The Dallas Mavericks have continued to dismantle the Los Angeles Lakers. With Dirk Nowitzki dropping in his usual 32 points, the rest of the Mavericks followed suit from behind the arc. Dallas went 12-29 from behind the arc compared to a 3-13 shot performance by the Lakers. You live by the 3 you die by the 3, and the Mavericks are L-I-V-I-N:
The Los Angeles Lakers expectations of a “three-peat” might have been a bit presumptuous. For now Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks are taking it to the defending NBA Champs. Dirk lead the Mavericks in scoring 24 points as they defeated the Lakers 93-81 and took a 2-0 series lead back to Dallas:
Both the lower seeds (Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks) were able to upset their top opponents last night. The Atlanta Hawks ran behind Joe Johnson’s 34 point outburst to drop the Bulls 103-95. The Dallas Mavericks came back from a 16 point deficit with seconds remaining and recorded the 96-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers:
The Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers will all be moving onto the second round of the playoffs. The Hawks Joe Johnson was the difference maker as he scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the 84-81 victory over the Orlando Magic. The Dallas Mavericks Dirk Nowitzki put his team on his back in the 106-96 victory. Dirk scored 33 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds as the Mavericks look to erase the memories of previous playoff performances. The Lakers were in total control throughout the entire game as they defeated the New Orleans Hornets 98-80. The Lakers used their size inside (Bynum 18 & 12) and also Bryant’s outside presence (24 points) to get a total team effort in the victory:
For the Boston Celtics versus the New York Knicks, it was all about things in 3′s. Ray Allen hit 8 three’s en route to a 32 point performance while playing 37 minutes. Paul Pierce played 33 minutes, made 6 three pointers, grabbed 3 rebounds, stole the ball 3 times, turned the ball over 3 times and scored 38 points. Crazy right! Rajon Rondo had himself a game as well. As he recorded his sixth playoff triple double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and Celtics playoff record of 20 assists. With all those three’s the Celtics took a 3-0 lead over the Knicks after the 113-96 victory:
