As we approach the end of the first week of pro basketball, we can also enjoy that No.5 AP/No. 6 ESPN/USA Today North Carolina is 12-2 after destroying Elon 100 to 62, while their former players are doing well in the NBA. All of this means that it’s time to once again look at the daily post “Heels in the Pros” (NBA) for 12/29/11 in a day where the National Basketball had six games in all, of which half had a touch of carolina blue, one being a head to head match up between squads that have former UNC players on them. So, without further ado, let’s get going with this edition of “Heels in the Pros” (NBA) for December 29, 2011…

The first game of the night is one between teams from the lone star state as the San Antonio Spurs (WC ~ Southwest) headed to the Toyota Center to take on the Houston Rockets (WC ~ Southwest). The divisional game, played in front of 18,267, is the first of four games between the squads from Texas. For the visiting squad it’s former Tar Heel Danny Green, who comes off the bench and plays 12 minutes, which is the most this season for the third year man. In that time frame the former UNC guard scored six points (3 for 7 ~ 0 for 2 ~ 0 for 0) to go with four rebounds and a steal while having a -6 pts differential. As far as the game went it was Houston (1-1, 1-0 at home) beating San Antonio (2-1, 0-1 on the road) by 20 points, with the final being 105 to 85.

The second game of the night is once again a Western Conference match up between the Dallas Mavericks (WC ~ Southwest) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (WC ~ Northwest). The game, first of four, was played in front of a crowd of 18,203 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. For the visiting team there are two former Heels on the squad, with Brendan Haywood getting the nod at the center spot. The eleventh year veteran gets 23 minutes of playing time, where he scores eight points (4 for 7 ~ 0 for 0 ~ 0 for 1) along with five rebounds, a steal, a block and a turnover while having a pts differential of +16. The other Tar Heel, shooting guard Vince Carter, comes off the bench in this one for the Mavs and plays a total of 16 minutes in all. In that time frame the 14th year pro scores eight points (3 for 8 ~ 2 for 3 ~ 0 for 2) to go with three rebounds, a steal and a TO while having a +3 points differential. As far as the game went it was Oklahoma (4-0, 2-0 at home) winning this one at the buzzer, defeating Dallas (0-3, 0-1 on the road) 104 to 102. Not a bad way to go for the Thunder who had their two stars argueing the night before.

In the final game of the night with a touch of carolina blue we have the Denver Nuggets (WC ~ Northwest) taking on the Portland Trail Blazers (WC ~ Northwest) in what was a duel of former UNC floor generals and division foes. The game, first of three, was played at the Rose Garden in front of an attendance of 20,531. For the visiting team it’s third year pro Ty Lawson, who plays 40 minutes, most on his team. For the speedster it’s a 25 points game, once again a team and game high, (10 for 16 ~ 2 for 3 ~ 3 for 4) to go with eight steals, four boards, three assists and a pair of turnovers while having a -10 pts differential. On the other side, Raymond Felton, who played 34 minutes in all. For the seventh year veteran it’s a team high 23 points performance (10 for 16 ~ 1 for 3 ~ 2 for 2) to go along with six assists, five boards and a whooping four TOs while getting a points differential of +7. In the end it was Portland (3-0, 3-0 at home) beating Denver (2-1, 1-1 on the road) 111 to 102.

Clipped from: scores.espn.go.com (share this clip)

Clipped from: scores.espn.go.com (share this clip)

One interesting tidbit, with the season less than one week old there are already six teams two or more games from the top, while eight are still winless. On the other hand only four teams are still undefeated, two of them in the same division. In a shorten season this seems to be a year with lots of interesting twists and turns, with more than sixty games to go for each team you have to believe there will be plenty more drama for all the teams, including where will Dwight Howard ends up.

