Rose out of NBA playoffs

Updated April 29, 2012 11:14:28

Reigning MVP Derrick Rose will miss the rest of the NBA playoffs after suffering a torn left knee ligament in the Chicago Bulls' victory over Philadelphia.

Rose, who had missed 27 games this season with various injuries, scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds while adding nine assists for the Bulls in their 103-91 home triumph to start the Eastern Conference best-of-seven clash with the 76ers.

But any joy for Chicago was short lived as the club revealed champion point guard Rose had torn an anterior cruciate ligament.

Rose was injured with just 1 minute, 20 seconds remaining and coach Tom Thibodeau was forced to defend his decision to keep Rose on court so late in the game, saying the Bulls had been struggling to finish off the 76ers even with leads of between 15 and 20 points.

"I don't work backwards like you guys. The score was going the other way," Thibodeau said. "We weren't closing the game out the right way.

He added: "A guy can get hurt any time. You have to deal with it. It's part of the game.

"Whatever the circumstances are we will deal with it."

Rose was injured when he landed hard as he planted for a jump shot and his left knee buckled.

Grimacing as he grabbed his left knee, Rose lay on the court while being examined by a trainer until he was helped up and aided to the locker room.

"I just feel bad for him,' Bulls teammate Carlos Boozer said. 'He has been through so much this season. The kid can't catch a break."

Fans briefly chanted 'M-V-P' as Rose got up from the court but most of the crowd was shocked.

"At first it's kind of scary for everybody, not just us, the whole city of Chicago," Bulls starter Richard Hamilton said.

Hamilton backed Thibodeau's decision to keep Rose on the court in the final minutes.

"Philly was making a run," Hamilton said. "In playoff basketball, you never want to give a team confidence. If you have a team down, you have to try to keep them down and keep the starters in the game after they made a little run."

In the other Eastern Conference opener, hosts Miami routed the New York Knicks 100-67 behind 32 points from LeBron James. The Knicks had 27 turnovers and matched their lowest one-game points total in playoff history.

AFP

Tags: sport, basketball, united-states

First posted April 29, 2012 09:41:08

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Blaze into play-offs with 36ers win

Updated March 17, 2012 23:10:45

Gold Coast guaranteed itself a play-off berth with a thrilling 84-83 win over a gallant Adelaide 36ers in their NBL clash at Adelaide Arena on Saturday.

The Blaze looked in control with a 14-point second-quarter lead, but only sealed the win with seconds to play after the 36ers produced a 25-point third term to almost pull off a major upset.

Mark Worthington scored 21 points for the Blaze including the winning basket, while 36ers forward Diamon Simpson also notched 21 points and grabbed 11 boards.

In the early stages, both sides scored freely but the height and power of Worthington and Will Hudson began to tell for the visitors.

With guard Adam Gibson running the show superbly, the Blaze led by 10 before 36ers guard Everard Bartlett launched a spectacular long-range three-pointer on the quarter-time buzzer to reduce the deficit.

Anthony Petrie, Chris Goulding and Tom Garlepp came out firing after the break for Gold Coast, stretching the visitors' lead to 14.

But Adelaide imports Chris Warren and Simpson helped turn the game and, while Hudson continued to terrorise the 36ers' defence, superb three-pointers from Darren Ng and Stephen Weigh had the home crowd roaring.

Simpson was in the mood, drawing fouls and sinking a series of free throws to wrestle back momentum.

When the half-time siren sounded, the Blaze looked happy to still have a 48-41 advantage.

Baskets from Simpson and Daniel Johnson quickly reduced the deficit to two points early in the third quarter.

Gibson and Adris Deleon replied, but a Warren three-pointer maintained Adelaide's pressure.

When Warren sank another the 36ers were in front and, with Johnson on fire, they took a 66-60 lead at the last break.

The Blaze fought back and, in a thrilling finale, Warren tied it up at 80-80 with 45 seconds left.

Gibson then restored the lead only for Warren to produce yet another three-pointer to put the 36ers up by one, before Worthington clinched it with six seconds to play.

AAP

Tags: nbl, basketball, sport, adelaide-5000, sa, broadbeach-4218, qld, australia

First posted March 17, 2012 23:10:45

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NBA Playoffs: Eastern Conference Finals

By Adrian Crawford

Posted May 27, 2011 20:13:00
Updated May 27, 2011 20:27:00

They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place but here we are, staring down the barrel of a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals between Miami and Dallas. Neither franchise has been back to the big dance since they met five seasons ago but both rosters have evolved considerably since then. Let's take a look at how the Heat got there.

