LeBron, Cavaliers finish off sweep of Pistons
LeBron, Cavaliers finish off sweep of Pistons
Behind King James' 36 points, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished off the four-game sweep of the Pistons on the road in Detroit on Sunday, leaving no doubt they are on a missions this postseason with a 99-78 win. Now Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers look to become the second team into the conference semifinals round when they host the Utah Jazz on Monday night at the Staples Center with a 3-1 lead in the series.
Welcome to Hockeytown.
The Detroit Pistons were unceremoniously booted from the 2009 NBA Playoffs on Sunday. The 2004 champions lost each of their four games by double digits to the mighty Cleveland Cavaliers, who were dominant enough on defense to overcome the betting odds at 4-0 ATS despite three of the games going under – not easy to do for such a heavy favorite. But at least the Detroit Red Wings are still alive and kicking to give the Motown faithful something good to think about. They need it.
The Cavs are the only team to go undefeated into the second round this year. We’ve been treated to some tremendous drama in every other series – even the Lakers-Jazz series has had its moments, as we’ll get into a little later. The most entertaining series has been between the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics; Chicago has a pair of overtime wins (one of them at the Garden) to stay even with the C’s at 2-2 SU and 2-1-1 ATS. One of Sunday’s heroes: Ben Gordon, who sank a game-tying trey to force the second overtime. Boston lost the rebounding battle 49-47 minus both Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, two valuable power forwards on the shelf with knee injuries.
Two other series besides Los Angeles-Utah are marching into a potentially decisive Game 5. The Dallas Mavericks are relishing their 3-1 advantage (SU and ATS) over the San Antonio Spurs, who are hurting for offense without Manu Ginobili.
“They have a lot more weapons than us,” Spurs guard Tony Parker told reporters after an impressive, yet futile 43 points in Saturday’s 99-90 defeat in Dallas (-4½). The Mavs’ bench outscored San Antonio’s 23-10 in Game 4.
The Houston Rockets are also in position to put away the Portland Trail Blazers after Sunday’s thrilling 89-88 decision. This has been a much more even series than the Mavs-Spurs at 2-2 ATS, with each of the last three games decided by four points or fewer. Portland covered both games at the Toyota Center to lift the underdog to 17-13-1 ATS during these playoffs. That won’t be much consolation for the Blazers as they head home Tuesday with the season on the line.
Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Lakers (-12½, 211)
Game 5: Monday, Apr 27, 10:30 p.m. (ET) TNT
It’s even worse for the Jazz (49-37 SU, 45-41 ATS), who face elimination on the road Monday night. Home-court advantage looked like it might save them after they earned an 88-86 win Thursday at the EnergySolutions Arena, cashing in as 2-point puppies to keep hope alive in the Beehive State. Then the Lakers (68-18 SU, 45-41 ATS) slapped Utah around in Saturday’s Game 4. Kobe Bryant shot 16-of-24 and Lamar Odom grabbed 15 rebounds in a 108-94 final to take a 3-1 series lead and knot things up financially at 2-2 ATS.
This was a contest where the Jazz had arguably their best chance to win. Carlos Boozer came up with another monster performance: 23 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and three steals. And Mehmet Okur was able to suit up to give Utah a full complement of players. However, Okur and his gimpy right hamstring were held scoreless in 13 ineffective minutes. Meanwhile, Bryant went on a rampage to make up for his 5-for-24 shooting effort in Game 4, ending the night with 38 points.
“You could see he came out on a mission tonight,” Jazz pivot Deron Williams told reporters in defeat.
Bryant and the Lakers can’t cool off if they’re going to get to the pay window. Bookies have made this very public team 12½-point faves in Monday night’s matchup, up from 12 points in the opener at Staples Center and 11 points in Game 2. Betting market surveys at press time had Los Angeles pulling in nearly 80 percent support against the spread; the over was strong as usual with two-thirds of the action on the posted total of 211. Games 1 and 2 in L.A. went over on totals of 210½ and 211, respectively.
