Haha..
Warriors win over Dallas liao...
The score is 111-86...

Golden State 111, Dallas 86
Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson shot the ragtag Warriors right into the second round, capping perhaps the NBA's biggest playoff upset with yet one more memorable performance on their home floor.

Davis willed the Warriors on one good leg, shaking off a strained hamstring to score 20 points, Jackson made a franchise playoff-record seven 3-pointers, and Golden State became the first No. 8 seed to capture a best-of-seven playoff series with a 111-86 victory over the NBA-best Dallas Mavericks in Game 6 on Thursday night.

Whoa, Nellie, what a shocker!

Coach Don Nelson's emotional bunch of castoffs beat his old team by holding likely league MVP Dirk Nowitzki to eight points and 2-for-13 shooting, after he saved the Mavs with 30 points in their six-point Game 5 win Tuesday. The Warriors, making their first playoff appearance in 13 years, will open the second round Monday night at either Houston or Utah.

Jackson -- who avoided a suspension for Game 6 after two ejections in the series -- hit four 3-pointers during a decisive 24-3 third-quarter run and finished with a playoff career-high 33 points, while Davis also added 10 rebounds and six assists. He sat down with 2:19 to play, throwing his arms in the air to the fans who chanted "MVP!" When the final buzzer sounded, the Warriors hugged as confetti streamed onto the court.

"This is a great feeling, to make history, to upset a No. 1 seed and do it on our home floor," Davis said. "We came here and handled our business in the second half."

Andris Biedrins had 12 points and 12 rebounds, not to mention a handful of key hustle plays, Matt Barnes took advantage of his first start of the series with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, and Jason Richardson added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Josh Howard scored 20 points and Jerry Stackhouse had 14 of his 20 points in the first quarter for the 67-win Mavericks, who along with volatile owner Mark Cuban had high hopes of going deep in the postseason after their remarkable regular-season showing.

The Warriors became only the third eighth seed to upset the No. 1 and the first since the opening round went from best-of-five to the current format. The Denver Nuggets (1994) and the New York Knicks (1999) are the only other teams to win a series.

After years of failure and its share of unsuccessful personnel moves, Golden State is suddenly as big in the Bay Area as Barry Bonds' home run chase across the water in San Francisco.

"Baron toughed it out," Barnes said. "He's our leader and nothing's going to stop him right now. We've got a lot of talent and a lot of heart and we're looking to do a lot more damage."

The Warriors lured Nelson out of retirement to turn around a franchise that hadn't been to the postseason since he took them there in 1994 during his first stint as coach, dropping former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery in late August after two losing seasons.

Back home, Golden State won again behind its deafening, towel-waving crowd that Mavs coach and former Warrior Avery Johnson described this way: "If you haven't been to the playoffs in 13 years, your fans are going to be pretty crazy."

And the "We Believe" mantra that now rocks Oakland -- Mickael Pietrus led the team out of the locker room holding one of the bright yellow T-shirts sporting the logo -- has even caught the attention of celebrities like rapper Snoop Dogg, popular guitarist Carlos Santana, actors Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson, and golfer Fred Couples. They were all in the stands for the clincher -- and a few even headed to the celebratory locker room afterward. Ron Artest stopped by to offer his best, too.

"The fans gave us so much energy," Richardson said. "It felt great that we actually put them away like that. We played great defense tonight."

Nowitzki missed his first eight shots, bricking consecutive 3-point tries late in the second quarter before hitting a 16-footer for his first basket of the game with 38 seconds left in the period. Dallas trailed 50-48 at the break but couldn't match the Warriors' energy in the third. The Mavs went 5:07 without scoring as Golden State turned it into a rout, leading 86-63 going into the final 12 minutes.

"We were there at halftime," Johnson said. "We were only down two. We just came out and had one of our worst third quarters this year. ... This is a very disappointing end to the season."

The Warriors traded for Jackson in January in an eight-player swap with the Indiana Pacers to pair him with a healthy Davis as this playoff-starved franchise tried -- and ultimately succeeded -- to end the NBA's longest postseason drought.

