Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “A year ago, after the Sixers were dismissed harshly by the Detroit Pistons in the opening round, there wasn’t much to suggest that Andre Iguodala would ever be much of a postseason factor. He shot terribly against the Pistons and seemed incapable of lifting his own game, let alone the games of those around him. Even general manager Ed Stefanski came away from that series saying the team didn’t have a number-one option on the roster and needed to find one. And to prove it, he went out and got Elton Brand to fill that role. Well, the pages have fallen from the calendar, Brand has done some falling, too, and here we are in the playoffs with Iguodala playing the basketball of his life. The Sixers are ahead in the series and might even win it. That’s not guaranteed, but Iguodala already has beaten a few personal playoff demons. ‘I’m relaxed. There’s no jitters,’ he said. ‘I’ve got that ‘Who’s going to stop me?’ swagger.’”
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Howard finished with a playoff-career high of 36 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and resembled Larry Bird by making 12-of-14 free throws. He was the only thing standing in the way of a Sixers’ rout at times. Howard had to have a career night because sidekick Courtney Lee — averaging 21 points in the first two games — struggled mightily. He missed seven of nine shots and finished with just six points. Point guard Rafer Alston had 17 points and other than that — the bench was outscored 21-10 by Philly’s reserves — it was a miracle the Magic were within sniffing distance at the end. Forwards Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu continued to be bottled up by the athletic, attacking Sixers. Lewis was just 5-of-13 from the field — although he hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 86 — and Turkoglu shot 2-of-12 for 11 points.”
Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: “Spurs coaches are often kind to him even in off-the-record comments. They prefer to believe he defers because he wants to play the right way. He lets Gooden and Duncan have a turn because he thinks he should. But they also see this as another stage in Parker’s development. If he starts missing perimeter shots, he stops taking them. He’s not going to shoot 4 of 22 and have one of those nights that make him the goat. And when he drives and Josh Howard comes over to block him? He retreats further. It’s a natural reaction, but it’s also one the Spurs can’t afford anymore. Just as Bryant and Wade would keep attacking — as would Manu Ginobili — Parker needs to.”
David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: “San Antonio is a good defensive team when it has a chance to settle into the half court. When the Spurs can bump and grind and hand-fight, the Mavericks are in trouble. Trouble in Game 2 came when the Mavericks spent a large part of the evening walking the ball up the court after the Spurs had made a basket. They walked right into the teeth of that defense. The first and third games of the series were different. The Mavericks were able to get out in transition and force the Spurs to scramble on defense. They set the tempo they need to win the series. ‘I feel like our offense really came from our defense,’ Nowitzki said of Game 3. ‘We didn’t have to call a lot of plays out there. We weren’t stagnant. They couldn’t sit on our plays because we were playing on the break.’”
Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: “The Nuggets are averaging 110.5 points, on 50.3 percent shooting and 54.1 percent from the 3-point line. Those numbers obliterate the totals the Nuggets put up during the regular season and are considerably higher than what the Hornets allowed Denver to roll up in four regular-season meetings. ‘They are making shots, and we’re taking the ball out of the net,’ forward James Posey said. ‘We have to do a better job of contesting shots.’ Yet Hornets coach Byron Scott does not believe that defense is the Hornets’ primary problem. He points to turnovers, which gave the Nuggets extra possessions, as the main issue. ‘I think the fact that we have 34 turnovers is the most unnerving part, because we have been one of the best teams all season long as far as taking care of the basketball,’ Scott said. ‘So one of our biggest concerns was talking to our guys about making sure we take care of the ball and get better possessions, and if we do that then we feel we’ll be OK. But the defensive part hasn’t been that big of a problem.’”
John DeShazier of The Times-Picayune: “Clearly, New Orleans was outclassed in every area while losing by an average of 22 points at the Pepsi Center. And, clearly, the Hornets wouldn’t even be in position to be outclassed if Paul hadn’t produced one of the greatest regular seasons by a 6-foot player — 22.8 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and 87 percent from the free-throw line, with 11 assists and 2.8 steals per game, making him the only player in NBA history to lead the league in assists and steals in consecutive seasons. Never, ever in his career has he been, or will. But the Hornets need him to be better than 17.5 points and 12 assists per game, the numbers he has posted in their two losses. Sure, those are solid numbers. They’d be outstanding if they were listed next to any point guard’s name other than Paul’s. But for Paul, in this series, where Billups has scored 67 points and hasn’t committed a turnover while Paul has committed nine, it simply isn’t enough.”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Among the reasons the Heat was able to pull into a tie was the way it controlled the pace in Wednesday’s 108-93 Game 2 victory at Philips Arena. So while the crowd at AmericanAirlines Arena figures to be pumped, Spoelstra won’t allow that energy to translate into the ‘amped-up’ approach he said doomed his team in its Game 1 loss. ‘That’s not going to happen,’ he vowed, ‘even if it takes me running out there and getting a technical.’ Through two games, the Heat has been outscored 43-14 in fastbreak points. It is what the athletic Hawks do very well. By contrast, the halfcourt has been the Heat’s haven.”
