2010-2011 NBA Playoffs
2011 Western Conference Quarterfinals vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Game One
The Oklahoma City Thunder wanted to make a statement. Their young core of Durant, Harden and Westbrook wanted to make a statement. The three would combine for 89 of the Thunder’s 110 points, with Durant dropping 39 on Carmelo Anthony’s head.
On the other end, the Los Angeles Clippers looked like deer in the headlights. Steph Curry’s first playoff game would see him finish with only 12 points, while rookie Gordon Hayward would only have 9 points as the team’s sixth man. Carmelo Anthony looked liked he was the only one who wanted to win, putting up 34 in a duel with Durant, but the team would be blown out 110-89 as the Thunder take the 1-0 series lead.
Game Two
Game Two would see the Clippers return the favor by blowing out the Thunder. Carmelo Anthony, one of the few players with previous playoff experience, would step up as a leader. Finishing with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists, one assist shy of a triple double, he’d be the reason for the Clippers’ 105-85 win.
JJ Reddick would knock home five three pointers, while Steph Curry would get four steals on Russell Westbrook, who would finish the game with nine total turnovers.
The series is now tied 1-1 going back to Los Angeles where the Clippers now can be called the favorites stealing home court advantage.
Game Three
Simply put. A game for the ages.
Three overtime periods were needed to finally separate the two teams, where the Clippers would take the 2-1 series lead with a 145-139 win.
The final two minutes of the fourth quarter saw madness. First was a three by Kevin Durant, who finished with 44 points in 55 minutes of play time. Carmelo Anthony would answer with his own, then Reddick would intercept a pass attempt from James Harden to Kevin Durant, and he’d find Curry behind the arc for the three. Sophomore Steph Curry would have his best game of the series yet with 22 points, and zero turnovers. However, James Harden would be left open in the corner to tie the game with 55 seconds left. Then two misses by both teams meant the game was going into Overtime tied 118-118.
The first Overtime was nothing too exciting, trading baskets and getting stops for both teams meant the second extra period would be played at a 129-129 game.
In the second period Steph Curry would foul out after pulling on Westbrook from behind on a drive to the basket. The Thunder would use his leave to go on a 6-2 run, to lead by 7 with 1:04 left in the Second Overtime, it looked like the game was wrapped up.
Enter Carmelo Anthony.
Nailing a three, getting a block on Durant, then hitting another three meant within the span of 35 seconds he made the game a one point lead. However, another foul out for the Clippers happened when Reddick closed out Harden on a three pointer. With 40 seconds left, all he had to do was hit all three to put pressure onto the Clippers heavily.
Instead he only hit the first one. Trailing by two, with 40 seconds to go, it was obvious who the Clippers would be going to. The Thunder knew as well, as they’d double Carmelo and he’d kick the ball out to Livingston as Harden closed him out he gave an inside pass to rookie Gordon Hayward, who came in for Reddick, and he’d hit the tying layup. A stop on Durant on the other end meant the game was going to a third overtime period.
Sadly, the third extra period wasn’t as exciting as the rest of the game. The Clippers opened it up on a 8-0 run, after Harden and Westbrook would miss five shots between the two and Durant would be the third player to foul out trying to stop Carmelo from driving. A couple more baskets and garbage time free throws meant the Clippers won the game.
“I love that pick! I don’t even know what Paul George did all season, but Hayward out here hitting shots in the playoffs! GO CLIPPERS!”
-Viral Video of a Clippers fan videobombing a local reporter in excitement.
Game Four
As exciting as Game Three was, this game was a bore.
The Thunder go back home with a series tied at 2-2 with a blowout victory. 89-67, as every Clipper was ice cold from the field. The team shot a combined 43% from the field, got outrebounded 2-1 by the Thunder, and had a team high 29 turnovers, meant they blew a chance at an insurmountable 3-1 series lead.
Game Five
The Los Angeles Clippers met Serge Iblocka last night.
