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Chris Paul 37 points 13 assists vs Chicago Bulls
March 17, 2008 Hornets coach Byron Scott called point guard Chris Paul a Hall of Famer in the making Monday night. Paul said he wasn't ready for those credentials, but his teammate Tyson Chandler was quick to put him in the race for MVP. Paul had game highs of 37 points and 13 assists in New Orleans' 108-97 win over the Chicago Bulls. He made an open 3-pointer with 2:47 left in the fourth quarter to tie it 96-all. After a steal by Jannero Pargo on the next possession, Paul found Chandler for a thundering alley-oop dunk to give the Hornets their first lead since halftime. "It was all Chris Paul,' said Chandler, who finished with eight points. "The little man was all over the floor. It was incredible. It's one of the best performances I've seen from him yet. He, at least to me, made his bid (Monday night) to consider him the MVP.' Paul's shooting touch kept the Hornets in the game as they trailed throughout almost the entire second half. He finished the game 15-for-21 from the floor. Paul also had three steals and only two turnovers. Bonzi Wells, who scored 19 points, added two free throws and a dunk in the next two possessions to seal the Hornets' victory. New Orleans outscored Chicago 33-13 in the fourth quarter. Peja Stojakovic added 21 points for the Hornets, but made only six of 19 3-point attempts. Rookie Julian Wright added 14 points for New Orleans. Ben Gordon came off the bench to score 31 points for Chicago, but he knew Paul deserved the kudos. "He took the game over single-handedly,' Gordon said. "Every basket he made, they needed it to win.' While Gordon sank shots from around the perimeter, Drew Gooden did so from near the paint. He had 23 points and 12 rebounds. Larry Hughes and Luol Deng each ended up with 16 points for Chicago. The Bulls opened the second half on a 14-4 run capped by Hughes' 3-pointer from the corner to put Chicago up 64-55 with 7:37 remaining in the third quarter. The Bulls ended the quarter up 84-75. "The third quarter we started out with a couple of turnovers and coach really got on us about that,' Paul said. "We gave up 34 points. We knew if we were going to have a chance we'd have to be aggressive in the fourth.' New Orleans ended the game on a 24-4 run in the final 7:01. "That's two games in a row where we controlled the game for pretty much three quarters, and then somehow, something happens and again we get outscored by 20 points in the fourth quarter,' Bulls interim coach Jim Boylan said. "It's tough.' Paul's layup through traffic with 5.6 seconds left in the first half gave New Orleans a 51-50 lead. A tip-in by Gooden was at first allowed as time expired, but was overturned after video review. It was the last time the Hornets held a lead until Paul's dominance in the final 12 minutes. "I usually never start the fourth quarter, but I went up to coach and said, 'Coach, let me stay,'' Paul said. "Some games he does it and some games he doesn't. Being down nine or 11 going into the fourth, that for our team to have a chance that I needed to be out there.'
Author: thehoopsblitz |
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Mavs-Hornets 92-104 Game 1 PO08[Nowitzki 31pts vs CP3 35pts]
NEW ORLEANS, April 19, 2008 (AP) -- The jitters that come with an NBA playoff debut prevented Chris Paul from taking his typical afternoon nap before playing the Dallas Mavericks. Unfortunately for the Mavs, Paul was the same player he's been all season when the Hornets needed him most, and the same "M-V-P!' chants that rained down from the New Orleans Arena stands during numerous recent triumphs made a thunderous postseason return. Paul had 35 points, 10 assists and four steals in his first playoff game Saturday night, lifting the New Orleans Hornets to a 104-92 come-from-behind victory over Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round series. "Today, after shootaround, I couldn't go to sleep,' Paul said, explaining that he instead tuned in to Game 1 of the Cleveland-Washington series, then some of the San Antonio-Phoenix opener. "I saw the intensity of it ... and I was like, 'Man, this is serious.'' Then he went out and performed like a playoff veteran, taking the game over with 15 third-quarter points as the Hornets erased a 12-point halftime lead. "Before we started the second half, I told him ' ... when series like this are up in the air, you've got to go out there and impose your will,'' Hornets coach Byron Scott said. Game 2 is Tuesday night. Scott had said leading up to this series that playoff experience was valuable but overrated. What else was he going to say? The Mavericks have been in the playoffs eight years in a row. The Hornets hadn't been to the postseason in four years, and their only current player on the roster back then was West, who was a rookie reserve. But for one game, at least, Scott's logic looked sound. West scored 23 points against Dallas. Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 15 rebounds to help New Orleans not only storm back but win going away. Dirk Nowitzki had his way with New Orleans early and finished with 31 points, but scored only four during Dallas' fourth-quarter collapse. Josh Howard added 17 points for the Mavericks, who were in the finals two years ago. "It's one game,' Nowitzki said. "The team that loses has to go back, adjust and find ways to get it done the next game.' Jason Kidd, the All-Star point guard the Mavericks were hoping would be the missing piece to a championship run when they traded for him midseason, finished with 11 points and nine assists. But the Mavericks had only nine field goals in the second half and no answer Paul, whose third year in the NBA has included a maiden All-Star game nod and serious consideration for league MVP. "In the third quarter he just dominated the game,' Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We tried giving him a couple different looks, but we're going to have to be much more sound in our defense. We can't let him get out of our traps.' The Hornets also got 14 points from Peja Stojakovic, one of their few grizzled playoff vets, who hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final period to help squelch any notion of a Dallas comeback. Dallas, which lost, stunningly, in the first round of last year's playoffs to eighth-seeded Golden State, won't go down without a struggle. With this game out of reach, the Mavs seemed to be already psyching themselves up for the next contest with physical play. Nowitzki and West were assessed double technicals after exchanging words, nose-to-nose, with West holding his hand up to the edge of Nowitzki's cheek. Afterward, both players downplayed the brief standoff as typical playoff intensity. New Orleans looked like a tight group in the first half, missing open jumpers, free throws, even a layup. The Hornets were 9-of-27 shooting in the first quarter, when Dallas took a 26-19 lead behind 11 points from Nowitzki. Hustling defense kept the Hornets within single digits most of the first half, but Dallas, which missed its first nine 3-point attempts, went ahead 49-38 on Kidd's open 3 late in the second period. Howard added another in the final seconds, putting the Mavs ahead 52-40 at halftime. The Hornets desperately needed a player to rise to the occasion on offense in the third quarter - and Paul came through. He had a 7-0 run by himself on a jumper, driving floater and fast-break layup as he was fouled to pull New Orleans to 65-63. The Hornets tied it at 68 on Bonzi Wells' jumper with 2:20 to go in the third period, then Wells' steal led to Paul's fast-break layup for a 70-68 lead. Chandler's follow-up dunk made it 76-72 at the end of the third, during which New Orleans outscored Dallas 36-20. Paul then hit a floater, set up Chandler's alley-oop and West's layup during a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to put New Orleans up 86-74. "In the first half I thought we came out a little anxious, not loose enough,' West said. "In the second half we got back to doing the things that got us to this point, and we were able to take over the game.'