Chicago (1) v Miami (2)

Series outcome: Heat 4-1

Writing as a former Cavaliers fan jilted by LeBron James 10 months ago when he departed for the tropical surroundings of south Florida, it's tough to concede that his much-maligned move is paying off and Miami is in unstoppable form as a result. The Heat made a shaky start to their 2010/11 campaign despite the coming-together of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh but the Eastern Conference's newest "Big Three" have figured it out in a big way. What was expected to be a team capable of an offensive blitzkrieg every single night poured equal intensity into the defensive end of the court as well.

Speaking of defence, it's been the cornerstone of Chicago's season after the club installed former Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau as head coach. Thibodeau was the defensive guru behind the Celtics' 2008 championship season and he earned the NBA Coach of the Year award after guiding the Bulls to their first division and conference titles since the Michael Jordan era and a league-best 62 wins, equalling a league record for wins by a rookie head coach. One of the Bulls' other weapons through the regular season was their offensive rebounding - led by Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, they grabbed an average of 11.8 boards on the offensive end per game with a 1.7-rebound differential over their opponents.

And as things turned out, it was second-chance points and dominance on the offensive glass that helped Chicago to a 1-0 series lead after Game One at the United Centre. The Bulls ripped down 19 offensive boards to Miami's six, scored 23 more second-chance points and crushed the Heat by 21. Luol Deng put up 21 points (including four three-pointers), seven boards and his defensive lockdown on an unusually flustered-looking James made Chicago's doubters sit up and think "these guys have got what it takes to make the Finals". Regular season MVP Derrick Rose had 28 on 10-of-22 shooting and added six assists, but the series opener was the last time the Bulls point man would make better than 45 per cent of his field goals.

Rose's shooting woes continued throughout the next four games, in which he went 32-for-98 (32.6 per cent) from the floor and even worse (4-for-23, 17.39 per cent) from long-range as his side lost the next four straight games - which was a big deal in itself considering Chicago never lost more than two in a row all season. It was unreasonable to expect Miami not to come out swinging hard to avenge the series-opening loss and it did so, stealing home-court advantage behind James' 29-10-5 night and Wade's 24. The defensive chokehold the Bulls had over the Heat's scoring threats seemed to have eroded overnight and by the end of Game Three, when Chris Bosh silenced the number one seeds with a 34-point night, Miami was moving full speed towards the Finals.

The Heat needed an extra period to push the Bulls to the brink of elimination with an overtime win in Miami in Game Four but the series could have been 2-2 if not for two missed Rose field goals from 17 and 18 feet with the chance to break the 85-85 deadlock as the clock ticked down. Wade and James had six each in overtime and Bosh added four more to give Miami the chance to close things out in Chicago on Thursday night. The visitors did just that in a surprising late comeback, erasing a 12-point margin in the final three minutes to clinch the Eastern Conference Championship with an 83-80 win. Wade struggled from the field early but he and James were both firing on all cylinders, orchestrating an 18-3 run to end the series on their terms.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the key to the Heat's offensive success was their Big Three - James, Wade and Bosh accounted for an average of 67.8 of Miami's 89.4 points per night. But Miami's bench players have acted as energy guys on both ends of the floor - most notably the fit-again Udonis Haslem in the paint and guards Mario Chalmers and Mike Miller playing cameos at the perimeter. Joel Anthony is still playing big minutes and while he offers virtually nothing in points or rebounds, his shot-blocking (2.07bpg this postseason) is a valuable asset.

Perhaps the most telling individual statistic to come out of the series was that Rose's assist numbers (6.6apg) dipped from his regular season average (7.7apg) while his field goal attempts skyrocketed from 19.7 a night to 24.0 ... but his makes dropped from 8.8 to 8.4. If that's too many numbers to process, it can be said that the 22-year-old former number one overall draft pick opted to take on much of the offensive responsibility himself, but struggled under the defensive attention of James and the Heat and tried his best to shoot his team back into each contest. His free throw numbers stayed largely the same due to Rose's propensity to drive in traffic to the basket but again Miami got its stops where it counted.