And so, after a long lock out, the National Basketball Association is back, and that means that here on The Fifth Corner “Heels in the Pros” is back as well. Right now there is a dozen former North Carolina players on NBA rosters, but not many began the season yesterday, with only the Dallas Mavericks having a touch of carolina blue on their roster. However for the team from the lone star state it has three ex UNC players on the payroll. But do not worry, with a dozen games on tap tonight there will be plenty of Carolina action upcoming soon on this daily post. So, without further ado, let’s get ready for the first “Heels in the Pros” (NBA) of the season for the games on December 25, 2011…

In the only game for this post we have the world champions Dallas Mavericks take on the team that they beat last season to win it all, the Miami Heat at the American Airlines Center in front of a crowd of 20,421. For the Mavs two former Heels started, with seven footer Brendan Haywood, in his 11th year in the league, being the man in the middle, scoring no points (0 for 2 ~ 0 for 0 ~ 0 for 0) to go with three rebounds and a couple of turnovers while having a -6 +/- differential in just 14 minutes of playing time, which was the least any starter got. The other starter for the team from the lone star state is 14th year veteran Vince Carter, taking the court at the shooting guard position and getting 21 minutes of action. For the guard it was a so-so game with five points (2 for 6 ~ 1 for 3 ~ 0 for 2) to go with three assists, two boards and a pair of TOs with a points differential of 0. Finally, off the bench, it’s power forward Brandan Wright, who comes in for 11 minutes in all, not scoring (0 for 1 ~ 0 for 0 ~ 0 for 0) to go with a board and a steal in the game while having a +9 points differential. As far as the game went it was the visiting team taking revenge for last season, as the Miami Heat won the game by 11, defeating the Dallas Mavericks by the final of 105 to 94, behind a double double by LBJ, as Jeff Sack says at Pro Hoops Central.

Clipped from: scores.espn.go.com (share this clip)

First game of the night does not just have one Heel in the game, but three. It is the one between visiting Charlotte Bobcats and the home squad Cleveland Cavaliers played at Quicken Loans Arena (or as the locals say “the Q”). For the home team it is Antawn Jamison, who played for Dean Smith from `96 to `96, is one of the key pieces for the Cavs, starts and plays for 21 minutes in this one. In that time the ex NPOY while at UNC scored just four points off a bad shooting night (1 for 9 ~ 0 for 2 ~ 2 for 2) to go with eight rebounds (2 offensive), two assists, a steal, a block and three turnovers. The next Heel, Jawad Williams (four year player at UNC under both Matt Doherty and Roy Williams), comes off the bench for a dozen minutes. In that time the ex 2005 national champ scores just a pair (1 for 4 ~ 0 for 1 ~ 0 for 0) to go with two points, an assist and two TOs. Finally we have Daniel Green (another four year player in Chapel Hill), who gets the most minutes of the three, with 23, while scoring the least, one point (0 for 5 ~ 0 for 1 ~ 1 for 2), to go with five boards, three steals, two blocks and a pair of turnovers. In what was definitely a low scoring game the Cavaliers would take it by double digits, defeating the Bobcats by the final tally of 87 to 72. With the W Cleveland is 1 and 0 in the pre-season, but I doubt they are going to forget the player that left anytime soon, wins or not!

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

CAVS: The Blog (TrueHoop Network) by John Kronik
Fear The Sword (SB Nation) by John Bena
Slam Dunk Central by Jeff Sack

Box Score — Play-By-Play

The next game on the night with a Carolina player being on the floor is the one pinning the Washington Wizards and the Dallas Mavericks, a game that was played at the American Airline Center. For the home team we have Heel big man Brandan Haywood, who was at Chapel Hill from 1997 to 2000 playing for both Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge. Now, in his tenth season in the pro’s the seven footer is the man in the middle for Mark Cuban’s squad. In this one he played just 19 minutes, scoring seven points (3 for 5 ~ 0 for 0 ~ 1 for 1). He also added three rebounds, one assist, one steal, a block and a pair of turnovers. In a tight game, in this one it was Washington taking it by three points, defeating Dallas by the score of 97 to 94. With the loss the Mavs go to 0 and 1 in the pre-season.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Two Man Game (True Hoop Network) by Rob Mahoney
Mavs Moneyball (SB Nation) by LJ Rotter