Author: 1EDmanLV |
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Bonzi Wells' 3/4 Court Heave
Visit http://www.nba.com/video for more highlights like Bonzi Wells' 3/4 court heave. Think you can do better than that? Check out http://www.youtube.com/group/nbapostup to find out how your best basketball move could land in our weekly Top Five for the rest of the world to see.
Author: NBA |
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Kobe one-handed look-away pass
From the 2006-2007 season, Kobe steals the ball from Bonzi Wells of the Houston Rockets, and makes a great one-handed look-away pass to Vlad Radmanovic for the layup.
Author: ImadoggyDogg |
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Chris Paul's 37pts & 13ast vs Bulls
NEW ORLEANS, March 17, 2008 (AP) - Hornets coach Byron Scott called point guard Chris Paul a Hall of Famer in the making Monday night. Paul said he wasn't ready for those credentials, but his teammate Tyson Chandler was quick to put him in the race for MVP. Paul had game highs of 37 points and 13 assists in New Orleans' 108-97 win over the Chicago Bulls. He made an open 3-pointer with 2:47 left in the fourth quarter to tie it 96-all. After a steal by Jannero Pargo on the next possession, Paul found Chandler for a thundering alley-oop dunk to give the Hornets their first lead since halftime. "It was all Chris Paul,' said Chandler, who finished with eight points. "The little man was all over the floor. It was incredible. It's one of the best performances I've seen from him yet. He, at least to me, made his bid (Monday night) to consider him the MVP.' Paul's shooting touch kept the Hornets in the game as they trailed throughout almost the entire second half. He finished the game 15-for-21 from the floor. Paul also had three steals and only two turnovers. Bonzi Wells, who scored 19 points, added two free throws and a dunk in the next two possessions to seal the Hornets' victory. New Orleans outscored Chicago 33-13 in the fourth quarter. Peja Stojakovic added 21 points for the Hornets, but made only six of 19 3-point attempts. Rookie Julian Wright added 14 points for New Orleans. Ben Gordon came off the bench to score 31 points for Chicago, but he knew Paul deserved the kudos. "He took the game over single-handedly,' Gordon said. "Every basket he made, they needed it to win.' While Gordon sank shots from around the perimeter, Drew Gooden did so from near the paint. He had 23 points and 12 rebounds. Larry Hughes and Luol Deng each ended up with 16 points for Chicago. The Bulls opened the second half on a 14-4 run capped by Hughes' 3-pointer from the corner to put Chicago up 64-55 with 7:37 remaining in the third quarter. The Bulls ended the quarter up 84-75. "The third quarter we started out with a couple of turnovers and coach really got on us about that,' Paul said. "We gave up 34 points. We knew if we were going to have a chance we'd have to be aggressive in the fourth.' New Orleans ended the game on a 24-4 run in the final 7:01. "That's two games in a row where we controlled the game for pretty much three quarters, and then somehow, something happens and again we get outscored by 20 points in the fourth quarter,' Bulls interim coach Jim Boylan said. "It's tough.' Paul's layup through traffic with 5.6 seconds left in the first half gave New Orleans a 51-50 lead. A tip-in by Gooden was at first allowed as time expired, but was overturned after video review. It was the last time the Hornets held a lead until Paul's dominance in the final 12 minutes. "I usually never start the fourth quarter, but I went up to coach and said, 'Coach, let me stay,'' Paul said. "Some games he does it and some games he doesn't. Being down nine or 11 going into the fourth, that for our team to have a chance that I needed to be out there.'
Author: 1EDmanLV |
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Hornets-Mavericks 98-111 [West 26pts vs Kidd Triple-Double]
DALLAS, April 16, 2008 (AP) - Dirk Nowitzki came right out and said it: The Dallas Mavericks did not want to open the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers. They'd much rather take their chances against the New Orleans Hornets - especially after the way things went Wednesday night. Jason Kidd and Jason Terry outplayed Hornets star Chris Paul, with Kidd racking up the 100th triple-double of his career and Terry scoring 13 of his 30 points during a 32-8 stretch that took Dallas from down by 11 to leading by 13. The Mavericks wound up winning 111-98 to set up a first-round series between these teams. "This was definitely a win we wanted to get,' Nowitzki said. "The Lakers are probably the hottest team in the West. We definitely didn't want to face them in the first round. ... (New Orleans) had a great year, but I think we match up pretty well.' The Hornets came in locked into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. To avoid the Mavericks, New Orleans had to win and have Denver win later Wednesday. Coach Byron Scott decided to go for it, sticking with his starters after taking a 50-48 lead at halftime and even after they'd stretched it to 70-59. He could've pulled them at that point, comfortable in knowing his best handled Dallas' best, and hoped his backups could finish it off. But he didn't. And it backfired. Kidd and Terry began either scoring or setting up easy shots every time on offense. A few minutes into the fourth quarter, the Mavericks were ahead 91-78. Although New Orleans got to 100-96, Dallas pulled away again - just like the playoff-experienced Mavericks hope to do to the young, playoff-novice Hornets over the next two weeks. "They played harder and we got a little rattled,' Scott said. "They played with a little more purpose. We were a little lackadaisical. In the playoffs, you can't do that.' Paul agreed, even if he can't speak from experience. The closest he's gotten to the postseason is attending the last two NBA finals as a spectator. "The playoffs are a whole different game,' he said. "Tonight they came out with a lot to prove, whether they played us or the Lakers. We definitely wanted to win but we also knew we also had the second seed.' The teams tied 2-2 in the season series; it was 1-1 after Kidd joined the Mavericks. New Orleans beat Dallas in Kidd's first game, but this one showed how much better the Mavs have gotten since getting accustomed to him running the show. They go into the playoffs on a 6-3 roll that includes victories over Golden State, Phoenix, Utah and, now, the team they'll open against. "I've always thought the of the last regular-season game as a good steppingstone going into the playoffs,' Kidd said. "We want to keep our momentum going.' Kidd had 27 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his first triple-double since rejoining the Mavericks, the team he was with when he broke into the NBA and began piling up the stats. He already was No. 3 on the career list, behind Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson, but now he has joined them in triple-figure triple-doubles. Terry said the guys were hoping Kidd would get it during the previous two games, which turned out be a pair of losses to lottery-bound teams. Kidd said he never thought he'd get it in this game because he was more concerned with staying in front of Paul. The points came easily as Kidd shot 9-of-14, including 5-of-8 on 3-pointers. Then a teammate told him he needed only two rebounds and an assist. He went for it at that point, grabbing his 10th rebound with 1:37 left, drawing a nice ovation from stat-conscious fans. "The good thing is that Dirk is at one, so I'm ahead of him. But he told me he's on his way,' Kidd said, laughing. "Oscar and Magic are great company. They changed the game, so I'm happy to be in their company.' Nowitzki shot just 4-of-16 and had 12 points, a stat the Mavericks think actually bodes well. After all, they won on a night when he struggled, with New Orleans' defense aimed at shutting him down. Howard scored 19 and Bass had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse returned after missing nine games with a groin injury and had four points in 16 minutes. West scored 26 points and Paul had 20 points and 10 assists. Peja Stojakovic scored 17 points and Bonzi Wells had 16 for New Orleans, which ends the season having lost three of four and four of five. Notes: It was Kidd's career-high 13th triple-double of the season. ... Robertson had 181 career triple-doubles. Johnson had 138. ... Kidd had 13 triple-doubles his first time around in Dallas. ... The Mavs went 16-13 after Kidd arrived. They were 35-18 before.
