NBA Report Eastern Conference playoffs

By David Zizmor

April 22, 2009
 
 



Philadelphia vs. Orlando series tied 1-1: This has been a surprising series Orlando is the number three seed in the east and the Magic have had a very good season and are considered one of the only teams that have a shot at wining the title.

The Sixers going into Orlando's house winning is a big deal and part of this is the Sixers having a crazy really amazing forth quarter where they score 35 while holding Orlando to 19 which is quiet a big come back for the Sixers in game one.

The Magic answered right back to tie up the series on Wednesday night 96-87. The Magic are a young and up and coming team and their playoff experience is limited it just takes a little bit of adjusting.

You can't take these two games as the be all end all of this series because it's the best of seven and over seven games anyone can pull it out even after one loss at home which was in the case for Orlando but picked up a key win Wednesday.

At the same time this is kind of a wake up call for Orlando and they've had a very good season they don't want to see it all flushed down the toilet because the couldn't focus but it looks like they focused and came back in game number two with a nine point win over the Sixers on Wednesday.

Boston-Chicago series is tied 1-1: This is a shocker even without Kevin Garnett the Celtics have done really well. It's rough you come in the favorite, your ahead for a good chunk of the second half and the the Bulls come storming back in game one in the forth quarter and end up winning the game.

It was an upset in game one and nobody thought that the Bulls had much of a chance against the Celts especially in Boston. So to see the Bulls come in and frankly take it to the Celts it was quiet shocking.

Game two was tight as well with the Celts winning and tying up the series with a 118-115 three point victory over the Bulls on Tuesday night at the Fleet Center. The Bulls Ben Gordon was shooting the lights out on the Celts with 42 points but it wasn't enough as the Celts put the team work together and won game two to tie it all up.

The one to look for in this series however is the Bulls Derrick Rose who made the difference in game one scoring 36 points who had an amazing game. Rose is an up and coming star and he had 11 assists and four rebounds in game one. Look for him and Gordon to try and take it to the Celts in game three on Thursday night at the United Center.

Atlanta-Miami series is tied 1-1: Atlanta is seeded number four against fifth seeded Miami. The Heat is the team that is going to be favored here. It's a tough call Atlanta has some good depth and at the same time Miami has Dwayne Wade.

First game of the series however the Hawks just dominated 90-64 part of this D-Wade didn't have a great game and if the Heat are going to rely on Wade he had an off night and the Heat are going to be in trouble if Wade is off.

The main reason being they really don't have a go to guy beyond Wade they're not a particularily deep team. This why Miami ended up finishing the fifth seed instead of higher up.

The Hawks have some good young players, Atlanta gave Boston a real run for their money last post season in the first round last year. So the Hawks know they can hang with anybody in the playoffs and they have the playoff experience meanwhile. Miami has been out of the playoffs for a couple of seasons mostly because D-Wade has been hurt.

Things turned around a bit in game two when the Heat won it 108-93 Wade rose to the occasion with a huge offensive night leading the Heat with 33 points which demonstrates how much the Heat depend on Wade's ability to light it up on offense.

The Heat will depend on him to come through again Saturday night in Miami as the Heat will try to pull ahead in the series.

Cleveland leads Detroit 2-0: Cleveland is the best team in the NBA they have the best record over 60 wins and let's face it Detroit with an 8 seed they were one of those teams that were good five years ago and have been in a steady decline ever since.

So Detroit came into the series with an eighth seed. The Pistons sure showed it in the first game and now are down 2-0 in the series. Cleveland won the first game 102-84 and won game two 94-82.

If Cleveland is to lose any home games in the rest of these playoffs before they get to the championship round it's going to be a big shock to everybody. This is a team that lost two home games in the entire season.

They were 39-2 so Cleveland has such a home court advantage they're only two regular season home loses were to the Lakers and Sixers. It's going to be really difficult for Detroit to make any noise in Cleveland.

Cleveland was 39-2 at home and that's ridiculous, so you look at this series this is a mismatch. Cleveland is just so good LaBron James is so dominate these days it really doesn't make a huge difference what Detroit throws at him.

LaBron is going to kill them, LaBron is going to destroy the Pistons. You look at LaBron's numbers in the first game he's played nearly 41 minutes, 38 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and throw in a steal and went 11-14 from the line and 13-20 from the floor there is nobody who can stop LaBron from Detroit.

David Zizmor is covering the NBA Playoffs and will return with the Western Conference playoffs coverage for Sportstalk Radio

 

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