The NBA Playoffs rolled along on Friday night and again, the home teams had trouble defending their court. Just like that, the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs regained control of home court advantage in their respective series’. Here’s your daily recap of both games.
Miami defeats Chicago in another contentious game, 104-94
In case you’ve not been paying attention, the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat don’t like each other. That was again on display in a testy Game 3. But in the end, all that really mattered was that the Heat won 104-94 to take a 2-1 series lead.
If you needed any further indication that the two teams aren’t all that friendly, you didn’t have to look beyond the opening tipoff when some players didn’t shake hands with members of the opposing squads. And it didn’t take long before tempers flared when, late in the first quarter, the Heat’s Chris Anderson landed on Nate Robinson after a foul where Robinson was driving to the basket. Joakim Noah proceeded to then shove Anderson off of his teammate.
But that was nothing compared to the next incident. In the second quarter, Nazr Mohammed fouled Lebron James as he dribbled across midcourt. Even though Mohammed initiated the contact, he didn’t like the way that James responded as their arms tangled and Mohammed fell to the floor. He gave James a hard shove, pushing him to the floor. Both players received technicals and Mohammed was subsequently tossed.
Beyond all of that, though, there was an actual game. Things went a little differently for the Heat as they relied on Chris Bosh and backup guard Norris Cole to do much of the heavy lifting. James scored 25 points, but was only 6-17 from the field. And Wade, who I’ve previously mentioned needs to do a bit more on offense, only had ten points. Bosh carried the team with his 20-point 19-rebound effort and Cole led all reserves with 18. Cole was red hot, making six of his seven attempts, including all three of his three-pointers.
Other than an electrifying block on James by the 5′ 9″ Robinson, things didn’t go that well for Chicago. The Bulls were again struggling without guards Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Kirk Hinrich, all out due to injury. Chicago played eight guys, but it was essentially only seven when you factor in that Mohammed lasted only three minutes before his ejection. Their bench had barely contributed with only eight points and the team is extremely shorthanded right now. Carlos Boozer led the Bulls with 21 points and Noah added 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The teams will now get an extra day off with Game 4 in Chicago on Monday.
Spurs take 2-1 lead over Warriors behind 102-92 victory
For the first time in their series against Golden State, San Antonio finally looked like the better team. Few thought that wouldn’t happen until their first road game, but with an energized Warriors squad, that’s exactly how it’s played out. The Spurs’ hot shooting on Friday coupled with the Warriors missing shot after shot equaled a 102-92 win for the road team.
San Antonio rolled behind a great game from Tony Parker, who had 32 points, five assists, and five rebounds. The guard had 25 points in the first half and really set the tone for the game. Tim Duncan added 23 points and ten boards as the Spurs took control of the series. San Antonio had an excellent night shooting the ball, as the team made just over 50% of their shots.
Conversely, for the first time in the series, Golden State didn’t get a breakout performance from one of their two starting guards. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 33 points, but did so on only 12-37 shooting.
Even worse for the Warriors is that Curry hobbled his way around the court near the end of the game after landing awkwardly during a play. The injured ankle was the same one he sprained in the first round against the Denver Nuggets and while he stayed in the game, he didn’t look comfortable. Curry is the clear star of the team and without him, it’s difficult to imagine Golden State having much of a chance the rest of the way.
One small bright spot for the Warriors? The brief return of forward David Lee. Thought to be out for the remainder of the playoffs with a hip injury, Lee returned briefly in a game against Denver in the first round. He hadn’t played in either of the first two games of this series, but suited up and played an effective three minutes, scoring five points and grabbing two rebounds. Lee can’t be counted on to carry the team’s frontcourt at this point, but if he can somehow give the team 6-8 minutes a game later on, that would help.
Golden State gets another chance to defend its home court in Game 4 on Sunday.
