Bucks 111, Hawks 104 (Series tied 2-2)

Holding serve. The Hawks did so on their home court in the first two games, and the Bucks have now done the same in their two home games. Is this a trend, or a coincidence?

Carlos Delfino (I thought he only killed the Nets…) did his thing, scoring 22 points on 6-8 shooting from beyond the arc. His energy in 40 minutes of play and his ability to hit the long range shot was more than enough for the Bucks – who shot 55% as a team. John Salmons hit all 10 of his free throws as Milwaukee hit 28 of 32 overall.

Both of these teams have just looked completely different than they did in Atlanta. Only the home team has been able to consistently run up and down the court. If I didn’t watch any of the games in this series, I would consider the final scores the kind of scores I’d expect to see in the regular season – the home team winning because it’s a long season and energy wills them to the win. Well guess what, this is the playoffs. Let’s see some ROAD playoff basketball too!

"THIS is what we do in Milwaukee!"

I would love to see the Bucks win Game 5 in Atlanta – not because I’m rooting for them or against the Hawks, but because I want to see competition on the road. I want to see the Hawks in a must win situation on the road a game after that. I’m not sure they can do it.

Without Andrew Bogut, who is the MVP of Milwaukee? Easy, it’s Brandon Jennings. The rookie point guard was 9-16 shooting to lead the team with 23 points, along with six assists and four rebounds. He controls the floor and gives them just the perfect speed to give them an extra threat on offense.

This brings back up the debate – who should have been Rookie of the Year? Is it a player from a team that stinks, but allows the first year player to take over and pad his stats (Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry)? Or is it the player that steps in, as a rookie, and truly leads his team to a playoff spot with a legit chance to win (that is, before Andrew Bogut got hurt earlier this month)? I say it’s the latter because of things like this. B. Jennings is a pro, which is exemplified in his postgame quote:

“We’re not a good playoff team until we win one on the road.”

Well put rook.

-Shooter

Magic 99, Bobcats 90 (Magic Sweep 4-0)

I’m still trying to decide which series is more boring, this one or the Celtics vs. Heat?  I guess the latter only because it’s still going on and at least the Magic put the Bobcats out of their misery.  This series was so lame and you just knew the Magic would win regardless of how good Charlotte is at home.  VC has stepped it up as of late which is a rarity for VC and tonight he scored 21 points to lead the Magic.

The Bobcats actually had a 2-point lead going into half time and I’m sure all the fans were hoping they could pull out the victory, which would have been the first playoff win in Bobcats history!  The main thing that stands out to me during this game is free throws; the Magic took 42 free throws and connected on just 30!  That will not cut it against a team like the Cavs.  The Bobcats on the other hand shot 21-33 from the line which is also pathetic.  The reason the Magic won this game though was because of 3-point shooting.  The Magic were out shot (45%-41%) but Orlando made 13 3′s (they took 33)!  They are going to live and die by that 3-ball, clearly.

If you didn’t watch this game, check out the highlights on nba.com of this HHHnasty block D. Howard had on Augstine.  He literally snatched the ball in mid air on an attempted layup.  He didn’t even swat at it, he just palmed it in mid air.

1.  It was nice to see the Bobcats make the playoffs for the first time in their franchise as well as having a prediction I made in the pre-season come true.  If you don’t remember, I’ll remind you, I said the Bobcats would sneak into the 8th seed but they surpassed that mark and were the 7 seed.

2.  The Magic will NOT beat ANY other team in this playoffs if Dwight Howard continues to foul out (two times in this series) in under 30 minutes of action.  He is putting up huge rebounding and blocked shots numbers so imagine if he played 40 minutes like a team leader SHOULD!

3.  Every player for the Magic is playing at an extremely high level and I could definitely see them winning against their next opponent in 5 games flat.

4.  JJ Redick is STILL UGLY.

-The Basher