Ibaka finished with nine total blocks, including one on a driving Carmelo and then one on a screen on Curry in crunch time to preserve the Thunder’s 97-93 victory where they’ll be going into Game Six with a chance to close the series out and move on in the playoffs.
The Clippers have been the same story they have been all series. Someone needs to help Carmelo Anthony. He posted 33 points, including 5-9 three point shooting, but the next best scorer was J.R Smith with 21 coming off the bench. If the Clippers want to survive to meet the Thunder in a Game Seven someone needs to step up.
Game Six
The Oklahoma City Thunder will be moving onto the second round while the Los Angeles Clippers will be going home wondering what happened?
To paint a picture of what went wrong, let’s go back to 2:20 left in the 4th Quarter.
“Curry down the lane, the lay up missed, Cambry gets the rebound kicks it out to a backpedaling Anthony who nails a huge three! The Clippers are now up 88-78! As the Thunder call a timeout, only leaving them with one.”
Up by ten, with 2:20 left in the game, all signs were pointing to a final and decisive game in Oklahoma. But if you don’t know who Kevin Durant is, you do now.
After their timeout he’d hit a quick three pointer to make the deficit to seven, then a stop on Anthony and a fast break down would see the Clippers lead be cut to five and the Clippers would call a timeout of their own.
“In the huddle, we all knew in our head who we were giving the ball too. But Coach Brown wanted to try to catch the defense off guard by going to me or Reddick if I didn't have a good look. Carmelo looked pissed, he didn't say anything, but I could tell he hated that game plan. Honestly, I feel like that game is what started the downfall of our partnership with Mike Brown.”
-Steph Curry from ESPN’s 30 for 30 “Lights Out In LA.”
“Oh, f**k yeah I was furious. We were on the verge of blowing a double digit lead like that, and I was thinking at the time “this punk doesn’t want me to get the ball?” I mean, duh the defense knew I was going to get it, but sometimes players are good enough to beat what the defense is thinking.”
“Do you think you were good enough to do that?”
“Back then? God damn right.”
-Carmelo Anthony from ESPN’s 30 for 30 “Lights Out In LA.”
The inbound pass went to Curry, who tried driving but was met by Serge Ibaka, who still gave all the Clippers PTSD from his game five performance, so trying to kick it out to Reddick was instead met by Russell Westbrook picking the pass off and finding Durant on a fastbreak dunk.
Now it was a three point game, with Kevin Durant going on his own 7-0 run. A missed three pointer from Carmelo meant the Thunder had a chance to tie the game with roughly 1:03 left to go. Instead, Steph Curry made a mistake.
Russell Westbrook would get an open look as the Clippers’ defense wanted to double Durant, and Curry would foul Westbrook on the shot, which went in. One free throw later, and now the Thunder were up by 1 with a 11-0 run, which caused the Clippers to call their final timeout.
“I was the first to speak to Coach. I told him “I’m getting this f**king ball.” He looked at me and said something like “Well, let’s see the look they give us first.” And I shook my head and responded with “If you want me to stay here, I’m getting this shot.”
-Carmelo Anthony from ESPN’s 30 for 30 “Lights Out In LA.”
The inbounds would go to Carmelo, but he was quickly double teamed by Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka, he’d kick it out to Steph Curry, who had an open look but instead of taking it, he tried forcing it back to Carmelo who was trying to get open, and instead Ibaka would intercept the pass and giving it to Russell Westbrook for the upcoming free throws. The Thunder would hit a pair of free throws and the Thunder would close the series 4-2.
“Steph, what happened on that play?”
“What happened? I mean, it’s obivous I made a dumb play and cost us this season.”
“Do you think you tried to force that because it was Carmelo Anthony?”
“I forced it because I was panicking at the sudden run they were going on.”
-Steph Curry’s postgame conference.
