Pushed hard in the opening round, Derrick Rose wasn’t letting out any sighs of relief once the Chicago Bulls found out they’d be facing Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

It’s all well and good that he won’t have to worry about getting flattened in the lane by Dwight Howard after the Hawks knocked off Orlando in six games, but he’s not expecting an easy ride, either, in a series that starts Monday at the United Center.

The Bulls got all they could handle from Indiana while taking out the Pacers in five games, and Rose expects more of the same from the Hawks—except, maybe, the hard fouls.

Read the rest of this entry…

The last time the New York Knicks were in Cleveland, they fell apart down the stretch in a loss that turned out to be the Cavaliers’ lone victory in an 11-week stretch.

New York will be bringing a few more late-game options to Quicken Loans Arena this time.

Carmelo Anthony makes his Knicks road debut Friday night trying to help his new team avoid a 10th straight loss Cavaliers, who made a few intriguing moves shortly before Thursday’s trade deadline.

Read the rest of this entry…

The Los Angeles Lakers may have learned something in the first round of the NBA playoffs; Don’t let the series go any longer than it has to.

The Lakers are a victory away from sweeping the Utah Jazz and want to lock up a third straight trip to the Western Conference finals as soon as possible. Game 4 is Monday night in Utah, where the Lakers edged the Jazz 111-110 on Saturday for a 3-0 series lead.

The Jazz have pushed the Lakers in each of the first three games, but Los Angeles has held on to win all three by a total of 14 points. Saturday’s game was especially gut-wrenching for the Jazz, who had two shots bounce off the rim in the final seconds. Had either gone in, Utah would be looking to tie the series Monday instead of trying to avoid the team’s first sweep in a best-of-seven series.

Read the rest of this entry…

Nobody thought this series would be so loopsided, Even the Magic are surprised at how easily they’ve handled the third-seeded Atlanta Hawks, who finished just behind Orlando in the Eastern Conference standings.

Orlando has won by an average of 29 points, going up 3-0 in the series with a 105-75 blowout Saturday that was the worst home playoff loss in Hawks history. Game 4 is tonight, and about all Atlanta has to play for is a bit of pride.

Read the rest of this entry…

Hungry after taking a 3-0 lead on the San Antonio Spurs with a fifth straight playoff win, The Phoenix Suns look to close out on the Spurs and become the first team in the 2010 playoff to advance to the Conference Finals.

Only a week ago were the Spurs being hailed as perhaps the best No. 7 seed in NBA history after impressively dumping Dallas in six games. Now they are looking like, well, like just about every other seventh seed in NBA history.

Read the rest of this entry…

In Game 3 LeBron James soared for dunks and stepped back for long jumpers, sending an immediate message to the Boston Celtics that he could not be guarded, sore elbow or no sore elbow.

With Game 4 today on Mother’s Day, the Celtics know that if James can’t be stopped, then Pierce must get started.

Read the rest of this entry…

The Jazz and Lakers are meeting for the third straight year in the Western Conference playoffs. And just like the previous two, the Lakers lead 2-0 as the series comes to Utah for two games that the Jazz know are crucial to any aspirations they have of knocking out the defending NBA champions.

Both teams have had a few days to recover after the Lakers’ 111-103 win on Tuesday. Game 3 is in Salt Lake City, where the Jazz seem to hold a home-court advantage against every team other than the Lakers. Los Angeles hasn’t gone winless in Utah since the 2004-05 season and added a playoff win here each of the last two years.

Read the rest of this entry…

Hunched over his desk and looking very much like a coach trying to find a way beat the NBA’s hottest team, Atlanta Coach Mike Woodson kept shaking his head as he glanced at a television showing highlights from the Orlando Magic’s latest win.

Orlando has gone more than a month since its last defeat, a 112-100 setback at San Antonio on April 2. The Magic has won 12 straight since then, the last six of those in the playoffs. Going back even further, they are on a 26-of-29 roll, clearly a team peaking at just the right time of year.
Read the rest of this entry…

The Phoenix Suns may have too much fire power for the Spurs. Phoenix is forcing San Antonio to play “their” game and the Spurs don’t have a prayer unless they can’t slow key role players such as Jason Richardson and Grant Hill down, and when you have end of the bench player Channing Frye making 5 trey bombs in a game, its time to wrap it up and call it a day.

Only Fourteen teams in NBA history have climbed back from a 0-2 deficit, among them the Spurs in 2008 against New Orleans. But an frustrated Popovich was in no mood to reminisce about that after losing Game 2 on Wednesday night.

Read the rest of this entry…

The Celtics shocked the world by stealing one in Cleveland leaving the LeBron and company in disbelief. James hasn’t been his usual aggressive self when he is pain free and his elbow seems to really bother him. The banged-up Celtics and Cavaliers used the long layover between Game 2 on Monday night and Friday night’s third game to recover from the bumps and bruises they’ve acquired so far in the rough-and-tumble series.
Read the rest of this entry…