Author: 1EDmanLV |
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Spurs-Hornets 82-101 Game1 PO 08[Parker 23pts vs West 30pts]
NEW ORLEANS, May 3, 2008 (AP) -- Hornets coach Byron Scott showed off the three championship rings he won as a player during his pregame speech. The message? This is what the San Antonio Spurs have, and you want. He certainly got through to All-Stars David West and Chris Paul. West scored a career playoff-high 30 points to lead New Orleans to a 101-82 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Saturday night. Paul added 17 points, 13 assists and four steals for New Orleans, which trailed by as much as 11 in the first half but stormed into the lead for good in the third quarter. "It sort of gives you goose bumps," Paul said of seeing Scott's rings, won in the 1980s with the Los Angeles Lakers. "We understand right now we're on that same journey and we feel like we can get there." One reason they're off to such a good start against San Antonio is the way they played defense on Spurs center Tim Duncan. Duncan had what he considered one of the worst games of his stellar career, going 1-of-9 from the field for a career playoff-low five points and only three rebounds. "Things just didn't go my way," said Duncan, who offered only a few terse comments in the locker room. "They did a great job. ... I played badly, so credit to them." Tyson Chandler was Duncan's primary defender, but the Hornets also swarmed Duncan with double teams throughout the game, forcing San Antonio to look for points from outside. The Spurs hit 12 3-pointers in the game, but also missed 19. The Hornets dominated the inside, outrebounding San Antonio 50-34 and outscoring the Spurs 46-26 in the paint. The Hornets also shot 50 percent, while the Spurs finished at 40.8 percent. Chandler had 10 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots for New Orleans. Peja Stojakovic added 22 points for the Hornets on 9-of-15 shooting, while reserve Bonzi Wells added 10 points, all but two in the fourth quarter. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23 points and Manu Ginobili had 19. Bruce Bowen added 17 points and Michael Finley 13, but San Antonio needed more help inside from Duncan and Kurt Thomas, who had only two points and two rebounds. "They took away our inside game. Timmy had a rough night," Parker said. "We need to do a better job to get him the ball and try to get him some shots, basically. Tonight, New Orleans did a good job to take that away from us. That's not Timmy." After trailing most of the first half, the Hornets surged into the lead for good with a 13-0 run in the third quarter that opened with Chandler's driving layup and ended with Stojakovic's second 3-pointer of the game, giving New Orleans a 61-54 lead. West scored four points during the run and 11 in the quarter, often hitting midrange jumpers, sometimes while fading away from a defender in his face. "David West is the one that really, really hurt us tonight," Parker said. "He made outside shots, and once he made his outside shots he was having the drive, so we can't all focus on Chris Paul." The Hornets led 74-66 heading into the fourth quarter. Jacque Vaughn's driving layup got the Spurs as close as 76-71 early in the period, but the Hornets, despite being in the playoffs for the first time in four years, were not rattled. They pushed the lead back up to double digits before turning it into a blowout during the last 5 minutes, with Paul scoring seemingly at will. "We've been in that position where everyone is kind of waiting for the wheels to fall off of this thing, feeling like we are overachieving," West said. "But we're a hungry group of guys, we're going to go out and compete." The Hornets scored the first eight points of the game, with Stojakovic and Morris Peterson each hitting 3s, and San Antonio didn't have a point until Parker's free throws with 7:36 left in the first quarter. It didn't take long for the San Antonio to settle down, however, and they didn't need much help from Parker or Duncan. Ginobili hit his first four shots, including three 3s, and Bowen hit three 3s of his own as the Spurs stormed back to take a 27-23 lead at the end of the first quarter. New Orleans fought back to take a 35-34 lead on Chandler's alley-oop dunk of Paul's lob, but Bowen, who minutes earlier had been face down on the floor with his hands over his face after apparently getting poked in the eye on foul by Wells, hit two more 3s, one while being fouled. Finley had another 3 during a 10-0 run that put San Antonio up 44-35. The Spurs finished the first half 9-for-17 on 3s, and with a 49-45 lead.