Johnson, groomed by Nellie to be a head coach, said the Warriors had "10,000 pounds on their right arms up there in Oakland" to close out a series Golden State led 3-1, but 20,677 screaming fans from every corner of Oracle Arena put all the pressure on the cold-shooting Mavs.

The Warriors hadn't won a best-of-seven series in 31 years, since beating Detroit in a first-round series in 1975-76 -- the year after winning their only NBA championship in California. Golden State had lost its last five best-of-sevens and hadn't won any playoff series since beating San Antonio 3-1 in the first round in 1990-91.

Johnson brought his team back to California immediately after Game 5 so the Mavs could get more comfortable in the Warriors' raucous confines, while Golden State spent the night in Dallas.

"They're a hot team right now," Johnson said. "They can put you in a bind with some of their small lineups."

Dallas' first seven made field goals were 3s, 4-of-6 from Stackhouse in the opening period, and the Mavs were 0-for-14 from 2-point range before Jason Terry's jumper at the 11:22 mark of the second quarter.

Barnes earned his first start of the series over Monta Ellis and played through a pulled right hamstring, just like Davis.

The Mavs, who lost in last year's NBA finals, became the first time to win 65 games and fail to win at least one playoff series. Even worse, it came against Nelson, who spent 10 seasons helping taking Dallas from among the league's worst teams to one of the best.

4 more info on tis topic juz click here

Yaloh...
Who say tat de...

Utah 94, Houston 82
Andrei Kirilenko shadowed Tracy McGrady all night. Now he'll be following McGrady back to Houston, too.

Kirilenko easily had his best game of the first round with 14 points and five blocks to lead the Utah Jazz to a 94-82 victory over the Rockets on Thursday night, tying the series and forcing a Game 7 Saturday in Houston.

"We kept it alive," said Kirilenko, who hadn't scored more than eight in the first five games. "I think it's a great performance by everybody."

Carlos Boozer scored 22 and Mehmet Okur added 19 points as he finally started hitting his 3-point shots, making four and matching his total for the first five games.

"I don't give up. If I'm open I'm going to take it," Okur said.

Kirilenko was exhausted after trying to keep up with McGrady. The Rockets' superstar still scored 26 points, but nine came from the foul line as Kirilenko and the rest of the Jazz pretty much shut down every route to the basket.

Utah didn't let McGrady get much easy scoring and the Rockets fell to 0-3 in playoff road games. Yao Ming added 25 points, but he also had eight turnovers -- two more than his rebound total -- as Okur and rookie Paul Millsap constantly pressured the 7-foot-6 center.

The rest of the Rockets besides McGrady and Yao combined for 31 points. Houston finished with 19 turnovers.

"Our guys were fighting for our lives," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.

McGrady has never made it to the second round of the playoffs. After Houston won the first two games of the series, the Rockets appeared on their way there, but have not been able to find their way out of Utah with a victory.

The home team has won every game in the series, which bodes well for the Rockets. That was about all the solace Houston had after cutting an 11-point lead to one twice but never quite completing the rally.

"It was right there for us, man. Down to one point," McGrady said. "We put ourselves in great position to pull this game out, but things went the other direction."

Deron Williams had 15 points and eight assists and rookie Paul Millsap scored all of his eight points in the second quarter, as the Jazz took control and then held off several rallies by the Rockets down the stretch.

The home team has won every game in the series, which bodes well for the Rockets as they prepare for Game 7 Saturday night at home.

"They just put a lot of pressure on us and just made everything tough," McGrady said.

Kirilenko scored six points and blocked three shots in the fourth quarter. McGrady tried to drive on him once with the Rockets down three, but Kirilenko stayed on him and swatted the ball away during a 13-4 run that sealed it for the Jazz.

"We had a game we had to win or we were going home," Kirilenko said. "That's hard to play with this kind of intensity on both ends of the court, but we had to win."