Rose averaged a team-best 27.1ppg for the postseason but the nearest Bulls contributor was Deng (16.9 a night), while Boozer was impotent with the ball in his hands. A career .537 shooter, Boozer's field goal percentage plummeted to .407 against Miami and despite back-to-back double-doubles in Games Three and Four he was unable to give Chicago the consistent second scorer it desperately needed. With that said the Bulls shouldn't go home discouraged that their season ended prematurely. After all, they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals with a rookie head coach and a roster that had only played in that system - and together, more importantly - for one season. Chicago will likely take a lot out of the series loss and as the cast and crew all find their grooves with each other, so should postseason success.

Tags: sport, basketball, united-states

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Bulls march on in NBA play-offs

Updated May 13, 2011 14:31:00

Chicago Bulls advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1998 with a series-clinching 93-73 win away to Atlanta Hawks.

Displaying the kind of offensive and defensive balance that earned them the best regular-season record, the Bulls brushed past the Hawks to close out the best-of-seven series 4-2.

Chicago will now face the surging Miami Heat for a place in the NBA Finals.

League MVP Derrick Rose delivered one of his most efficient performances of the post-season, finishing with 19 points and 12 assists while taking just 14 shots - well below his series average of more than 27 attempts per game.

Rose's team-mates carried more of the load with Carlos Boozer tallying 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The Hawks were blitzed from the start, trailing by 10 after the first and second quarters, before falling behind by 17 after three.

Joe Johnson scored a team-high 19 points and Josh Smith added 18 for the Hawks.

- Reuters

Tags: sport, basketball, united-states

First posted May 13, 2011 14:05:00

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Kobe hit with Playoffs defeat

Published:Monday, May 9, 2011 12:59 AEST

Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers wipes his face during his side's loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game Four of the Western Conference semi-finals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs on May 8, 2011 in Dallas, Texas

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Mavs sweep lacklustre Lakers from Playoffs

Posted May 9, 2011 11:45:00

The Dallas Mavericks completed a 4-0 second round sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers with a 122-86 rout of the two-time defending champions.

Dallas tied an NBA Playoff record with 20 three-pointers to land the knockout blow on the aging and weary Lakers and send 11-time NBA champion coach Phil Jackson into retirement on a sour note.

Jason Terry drained nine three-pointers of his own and 32 points to send the Mavericks into the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2006.

In that season, Dallas lost to Miami in the NBA Finals despite holding a 2-0 series lead, but it suffered no such letdown against LA.

"We went to the finals that one year and have since had a couple early exits, but I think this team is as deep as any Mavs team I've been on and we're trying to go for it," Dallas All Star Dirk Nowitzki told reporters after finishing with 17 points.

"(The Lakers) are the defending champions. It was great to get through this series."

Kobe Bryant came out hot with 13 points in the first quarter, but finished with just 17 as the Mavs blitzed the visitors 36-16 in the second quarter to take a 24-point half-time lead.

The Lakers had reached the past three NBA Finals but in a season marked by inconsistent efforts they ultimately collapsed in Dallas in what was likely the end of Jackson's career.

Los Angeles big men Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were ejected in the fourth quarter after taking cheap shots on Dallas players once the game was well out of reach.

Jackson, the most successful coach in NBA history, has maintained that this would be his final season.

Having led the Chicago Bulls to six championships in the 1990s, and the Lakers to five since, the 65-year-old has called it a career after his 20th season as a head coach.

"All of my hopes and aspirations are that this is the final game that I will coach," said Jackson.

"This has been a wonderful run. I go out with a sour note after being fined 35,000 dollars by the league earlier today."

The NBA fined Jackson earlier in the day for comments made about the officiating in the series.

Bryant, who has won each of his five titles with Jackson as coach, said he a hard time imagining playing for anyone else.

"It's tough to put into words what he's meant for me," Bryant said.

"I grew up under him. The way I approach and think about things, a lot of it comes from him because I've been around him so much.

"It's a little weird for me to think of what next year is going to be like."

-Reuters

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NBA Playoffs Preview: Eastern Conference

By Adrian Crawford

Posted April 17, 2011 01:16:00
Updated April 17, 2011 01:26:00

The 2010/11 NBA season proved to be one of the most headline-heavy in memory. Superstars teamed up in Miami and New York, elder statesmen San Antonio and Boston proved they still have the fire to compete for another championship while the defending champion Lakers went up and down in their quest for another hat-trick of titles.

With the postseason kicking off on Sunday morning (AEST) the Larry O'Brien Trophy is still anyone's for the taking. Denver came home with a wet sail but does it have what it takes to win a title without Carmelo Anthony? Can the Heat's three stars carry them to all the glory for the first time since 2006? Will Los Angeles deliver Phil Jackson his 12th ring and fourth three-peat? Only time will tell, but for now let's take a look at how the first round shapes up in the East.