Rest of the Playoffs
Chicago Bulls def. Indiana Pacers 4-1
Memphis Grizzlies def. San Antonio Spurs 4-2
New York Knicks def. Atlanta Hawks 4-0
Los Angeles Lakers def. Denver Nuggets 4-1
Boston Celtics def. Philadelphia 76ers 4-1
Dallas Mavericks def. Portland Trailblazers 4-2
Miami Heat def. Orlando Magic 4-2
Oklahoma City Thunder def. Los Angeles Clippers 4-2
Chicago Bulls def. Miami Heat 4-2
Oklahoma City Thunder def. Memphis Grizzlies 4-3
New York Knicks def. Boston Celtics 4-2
Dallas Mavericks def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-0
New York Knicks def. Chicago Bulls 4-2
Dallas Mavericks def. Oklahoma City Thunder 4-1
2011 NBA Finals New York Knicks vs. Dallas Mavericks
New York Knicks
PG- Johnny Flynn
SG- Joe Johnson
SF- Lebron James
PF- Amare Stoudamrie
C- Timofey Mozgov
Dallas Mavericks
PG- Jason Kidd
SG- Jason Terry
SF- Shawn Marion
PF- Dirk Nowitizki
C- Tyson Chandler
Game One
If you thought that Knicks fans were obnoxious preseason when they signed Lebron James, and then when they had won the Eastern Conference Finals, prepare for tonight.
Lebron James came to play. His second NBA Finals appearance kicked off with a monstrous game. 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. This was the type of performance everyone expected from him coming into the series.
The Dallas Mavericks weren’t bad, however. The game was 99-90 in favor of the Knicks, but Lebron James was too much to handle. Dirk Nowitizki tried to match him, with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, but it wouldn’t be enough.
Game Two
Lebron James came to disappear.
As good as his game one performance was, game two was outright awful. Finishing with 7 points on only 2-8 shooting, the Dallas Mavericks took advantage of the Knicks’ best player disappearing by blowing the Knicks out 108-89 to tie the series up 1-1 going back to Dallas.
Dirk Nowitizki continued his incredible playoff run by finishing with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.
Game Three
Dirk Nowitizki is his name.
Not many people can say they hit a Game Winning shot in the NBA Finals. With 1.2 seconds left in the game, Dirk would get the ball back from Jason Terry and hit a 22 foot jumper to put the Mavericks up by 1 at 95-94. The Knicks inbound pass after their final timeout went as horrible as it could, as the ball was thrown to Johnny Flynn who was off by a mile from three. Center Timofey Mozgov would state that he needed to get the ball in and he was the only one open.
Lebron James continued to be on a downward spiral from his Game One performance. 14 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists saw many fans, media personal and whoever else criticize him.
“He’s shrinking and disappearing! If they don’t win Game Four, let alone this series, it will be solely on Lebron James’ head.”
-Skip Bayless on ESPN’s First Take.
Game Four
The Mavericks now have a 3-1 series lead, with a chance to close the series out at home in Game Five.
The New York Knicks “big three” would combine for only 45 points, with Lebron James only finishing 19 points. If you thought the media were harsh on him after Game Two and Game Three. Things didn't get better after this game.
The Mavericks won the game thanks to their three point shooting. A team effort of 19-37, with Dirk Nowitizki hitting five of them himself, as he finished with 30 points. He’s one game away from closing out this playoff run and probably winning Finals MVP.
Game Five
The Dallas Mavericks are world champions for the first time in franchise history!
The New York Knicks didn't go down without a fight, however. Especially Amare Stoudamrie. It was a showdown between the Power Forwards, as Stoudamrie would finish with series high 32 points and Dirk Nowitizki would finish with 28. However, Nowitizki would get the last laugh as he found Jason Terry in the corner for the Championship Dagger three pointer with 34 seconds to go to put the Mavericks up by seven.
Lebron James, once again, wasn’t Lebron James. Finishing with only 20 points on 6-17 shooting, New York Fans were extra harsh to him.
Dallas Mavericks def. New York Knicks 4-1
Finals MVP: Dirk Nowitizki
Notes:
I like this format for the playoffs, and early exit for the Clippers while Dirk still tops Lebron to get his first. Enjoy as always.