Author: 1EDmanLV |
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Game 1 round 1 Mavs vs Hornets 2008 Playoffs
April 19, 2008 NEW ORLEANS -- The jitters that come with an NBA playoff debut prevented Chris Paul from taking his typical afternoon nap before playing the Dallas Mavericks. Unfortunately for the Mavs, Paul was the same player he's been all season when the Hornets needed him most, and the same "M-V-P!" chants that rained down from the New Orleans Arena stands during numerous recent triumphs made a thunderous postseason return. Paul had 35 points, 10 assists and four steals in his first playoff game Saturday night, lifting New Orleans to a 104-92 come-from-behind victory over Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round series. "Today, after shootaround, I couldn't go to sleep," Paul said, explaining that he instead tuned in to Game 1 of the Cleveland-Washington series, then some of the San Antonio-Phoenix opener. "I saw the intensity of it ... and I was like, 'Man, this is serious."' Then he went out and performed like a playoff veteran, taking the game over with 15 third-quarter points as the Hornets erased a 12-point halftime lead. "Before we started the second half, I told him ' ... when series like this are up in the air, you've got to go out there and impose your will,"' Hornets coach Byron Scott said. Game 2 is Tuesday night. Scott had said leading up to this series that playoff experience was valuable but overrated. What else was he going to say? The Mavericks have been in the playoffs eight years in a row. The Hornets hadn't been to the postseason in four years, and their only current player on the roster back then was West, who was a rookie reserve. But for one game, at least, Scott's logic looked sound. West scored 23 points against Dallas. Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 15 rebounds to help New Orleans not only storm back but win going away. Dirk Nowitzki had his way with New Orleans early and finished with 31 points, but scored only four during Dallas' fourth-quarter collapse. Josh Howard added 17 points for the Mavericks, who were in the finals two years ago. "It's one game," Nowitzki said. "The team that loses has to go back, adjust and find ways to get it done the next game." Jason Kidd, the All-Star point guard the Mavericks were hoping would be the missing piece to a championship run when they traded for him midseason, finished with 11 points and nine assists. But the Mavericks had only nine field goals in the second half and no answer Paul, whose third year in the NBA has included a maiden All-Star game nod and serious consideration for league MVP. "In the third quarter he just dominated the game," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We tried giving him a couple different looks, but we're going to have to be much more sound in our defense. We can't let him get out of our traps." The Hornets also got 14 points from Peja Stojakovic, one of their few grizzled playoff vets, who hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final period to help squelch any notion of a Dallas comeback. Dallas, which lost, stunningly, in the first round of last year's playoffs to eighth-seeded Golden State, won't go down without a struggle. With this game out of reach, the Mavs seemed to be already psyching themselves up for the next contest with physical play. Nowitzki and West were assessed double technicals after exchanging words, nose-to-nose, with West holding his hand up to the edge of Nowitzki's cheek. Afterward, both players downplayed the brief standoff as typical playoff intensity. New Orleans looked like a tight group in the first half, missing open jumpers, free throws, even a layup. The Hornets were 9-of-27 shooting in the first quarter, when Dallas took a 26-19 lead behind 11 points from Nowitzki. Hustling defense kept the Hornets within single digits most of the first half, but Dallas, which missed its first nine 3-point attempts, went ahead 49-38 on Kidd's open 3 late in the second period. Howard added another in the final seconds, putting the Mavs ahead 52-40 at halftime. The Hornets desperately needed a player to rise to the occasion on offense in the third quarter - and Paul came through. He had a 7-0 run by himself on a jumper, driving floater and fast-break layup as he was fouled to pull New Orleans to 65-63. The Hornets tied it at 68 on Bonzi Wells' jumper with 2:20 to go in the third period, then Wells' steal led to Paul's fast-break layup for a 70-68 lead. Chandler's follow-up dunk made it 76-72 at the end of the third, during which New Orleans outscored Dallas 36-20. Paul then hit a floater, set up Chandler's alley-oop and West's layup during a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to put New Orleans up 86-74. "In the first half I thought we came out a little anxious, not loose enough," West said. "In the second half we got back to doing the things that got us to this point, and we were able to take over the game."
Author: the2008playoffsblitz |
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Celtics - Hornets 106-113 [Pierce 28pts vs West 37pts]
NEW ORLEANS, March 22, 2008 (AP) -- The Boston Celtics' recent dominance of the powerful Western Conference ended at the hands of an All-Star fittingly named West. David West scored 37 points and the New Orleans Hornets overcame an early 15-point deficit to beat Boston 113-106 on Saturday night. "We're confident in what we can do and we make sure, regardless if we're up, if we're down, that we play the same way and hopefully that consistency can carry us through to wins,' West said. "Guys had to make shots. We're playing from behind just about the whole game, dealing with a team like Boston that we know is so good.' "Regardless of who we're playing, if we buckle down on defense at that crucial point, we'll be able to pull it out.' Chris Paul, despite playing only 29 minutes because of foul trouble, had 19 points and hit a pair of clutch jumpers in the waning minutes as New Orleans added a win over the mighty Celtics to recent triumphs over San Antonio, the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston. The Celtics came in riding a four-game winning streak that included a three-game swing through Texas, with wins over San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. Paul Pierce had 16 of his 28 points in the first quarter and the Celtics shot better than 60 percent and led by double digits until well into the third. But Boston seemed to tire in the fourth as New Orleans surged to its ninth straight victory at home while stopping Boston's road winning streak at eight. "We definitely had our opportunities, had our big early lead, but we couldn't get stops tonight for some reason,' Pierce said. "We just played lackadaisical (in the fourth quarter). You've got to give them some credit. ... Their bench did a great job coming in and giving them a spark, with Jannero Pargo and Bonzi Wells.' Wells had 12 points and eight steals, six in the fourth quarter to set a franchise record and help New Orleans hold Boston to 17 points. Boston committed 21 turnovers, leading to 32 Hornets points. "Guys were really helping each other,' Wells said. "We played really no defense for most of three quarters and in the fourth quarter we made a conscious effort to understand what their sets are. We don't see teams like this often, so we kind of calmed down in the fourth quarter and got stops.' Pargo had 15 points and six assists in 21 minutes, helping New Orleans surge into the lead while Paul was on the bench early in the fourth quarter. "David West single-handedly destroyed us, but Pargo was the most important player on their team,' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They had their leader off the floor, and they actually cut the lead, got the lead, with him off the floor, and that's the time we should have stretched the lead and we didn't.' Pierce's double-pump driving layup through a crowd just as time expired gave Boston an 89-81 lead after three. Foul trouble kept Paul on the bench to open the final period, but the Hornets rallied behind Pargo, who hit a 3 and a jumper on consecutive possessions to cut Boston's lead to 91-90. After P.J. Brown's block sent Ray Allen away for a fast-break layup, New Orleans buckled down on defense, holding Boston scoreless for more than five minutes. During that span, West's fast-break dunk put New Orleans up 94-93 with 6:12 to go for the Hornets' first lead since 6-5. West then hit a jumper off the glass and a driving floater as he was fouled, capping a 9-0 run that made it 99-93. Boston cut it to 104-101 on Rajon Rondo's driving floater over the 7-foot-1 Tyson Chandler. But Paul, coming up big when it mattered as he has all season, responded with a 3. With the crowd on its feet and in a frenzy, Boston could not recover. "C.P. was struggling a little bit, but in the fourth quarter came back in there and again willed us to victory,' Pargo said. "He has a will that only a couple players have in this league and it's good to have a guy like that on our team.' Rondo scored 23 points for Boston. Kevin Garnett had 19 points and 12 rebounds, helping the Celtics outrebound New Orleans 44-29. Allen added 17 points. Stojakovic scored 13 for the Hornets, who were 25-of-29 on free throws. Boston shot 75 percent in the opening period and was up 60-45 in the second before New Orleans closed to 65-55 at halftime. Notes: Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau was assessed a technical foul for arguing a foul called against Boston in the third quarter. ... Attendance was 18,250, the largest crowd of the season and the eighth sellout in 13 Hornets home games. ... The game drew a handful of sports celebrities from the area, including Saints players Deuce McAllister and Mike McKenzie, as well as former LSU star and projected high NFL draft pick Glenn Dorsey. ... Wells is averaging 13.2 points during his last six games.
