The Ticket Chest

NBA Playoffs Update — Land of the Sweeps for Lakers, Magic & Suns

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 | Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Sports, Utah Jazz | No Comments

Except for the epic Celtics-Cavs battle which resumes tonight in Cleveland, the NBA Conference Semi-finals have been a major disappointment.  The Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns have all won in easy 4-game sweeps.

Orlando Magic – 4 games against the Hawks was about 4 too many.  Couldn’t the Hawks have just forfeited the games instead and saved us the misery of having to watch these games?  The Magic are clearly the hottest team in the NBA right now.  They have won 28 of 31 games and are on a current 14-game winning streak.  They have yet to lose in the playoffs after sweeps of the Charlotte Bobcats and Hawks.  The Magic defeated the Hawks by an average of 25.3 points per game – which is believed to be the greatest margin of victory in post-season series NBA history.  With Vince Carter and Jameer Nelson complementing big man Dwight Howard, the Magic look like they could advance to a 2nd straight NBA Finals.  Carter had this to say about the Magic’s current level of play — “Guys are just focused.  It’s unbelievable to see.  This is my opportunity for a championship.”

Los Angeles Lakers – After pushing themselves to the limit against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder in Round 1, they club needed an easy series to rest up for the Conference Finals.  That’s just what they got when they got to square off against the Utah Jazz.  Beyond Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, the Jazz just don’t have the depth to compete with the Lakers.  The Lakers seemed to be re-invigorated after their Game 6 win over the Thunder in Oklahoma City and that carried over into this series.  Head Coach Phil Jackson summed it up best — “We had one of our better games tonight… This is the first really consistent game we have played, except for a six-minute stint in the 3rd quarter.  We controlled the game and forced our will on our opponent.”  The Lakers played good defense  The Lakers played good defense (the Jazz averaged just 102 points in the series, well below their series average).  The Lakers limited their own turnovers (just 6 on the road in Game 4) and they shot well from the free throw line.  Although Kobe Bryant (32 points) and Pau Gasol led the way (33 points), 3 other Lakers players also scored in double-digits.  Now it’s on to face the Phoenix Suns in what should be one of the best series of the 2010 NBA Playoffs schedule.

Phoenix Suns – The Phoenix Suns overcame their “San Antonio Spurs demons” with a convincing series sweep of the Spurs.  Although the Suns had lost to the Spurs 4 times in the last 7 post-season schedules, they wouldn’t allow it to occur a 5th time.  Amar’e Stoudemire turned in a solid effort against his west nemesis, averaging over 20 points per game in the series.  Steve Nash also showed just how good a big game player he can be with 4 great performances against the Spurs’ Tony Parker.  Nash scored at least 16 points in each game and he also averaged just under 8 assists per game to dictate the flow of the game in the Suns’ favor.  It will be the 3rd Conference Finals for the Suns in the last 6 years and if they can knock off the #1 seed Lakers, it would be their 1st NBA Finals since 1993.

We’ll keep you posted how the Cavs-Celtics series turns out – we know we have at least 2 more games – tonight in Cleveland and Thursday night in Boston.  Will we have a Game 7 over the weekend in Cleveland?  Stay tuned…

Tags: Amar'e Stoudamire, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash

Kevin Durant Paces Sophomores 122-116 Over Rookies

Saturday, February 14th, 2009 | NBA, Sports | No Comments

The NBA Sophomores out-slugged the NBA Rookies 122-116 in Friday night’s game during the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities. Kevin Durant set an record for the game with 46 points – he was named the game’s MVP. Durant made 17 of his 25 shots from the floor, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range. He also made all 8 of the free throw shots he took.

Michael Beasley led the Rookie team with 29 points.

The Rookies led the Sophomores 61-58 at halftime but couldn’t hold on for the game’s final 20 minutes to preserve the win. The Sophomores actually shot better than the Rookies in the 1st half, but still trailed – Sophomores 68.4% FG shooting and 63.6% 3-point shooting v. Rookies 52.6%FG shooting and 40% 3-point shooting.

The All-Star Break Festivities continue today with the Slam Dunk contest and Sunday with the actual All-Star Game.

Tags: Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, NBA All-Star Game, Weekend