No first round surprises
Eastern Conference – The top four teams of the East have all made their way through to the conference semi-finals as expected. The Cleveland Cavaliers ran out easy 4-1 series winners over the Chicago Bulls. Lead by season MVP LeBron James, the Cavs hustled to a 96-94 win in the fifth game of the series to give themselves the win. The Boston Celtics brushed aside the Miami Heat 96-86 in Game 5 to secure that series. Dwayne Wade’s heroics could only land the Heat one game in the series. The Cavs and the Celtics faced off in the first game at the “Q” and the Cavs duly delivered on home court and ran out 101-93 winners. The “King” recorded a game high 35 points to lead the way.
The Orlando Magic were the most ruthless team of the first round brushing aside the Charlotte Bobcats in four games. The final encounter ended 99-90 with Jameer Nelson continuing to do the damage for the Orlando Magic. The Atlanta Hawks had to struggle against the Milwaukee Bucks but they did eventually rally to win the series. After going down 3-2 in the series the Hawks pulled off a 24-point win in Game 6 in Milwaukee then steamrolled the Bucks 95-74 in Game 7 at Atlanta. The first game of this series will be played today and you can look forward to another competitive series for the Hawks.
No easy breaks
Western Conference
The opening round in the West prove that it is a more competitive conference than the East as all match-ups were pushed to six games. Interestingly, the series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder was the most talked about not because of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol but league-leading scorer Kevin Durant. The series was of such intensity that the Lakers narrowly won Game 6 95-94 with the Thunder missing the last shot of the game. The Utah Jazz had a somewhat easier match-up against the Denver Nuggets winning Game 6 by an eight-point margin. The Jazz had a chance to close out the series in five games but the Nuggets dug deep to win Game 5; a needless victory in the overall look of things. The first game of the semi-finals between the Lakers and the Jazz finished with a flurry. After giving up a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the Lakers stormed back to take the game 104-99.
The San Antonio Spurs proved that they are a true championship team by getting past the Dallas Mavericks in impressive fashion. Second-year prodigy George Hill stepped up in place of the returning Tony Parker to rally the team and claim a 97-87 win to seal Game 6. The Phoenix Suns produced an impressive 99-90 road win to wrap up their series against the Portland Trailblazers. The bench assisted the starters brilliantly to rally and claim the last two games of the series. Based on this they are entering the series against the Spurs on a high. If history is anything to go by however, the Spurs should be favourites after eliminating the Suns in four of the last five play-offs. The bench may again prove decisive in who will progress.