LeBron, Cavaliers Outlast Pistons in Game 5

Cleveland 109, Detroit 107 (2OT)

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 31 (AP) -- LeBron James used one of the most spectacular performances in playoff history to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to the verge of their greatest season.

James' career playoff-high 48 points - including 29 of his team's final 30 - carried the Cavaliers to within a win of the first NBA Finals in franchise history with a 109-107 double-overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.

James made a go-ahead layup with 2.2 seconds left and Detroit's Chauncey Billups missed a shot in the lane on the ensuing possession.

It was one of the many driving shots that James made look easy.

"Why should I be surprised? I was making a lot of great moves,'' James said. "They are definitely a great defensive team, but I was determined to attack.''

The Pistons blew a seven-point lead with 3:15 left in regulation and lost the third straight game in the series after winning the first two at home.

Game 6 is Saturday night in Cleveland and if necessary, Game 7 will be Monday night back at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The San Antonio Spurs, who eliminated Utah on Wednesday, have a week off before hosting Game 1 of The NBA Finals.

Detroit can only hope the series ends like its last postseason matchup with the Cavs.

The Pistons won the first two games of the conference semifinals last year, then lost three straight and needed to win on the road and then at home in Game 7.

James was 18-of-33 from the field, making both of his 3-pointers, and 10-of-14 from the free throw line. He also had nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals in a performance that might end up be a defining game of his career.

"We tried to trap him and get it out of his hands, but he attacked,'' Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "We'll definitely have to do something different next time.''

The 22-year-old star showed he's human, though, airballing a shot just before the shot clock expired with 6.6 seconds left in the first overtime that gave Detroit a chance to force another period.

James put Billups on the line with 3.1 seconds left and he made two free throws to make it 100-all.

The Cavs have prided themselves on not being a one-man show, but James just about did it alone against a team in the conference finals for the fifth straight year.

He simply took over late in regulation and in both overtimes, choosing to attack the basket with driving layups and dunks instead of deferring to teammates.

James scored 32 more points than Cleveland's second-leading scorer, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who fouled out with 16 points. Rookie Daniel Gibson, who also fouled out, was the only other double-digit scorer, with 11.

"Somebody told me that in the locker room that he scored 29 of our last 30 points and I could not believe it,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "Everybody keeps asking for more, and he keeps giving more.

"I feel bad that my words don't do justice what he did.''

The Pistons, meanwhile, seemed to finally put a complete game together and each of their starters scored at least 10.

Richard Hamilton scored 26, Billups had 21 and Chris Webber scored 20. Rasheed Wallace had 17 points and Tayshaun Prince added 10.

It wasn't enough.

Notes: Both teams were slowed by foul trouble and Detroit had to play the final three quarters without its top reserve, forward Antonio McDyess, because his right arm appeared to hit Anderson Varejao's neck as he went in for a layup and he was automatically ejected with a flagrant-two foul. ... James averaged 28.5 points in two games at home after scoring 29 total in the first two games, including a playoff-low 10 points in the series opener. ... Faces in the crowd included Anita Baker, New Orleans point guard Chris Paul and Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek, who said he still doesn't know if he will retire or return to Detroit.

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Jazz Hope More Noise Can Rattle Spurs

By JAIME ARON, AP Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY, May 25 (AP) -- The fans will be wearing "True Blue'' shirts, cheering at the right times and groaning when officials make calls against their team, all the things that have helped the Utah Jazz win every home game this postseason.

But can the crowd fix a leaky defense? Or get struggling shooters to find their touch?

If not, this may be the final weekend of cheering for several months.

Utah is down 2-0 to the San Antonio Spurs going into Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Saturday night. While the Jazz overcame that deficit in the first round against Houston, starting their rally with two home wins, they know they likely need to take both these games to pull it off again. Game 3 is the biggie, because no NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 playoff deficit.

"We can't just bank on the fact that we're going to be at home to win it for us,'' forward Carlos Boozer said Friday. "We've got to show up.''

The Jazz haven't done that so far. Both games in San Antonio were decided by halftime, with Utah not even holding the lead since the first quarter of the first game. It's quite a contrast to Cleveland, which is down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals, but at least had a chance to win both games in the final minute.

The Spurs deserve much of the credit for this throttling.

Tim Duncan has been efficient as ever and Tony Parker has been a blur, zipping into the lane at will. Add in Manu Ginobili's scoring as a reserve and some timely shots by other role players, and it seems the only thing San Antonio has to worry about is boredom.

"We're playing as well as we have all year long,'' said Duncan, who is averaging 26.5 points, 12 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.5 blocks this series. "But we go and we look at some film and we still see some little things that we're doing wrong. And that's a great feeling to have, to be able to improve on some stuff even in a series up 2-0 in the Western Conference finals.''