Author: 1EDmanLV |
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Parker,Ginobili Combo 62pts vs Hornets Game 3 Playoffs 2008
SAN ANTONIO, May 8, 2008 (AP) - The San Antonio Spurs' Big Three congregated around the scorer's table during a timeout in the fourth quarter, not long before they put the game away for good. Tim Duncan patted Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. They all laughed. The NBA's defending champions were not going into an 0-3 hole against the New Orleans Hornets. Parker and Ginobili scored 31 points each and Duncan added 16 points and 13 rebounds as the Spurs beat the Hornets 110-99 in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals on Thursday night. "We know that going 3-0 - it's never been done to come back like that,' said Ginobili, who along with Parker consistently got to the rim. "Today, for us, it was a Game 7. We knew if we didn't win today, it was almost over. So we had a different approach. We played with more passion, more edge.' The Hornets still have a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is Sunday night in San Antonio. Chris Paul, still almost unstoppable, led the Hornets with 35 points and nine assists. David West had 23 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans, which was dominant in the first two games of the series. With the Spurs' win, the home teams are 10-0 in the four conference semifinal series. "You got to give them a lot of credit,' Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "I thought they played a lot more aggressive tonight. A lot more physical. Basically kind of took us right out of our game. I thought we lost our composure tonight a little bit as well.' After trading leads all night, the Spurs led 83-78 entering the fourth quarter. Ginobili, the league's top sixth man, started for the first time this postseason and led a Spurs charge early in the final quarter. Left alone, he hit a wide-open 3 and was fouled by Bonzi Wells, who scrambled at him to guard the shot. Ginobili's free throw put San Antonio up 87-82, and another 3 by Ginobili 38 seconds later made it 90-84. New Orleans got within 90-88 before the Spurs took over, playing out the fourth quarter better than they have played all series. "They made a lot more shots,' Paul said. "We got away from our defensive game plan somewhat. We didn't defend as well as we did the first two games.' San Antonio went on an 11-0 burst to take a 101-88 lead with 5:57 to play. The Spurs couldn't stop Paul, but West missed three of four free throws and the Hornets got no closer than 10 points in the latter half of the quarter. The Spurs outscored the Hornets 27-21 in the fourth with Parker and Ginobili combining for 17 points. "We knew that they were going to play better at home. We just didn't respond,' West said. Peja Stojakovic, the Hornets' 3-point sharpshooter, was held to eight points on 2-of-7 shooting as he was guarded by San Antonio's Bruce Bowen. "Chris is going to score regardless. He's got the ball in his hands every single time. Every single play it's Chris Paul,' said Parker, who had 11 assists. "He's going to score. So we decided to put Bruce on Peja and at least hold somebody down because Peja was killing us.' The Hornets took an 8-0 lead in the first quarter before the Spurs evened things and started the second quarter down 23-21. While Bowen was successful in containing Stojakovic in the first half, West and Paul, the stars of Games 1 and 2, were let loose and shot a combined 14-of-21 to account for 30 of the Hornets' points at halftime. Tyson Chandler dunked alley-oop passes from West, Paul and Wells in the first half, each time quieting the raucous Spurs crowd that took to booing both the officials and the Hornets. The Spurs led by as many as four points in the second quarter after Michael Finley, who came off the bench because usual reserve Ginobili started, hit a corner 3 to give San Antonio a 41-37 lead. After Parker hit a jumper with 49 seconds to play in the first half, Stojakovic and Morris Peterson each hit 3s to leave the Spurs down 56-49 with 23 seconds left. But Bowen hit a 3 and Ginobili hit a buzzer-beating jumper to bring San Antonio within 56-54 at halftime.Duncan was quiet in the first half with just five points as New Orleans' double-teams continued to hamper him. In the third the Spurs did not break down as they did in Games 1 and 2 when New Orleans took control. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili took over, scoring all but three of San Antonio's 29 points in the period. "We were waiting for that third quarter, that it would be on our side this time,' San Antonio's Fabricio Oberto said. "I think we did a pretty good job. It's not the best job we can do.' But the Hornets wouldn't go away as Paul scored 11 points in the quarter. Late in the period he hit a highlight shot when he flipped up the ball as he spun around and put his back to the basket. He as fouled for the three-point play to bring the Hornets within 77-76.
Author: 1EDmanLV |
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Snoop Dogg Blue Carpet Treatment DVD ( J. Wells Track)
Snoop Dogg Blue Carpet Treatment DVD ( J. Wells Track) myspace.com/jwellsmusic myspace.com/jameswade extra tags: snoop dogg snoopy dr dre bonzi records big vision
Author: JamesWade |
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Bobby Jackson - B-Jax
Bobby Jackson (born March 13, 1973 in East Spencer, North Carolina) is an American basketball player with the NBA's Houston Rockets. Jackson attended Western Nebraska Community College and the University of Minnesota before being selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 23rd pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. As a Golden Gopher, Bobby Jackson led Minnesota to the Final Four, where they lost to the Kentucky Wildcats. He was traded to the Denver Nuggets prior to his rookie season where he played 68 games before moving on to a more familiar place in Minnesota where he donned a Timberwolves jersey for two seasons. He had his best years in Sacramento where he played for the Kings from 2000 to 2005 where he was known as "Action Jackson" and a crowd favorite. A former Sixth Man Award winner, Jackson suffered an abdominal strain early in the 2004-05 season that forced him to miss 51 games. On February 21, 2008 Jackson was traded by the Hornets to the Houston Rockets along with teammate Adam Haluska in exchange for Bonzi Wells and Mike James.
