The defending World Champion Miami Heat seized control of their series after that opening loss to Chicago, and for all the hoopla and haters who came out of the woodwork when the Bulls pulled off the Game 1 upset, it appears it was all a fluke. After two routs in the Windy City, the Heat went home to South Beach on Wednesday night and shut, locked, and bolted the Playoff Exit door on Chicago with a 94 – 91 win to close out the series 4 – 1. MVP LaBron James and Miami now faces the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Finals.
The Indiana Pacers wore the Knicks down in their NBA Eastern Conference series with tenacious defense and strong rebounding, something New York seemed to have no answer for. With Carmelo Antony dropping in 39 points for New York, the Knicks looked poised to push the series to the limit in Game 6 Saturday, but Roy Hibbert and the Pacers defense took control of the 4th quarter and led Indiana to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat.
The San Antonio Spurs again have proven that no matter the circumstances, this team knows how to win, and knows how to close out an opponent. Going into Oakland for Game 6 of their Western Conference series on Thursday, the Warriors’young team remained confident they could take the Spurs to a full seven games, but the veteran team wasn’t having. Been there, done that. San Antonio will move on to the Western Conference Finals to face the Memphis Grizzlies beginning on this afternoon in Texas.
The Memphis Grizzlies will have to be dealt with by the MIami Heat, which means a Memphis/Miami Eastern Conference Final. All at the expense of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who simply could not move forward without star point guard Russell Westbrook. Kevin Durant led OKC past Houston, and tried mightily to do against Memphis, but the Grizzlies inside duo of Zach Randolph and Mark Gasol was just too strong for the defending Western Conference champs. OKC lost Westbrook during the Houston series and finished 3 – 6 since he went down for the season.