Box Score — Play-By-Play

And finally, in the third game of the night with a Tar Heel playing, it’s the Orlando Magic going to the lone star state to take on the Houston Rockets in a game that was played at the Toyota Center. For the visiting team of the sunshine state we have Vince Carter, who went to UNC for three years and played under Dean Smith in that time, who started for the Magic and getting 25 minutes (2nd on his team) and scoring 14 points (2nd on his squad) (5 for 11 ~ 1 for 3 ~ 3 for 3). Carter also added five rebounds, three assists, a trio of steals and three TOs while having a -6 in the pts differential category. In this one it was Orlando winning it, getting it done by nine points, as they defeated Houston by the final tally of 97 to 88. The Magic are 1 and 0 in the off-season, but it’s nice to see the Howard/Carter combo getting the most shots and the most points.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Magic Basketball (TrueHoop Network) by Eddy Rivera
Orlando Pinstriped Post (SB Nation) by Ben Q Rock
Howard the Dunk (FanSided) by Andrew Melnick

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Celtics vs Magic

Okay, so I admit it, I was way too premature in claiming that the Boston Celtics would be going to the NBA Finals. Now, after two games where the Orlando Magic seem to have found their game what I might be talking about is history, as it has never happened before that a National Basketball Association team comes from being 0-3 to win the series. I do not know who is going to win this series, but I know that this series is definitely getting better and better by the game! Without a doubt the next game, scheduled for tomorrow at the TD Garden in Boston, is going to be key for both squads. The Magic without a doubt have the momentum, while the Celtics have the home court. And while I am not going anyway near guessing who is going to win this game (or the next if needed) I am going to say this, whether you are a die hard fan or a passer-by one, you can not miss the game coming up in Boston, as it could be one of the best in a series in quite sometimes.

And as far as the two ex Tar Heels in this series? Well for the Boston Celtics center Rasheed Wallace played just 18 minutes coming off the bench but had a team high 21 points (7 for 9 ~ 3 for 5 ~ 4 for 4) to go along with two rebounds, two blocks, a steal and a turnover while having a -16 pts differential. On the other hand, for the Orlando Magic, it was shooting guard Vince Carter, who started and played for 26 minutes, scoring just eight points (3 for 10 ~ 1 for 4 ~ 1 for 1) to go with three rebounds, three assists, and a pts differential of +8.

In this game, played at the Amway Arena in front of a crowd that numbered 17,461 (televised by ESPN on their main channel) it was Orlando taking the lead in the first quarter and never relinquishing it. The first 12 minutes of play it was the Magic going up 31 to 27, adding on a 26 to 22 second quarter, putting the home squad ahead 57 to 49 when the two team went into halftime. In the closest quarter of the game it was the Magic beating out the Celtics 27 to 26 in the third frame, while it was a landslide win for Orlando in the last quarter, with the partial being 29 to 17 and the final score 113 to 92.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Magic Basketball (TrueHoop Network) by Eddy Rivera
CelticsHub (TrueHoop Network) by Brian Robb
Orlando Pinstriped Post (SB Nation) by Ben Q Rock
CelticsBlog (SB Nation) by Jeff Clark
Howard the Dunk (FanSided) by Andrew Melnick
Slam Dunk Central by Jeff Sack
Red’s Army by Red’sArmy
Celtics Life by Bohemian

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Magic vs Celtics

If “The Ball Don’t Lie”, a quote that rings in my head thanks to the great Celtics Late Night Show podcast, tonight Rasheed Wallace and his Celtics will be sweeping the Orlando Magic, who have another ex Tar Heel, Vince Carter, on their roster. Say what you will but I doubt that anyone (including all those so-called experts) that thought this could be true. Heck, how many people would think that the Celtics would be still playing while the Cavaliers would be home and trying to figure out what next year will bring. But that is what the National Basketball Association is giving us this season, a Celtics team that seems to have turned on the switch at the right time while a lot of the teams on fire in the regular season have not looked so good in the playoffs. Tonight’s line has Boston as a seven points favorite, and after having watched the series, you have to think that the Celtics will easily cover that. But what about the two Tar Heels, how have they done in this series?

