Sunday's action first...
- Chris Paul lights up LA... 33 points, 14 assists, and 7 rebounds later, the Hornets get an upset 109-100 win in Staples... in addition to CP3's masterful play, NO got a huge boost from Jarrett Jack (15/5/4 off the bench), and a random influx from Aaron Gray (20 minutes, 12 points)... the Lakers got only 8 points from Pau Gasol, and while Kobe had an efficient 34 points, he was really the only guy who had an above-average game... I'm not at all surprised by the Chris Paul explosion because, well, I'm an irrational fan of his, but he did re-awaken a bunch of people yesterday... I wouldn't worry yet as a Lakers fan though...
- Memphis 101, San Antonio 98... the Grizz reminded us of one thing yesterday... San Antonio isn't the same team without Manu... Obviously, that's not really news, but Parker and Hill combined to shoot 6 of 23, and it wasn't enough to off-set big time games from Gasol and Z-Bo... what a day for Shane Battier, who hit the game-winner with 23 seconds left, and also became a father on the same day... big-ups to one of my favorite players... I still like SA in the series, but if Manu doesn't emerge, they are certainly in trouble...
- Jesus Shuttlesworth... that's all I got... Ray Allen hit a go-ahead triple with 12 seconds left to knock off NY last night... finishing with 24 points to lead Boston... Amare got his for NY (28 and 11), but Melo was held to just 5 of 18 shooting, and Billups wasn't much better going 3 for 11... Good sign for NY though, that they were in this thing, on the road, with those 2 shooting nights from their perimeter guys...
- Kevin Durant is that dude... 41 points, 9 boards to lead OKC to a win over Denver... Westbrook added 31/7/6 as well, and it was really a 2-man show for OKC with the exception of a fantastic 12 minutes from Eric Maynor off the bench... Denver shot 51% and had 23 assists, and managed to lose (difficult to do), but this was pretty much the example of why you want stars in the NBA playoffs...
- The Hawks... win?... 103-93 over Orlando on Saturday despite a career-high 46 from Dwight... he had 31 in the first half, and was utterly dominant throughout, but other than the Jameer Nelson explosion late, the rest of Orlando's offense was putrid, and if the Magic supporting cast plays like it did on Saturday, Dwight could AVERAGE 40 and Orlando wouldn't win this series... Atlanta got the best Jamal Crawford game in a while (7 of 14, 23 points), and good games from Joe and Hinrich as well to lead the way... now if we can just get Jamal to play a lick of defense...
- Derrick Rose... 39 points to lead Chicago to a come-from-behind win over Indy... a lot of storylines here, but this far after the fact, the lingering story is the foul line disparity... Rose took 21 himself, and Chicago took 32 to Indy's 17... I think this was the one Indy had to steal to really threaten Chicago, but they fell short... Psycho T...
- Dallas and Miami get wins... Kind of ho-hum in both circumstances here... Miami controlled the game throughout, but Philly made a late run to make things interesting... too much Big 3... and for Portland/Dallas, Jason Kidd hit 6 threes to lead the way for Dallas... the Blazers will need more than 5-20 shooting combined from Wallace and Roy...
- The Braves get 2 of 3 from the Mets... this was an ideal sweep situation against a pretty awful Mets team, but there wasn't enough offense generated on Sunday... Now they head to the West Coast, and .500 ball on this trip wouldn't be the worst thing in the world... very, very encouraging signs from Jair Jurrjens on Saturday though, could be huge...
- Adrian Gonzalez finally signs the extension with the Red Sox... yawn...
- I'm trying to decide what's more impressive... the Indians being 11-4 or the Royals being 10-5... but either way, both of these teams are playing way ahead of pace... big-ups to them on their early season success...
- Sixers @ Heat - Game 2 - TNT 7:00 - No one expects Philly to compete in the series, so it'd be a mild surprise if they won this one in Miami, but Wade missed practice with a migraine and may be limited... something to watch...
- Pacers @ Bulls - Game 2 - TNT 9:30 - Gotta love when the 2 least compelling series of the entire first round share the same night...
- Braves @ Dodgers - Hudson vs. Lilly - SportSouth 10:10 - Very, very good pitching matchup here... Lilly has struggled a bit out of the gate, and let's hope that continues...
- Brewers @ Phillies - Marcum vs. Blanton - ESPN 7:00 - Think ESPN is happy they get Joe Blanton tonight?...
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