Chicago (1) v Indiana (8)

There is no hotter team going into the playoffs than the Bulls. Owning the league's best record at 62-20 and clinching the first seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since Michael Jordan led the team to its last title in 1997-98, Chicago is in devastating touch indeed. Former first overall draft pick Derrick Rose is at the helm this time around and is the hottest candidate in MVP discussions after having a career-best season in almost every statistical category.

Rose has matured into the franchise leader Chicago had hoped he would be, leading the Bulls through difficult stretches when marquee power forward signing Carlos Boozer and energetic centre Joakim Noah spent time on the sidelines injured. He thrived under pressure and was the player his team-mates constantly looked to late in close games. That said, Chicago certainly runs deep in every position. Boozer and Noah's understudies - Taj Gibson and Kurt Thomas - have been useful in limited minutes and backup guards Kyle Korver and Keith Bogans give the Bulls' second unit an outside shooting threat. While starting small forward Luol Deng has plenty of minutes on the clock this season he's also having a productive year feeding off Rose.

The Bulls forced an entertaining seven games out of eventual champion Boston in 2008 but were rolled in five by Cleveland last season, so Rose's and indeed his team's playoff mettle will certainly be tested against Indiana. The Pacers, on the other hand, haven't played in the postseason since 2006 when they were beaten in six games by New Jersey in the first round. That year was a nightmare for Indiana, which suffered through the infamous "Malice at the Palace" brawl against Detroit, and the franchise has not been the same since.

No player from that season remains on the Pacers' roster, which could be why they've returned to the Eastern Conference's top eight. Led by franchise player Danny Granger and young sidekicks Darren Collison and Roy Hibbert, Indiana edged Milwaukee by two games to sneak into the playoffs with a 37-45 record, making the Pacers the only losing team to reach the postseason this year. Former coach Jim O'Brien was sacked midseason and assistant Frank Vogel took the reins, somewhat reenergising the club to wins over fellow playoff teams Portland, Chicago, New York, Boston and Atlanta.

The Pacers' inexperience in the postseason is going to be a key factor in the first round against the red-hot Bulls. Their go-to man Granger can be a streaky shooter and there are few options besides Collison and Hibbert. Expect Chicago to run Vogel's charges ragged, although they can probably steal one in front of a basketball-mad Indiana crowd at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Prediction: Chicago 4-1

Miami (2) v Philadelphia (7)

All eyes have been on South Beach, Florida since the summer of 2010 when LeBron James and Chris Bosh teamed up with Dwyane Wade in Miami chasing the titles that eluded the latter pair in Cleveland and Toronto respectively. The move was divisive but love or hate the new-look Heat, they shook off a shaky start to the season, questions of chemistry and some sub-par performances against the Association's toughest teams to clinch the number two seed and book a meeting with Philadelphia in the first round with a 58-24 record. They finished in the top eight in the league in points scored (eighth, 102.1ppg) and conceded (sixth, 94.6) so there's no denying they're a threat.

The biggest question to loom over the Heat this season is their depth. Miami has three of the biggest offensive stars in the league in James (26.7ppg, 7.5rpg, 7.0apg), Wade (25.5ppg, 6.4rpg, 4.6apg) and Bosh (18.7ppg, 8.3rpg) but there's very little else backing them up. No other player on the team averages more than 8ppg, and the top honour goes to Udonis Haslem who missed 69 games due to a foot injury and is only just returning to the practise court. Centres Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Erick Dampier aren't getting any younger and have all played limited minutes this season, which could expose the Heat against strong defensive frontcourts like those in Los Angeles, Oklahoma City or a healthy Boston.

With that said, Philadelphia should not pose many problems for Erik Spoelstra's crew of stars. The 76ers enjoyed a resurgent season despite starting in a 4-13 hole that was reminiscent of last season. But with 12th-year power forward Elton Brand enjoying his best scoring year in three seasons and a better-than-average defensive output (12th in the league, 97.5 points conceded per game) as well as a shared offensive load between young guards Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams and franchise star Andre Iguodala, the Sixers returned to the postseason after missing out in 2009.

Miami swept the season series between the two teams 3-0, with Wade averaging 30.7 points on 52 per cent shooting against Philly. Expect much of the same as the Sixers come to Florida having lost five of their last six games. Even with more depth on the bench, Philadelphia will struggle to contain the firepower that is the Heat's Big Three.