Behind King James' 36 points, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished off the four-game sweep of the Pistons on the road in Detroit on Sunday, leaving no doubt they are on a missions this postseason with a 99-78 win. Now Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers look to become the second team into the conference semifinals round when they host the Utah Jazz on Monday night at the Staples Center with a 3-1 lead in the series.
Welcome to Hockeytown.
The Detroit Pistons were unceremoniously booted from the 2009 NBA Playoffs on Sunday. The 2004 champions lost each of their four games by double digits to the mighty Cleveland Cavaliers, who were dominant enough on defense to overcome the betting odds at 4-0 ATS despite three of the games going under – not easy to do for such a heavy favorite. But at least the Detroit Red Wings are still alive and kicking to give the Motown faithful something good to think about. They need it.
The Cavs are the only team to go undefeated into the second round this year. We’ve been treated to some tremendous drama in every other series – even the Lakers-Jazz series has had its moments, as we’ll get into a little later. The most entertaining series has been between the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics; Chicago has a pair of overtime wins (one of them at the Garden) to stay even with the C’s at 2-2 SU and 2-1-1 ATS. One of Sunday’s heroes: Ben Gordon, who sank a game-tying trey to force the second overtime. Boston lost the rebounding battle 49-47 minus both Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, two valuable power forwards on the shelf with knee injuries.
Two other series besides Los Angeles-Utah are marching into a potentially decisive Game 5. The Dallas Mavericks are relishing their 3-1 advantage (SU and ATS) over the San Antonio Spurs, who are hurting for offense without Manu Ginobili.
“They have a lot more weapons than us,” Spurs guard Tony Parker told reporters after an impressive, yet futile 43 points in Saturday’s 99-90 defeat in Dallas (-4½). The Mavs’ bench outscored San Antonio’s 23-10 in Game 4.
The Houston Rockets are also in position to put away the Portland Trail Blazers after Sunday’s thrilling 89-88 decision. This has been a much more even series than the Mavs-Spurs at 2-2 ATS, with each of the last three games decided by four points or fewer. Portland covered both games at the Toyota Center to lift the underdog to 17-13-1 ATS during these playoffs. That won’t be much consolation for the Blazers as they head home Tuesday with the season on the line.
Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Lakers (-12½, 211)
Game 5: Monday, Apr 27, 10:30 p.m. (ET) TNT
It’s even worse for the Jazz (49-37 SU, 45-41 ATS), who face elimination on the road Monday night. Home-court advantage looked like it might save them after they earned an 88-86 win Thursday at the EnergySolutions Arena, cashing in as 2-point puppies to keep hope alive in the Beehive State. Then the Lakers (68-18 SU, 45-41 ATS) slapped Utah around in Saturday’s Game 4. Kobe Bryant shot 16-of-24 and Lamar Odom grabbed 15 rebounds in a 108-94 final to take a 3-1 series lead and knot things up financially at 2-2 ATS.
This was a contest where the Jazz had arguably their best chance to win. Carlos Boozer came up with another monster performance: 23 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and three steals. And Mehmet Okur was able to suit up to give Utah a full complement of players. However, Okur and his gimpy right hamstring were held scoreless in 13 ineffective minutes. Meanwhile, Bryant went on a rampage to make up for his 5-for-24 shooting effort in Game 4, ending the night with 38 points.
“You could see he came out on a mission tonight,” Jazz pivot Deron Williams told reporters in defeat.
Bryant and the Lakers can’t cool off if they’re going to get to the pay window. Bookies have made this very public team 12½-point faves in Monday night’s matchup, up from 12 points in the opener at Staples Center and 11 points in Game 2. Betting market surveys at press time had Los Angeles pulling in nearly 80 percent support against the spread; the over was strong as usual with two-thirds of the action on the posted total of 211. Games 1 and 2 in L.A. went over on totals of 210½ and 211, respectively.