For the shooting guard for the sunshine state it has been a 34 minutes per game in the series, while scoring 18.0 PPG to go with 3.7 RPG, 2.33 SPG and 1.7 APG. Not bad overall, as the points went up compared to the regular season, the assists went down, the rebounds remained about the same and the steals were excellent compared to the first 82 games. On the other side, Rasheed Wallace has dropped four minutes from the regular season to the series against Orlando (22.5 to 18.3), so has his rebounds (4.1 to 2.3) but his points have gone up somewhat (9.0 to 9.7). Reading those numbers you could make the case that Carter is a lot more important to the Magic than Wallace is to the Celtics, and in a way you would be right, but in another, for the minutes that are needed to give the starters a break, you would be wrong. The Celtics are going well right now because they don’t have to put 100% with the starting five and can rely on the bench for plenty of help.

If the Celtics do sweep, with the Western Conference final being 2-1 does the team from Bean Town want to have the other series finish as quickly as possible or would they rather have the rest? I will be asking that to several Boston bloggers in the next couple of days on my podcast!

Hawks vs Magic

In the end this was a really weird game, with the Hawks keeping up with the Magic in the first quarter, as it ended 32 to 27 for Orlando. Atlanta would come back in the 2nd quarter, taking it 30 to 17, and going into the locker room ahead 57 to 49 and with the Magic’s Dwight Howard in foul trouble. However thanks to Carter’s performance the Magic took the third quarter by 9, 35 to 26 and the last quarter by 13, 28 to 15. In the end it was a double digit win for the home squad, and while it was not the beat down of the first game, it was still a 112 to 98 win for them. I have to say that unless the Hawks’ coaching staff can find a way to fix the problems quickly this series might be over before the two teams have to head back to Orlando.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Magic Basketball (TrueHoop Network) by Eddy Rivera
Hoopinion (TrueHoop Network) by Brett Lagree
Orlando Pinstriped Post (SB Nation) by Ben Q Rock
Peachtree Hoops (SB Nation) by hawksdawgs
Soaring down South (FanSided) by Kris Willis
Howard the Dunk (FanSided) by Andrew Melnick
Slam Dunk Central by Stephen Rhodes

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Hawks vs Magic

Another game in the Eastern Conference playoffs and once again another head to head match up between teams that have a touch of Carolina Blue on them. It’s the first game (of a best of seven series) btween the home town Orlando Magic and the visiting Atlanta Hawks, played in front of a crowd that numbered 17,461 at the Amway Arena. On this side of the playoff brackets all four teams (Atlanta (1), Boston (1), Cleveland (3) and Orlando (1)) have at least one ex UNC player on their roster. This means, that whomever wins the semis and the finals for the East an ex Tar Heel will be playing for the NBA Title this season. Which is a good thing, since the two teams in the West that has ex players from Chapel Hill (Dallas and Denver) were both eliminated in the first round.

In this one, for the visiting team from the Gate City of the South it’s small forward Marvin Williams, who got the start for the Hawks and played a total of 35 minutes in this one. In that time the fourth year veteran scored eight points (4 for 10 ~ 0 for 0 ~ 0 for 0), four rebounds, an assist, and had a -29 pts differential. Williams has played eight games so far in the playoffs, having had three double digit games while also having a game scoring just 2 or 4 points. On the other side, for the home town team, it’s veteran shooting guard Vince Carter, who starts for the Magic. The ex pupil of Dean Smith played 28 minutes in this one, scoring 20 points (7 for 16 ~ 1 for 2 ~ 5 for 5) to go along with six rebounds, three assists and a turnover while having a pts differential of +28. Carter has scored in double figure in all of the five post season games this season, with the last two games scoring 20+ in each.