Author: VeoShock |
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Chris Paul 35pts vs Dallas Mavericks Playoff Debut 07/08 NBA
The jitters that come with an NBA playoff debut prevented Chris Paul from taking his typical afternoon nap before playing the Dallas Mavericks. Unfortunately for the Mavs, Paul was the same player he's been all season when the Hornets needed him most, and the same "M-V-P!" chants that rained down from the New Orleans Arena stands during numerous recent triumphs made a thunderous postseason return. Paul had 35 points, 10 assists and four steals in his first playoff game Saturday night, lifting New Orleans to a 104-92 come-from-behind victory over Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round series. "Today, after shootaround, I couldn't go to sleep," Paul said, explaining that he instead tuned in to Game 1 of the Cleveland-Washington series, then some of the San Antonio-Phoenix opener. "I saw the intensity of it ... and I was like, 'Man, this is serious.' " Then he went out and performed like a playoff veteran, taking the game over with 15 third-quarter points as the Hornets erased a 12-point halftime lead. "Before we started the second half, I told him ' ... when series like this are up in the air, you've got to go out there and impose your will,' " Hornets coach Byron Scott said. Game 2 is Tuesday night. Scott had said leading up to this series that playoff experience was valuable but overrated. What else was he going to say? The Mavericks have been in the playoffs eight years in a row. The Hornets hadn't been to the postseason in four years, and their only current player on the roster back then was West, who was a rookie reserve. But for one game, at least, Scott's logic looked sound. West scored 23 points against Dallas. Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 15 rebounds to help New Orleans not only storm back but win going away. Dirk Nowitzki had his way with New Orleans early and finished with 31 points, but scored only four during Dallas' fourth-quarter collapse. Josh Howard added 17 points for the Mavericks, who were in the finals two years ago. "It's one game," Nowitzki said. "The team that loses has to go back, adjust and find ways to get it done the next game." Jason Kidd, the All-Star point guard the Mavericks were hoping would be the missing piece to a championship run when they traded for him midseason, finished with 11 points and nine assists. But the Mavericks had only nine field goals in the second half and no answer Paul, whose third year in the NBA has included a maiden All-Star game nod and serious consideration for league MVP. "In the third quarter he just dominated the game," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We tried giving him a couple different looks, but we're going to have to be much more sound in our defense. We can't let him get out of our traps." The Hornets also got 14 points from Peja Stojakovic, one of their few grizzled playoff vets, who hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final period to help squelch any notion of a Dallas comeback. Dallas, which lost, stunningly, in the first round of last year's playoffs to eighth-seeded Golden State, won't go down without a struggle. With this game out of reach, the Mavs seemed to be already psyching themselves up for the next contest with physical play. Nowitzki and West were assessed double technicals after exchanging words, nose-to-nose, with West holding his hand up to the edge of Nowitzki's cheek. Afterward, both players downplayed the brief standoff as typical playoff intensity. New Orleans looked like a tight group in the first half, missing open jumpers, free throws, even a layup. The Hornets were 9-of-27 shooting in the first quarter, when Dallas took a 26-19 lead behind 11 points from Nowitzki. Hustling defense kept the Hornets within single digits most of the first half, but Dallas, which missed its first nine 3-point attempts, went ahead 49-38 on Kidd's open 3 late in the second period. Howard added another in the final seconds, putting the Mavs ahead 52-40 at halftime. The Hornets desperately needed a player to rise to the occasion on offense in the third quarter -- and Paul came through. He had a 7-0 run by himself on a jumper, driving floater and fast-break layup as he was fouled to pull New Orleans to 65-63. The Hornets tied it at 68 on Bonzi Wells' jumper with 2:20 to go in the third period, then Wells' steal led to Paul's fast-break layup for a 70-68 lead. Chandler's follow-up dunk made it 76-72 at the end of the third, during which New Orleans outscored Dallas 36-20. Paul then hit a floater, set up Chandler's alley-oop and West's layup during a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to put New Orleans up 86-74. "In the first half I thought we came out a little anxious, not loose enough," West said. "In the second half we got back to doing the things that got us to this point, and we were able to take over the game."
Author: pennyccwnba |
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Buzzard shots
buzzards
Author: nersudus |
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Chris Paul's 35pts,10ast vs Mavericks Game 1 Playoffs 2008
NEW ORLEANS, April 19, 2008 (AP) -- The jitters that come with an NBA playoff debut prevented Chris Paul from taking his typical afternoon nap before playing the Dallas Mavericks. Unfortunately for the Mavs, Paul was the same player he's been all season when the Hornets needed him most, and the same "M-V-P!' chants that rained down from the New Orleans Arena stands during numerous recent triumphs made a thunderous postseason return. Paul had 35 points, 10 assists and four steals in his first playoff game Saturday night, lifting the New Orleans Hornets to a 104-92 come-from-behind victory over Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round series. "Today, after shootaround, I couldn't go to sleep,' Paul said, explaining that he instead tuned in to Game 1 of the Cleveland-Washington series, then some of the San Antonio-Phoenix opener. "I saw the intensity of it ... and I was like, 'Man, this is serious.'' Then he went out and performed like a playoff veteran, taking the game over with 15 third-quarter points as the Hornets erased a 12-point halftime lead. "Before we started the second half, I told him ' ... when series like this are up in the air, you've got to go out there and impose your will,'' Hornets coach Byron Scott said. Game 2 is Tuesday night. Scott had said leading up to this series that playoff experience was valuable but overrated. What else was he going to say? The Mavericks have been in the playoffs eight years in a row. The Hornets hadn't been to the postseason in four years, and their only current player on the roster back then was West, who was a rookie reserve. But for one game, at least, Scott's logic looked sound. West scored 23 points against Dallas. Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 15 rebounds to help New Orleans not only storm back but win going away. Dirk Nowitzki had his way with New Orleans early and finished with 31 points, but scored only four during Dallas' fourth-quarter collapse. Josh Howard added 17 points for the Mavericks, who were in the finals two years ago. "It's one game,' Nowitzki said. "The team that loses has to go back, adjust and find ways to get it done the next game.' Jason Kidd, the All-Star point guard the Mavericks were hoping would be the missing piece to a championship run when they traded for him midseason, finished with 11 points and nine assists. But the Mavericks had only nine field goals in the second half and no answer Paul, whose third year in the NBA has included a maiden All-Star game nod and serious consideration for league MVP. "In the third quarter he just dominated the game,' Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We tried giving him a couple different looks, but we're going to have to be much more sound in our defense. We can't let him get out of our traps.' The Hornets also got 14 points from Peja Stojakovic, one of their few grizzled playoff vets, who hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final period to help squelch any notion of a Dallas comeback. Dallas, which lost, stunningly, in the first round of last year's playoffs to eighth-seeded Golden State, won't go down without a struggle. With this game out of reach, the Mavs seemed to be already psyching themselves up for the next contest with physical play. Nowitzki and West were assessed double technicals after exchanging words, nose-to-nose, with West holding his hand up to the edge of Nowitzki's cheek. Afterward, both players downplayed the brief standoff as typical playoff intensity. New Orleans looked like a tight group in the first half, missing open jumpers, free throws, even a layup. The Hornets were 9-of-27 shooting in the first quarter, when Dallas took a 26-19 lead behind 11 points from Nowitzki. Hustling defense kept the Hornets within single digits most of the first half, but Dallas, which missed its first nine 3-point attempts, went ahead 49-38 on Kidd's open 3 late in the second period. Howard added another in the final seconds, putting the Mavs ahead 52-40 at halftime. The Hornets desperately needed a player to rise to the occasion on offense in the third quarter - and Paul came through. He had a 7-0 run by himself on a jumper, driving floater and fast-break layup as he was fouled to pull New Orleans to 65-63. The Hornets tied it at 68 on Bonzi Wells' jumper with 2:20 to go in the third period, then Wells' steal led to Paul's fast-break layup for a 70-68 lead. Chandler's follow-up dunk made it 76-72 at the end of the third, during which New Orleans outscored Dallas 36-20. Paul then hit a floater, set up Chandler's alley-oop and West's layup during a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to put New Orleans up 86-74. "In the first half I thought we came out a little anxious, not loose enough,' West said. "In the second half we got back to doing the things that got us to this point, and we were able to take over the game.'
