NBA Playoffs 2008 Fixtures and Results
Western Conference
Los Angeles Lakers – Utah Jazz
San Antonio Spurs 0 – New Orleans Hornets 1
Eastern Conference
Boston Celtics 3 – Atlanta Hawks 3 — Cleveland Cavaliers
Orlando Magic 0 – Detroit Pistons 1
The second round of the NBA Playoffs has already begun. To jump-start the second round, New Orleans Hornets stuns the defending champions, San Antonio Spurs, and the Detroit Pistons shifts into another gear for the second round, defeating the Orlando Magic.
The most shocking event for the Playoffs is the upcoming First-Round Game 7 in the Eastern Conference between the top seeded Boston Celtics and the last seeded Atlanta Hawks. Who will advance to the second round?
Orlando Magic 72 – Detroit Pistons 91
The Detroit Pistons beat up Orlando physically and mentally. They shoved Dwight Howard out of his comfort zone and pushed the Magic’s buttons during heated exchanges, leading to Detroit’s 91-72 win in Game 1 of their second-round series. The game got heated at times, leading to technicals against Rasheed Wallace along with Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis.
Chauncey Billups had 19 points and 7 assists, despite resting in the fourth quarter, and Richard Hamilton scored 17 points to outscore Orlando’s starting backcourt by 25 points. Billups blew past the Magic whenever he wanted off the dribble and Hamilton got open easily around screens for mid-range jumpers. Tayshaun Prince scored 12 points and Jason Maxiell had 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, showing surprising touch on jumpers and free throws.
Dwight Howard had a relatively quiet night with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks after being the first player to score 20 points and grab 20 rebounds in three playoff games since Wilt Chamberlain did it in 1972. Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis both scored 18 for the Magic, who didn’t get much offensively out of anybody other than those two and Howard. The next-leading scorers for them were Jameer Nelson and Keyon Dooling, both of whom scored seven points.
San Antonio Spurs 82 – New Orleans Hornets 101
David West scored a career playoff-high 30 points to lead New Orleans to a 101-82 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. Chris Paul added 17 points, 13 assists and 4 steals for the Hornets, which trailed by as much as 11 in the first half but stormed into the lead for good in the third quarter.
Tyson Chandler had 10 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocked shots for the Hornets. Peja Stojakovic added 22 points for the Hornets on 9-of-15 shooting, while reserve Bonzi Wells added 10 points, all but two in the fourth quarter.
One reason they’re off to such a good start against San Antonio is the way they played defense on Spurs center Tim Duncan. Duncan had what he considered one of the worst games of his stellar career, going 1-of-9 from the field for a career playoff-low 5 points and only 3 rebounds.
Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23 points and Manu Ginobili had 19 points. Bruce Bowen added 17 points and Michael Finley 13 points, but the Spurs needed more help inside from Duncan and Kurt Thomas, who had only 2 points and 2 rebounds.
Source: ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/