The game began as a close one, with Orlando going up by two at the end of the first quarter (25 to 23). However that was the last time this game was close as the Magic outscored the Hawks by 18, 28 to 10, in the second quarter, ending the half 53 to 33. Then going off on them again 32 to 11, with Orlando being up 85 to 44 with twelve minutes to go. The last quarter was yet again close, especially since the game was out of reach, with the final score being 114 to 71 for the home team. If Atlanta does not find an aswer to what happened yesterday this is going to be a four game series and it will be an ugly one for the Hawks’ fan base. We shall see if Game 2, Thursday, May 7 (8 p.m. EST – ESPN), can be a rebound game for Atlanta or if Orlando will keep pounding them.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Magic Basketball Net (TrueHoop Network) by Eddy Rivera
Hoopinion (TrueHoop Network) by Brett Lagree
Orlando Pinstriped Post (SB Nation) by Ben Q Rock
Peachtree Hoops (SB Nation) by hawksdawgs
Slam Dunk Central by Stephen Rhodes

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Eastern Conference 1st Round

Yesterday I gave you the ten ex North Carolina players that will be going to the NBA post season in a small post. Today, in this small post, I am going to give you more details on the match ups that will either begin tomorrow or Sunday. (On a side note: looking at the way the games are set up it just boggles my mind, as the post season is so long that momentum goes out the window). As I said yesterday for anyone that follows the ex Heels in the Pro’s this should be a fun year with eight (out of 16) teams having a touch of Carolina Blue on them, several of them with the athletes to make it deep into the post season. Before I get into the numbers let me first congratulate ex UNC player and new owner of the Charlotte Bobcats Michael Jordan for having his team in the post season for the first time in team’s history. And now it’s time to look at the teams…

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the number one seed in the East, with the best record in the NBA at 61-21 (.744 winning percentage) is going to go against the Chicago Bulls. These two teams met four times in the regular season, with the two teams splitting the series. Interesting tid bit about the series is that the Chicago Bulls are the only team in the playoffs to have a minus points differentials as it scores 97.5 and allows 99.1 points per game.

- April 8th: Bulls 109, Cavaliers 108
- March 19th: Cavaliers 92, Bulls 85
- December 4th: Cavaliers 101, Bulls 87
- November 5th: Bulls 86, Cavaliers 85

The first four games of the series will be played as follow:

- Game 1: Saturday, 17th (3:00 p.m. EST) – Chicago at Cleveland (Quicken Loans Arena)
- Game 2: Monday, 19th (8:00 p.m. EST) – Chicago at Cleveland (Quicken Loans Arena)
- Game 3: Thursday, 22nd (7:00 p.m. EST) – Cleveland at Chicago (United Center)
- Game 4: Sunday, April 25th (3:30 p.m. EST) – Cleveland at Chicago (United Center)

Prediction: Cavs in 5

The number two team in the East, with the second best record in the NBA at 59-23 (.720 winning percentage), will take on another team with a touch of Carolina Blue in the Charlotte Bobcats, seventh in the East, with a record of 44-38 (.537 winning percentage). The two squads met four times this season, with the Magic winning three of the games and the Bobcats winning the last one. The tid bit for this game is that no Larry Brown (another Tar Heel) coached team has been swept in Y2K, last time being 1999.

- March 14th: Bobcats 96, Magic 89
- January 23rd: Magic 106, Bobcats 95
- November 16th: Magic 97, Bobcats 91
- November 10th: Magic 93, Bobcats 81

The first four games of the series will be played as follow:

- Game 1: Sunday, 18th (5:00 p.m. EST) – Charlotte at Orlando (Amway Arena)
- Game 2: Wednesday, 21st (7:00 p.m. EST) – Charlotte at Orlando (Amway Arena)
- Game 3: Saturday, 24th (2:00 p.m. EST) – Orlando at Charlotte (Time Warner Cable Arena)
- Game 4: Monday, April 26th (7:05 p.m. EST) – Orlando at Charlotte (Time Warner Cable Arena)

Prediction: Orlando in 6

The third match up in the East, once again a head to head series with Tar Heels on both sides, is the third ranked Atlanta Hawks, 53-29 (. winning percentage), going up against the sixth ranked Milwaukee Bucks, 46-36 (.561 winning percentage). These two franchise met three time in the regular season, with Atlanta taking two out of the three games, none of the games were won by double digit margins. The tid bits in this one are simple, with Jerry Stackhouse the Bucks became a better team, but losing Andrew Bogut puts them back down into the mediocracy area.