Kirilenko got a layup to roll over the front of the rim and in and added a 21-foot jumper during Utah's late run. Yao dunked to get the Rockets within 81-76, then the Jazz answered with a jumper by Williams, two free throws by Boozer and a 3-pointer from Okur, who went 4-for-7 from beyond the arc.

"They outplayed us down the stretch. We've just got to get on the plane and figure out a way to play a little bit better," Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy.

Okur had made just four of 25 3-pointers in the first five games.

Okur was intense all night and it showed in the second quarter, when he took a hard foul from Juwan Howard. Okur got Howard in the air, then went up for a shot as Howard was coming down with a forearm.

Okur crashed hard to the floor and came up almost swinging. Instead he nudged Howard and got in his face before the two players were separated. Howard was called for a technical and was livid. He got right in referee d*** Bavetta's face and was yelling, but he was pulled away in time to avoid a second technical.

Okur made all three free throws to put Utah up 36-35. Utah led 46-43 at halftime.

4 more on tis topic click here

This post has been edited by wayne_chen: May 4 2007, 04:39 PM

Tml match btw Nets n Raptors...
Can Nets win tml match???
Or Raptors win a tied???
Let's discuss it...

4 me, i hope Raptors will make a tied in tml match n win game 7...
Then Raptors meet Cleveland n Cleveland win against Raptors...

This post has been edited by wayne_chen: May 4 2007, 09:28 PM

Wah 1st quarter both team score 21 each....

Wah means both team is strong at 1st quarter...
Guys now got showing tis match at ESPN...

---

Added on May 5, 2007, 9:09 amRaptors 3 point leading in first half....

This post has been edited by wayne_chen: May 5 2007, 09:09 AM

Yaloh...
Nets will win i think onli...

---

Added on May 5, 2007, 10:22 amCalderon in Raptors starting lineup, Ford available to play
A sore Jose Calderon started at point guard for the Toronto Raptors and regular starter T.J. Ford was available to play in Game 6 of their playoff series with the New Jersey Nets on Friday.

The status of both players was in question the past three days after Calderon sprained his right ankle and Ford sustained neck, shoulder and arm injuries in the Raptors' win in Game 5 on Tuesday that cut the Nets series lead to 3-2.

Neither practiced on Wednesday or Thursday, but Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said Calderon, who scored 25 points in Game 5, showed him enough in Friday morning's shootout at the Continental Airlines Arena to get the start.

As Mitchell spoke about an hour before the tip-off of the first-round Eastern Conference series, Calderon was doing agility drills on the court, working side-to-side, running forward, backpedaling and then changing direction.

"I don't have to see him, he told me he can play," Mitchell said. "I saw him at shootaround this morning. He did everything we asked him to do this morning and it's playoffs."

Mitchell started Calderon because Ford had done nothing the past two days. Calderon had done some shooting.

Ford warmed up before Calderon and told Mitchell he could go, which surprised the coach.

"Yeah, 'cause he was in a lot of pain the day before, he was in a lot of pain yesterday but he said it feels a whole lot better," Mitchell said.

Ford was hurt in a collision with Vince Carter. He said Friday that a sprained thumb on his non-shooting left hand was the only thing bothering him.

"It's a lot better day-to-day," he said at the shootaround. "I couldn't move it a couple of days ago and now I have a lot of movement and flexibility in it. I think it's a good possibility I can play."

Ford averaged 15.4 points in the first five games, while Calderon averaged 12.8.

4 more on tis article click here

This post has been edited by wayne_chen: May 5 2007, 10:22 AM

OMG....
Nets win onli 1 point...
Wah i think tis call 'geng'...

Can Rockets win over Jazz??
Or Jazz win over Rockets???
Guess it now guys...

---

Added on May 5, 2007, 12:41 pmCan Pistons win over Bulls in tml de 1st round???
Or Bulls win over Pistons????


This post has been edited by wayne_chen: May 5 2007, 12:41 PM

Jazz, Rockets Set for Game 7
For weeks, he's patiently answered all the questions about his past playoff failures and openly said he deserves the blame if the Houston Rockets flame out against the Utah Jazz this time.

