Another night, another step closer to the NBA Finals. The NBA Playoffs continued on Wednesday and the Miami Heat made a statement while Golden State tied up their series with the Spurs. Here’s your daily recap of the night’s action.
Miami clobbers Chicago, 115-78
After a Game 1 surprise, the Miami Heat left no doubt that they were ready to continue their title defense in their series against the Chicago Bulls. Not only did the Heat win, but they did so in convincing fashion, crushing the Bulls, 115-78.
Six players scored in double figures for Miami, including star LeBron James, who tallied 19 points and added nine assists. But The Heat bench was just as big of a factor in the comfortable victory. In 49 minutes of action, Ray Allen and Norris Cole combined for 39 points on 12-16 shooting. The duo did some major damage in the second quarter, scoring 15 points, including two late three-pointers by Cole. In all, Chicago’s reserves outscored Miami’s 55-25.
The Heat, no doubt perturbed by talk of their upset loss in the first game, were ready to go from the tipoff. Miami took a 14-point lead into halftime and broke things open even further after that. The Heat outscored the Bulls in every quarter.
Clearly frustrated, the Bulls found it hard to keep their emotions in check. Chicago racked up six technical fouls and Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson were given the boot late in the game.
The star of Game 1 for Chicago, Nate Robinson, was held largely in check. After his 27-point performance in the series opener, the guard scored only 11 points on 3-10 shooting and also had four turnovers. It wasn’t just Robinson that struggled, though. No Bulls starter made half of their shots and the team as a whole shot under 36% on the night.
A storyline to keep an eye on is the health of Dwyane Wade. Wade is easing back into things with an ailing knee and in the two games in the series, is well below his season average of 21 points per game. Through the first two contests, he’s averaging under 15 points. Miami didn’t need him tonight, but since every game won’t be a blowout, they’ll need his scoring at some point.
As bad as the game was for Chicago, Bulls fans have to be pleased with taking one out of two on the Heat’s home court. The other thing to remember is that as dominant as Miami’s performance was, it still only counts as a single game. The Bulls may not be able to overpower the Heat to that degree, but they don’t need to. They now head to Chicago for Game 3 on Friday and with home court advantage.
Golden State withstands another San Antonio rally for 100-91 win
In Game 1, the Golden State Warriors blew a late lead as the San Antonio Spurs came back for an epic win. But on Wednesday, the Warriors made sure it didn’t happen again. Golden State held back the Spurs for a 100-91 victory on the road. The Spurs pulled to within eight late in the game, but could get no closer.
I was interested to see how the Warriors would respond after their collapse in the first game. They may be young, but they proved they belong in the series with their Game 2 performance. And after two games, they have many wondering if they’re actually the better team.
Golden State raced out to a 19-point halftime lead. But instead of Stephen Curry leading the way, the Warriors got an unexpected contribution from guard Klay Thompson, who had 29 points in the first half. Thompson clearly had the Spurs’ attention as he added only five more points in the second half, but the damage was done by that point. His 34 points were a career high and he added 14 rebounds. Curry scored 22 for the Warriors.
Tim Duncan and Tony Parker combined for 43 points in defeat.
The ironic thing is that despite the Warriors playing only eight men, they looked like the fresher of the two teams. San Antonio trotted out ten players who recorded at least five minutes of action. Still, they couldn’t keep up with Golden State.
One thing that crippled the Spurs’ offense was the inability to connect from long range. San Antonio shot only 5-21 from beyond the arc, including a 3-11 performance by the starters. Game 2 hero Manu Ginobili was 1-6 off the bench. The Spurs were forced to shoot quite a bit there after digging a large hole, but missing so many kept them from closing the gap as the Nuggets made nearly 50% of their three-point attempts (11-23).
The series moves to Oakland for Game 3 on Friday night.