- April 12th: Hawks 104, Bucks 96
- March 22nd: Bucks 98, Hawks 95
- February 28th: Hawks 106, Bucks 102

The first four games of the series will be played as follow:

- Game 1: Saturday, 17th (5:30 p.m. EST) – Milwaukee at Atlanta (Philips Arena)
- Game 2: Wednesday, 21st (7:00 p.m. EST) – Milwaukee at Atlanta (Philips Arena)
- Game 3: Saturday, 24th (2:00 p.m. EST) – Atlanta at Milwaukee (Bradley Center)
- Game 4: Monday, April 26th (7:05 p.m. EST) – Atlanta at Milwaukee (Bradley Center)

Prediction: Atlanta in 5

And the last series with a touch of Carolina Blue in the East is the one that have the fourth ranked Boston Celtics, 50-32 (.610 winning percentage) and the fifth ranked Miami Heat going at it. These two teams played three times during the season, with the Celtics sweeping the series, but never winning by over seven points in the games. The tid bit for this game is that both teams had the same record at home (24-17), but the Celtics were three games better than the Heat on the road, winning 26 compared to 23, which also means that Boston had a better record on the road than at home.

- February 3rd: Celtics 107, Heat 102
- January 6th: Celtics 112, Heat 106
- November 29th: Celtics 92, Heat 85

The first four games of the series will be played as follow:

- Game 1: Saturday, 17th (8:00 p.m. EST) – Miami at Boston (TD Garden)
- Game 2: Tuesday, 20th (8:00 p.m. EST) – Miami at Boston (TD Garden)
- Game 3: Friday, 23rd (7:00 p.m. EST) – Boston at Miami (American Airlines Arena)
- Game 4: Sunday, April 25th (1:00 p.m. EST) – Boston at Miami (American Airlines Arena)

Prediction: Boston in 6

NBA Playoffs

With the National Basketball Association’s regular season over it is now time to check out which ex Tar Heel is going to keep playing and which one is staying home. As we all know there were fifteen North Carolina players in the Pro’s at the beginning of the season, one of them, Brandan Wright, starting off the season with a major injury and never got to play in the `09-`10 season. Two ex players from Chapel Hill began the year as free agents, with Jerry Stackhouse finding a team and Rashad McCants not being able to. Two Heels moving to teams with high expectations, with Vince Carter “going home” to the Orlando Magic and Rasheed Wallace going east to the Boston Celtics. And of course with last year’s NCAA national champions now being rookies in the NBA…

Looking at the Eastern Conference there are six out of the eight teams in the post season with a touch of Carolina Blue, two of them being head to head match ups, with all the four top seed having at least one player that once played in Chapel Hill. This means that if the first round went chalk the Conference Finals would have two squads with ex Heels on it. The other two teams from the East with an Heel on it are ranked 6th and 7th.