He's only got one more chance to silence his critics.

The Rockets and Jazz will decide their first-round series in the first Game 7 of the playoffs on Saturday night.

McGrady, a seven-time All-Star who's 0-5 in playoff series, oddly downplayed how much this one means to him after Utah's 94-82 victory in Game 6 on Thursday night.

"I've been in other Game 7s, why would this be the biggest?'' he said. "I'm sure this won't be the last Game 7 of my career. I don't think this is the biggest.''

He and the Rockets had plenty of opportunities to avoid it altogether.

They trailed 75-74 in the fourth quarter of Game 6, then failed to get the go-ahead score on four straight possessions. McGrady missed a 3-pointer on one, then coughed up consecutive turnovers on the last two.

"It was right there, man. One point,'' McGrady said. "We put ourselves in a great position to pull this game out, but you know, things went the other direction.''

McGrady managed to smile after the game, knowing that they're done playing in Utah.

The Rockets flew past the Jazz in the standings late in the season to steal away home-court advantage in the series and that's proven pivotal - the home team has won all six games.

That also gives the Rockets a historical edge on Saturday night.

The home team has won 78 of the 96 all-time Game 7s. The Rockets are 3-0 all-time in Game 7s played in Houston, though this will be the first one ever played in the 4-year-old Toyota Center.

"I think both teams are really comfortable at home,'' McGrady said. "It seems like our guys shoot the ball real well back home.''

Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said home-court won't matter if the Rockets keep up their carelessness. They had 19 turnovers in Game 6 and a total of 69 in the last four games - and the Jazz have won three of them.

"It's on us to be more efficient with the ball,'' Van Gundy said. "We should concentrate on what we can control. And if we do that, we'll be in position to win.''

McGrady had five turnovers on Thursday night, but the loss wasn't all on him. Yao Ming, Houston's leading scorer, had eight turnovers, ranging from three-second violations and illegal screens to steals by the Jazz when he tried to dribble.

Yao has averaged 24.5 points, but almost five turnovers in the series. He had zero turnovers in Houston's 98-90 win in Game 2, but has 25 in the four games since.

"It's disappointing that he's making the same mistakes,'' Van Gundy said. "He's proven before that he can play efficient basketball and not turn it over. He's just not done it in this series, other than that one game.''

The Rockets won Game 5 because they outrebounded Utah and McGrady had as many assists as Houston had turnovers (16).

The Jazz won their three home games in the series by double digits, but they've broken down at critical times to lose three close games in Houston. They trailed Game 5 by one point with a minute left, then missed four straight shots to lose 96-92.

"I think in the games that we've played in Houston, we've played well enough to win, we just didn't win,'' said forward Carlos Boozer. "We take that confidence with us.''

A victory on Saturday would propel the Jazz to the second round for the first time since 2000. It would also snap their long postseason drought away from Salt Lake City - Utah has dropped six consecutive road playoff games and 17 of its last 18.

"We definitely had our chances to win there the first three times that we played there,'' said Jazz forward Matt Harpring. "So our team feels like we can win there. That's the good thing.

"Now, we've got to go out and do it and prove that we can do it,'' he said. "The final scoreboard has got to read Utah Jazz on top.''

Golden State is awaiting Saturday's winner after finishing off top-seeded Dallas on Thursday night. The free-wheeling Warriors have become the talk of the playoffs, but Van Gundy has been too preoccupied with his series to notice.

"If you were in a knife fight in an alley somewhere, you wouldn't be saying, 'Hey, if I get by this guy, I'll kick that next guy's (butt),'' he said. "We're in a knife fight right now with knife fighters. We're just trying to win this skirmish right now.''

4 more on tis article click here

Hope Bulls can win over Pistons in 2nd round...
N i hope Rockets can win Jazz in tml match....

Bulls no hope liao in 2day match...
Coz the score they nid 2 chase is quite long...

I think Rockets will lose 2 Jazz...