Author: 1EDmanLV |
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Game 1 round 2 Hornets vs Spurs 2008 Playoffs
May 3, 2008 NEW ORLEANS -- Hornets coach Byron Scott showed off the three championship rings he won as a player during his pregame speech. The message? This is what the San Antonio Spurs have, and you want. He certainly got through to All-Stars David West and Chris Paul. West scored a career playoff-high 30 points to lead New Orleans to a 101-82 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Saturday night. Paul added 17 points, 13 assists and four steals for New Orleans, which trailed by as much as 11 in the first half but stormed into the lead for good in the third quarter. "It sort of gives you goose bumps," Paul said of seeing Scott's rings, won in the 1980s with the Los Angeles Lakers. "We understand right now we're on that same journey and we feel like we can get there." One reason they're off to such a good start against San Antonio is the way they played defense on Spurs center Tim Duncan. Duncan had what he considered one of the worst games of his stellar career, going 1-of-9 from the field for a career playoff-low five points and only three rebounds. "Things just didn't go my way," said Duncan, who offered only a few terse comments in the locker room. "They did a great job. ... I played badly, so credit to them." Tyson Chandler was Duncan's primary defender, but the Hornets also swarmed Duncan with double teams throughout the game, forcing San Antonio to look for points from outside. The Spurs hit 12 3-pointers in the game, but also missed 19. The Hornets dominated the inside, outrebounding San Antonio 50-34 and outscoring the Spurs 46-26 in the paint. The Hornets also shot 50 percent, while the Spurs finished at 40.8 percent. Chandler had 10 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots for New Orleans. Peja Stojakovic added 22 points for the Hornets on 9-of-15 shooting, while reserve Bonzi Wells added 10 points, all but two in the fourth quarter. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 23 points and Manu Ginobili had 19. Bruce Bowen added 17 points and Michael Finley 13, but San Antonio needed more help inside from Duncan and Kurt Thomas, who had only two points and two rebounds. "They took away our inside game. Timmy had a rough night," Parker said. "We need to do a better job to get him the ball and try to get him some shots, basically. Tonight, New Orleans did a good job to take that away from us. That's not Timmy." After trailing most of the first half, the Hornets surged into the lead for good with a 13-0 run in the third quarter that opened with Chandler's driving layup and ended with Stojakovic's second 3-pointer of the game, giving New Orleans a 61-54 lead. West scored four points during the run and 11 in the quarter, often hitting midrange jumpers, sometimes while fading away from a defender in his face. "David West is the one that really, really hurt us tonight," Parker said. "He made outside shots, and once he made his outside shots he was having the drive, so we can't all focus on Chris Paul." The Hornets led 74-66 heading into the fourth quarter. Jacque Vaughn's driving layup got the Spurs as close as 76-71 early in the period, but the Hornets, despite being in the playoffs for the first time in four years, were not rattled. They pushed the lead back up to double digits before turning it into a blowout during the last 5 minutes, with Paul scoring seemingly at will. "We've been in that position where everyone is kind of waiting for the wheels to fall off of this thing, feeling like we are overachieving," West said. "But we're a hungry group of guys, we're going to go out and compete." The Hornets scored the first eight points of the game, with Stojakovic and Morris Peterson each hitting 3s, and San Antonio didn't have a point until Parker's free throws with 7:36 left in the first quarter. It didn't take long for the San Antonio to settle down, however, and they didn't need much help from Parker or Duncan. Ginobili hit his first four shots, including three 3s, and Bowen hit three 3s of his own as the Spurs stormed back to take a 27-23 lead at the end of the first quarter. New Orleans fought back to take a 35-34 lead on Chandler's alley-oop dunk of Paul's lob, but Bowen, who minutes earlier had been face down on the floor with his hands over his face after apparently getting poked in the eye on foul by Wells, hit two more 3s, one while being fouled. Finley had another 3 during a 10-0 run that put San Antonio up 44-35. The Spurs finished the first half 9-for-17 on 3s, and with a 49-45 lead.