#1 – Cleveland Cavaliers

Antawn Jamison: 66 Games (64 started) ~ 36.5 MinsPG ~ 18.7 PPG ~ 8.4 RPG

Jawad Williams: 54 Games (6 started) ~ 13.7 MinsPG ~ 4.1 PPG ~ 1.5 RPG

Danny Green: 20 Games (0 started) ~ 5.8 MinsPG ~ 2.0 PPG ~ 0.3 APG

#2 – Orlando Magic

Vince Carter: 75 Games (74 started) ~ 30.8 MinsPG ~ 16.6 PPG ~ 3.1 APG

#3 – Atlanta Hawks

Marvin Williams: 81 Games (81 started) ~ 30.5 MinsPG ~ 10.1 PPG ~ 5.1 RPG

#4 – Boston Celtics

Rasheed Wallace: 79 Games (13 started) ~ 22.5 MinsPG ~ 9.0 PPG ~ 4.1 RPG

#6 – Milwaukee Bucks

Jerry Stackhouse: 42 Games (0 started) ~ 20.4 MinsPG ~ 8.5 PPG ~ 1.7 APG

#7 – Charlotte Bobcats

Raymond Felton: 80 Games (80 started) ~ 33.0 MinsPG ~ 12.1 PPG ~ 5.6 APG

On the other side, in the Western Conference, the number of ex Tar Heels is a lot less. However they are all in the top seeds of the first round, and could easily see one of the teams in the conference final.

#2 – Dallas Mavericks

Brendan Haywood: 77 Games (67 started) ~ 30.6 MinsPG ~ 9.1 PPG ~ 9.3 RPG

#4 – Denver Nuggets

Ty Lawson: 65 Games (8 started) ~ 20.2 MinsPG ~ 8.3 PPG ~ 3.1 APG

(NBA) 04/04/10

As I continue to catch up on my daily post about the North Carolina players in the National Basketball Association which is called “Heels in the League” (NBA). In this edition we check out the games from Sunday, April 4, 2010, where in all there were eight games. Of those five had a touch of Carolina Blue, one of them being a head to head match up. For the complete run down you can either check out ESPN’s Scoreboard Page or RealGM’s recap. But without further ado, let’s get going with this edition of “Heels in the League” (NBA) for the games from 04/04/10…

The first game of the night is the only head to head match up between two division leaders that are headed to the post season. It’s the Cleveland Cavaliers (Ec 1st Central – Clinched Conference) headed to Bean Town to take on the Boston Celtics (EC 1st Atlantic – Clinched Division) in what is the fourth (of four) contests between these two teams, with Cleveland leading the series 2 to 1. For the visiting team from C-Town we have three Tar Heels: Antawn Jamison (62 Games: 37.1 MinsPG ~ 18.8 PPG ~ 8.7 RPG ~ 0.3 BPG) who starts for the Cavs and played 31 minutes in all, Jawad Williams (49 Games: 12.6 MinsPG ~ 4.0 PPG ~ 1.4 RPG ~ 0.1 BPG) who comes in for less than a minute and Danny Green, who once again dresses but does not play. For the ex NPOY it’s a double double night, scoring 16 points (5 for 10 ~ 2 for 3 ~ 4 for to go with ten rebounds (1 offensive), an assist, a steal, a block and a TO while haing a +7 pts differential. For the national champ from `05 it’s nothing but a pts differential of -5. On the other side, for the home town team, it’s ex UNC big man Rasheed Wallace (72 Games: 22.5 MinsPG ~ 9.1 PPG ~ 4.1 RPG ~ 0.9 BPG), who comes in off the bench for the Celtics and plays 10 minutes. The center scores six points (3 for 5 ~ 0 for 0 ~ 0 for 0) to go with an assist, a block and a +5 pts differential. In the end, in a high scoring pretty tight ending affair, it was Boston winning this one, defeating Cleveland by 4, with the final result being 117 to 113. With the win the Celtics go to 48-28 on the season (.632 winning percentage), 24-15 at home (.615 winning percentage) and are fourth place in the East, 1.0 games behind the third team in the conference. With the loss the Cavs drop to 60-17 on the year (.779 winning percentage), 26-13 on the road (.667 winning percentage) and are atop of the East, 6.0 games ahead of the pack.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

CAVS: the blog (TrueHoop Network) by John Krolik
Celtics Hub (TrueHoop Network) by Brendan Jackson
RedsArmy by BigMck
Celtics Life by Dillinger
Waiting for Next Year by Scott
Slam Dunk Central by Jeff Sack

