ve got six of eight spots for the second round filled up, and one Game 7 set. The other series on the board is Memphis-LA Clippers, where the Clippers will get a chance to close the series on their home floor. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul will be ready to go after leaving Wednesday’s Game 5 with knee and ankle sprains. For the Clippers, I’m watching to see if Paul has a “get-on-my-back and I’ll carry you” kind of game, especially in the fourth quarter.  On the flip side, I think Memphis has to avoid putting their own point guard, Mike Conley, in that kind of battle with Paul. While Griffin may be the best post player on the floor, Memphis is deeper up front. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph finally awoke in Game 5, and if they can do it again tonight, they’ll create a seventh game opportunity back home on Sunday.

NBA Playoffs: Miami’s Soft Close

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The Game 5 sequence in the NBA playoff schedule came to an end last night, and we’re halfway through paring down the bracket. The Miami Heat beat the New York Knicks to put a wrap on their series and join Indiana, Oklahoma City and San Antonio in the second round, but the Memphis Grizzlies staved off elimination and forced a Game 6 against the Los Angeles Clippers. TheSportsNotebook recaps both games and looks ahead to a trio of Game 6 battles on Thursday night…

Miami 106 New York 94: TNT analyst Reggie Miller was mildly critical of the Heat throughout last night’s game, saying it looked like they played at regular season intensity rather than close-out intensity. This fits into the standard critique of Miami in general and LeBron James in particular, which is that they lack killer instinct. A part of me wants to say let’s be reasonable—they won the game, and they covered a hefty 11-point Vegas line in doing it. One gets the sense that until LeBron drops half a hundred in a 30-point win, no one’s going to be satisfied. And there’s truth to that. But in fairness to Miller, the Knicks shot 47 percent. Miami’s been one of the best defensive teams in the league all year, New York has no one in its backcourt who can create shots—so therefore is it unreasonable to think a team who really smelled it would have locked down the defensive side? Instead, Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points on an efficient 15-of-31 shooting. Really, other than J.R. Smith who bricked shots at a 3-of-15 pace, the rest of the Knick offense shot well (This is the second time in this series I’ve wondered why Smith is shooting so much. He’s not a key player, nor is he particularly good at it). But Miami did get to the free throw line, LeBron got 29 points and the Heat got some big three-point shooting from Mike Miller and Shane Battier. I suppose they didn’t look like a great team, but they’re moving on.

Memphis 92 LA Clippers 80: Now here’s a team that played defense like it really wanted to win. Memphis held Los Angeles to 37 percent shooting from the floor and the Grizzlies finally controlled the interior. While Blake Griffin got 11 rebounds, his scoring was in check and Memphis got a team effort from Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay out at small forward. Gasol scored 23, while Randolph finally liked the scoring/rebounding bruiser he’s supposed to be with a 19/10. Memphis holds homecourt, so this series is very much up for grabs as we go to Game 6 and the fact Chris Paul strained a hip and Griffin strained a knee only add further intrigue to the drama as we build up to Friday’s Game 6.

While Memphis-LAC wait until Friday for Game 6, the other three series all can end tonight…

*Philadelphia looks to complete a three-game sweep of its home floor against Chicago. Joakim Noah is listed as questionable with his ankle injury. If Chicago survives this game—and remember, that even shorthanded, they almost won Games 3 & 4 here—then they get the Sixers back in the Windy City for Game 7 and Noah could be healthy by the second round. Then we’re back to the Bulls being “only” without Derrick Rose and wondering if the team that won two-thirds of its games without the superstar can resurface against the Celtics or Hawks. But if Chicago’s going to make that happen they need at least average offensive work from C.J.Watson and Rip Hamilton in the backcourt and they need superior work from the guards when it comes to containing Philly’s Jrue Holiday.

*Injuries have overshadowed the Boston-Atlanta series on both sides, but as they get set to battle in the Garden both teams are healthy. The Celtics have been so since Game 3, and now Atlanta has Josh Smith and Al Horford back as a unit in the power forward-center spots. In most cases when a lower-seeded team has a close-out chance in Game 6 it’s treated as a de facto Game 7—and in most cases I’d agree. I don’t in this case. The Celtics have the veteran mojo to win a Game 7 in Atlanta if necessary—and as a Celtics fan I’m honest enough to say that the league would surely like them to be the one that faces Miami in the conference finals—check that—given the alternatives are a Rose-less Chicago, Philly or Atlanta, I think David Stern’s office is positively desperate for Boston to win this series and probably the next one. It doesn’t mean it’ll happen, but things like this count more than they should in the NBA when you get a close game down the stretch. Atlanta’s the equivalent of a political candidate who needs to get 52 percent of the vote to win rather than 50 percent plus one.

*The Los Angeles Lakers were the team who wasn’t to supposed to be in this spot. They should be resting to face Oklahoma City. Instead their veterans and thin bench go into even thinner air to play a Denver team that got some renewed confidence.  The Nuggets must  push the pace and since it will be difficult for them to get stops through rebounding, they have to force some turnovers and get Los Angeles running, and defensively figure out a way to ride out the inevitable Kobe Bryant “I’m Unstoppable And We All Know It” streak he’ll inevitably get on and just not let role players beat them.