Utah has the horrible feeling of trying to decide which is the bigger problem, its offense or its defense.

Take away the combined 44-of-82 from Boozer and Deron Williams and the rest of the Jazz are 28-of-86, an ugly 33 percent. The worst offenders are Derek Fisher (2-16) and Mehmet Okur (7-28). Worse yet, those two are supposed to be steadying influences. Both have championship rings and were the only guys who'd been past the first round of the playoffs when this postseason began.

Jerry Sloan is bothered most by the lack of defense. He sees players lingering on the offensive end after missed shots and they're repeatedly getting caught in the wrong place when they do set up their defense.

"I don't know if I've ever seen us be so totally lost just changing ends,'' he said.

The Spurs have capitalized, making 55 percent of their shots. Four starters are doing even better than that, with the center duo of Fabricio Oberto and Francisco Elson a combined 16-of-19, mostly on layups and dunks.

"They're just picking us apart,'' Sloan said. "If you want to compete, you've got to compete on the defensive end. Then your offense will come around. We can't just think, `I've got to get me some points and we'll be better.' We've got to stop some people. You've got to play defense in this league in the playoffs. You're not going to outscore people every night.''

Another Sloan gripe: "We don't have anybody fouling out.''

"If I had guys fouling out, I'd know they were at least close enough to touch somebody,'' he said. "I don't want any nasty basketball, that 'We got to take somebody out' kind of stuff. I just want to see us play hard.''

He'd like his players to get physical on offense, too, setting more hard screens - like the Spurs have done.

"It looks like we're playing an exhibition game the way we're running the floor,'' Sloan said. "I think we have to be held accountable for that.''

Boozer has more of a glass half full outlook on what's happened so far. He keeps saying the difference in the series is only two bad quarters (the second in both games).

"Sometimes, you play good D and it's better O. A guy makes a great shot or a great pass. It happens,'' Boozer said. "I'm sure we could've beat some teams that we played in the playoffs with how we've played.''

The Spurs lost both regular-season games in Salt Lake City, so they know the Jazz are a tougher team at home. Several San Antonio players also know what to expect from the Utah crowd because they've seen it before. Duncan, Robert Horry, Michael Finley and Brent Barry played postseason series against Karl Malone, John Stockton and that crew in the 1990s and early 2000s, plus Jacque Vaughn was on some of those Jazz teams.

"The fans are great,'' Horry said. "They whoop and holler. They know if they can get up it gives their team energy.''

Finley is wary that being home could cure all that ails the Jazz.

"I think those other guys who haven't been having a spectacular offensive performance have been looking forward to these home games to get in stride, so to speak,'' he said. "We're expecting one of their better games come Game 3 and Game 4.''

That may have to be the case both times if Utah fans are going to get to see a Game 6.

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Nets’ Future May Start With All-Star Breakup

By HOWARD BECK

Published: May 20, 2007

His will and his words were strong, but his gait was weary. Jason Kidd, as he had for six seasons, pumped every ounce of belief, focus and fortitude into the Nets on Friday night. He carried them as far as his 34-year-old legs would allow, until they finally buckled under the burden.

“I was just hoping that someone would pick it up from where I left,” Kidd said. “But unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

Kidd had All-Stars to his left and his right, but Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson never answered the call.

LeBron James surged, the Nets wilted and the Cleveland Cavaliers won a trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

For the fourth consecutive spring — after one first-round exit and three second-round appearances — Kidd will be a spectator for the N.B.A. finals. He has logged 1,046 games in 13 seasons, each ending without a championship.

So while Kidd boldly predicted several more years of elite play, and everyone talked about staying together, the Nets’ decisions this summer will not be so simple. Kidd has played alongside Jefferson for six years now, and with Carter for three. Their billing as one of the league’s top perimeter groups rings more empty each June.

For all their talent, it is possible this is as far as they can go together.

“That is something you obviously look at,” Rod Thorn, the team president, said earlier this week. “But saying that, do you tear your team up? The marketplace we’re in, that’s a tough one.”

It may be a necessary one. And it may not entirely be up to the Nets. Carter can opt out of the last year of his contract, and it seems likely he will — either to change teams or to seek a longer deal from the Nets. As a high-scoring, highly marketable highlight reel, Carter will probably command more than $10 million a year. Whether he can deliver a title remains questionable.

Carter was largely invisible for long stretches of the playoffs. He averaged only 19.7 points and shot .354 from the field against the Cavaliers. As the final minutes of the Nets’ season dwindled, Carter faded away.

He took 11 shots to score 11 points, went to the free-throw line only five times and failed to score in the final quarter.

That is hardly the sort of performance that inspires a team owner to commit another $40 million or so to a player. The Nets could choose to let Carter leave, or use him in a sign-and-trade deal that rejuvenates the roster.

But merely keeping the core of this team together might not guarantee the Nets anything more than an annual cameo in the postseason.