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Second game of this recap has the Indiana Pacers (EC 4th Central) playing host to the Houston Rockets (WC 4th SW) in an East/West match up of teams out of the playoff. The game, played at Conseco Fieldhouse in front of a crowd of 14,201, was the second (of two) between the teams with the first one going to Indiana. For this game we should be seeing power forward Tyler Hansbrough, but as we know the rookie lottery pick didn’t play as he is going to be out for the season fighting an inner ear infection and maybe more. As far as the game went it was Indiana winning it (and sweeping the series), defeating Houston by 31 points, with the final score being 133 to 102. With the win the Pacers move to 29-48 on the season (.377 winning percentage, 21-17 at home (.552 winning percentage) and are tenth in the East, 10.0 games out of playoff contention.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Indy Cornrows (SB Nation) by goodlucksaturday

Box Score — Play-By-Play

Halfway through the night’s recap we find another East/West battle as the Orlando Magic (EC 1st SE) play host to the Memphis Grizzlies (WC 3rd SW) for what is the second (of two) games between these teams, the first one having been won by Memphis. For the home town team we find veteran Vince Carter (70 Games: 31.1 MinsPG ~ 16.6 PPG ~ 3.1 APG ~ 4.0 RPG) starting for the Magic and getting 29 minutes in all. In that time the shooting guard has an outstanding night scoring a game high 26 points (9 for 18 ~ 2 for 5 ~ 6 for 7) to go with seven rebounds (3 offensive), six assists, two steals and a turnover while having a game +14 pts differential. As far as the game was concerned it was Orlando beating Memphis in this one by 15, with the final being 107 to 92. With the W the Magic go to 54-23 overall (.701 winning percentage), 31-7 at home (.815 winning percentage) and are second in the East, 6.0 games behind the conference leader and 4.5 ahead of the third team.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Orlando Magic Daily (TrueHoop Network) by Philip Rossma-Reich
Orlando Pinstriped Post (SB Nation) by Ben Q Rock
Howard the Dunk (FanSided) by Andrew Melnick

Box Score — Play-By-Play

We keep going on with the recap once again encoutering an East/West match up as the Golden State Warriors (WC 5th Pacific) head north of the border to take on the Toronto Raptors (EC 2nd Atlantic). The game, the second (of two) of the series between these franchises has Golden State leading it 1-0, was played at the Air Canada Centre in front of a crowd that numbered 17,509. For the visiting team from the West Coast it should be forward Brandan Wright, but he does not play due to an injury that has kept him out of the line up the whole season. As far as the game went it was a real tight one, with Golden State winning it by one points, defeating Toronto by the final of 113 to 112 and sweeping the mini series. With the W the Warriors move to 25-53 overall (.303 winning percentage), 6-31 on the road (.162 winning percentage) and are tied for second to last place in the West, 23.5 games out of the playoff chase.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Golden State of Mind (SB Nation) by djfuzzylogic

Box Score — Play-By-Play

And we close out the night with a divisional rivalry game between the Minnesota Timberwolves (WC 5th NW) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (WC 3rd NW). The game, played at the Ford Center with an attendance of 18,203, was the fourth (of four) games between these franchises, with Oklahoma City having won all the previous ones so far. For the visiting team it’s rookie Wayne Ellington (72 Games: 18.2 MinsPG ~ 6.7 PPG ~ 1.0 APG ~ 2.1 RPG) who comes off the bench for 11 minutes for the TWolves. In that time frame the `09 national champ scored no points (0 for 3 ~ 0 for 1 ~ 0 for 0) to go with an assist and a +4 pts differential. In the end, in this one, Oklahoma City winning the game (and sweeping the series), beating Minnesota by eight, with the final score being 116 to 108. With the loss the TWolves drop to 15-62 (. winning percentage), 5-34 on the road (.128 winning percentage) and are dead last in the West, 32.0 games out of the post season chase.

Main Stream Media:
ESPN ~ NBA.com ~ The Sporting News ~ CBS Sports

Blogs:

Canis Hoopus (SB Nation) by SG

Box Score — Play-By-Play