Author: the2008playoffsblitz |
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The Streak
The Rockets historic 22 game winning streak with highlights from each game
Author: vdatla80 |
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Chris Paul 2008 NBA playoffs - career playoffs debut
April 19, 2008 NEW ORLEANS -- The jitters that come with an NBA playoff debut prevented Chris Paul from taking his typical afternoon nap before playing the Dallas Mavericks. Unfortunately for the Mavs, Paul was the same player he's been all season when the Hornets needed him most, and the same "M-V-P!" chants that rained down from the New Orleans Arena stands during numerous recent triumphs made a thunderous postseason return. Paul had 35 points, 10 assists and four steals in his first playoff game Saturday night, lifting New Orleans to a 104-92 come-from-behind victory over Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round series. "Today, after shootaround, I couldn't go to sleep," Paul said, explaining that he instead tuned in to Game 1 of the Cleveland-Washington series, then some of the San Antonio-Phoenix opener. "I saw the intensity of it ... and I was like, 'Man, this is serious."' Then he went out and performed like a playoff veteran, taking the game over with 15 third-quarter points as the Hornets erased a 12-point halftime lead. "Before we started the second half, I told him ' ... when series like this are up in the air, you've got to go out there and impose your will,"' Hornets coach Byron Scott said. Game 2 is Tuesday night. Advertisement Scott had said leading up to this series that playoff experience was valuable but overrated. What else was he going to say? The Mavericks have been in the playoffs eight years in a row. The Hornets hadn't been to the postseason in four years, and their only current player on the roster back then was West, who was a rookie reserve. But for one game, at least, Scott's logic looked sound. West scored 23 points against Dallas. Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 15 rebounds to help New Orleans not only storm back but win going away. Dirk Nowitzki had his way with New Orleans early and finished with 31 points, but scored only four during Dallas' fourth-quarter collapse. Josh Howard added 17 points for the Mavericks, who were in the finals two years ago. "It's one game," Nowitzki said. "The team that loses has to go back, adjust and find ways to get it done the next game." Jason Kidd, the All-Star point guard the Mavericks were hoping would be the missing piece to a championship run when they traded for him midseason, finished with 11 points and nine assists. But the Mavericks had only nine field goals in the second half and no answer Paul, whose third year in the NBA has included a maiden All-Star game nod and serious consideration for league MVP. "In the third quarter he just dominated the game," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We tried giving him a couple different looks, but we're going to have to be much more sound in our defense. We can't let him get out of our traps." The Hornets also got 14 points from Peja Stojakovic, one of their few grizzled playoff vets, who hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final period to help squelch any notion of a Dallas comeback. Dallas, which lost, stunningly, in the first round of last year's playoffs to eighth-seeded Golden State, won't go down without a struggle. With this game out of reach, the Mavs seemed to be already psyching themselves up for the next contest with physical play. Nowitzki and West were assessed double technicals after exchanging words, nose-to-nose, with West holding his hand up to the edge of Nowitzki's cheek. Afterward, both players downplayed the brief standoff as typical playoff intensity. New Orleans looked like a tight group in the first half, missing open jumpers, free throws, even a layup. The Hornets were 9-of-27 shooting in the first quarter, when Dallas took a 26-19 lead behind 11 points from Nowitzki. Hustling defense kept the Hornets within single digits most of the first half, but Dallas, which missed its first nine 3-point attempts, went ahead 49-38 on Kidd's open 3 late in the second period. Howard added another in the final seconds, putting the Mavs ahead 52-40 at halftime. The Hornets desperately needed a player to rise to the occasion on offense in the third quarter - and Paul came through. He had a 7-0 run by himself on a jumper, driving floater and fast-break layup as he was fouled to pull New Orleans to 65-63. The Hornets tied it at 68 on Bonzi Wells' jumper with 2:20 to go in the third period, then Wells' steal led to Paul's fast-break layup for a 70-68 lead. Chandler's follow-up dunk made it 76-72 at the end of the third, during which New Orleans outscored Dallas 36-20. Paul then hit a floater, set up Chandler's alley-oop and West's layup during a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to put New Orleans up 86-74. "In the first half I thought we came out a little anxious, not loose enough," West said. "In the second half we got back to doing the things that got us to this point, and we were able to take over the game."
Author: the2008playoffsblitz |
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Chris Paul alley-oop to Bonzi Wells
2008/3/16 http://ball2live.com/
Author: ball2livecom |
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Jason Kidd's 100th Career Triple-Double vs CP3&Hornets
DALLAS, April 16, 2008 (AP) - Dirk Nowitzki came right out and said it: The Dallas Mavericks did not want to open the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers. They'd much rather take their chances against the New Orleans Hornets - especially after the way things went Wednesday night. Jason Kidd and Jason Terry outplayed Hornets star Chris Paul, with Kidd racking up the 100th triple-double of his career and Terry scoring 13 of his 30 points during a 32-8 stretch that took Dallas from down by 11 to leading by 13. The Mavericks wound up winning 111-98 to set up a first-round series between these teams. "This was definitely a win we wanted to get,' Nowitzki said. "The Lakers are probably the hottest team in the West. We definitely didn't want to face them in the first round. ... (New Orleans) had a great year, but I think we match up pretty well.' The Hornets came in locked into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. To avoid the Mavericks, New Orleans had to win and have Denver win later Wednesday. Coach Byron Scott decided to go for it, sticking with his starters after taking a 50-48 lead at halftime and even after they'd stretched it to 70-59. He could've pulled them at that point, comfortable in knowing his best handled Dallas' best, and hoped his backups could finish it off. But he didn't. And it backfired. Kidd and Terry began either scoring or setting up easy shots every time on offense. A few minutes into the fourth quarter, the Mavericks were ahead 91-78. Although New Orleans got to 100-96, Dallas pulled away again - just like the playoff-experienced Mavericks hope to do to the young, playoff-novice Hornets over the next two weeks. "They played harder and we got a little rattled,' Scott said. "They played with a little more purpose. We were a little lackadaisical. In the playoffs, you can't do that.' Paul agreed, even if he can't speak from experience. The closest he's gotten to the postseason is attending the last two NBA finals as a spectator. "The playoffs are a whole different game,' he said. "Tonight they came out with a lot to prove, whether they played us or the Lakers. We definitely wanted to win but we also knew we also had the second seed.' The teams tied 2-2 in the season series; it was 1-1 after Kidd joined the Mavericks. New Orleans beat Dallas in Kidd's first game, but this one showed how much better the Mavs have gotten since getting accustomed to him running the show. They go into the playoffs on a 6-3 roll that includes victories over Golden State, Phoenix, Utah and, now, the team they'll open against. "I've always thought the of the last regular-season game as a good steppingstone going into the playoffs,' Kidd said. "We want to keep our momentum going.' Kidd had 27 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his first triple-double since rejoining the Mavericks, the team he was with when he broke into the NBA and began piling up the stats. He already was No. 3 on the career list, behind Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson, but now he has joined them in triple-figure triple-doubles. Terry said the guys were hoping Kidd would get it during the previous two games, which turned out be a pair of losses to lottery-bound teams. Kidd said he never thought he'd get it in this game because he was more concerned with staying in front of Paul. The points came easily as Kidd shot 9-of-14, including 5-of-8 on 3-pointers. Then a teammate told him he needed only two rebounds and an assist. He went for it at that point, grabbing his 10th rebound with 1:37 left, drawing a nice ovation from stat-conscious fans. "The good thing is that Dirk is at one, so I'm ahead of him. But he told me he's on his way,' Kidd said, laughing. "Oscar and Magic are great company. They changed the game, so I'm happy to be in their company.' Nowitzki shot just 4-of-16 and had 12 points, a stat the Mavericks think actually bodes well. After all, they won on a night when he struggled, with New Orleans' defense aimed at shutting him down. Howard scored 19 and Bass had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse returned after missing nine games with a groin injury and had four points in 16 minutes. West scored 26 points and Paul had 20 points and 10 assists. Peja Stojakovic scored 17 points and Bonzi Wells had 16 for New Orleans, which ends the season having lost three of four and four of five. Notes: It was Kidd's career-high 13th triple-double of the season. ... Robertson had 181 career triple-doubles. Johnson had 138. ... Kidd had 13 triple-doubles his first time around in Dallas. ... The Mavs went 16-13 after Kidd arrived. They were 35-18 before.
Author: 1EDmanLV |
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