Loading ...The term ‘must-win’ is loosely applied in the NBA and should really only be used to describe Game 7’s but I think tonight’s action is one of the rare exceptions.
The Spurs must-win because:
The Hornets blew them out and are gaining confidence by the minute.
Half the battle is the belief you can win.
San Antonio needs to instill some doubt in the Hornets psyche tonight.
David West erupted for 30 points and 9 rebounds in Game 1 but did so with Kurt Thomas, Fabricio Oberto, and Robert Horry defending him. Look for Greg Popovich to place 10-time All-NBA defender Tim Duncan on West tonight. West is quicker than Duncan and Tim runs the risk of getting into early foul trouble but this is a situation where the risks do not outweight the rewards.
San Antonio’s Game 1 loss was closer than the score appears and the odds of Tim Duncan scoring in single digits and grabbing less than ten rebounds in consecutive playoff games are slim to none.
The Magic must-win because:
They won’t win a Game 7 in Detroit. Orlando’s only chance is to finish this series in 6 games.
To do that, they have to take away Detroit’s homecourt advantage.
Rashard Lewis & Hedo Turkoglu averaged 19 and 18 points per in the first round and both players produced in this series’ first game. Each player had 18 points in Orlando’s 91-72 loss on Saturday. The difference in the contest was the lack of production from Dwight Howard.
After averaging 20 points, 18 rebounds, and putting up three consecutive 20 point, 20 rebound performances versus Toronto, Howard was a non-factor against Detroit in Game 1.
Pistons power forward Jason Maxiell chose to tug on Superman’s cape after the first contest.
“He’s has a very strong upper body,” Maxiell said. “But if you get down low and take his legs out, he’s not that powerful.”
Howard responded:
“That’s not true,” Howard said. “Trust me.”
Orlando’s season depends upon Howard making that “truth” reality tonight.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Very rarely do I lay the blame of a loss at the hands of the officials but the Magic were robbed tonight.
Yes, they lost by more than 3 points tonight but the game clock malfunction was a travesty.
I don’t know how an official in their right mind could reason that the Pistons got that 3 off under 4.8 seconds.
One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four, one thousand five…