Detroit 95, Chicago 69
The Detroit Pistons turned determination into a dominant performance, reminiscent of some of their wins en route to the 2004 NBA title.

Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton each scored 20 points, leading Detroit to a 95-69 rout over the Chicago Bulls in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Saturday night.

The Pistons were aggressive on defense, clogging passing lanes with their feet and hands. They caused problems at the other end of the court, too, playing unselfishly to help five players score in double figures.

"In the championship year, we were locked in like this every night," Billups said. "I can remember it. It's been a while, but defensively, we were like this almost every night."

Chicago made less than one-third of its shots and turned the ball over 22 times, startling anyone who watched its first-round sweep over the defending champion Miami Heat.

It looked familiar to Ben Wallace because he helped the Pistons put together games like that for six seasons before leaving as a free agent last summer.

"I wasn't surprised with their energy at all," Wallace said. "They came out and attacked us early. It got us on our heels and we never recovered. We were a step slow."

Ben Gordon, slowed by foul trouble, was held to seven points on 2-of-9 shooting after scoring 24 in each game against Miami in the first round. Luol Deng scored 18 and Kirk Hinrich had 15 for the Bulls.

Wallace had nine points, eight rebounds and a block.

"If there was a positive tonight, it was his play," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "His effort just got left by the wayside by the way everyone else played."

Before the game, Pistons coach Flip Saunders said his team is totally different than it was at this time last year because of a renewed focus.

Detroit is still kicking itself for losing to Miami in the conference finals last year -- after winning the title in 2004 and coming just short of repeating -- and vowed to show how determined it is to at least get back to the NBA finals.

The Eastern Conference's top-seeded team will have a shot if it keeps playing this way.

But the Pistons aren't getting cocky yet.

"It's just Game 1," Billups said. "We played at home. We haven't done anything yet.

"I guarantee there won't be any more games like that."

The Pistons will host Game 2 on Monday night.

Detroit took control with a 13-2 run midway through the first quarter, but didn't put Chicago away until the opening minutes of the fourth.

Three Pistons made 3-pointers in the first 2 minutes of the final quarter for a 19-point lead before going ahead 86-60 a few minutes later.

Detroit's Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince each finished with 13 points and reserve Jason Maxiell added a career playoff-high 12.

The Pistons were more impressive Saturday than they were in any of the four wins over the Orlando Magic in the first round, picking up their play in their sixth straight second-round appearance.

Chicago, meanwhile, looked like a team that just won a playoff series for the first time since Michael Jordan led the Bulls to their sixth title in 1998.

"We probably needed this as a learning experience," Skiles said.

Billups was assertive from the start, instead of deferring to teammates as he usually does early in games.

He went right at Gordon on Detroit's first three possessions, making two shots and a free throw. Gordon was called for his second foul 2 1/2 minutes into the game and didn't return until early in the second quarter, perhaps disrupting his rhythm from the last series.

Chris Duhon replaced Gordon, and was attacked immediately by Billups, whose 3-pointer gave him eight points less than 4 minutes into the game.

"I just wanted to be aggressive and set the tone," Billups said.

After Chicago took its only lead, the Pistons went on their big run to take a 20-11 lead midway through the first quarter.

Billups scored 12 points in the opening quarter, helping Detroit take a 29-23 lead.

He left the game in the final seconds of the first quarter with two fouls. By the time he returned late in the second, Chicago was shooting free throws down 16 in part because Detroit reserves scored 10 in the quarter.

"The bench was great," Billups said.

Chicago's reserves had a rough night, missing all 12 of their shots through three quarters and finishing 3-of-30. Andres Nocioni was held to two points on 1-of-8 shooting after averaging 12 points against the Heat.

4 more info about tis article clickhere

OMG 4 point game liao...

---

Added on May 6, 2007, 12:07 pmWhat i can say is Jazz is so strong....

This post has been edited by wayne_chen: May 6 2007, 12:07 PM

Which team will win da semifinals???

Dunno tml Cleveland can win Nets or not...
N dunno Spurs can win Suns or not....

which team will win tml???