There is one notable asterisk in evaluating their run, however. Nenad Krstic, the Nets’ first-round pick in 2002, was blossoming into a top-tier center before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in December. For a time, the Big Three appeared as if it would become the Big Four.

“You never base long-term plans on one game, two games, one series,” Thorn said. “You try to look at it as a body of work. And the key with us is: If you look at our team, if we had Krstic, where would our team be?

“Would we be better? Obviously, we’d be somewhat better. How much better would we be? If Krstic is healthy, and he should be next year, and you keep what you have and you add one or two pieces, can you get to another level? It’s what we have to look at. Or will we just be where we are?”

The Nets surely could have used Krstic’s inside scoring and rebounding against the Cavaliers’ beefy frontcourt. They got surprising production from the journeyman Mikki Moore (14.8 points, 4.7 rebounds in the series), but Moore is a free agent who figures to cash in on a breakout season.

Carter said Friday that he intended to be back with the Nets. Kidd said that he wanted Carter back and waved off the possibility of being traded himself.

But Kidd, who passed up a chance to sign with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003, may be better off chasing a championship somewhere else. A number of talented teams might be just a Kidd away from the title. This could be the franchise’s last chance to cash in on his value before Kidd’s body breaks down.

“We have a lot of questions to answer,” Thorn said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

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Suns’ Bench Unfazed By New Expectations

Doug Haller
The Arizona Republic
May. 16, 2007 12:00 AM

The suspensions of Amaré Stoudemire and Boris Diaw leave the Suns with rotation issues for tonight's Game 5.

A short bench becomes even shorter.

The Suns will have no choice at times but to go small. Leandro Barbosa or James Jones likely will replace Stoudemire in the lineup, and the Suns will try to beat the taller Spurs in transition. “We're talented enough and we're deep enough to compete with anyone when we're playing right, which is fast and with high energy,” said Jones, who has six starts in this postseason. “If we do that, well be fine.”

Added Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, “We'll close ranks, and I'm confident that we can win any which way.”

Pat Burke could see his most significant minutes of the postseason. Burke, a 6-foot-11 center, has played four minutes in this year's playoffs. If he joins the rotation, stamina could be an issue.

Burke has played only 17 minutes since March4.

He left Tuesday's practice optimistic that Stoudemire and Diaw would get off with a fine, but he said if he is needed to help Kurt Thomas in the post, he would be prepared.

“I really don't know what the rotation would be,” Burke said, “but the most important thing is to stay ready.”

The team's reserves often stay after practice, scrimmaging to try to stay in shape.

Jalen Rose and Marcus Banks battled one-on-one before Game4 in San Antonio.

Rose, a veteran with Finals experience, has not played in these Western Conference semifinals, but he played nine minutes in Game2 against the Lakers.

According to him, every reserve thinks he is ready, but it is hard to judge the intensity of the playoffs.

“You don't know until you get out there,” Rose said.

Stoudemire was leading the Suns in postseason scoring (24.0 points per game) before he broke league rules by leaving the bench during a Game4 skirmish that began with Robert Horry's hard foul on Steve Nash. Stoudemire said he was just walking to the scorer's table to check in, but the league disagreed.

The Suns center said he had trouble sleeping because of the matter.

“When you see your star player go down, that hard in the playoffs; it's tough to hold your composure and not do anything,” Stoudemire said.

“Guys here are like family,” Jones added. “Your first instinct is to protect the family.”

Assistant coach Alvin Gentry said he did not think anyone did anything wrong after the foul, which earned Horry an ejection and two-game suspension.

“It's a natural reaction when you see somebody as important as Steve go down,” Gentry said. “I thought it was a situation where you're concerned about him. To me, that's human nature.”

Along with Barbosa, Diaw often is the first Suns reserve off the bench. He is averaging 6.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 22.8 minutes against the Spurs.

Barbosa, the league's Sixth Man of the Year winner, also will have to increase his production if the Suns are to protect home-court advantage.

After averaging 21.2 points against the Lakers in the first round, Barbosa's production has slipped to 11.8 against the Spurs.

Republic reporter Paul Coro contributed to this report..

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Davis Carries Warriors to Game 3 Victory

OAKLAND, Calif., May 11 (AP) -- When Baron Davis spun, sprang and threw down a breathtakingly vicious one-handed dunk right in Andrei Kirilenko's mug, it was more than an exclamation point on the Warriors' win.

It also was a question mark: Just how far can Golden State go when its point guard is playing such sublime playoff basketball, particularly in the arena that rocks to his beat?

Davis had 32 points and nine assists, Jason Richardson scored 25 points and Golden State stayed unbeaten in Oakland during the postseason with a 125-105 victory over the Jazz in Game 3 of their second-round series Friday night, cutting Utah's lead to 2-1.