Mike McGraw of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald: “For the past two seasons Boston has been one of the league’s best defensive teams, and there is nothing complicated about the Celtics’ plan to stop the Bulls in this first-round playoff series. On most every possession one of their big men – usually center Kendrick Perkins – steps outside to help point guard Rajon Rondo block Derrick Rose’s path to the basket. Basically, Boston has sent the following message loud and clear: They’d rather take their chances with power forward Glen Davis guarding both Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas under the basket than allow Rose to attack Rondo 1-on-1. The Celtics didn’t seem to trap Rose as frequently in Game 1, when the rookie of the year piled up 36 points and 11 assists. But the double-teams were there in Game 2 and also are used when Ben Gordon has the ball against 33-year-old Ray Allen.”
Gordon Monson of The Salt Lake Tribune: “If the Jazz D, hardly a point of strength this season, is stout enough to mess up the Lakers’ O, even in just one game thus far, then, you wonder: Is L.A. If the Jazz can outrebound the Lakers the way they did Thursday night, by 15 — ‘They are killing us on the boards,’ said Trevor Ariza — and they respond weakly to the Jazz’s increased energy and intensity on their home floor, what does that mean for the extended playoff journey the Lakers expect themselves to travel? Will they remember a Lakers mantra birthed from Pat Riley so many years ago? ‘No rebounds, no rings.’ Beats me. If not, it beats them. Ariza even confessed that the Lakers started ‘getting lazy’ Thursday night. Remind me, again, do title teams get fat-headed three games into their championship runs?”
Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: “Numerous people have mentioned that Michael Jordan would never allow the Chicago Bulls to lose a game like Thursday night’s — his team would never blow a 13-point third-quarter lead while Jordan made only five of 24 shots. Bryant shook his head. ‘One big difference,’ he said. ‘Michael had Scottie Pippen. He had someone who could distribute the ball and keep everyone else involved.’ Bryant momentarily sighed. ‘Michael could come out and shoot the ball 40 times a game,’ Bryant said. ‘I can’t do that.’ Again, he smiled. ‘Having someone like Pippen would be a big luxury for me, because scoring is what I do best, but it’s OK,’ he said. ‘It’s a challenge, and I welcome the challenge.’”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “The Trail Blazers threw their blanket defense around Yao Ming again, and Yao got just seven shots. He was open on occasion without getting the ball, but those are often split second moves across the lane and the Rockets are not exactly Magic Johnson firing passes through tiny slivers of holes in another team’s defense. Yao and Ron Artest combined for just 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting. But with the second Portland big man spending his time worrying about Yao, Scola and Landry took advantage, combining for 29 points on 13-of-22 shooting. Scola led the Rockets with 19 points and helped hold LaMarcus Aldridge in check. Aldridge hit 6 of 15 shots. But if Yao will have to contribute other ways than scoring – and he had 13 rebounds and three blocked shots on Friday – Scola might be the key to the series. The Rockets seem OK with that. On a team in which almost no one has ventured past the first round, Scola’s postseason mettle cannot be doubted. There is pressure in the playoffs, to be sure, but Scola has already been toughened by all those World Championships and Olympics.”
John Hollinger of ESPN.com: “Brandon Roy has been able to create reasonably well for himself (82 points in 3 games) but has done absolutely zip for this teammates: He has only five assists in the three games after averaging over five a game in the regular season. Behind Roy, it only gets worse. Second option Aldridge played one very good game and two invisible ones, including tonight when he needed 44 minutes to compile modest totals of 13 points and seven boards. Meanwhile, third banana Travis Outlaw has been a basket case: He has shot mostly jumpers and mostly missed them, shooting 2-for-10 on Friday to drop to 9-for-30 on the series. He has earned only six foul shots in the three games and has yet to make a 3-pointer. The one really interesting part is that we have yet to see much of Blazer coach Nate McMillan’s favorite tactic: going small. With Yao Ming in the opposing lineup, Portland has been understandably reluctant to guard him with undersized players. Yet at this point, he might need to damn the torpedoes and give it a whirl. Right now the Rockets can crowd the paint with Yao in the middle, because he doesn’t have to respect the threat of Joel Przybilla or Greg Oden shooting jump shots. As a result, Roy has company any time he turns the corner.”