Prediction: Miami 4-1

Boston (3) v New York (6)

What a difference a trade can make. While raw statistics painted one picture, the Celtics seemed to be in disarray after dealing title-winning defensive centre Kendrick Perkins and energy bench guy Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic at the deadline. Boston strung together 14 wins before Christmas, including impressive victories over postseason players Chicago, Portland, Denver, Philly and Atlanta. But inconsistency and injury played niggling roles in the second half of the Celtics' season as Shaquille O'Neal and Jermaine O'Neal remained sidelined and unable to properly shore up the void that Perkins vacated.

Appearances can be deceiving though. In the 2010 playoffs, Boston limped into the first round looking nothing like a team that won the title less than two years earlier. But the Cs blasted through the Eastern Conference, losing only five games on their way to the finals against Los Angeles where they stretched the defending champions to a gruelling seventh game. Like their old rival Lakers, the Celtics have the innate ability to kick the energy up several notches on the big stage and with the defensive intensity of Kevin Garnett, the leadership of veteran small forward Paul Pierce, the outside shooting of an evergreen Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo's brilliant court vision, Boston should not be counted out by any means.

New York reloaded this season with the offseason acquisition of Amar'e Stoudemire and a mid-year trade that brought Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to the Big Apple. The Knicks certainly have their scoring sorted for their first playoffs campaign since 2004, with Anthony (26.3ppg) and Stoudemire (25.3ppg) ensuring New York was ranked the second-highest in the league in points scored with 106.5 a night - a fairly common statistic for Mike D'Antoni teams. Where the Knickerbockers will fall to Boston though is at the other end of the court - they don't play a great deal of defence. New York finished with a 42-40 record, and it's easy to see why - they had the third-worst defence in the NBA allowing 105.7ppg for the season.

Even without Perkins, Boston finished the regular season with the best defence in the league, conceding a stingy 91.1 points per game. If Shaq and Jermaine O'Neal can both return from injury to provide solid minutes down low, consider Stoudemire's effectiveness in the paint mostly negated. Putting cagey defender Pierce on Anthony will stem the flow even more, and Rondo's quickness is an easy match for veteran point guard Billups. The New York-Boston rivalry runs fierce so the Knicks certainly won't lay down, but the Celtics are more than likely to make it out of the first round.

Prediction: Boston 4-3

Orlando (4) v Atlanta (5)

The Magic haven't enjoyed the same success as they did in 2008-09 when they made it to the Finals but lost to the Lakers. They flirted with 60-win seasons the last two years with 59-23 records, but lost seven more games this time around and settled for the fourth seed in the East. Orlando's formula has not changed - with Dwight Howard (22.9ppg, 14.1rpg, 2.4bpg) banging in the lane and a host of outside shooters forcing defenders to hedge their bets - and they have a deep roster of guys who can score on a nightly basis. Vince Carter (15.1ppg), Jason Richardson (13.9) and Jameed Nelson (13.1) can all fill it up from long range, making the Magic a constant perimeter threat.

What Orlando may lack is the killer instinct to win its way through to the Conference Finals and further. Howard and coach Stan van Gundy publicly questioned the Magic's drive this season and their desire to play night in night out, and both men have expressed dismay at times when the superstar centre was left to carry the team's hopes alone. And while Orlando boasted the fourth most miserly defence in the NBA this year, it has no true back-up big man for when Howard inevitably needs a rest. Like their Florida neighbours the Heat, the Magic could run into trouble against deep frontcourts down the track.

In the first round they drew the perennial prematurely exiting Hawks. The club has not made it past the second round of the playoffs in its history in Atlanta - 42 seasons of postseason disappointment. To add more chinks to its armour, Atlanta lost its final six games - the league's worst home stretch skid among playoff teams - and has not won more than three in a row since before Christmas. The Hawks' record on the road is an average 20-21 for the season but they won their season series against Orlando 3-1, including one on the Magic's floor. Atlanta could also boast that it had a Howard-stopper in Jason Collins, a 10-year veteran who pestered the Orlando big man in their last regular-season match-up.

The Hawks have several options on the offensive end with Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford and Jamal Crawford all averaging more than 14 a night. But save for a few role players in Kirk Hinrich, Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia, Atlanta's depth pales in comparison to Orlando's and they will have to capitalise on a cold shooting night for the Magic if they want to take a couple of wins out of this series.

Prediction: Orlando 4-2

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