Davis' mind-bending slam put multiple punctuation marks on a comfortable victory for the eighth-seeded Warriors, who lost two tough games in Utah to open a series few expected them to reach. They got back to their exciting style in front of the same fans who watched the Warriors beat top-seeded Dallas three times in the first round to the same 110-decibel soundtrack.

But after Utah cut Golden State's 30-point lead in half during the fourth quarter, Davis closed the door on yet another memorable spring night with his special delivery on shot-blocking specialist Kirilenko with 2:48 left.

"I shocked myself on that dunk,'' Davis said. "I was going to try to reverse it, but knowing he was a great shot-blocker, I thought I would just try my luck, and I got lucky.''

Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday night in Oakland, with Game 5 back in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.

Richardson hit four of the Warriors' NBA record-tying 11 3-pointers in the first half, and Al Harrington added 15 points as Golden State shrugged off two tough losses in Utah with yet another confident, free-flowing performance. The Warriors finished with 15 3-pointers while forcing 25 Utah turnovers.

But Davis produced a personal highlight reel in the second half after Golden State faltered, mixing spinning passes and jumpers before his big jam. Davis even got a technical foul after throwing it down for "acting the fool'' in celebration - but the screaming arena backed him up.

"That would have to be the greatest dunk I've ever seen with my eyes in person,'' marveled Richardson, the two-time NBA dunk champion. "It was like he put his whole body in the rim.''

"I think I was late on the help,'' Kirilenko said with a grin. "At least I got to be on the poster.''

Carlos Boozer had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Jazz, who landed gracelessly in California after riding high from Wednesday's emotional overtime victory in Game 2. Deron Williams added 14 points and six assists, but Golden State stretched its 21-point halftime lead to 30 midway through the third quarter before the Jazz finally responded.

"You get into a groove, and they certainly were in one,'' Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "We couldn't shoot the ball quick enough, which is certainly to our disadvantage. They were playing us strong and knowing where the ball was going to go.''

The Warriors have lost four of their five road playoff games, but they're 4-0 at home in the arena where they went 30-11 in the regular season. Their 125 points were a playoff-best, as was their 15-of-32 shooting on 3-pointers.

Their playoff-starved fans - replete in another collection of gold T-shirts that turned Oracle Arena into a big bowl of bubbling custard - rarely were quiet during Golden State's first home second-round playoff game since May 12, 1991.

And while Golden State's effort improved markedly from the opening tip, Utah regressed. The Jazz committed 16 turnovers before halftime while forcing just five by the Warriors, who got whatever shot they desired during most of their 70-point first half.

"They wanted us to take jump shots, and we fell into that trap,'' Boozer said. "We weren't hitting. It was a great first quarter, but midway through the second, it seemed like it slipped away.''

Derek Fisher, whose daughter's serious health problems forced his absence from the series until his dramatic return during Game 2, started for Utah but had nine points and no assists before fouling out.

The Warriors blew two late leads in Utah, but were revitalized at home as Davis predicted. Golden State made eight of its first 12 shots before blowing an early 13-point lead - but Williams and Fisher both picked up three fouls in the first half, limiting Utah's defensive options against Davis.

Golden State gradually built a healthy lead in the second quarter with its outside shot, eventually tying the league record for 3-pointers in a playoff half held by four other teams.

"We got snowballed in the second quarter,'' Fisher said.

Notes: Utah G Dee Brown sat out after spraining his neck when Mehmet Okur fell on his head in Game 2. Brown could return Sunday. ... The Jazz went back to the powder-blue uniforms they wore in their Game 7 road victory over the Houston Rockets in the first round. Utah wore its standard dark-blue togs for the first three games in Houston, losing all three. ... The Warriors hadn't won four home games in the same postseason since 1977.

Copyright 2006 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

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Suns Finish Strong to Close Out Spurs and Take Game 2

PHOENIX, May 8 (AP) -- Yes, those usually frenetic Phoenix Suns can play defense. They proved it Tuesday night with a blowout of the San Antonio Spurs.

With Kurt Thomas assigned to guard Tim Duncan one-on-one and Shawn Marion shutting down Tony Parker, the Suns squared the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series at a game apiece with a 101-81 victory.

Amare Stoudemire scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half to lead Phoenix.

Steve Nash, playing with a bandage over his nose after cutting it late in Game 1, added 20 points and 16 assists as the Suns beat the Spurs in a playoff game in Phoenix for the first time in five games dating to 2005.

Raja Bell added 18 points for the winners. Game 3 is Saturday in San Antonio.

The Suns' most significant contributions may have come from Marion and Thomas, who was added to the starting lineup.

"Defensively, we were really good," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "It started with Shawn and Kurt. Their work on those two guys was really good. Finally, we started clicking a little bit offensively. It was really a good effort. We just need to repeat it three more times."

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