"M-V-P!! M-V-P!!" this chant wasn't for LeBron tonight, instead the Chicago faithful bestowed the honour upon their hometown hero, Derrick Rose. He later said that he almost fainted after hearing the chorus of chants; but being guarded by LeBron James late in the game didn't faze him at all. And now, the Cleveland Cavaliers can forget about sweeping the Bulls out of the playoffs. Rose scored 31 points, Kirk Hinrich added 27 and Chicago hung on to beat the top-seeded Cavaliers, 108-106, on Thursday night in Game 3 of a first-round series after their 21-point lead dwindled to one.
LeBron scored 13 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter but also committed some turnovers down the stretch. Even so, the Cavaliers were within 107-106 after Mo Williams nailed a 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds left. They immediately fouled Luol Deng, who hit the first free throw but missed the second. Cleveland guard Anthony Parker got the rebound and raced up the right side but missed a desperation 3 at the buzzer, and the Bulls escaped with the win despite some shaky foul shooting late in the game.
Hinrich, a career 80.9 percent foul shooter, missed two with 26 seconds left and the Bulls up 104-99. LeBron then buried a 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to make it a two-point game. The Cavs immediately fouled Rose, who missed the first free throw before converting the second to make it 105-102 with 10.1 seconds left. Chicago fouled Anderson Varejao to prevent a 3-point attempt, and he made the first but missed the second. Brad Miller got the rebound and converted both foul shots to make it a four-point game, and the Bulls hung on for a wild win. They will try to tie the best-of-seven series on Sunday.
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Scuffling through another rough shooting night, Kevin Durant wanted to do anything he could to keep the Oklahoma City Thunder from falling hopelessly behind the Los Angeles Lakers. So he decided to take on the task of defending Kobe Bryant, that's the sign of a great player; even though his offense hadn't been rolling he decided to impact the game on the defensive end. The result? Durant had 29 points and 19 rebounds, and snapped out of a shooting funk while guarding Bryant to lead the decisive run, lifting the Thunder to a 101-96 victory in Game 3 on Thursday night in the first playoff game in Oklahoma City (Portland and, more so, Seattle fans are probably still crying right now or drowning they're sorrows of what could have been).
Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 22 of the final 23 for the Thunder, including every point during a 10-2 surge that put Oklahoma City ahead to stay. The top-seeded Lakers got back within 98-96 on Bryant's driving layup with 13.5 seconds left, but the Thunder closed it out from the foul line to pull within 2-1 in the seven-game series. Bryant scored 24 points to surpass Jerry West's franchise record for playoff scoring, and Pau Gasol had 17 points and 15 rebounds for Los Angeles. But when it came down to crunch time, shockingly Bryant couldn't deliver as he did in scoring 15 fourth-quarter points to seal the Lakers' 95-92 victory in Game 2. He went 2 for 10 in the final 12 minutes, with Durant stopping between free throws at one point to motion to the bench that he wanted to guard the former MVP.
Undaunted by a raucous sellout crowd, the Lakers scored the first 10 points of the game and were in control until the Thunder roared back with an electrifying run of eight straight points late in the third quarter. The fans reached a deafening pitch as the Thunder completed their charge back from an 11-point deficit set off by Westbrook's right-handed tomahawk dunk. James Harden and Durant followed with back-to-back 3-pointers to tie it at 74, and Oklahoma City finally took its first lead of the game on its opening possession of the fourth quarter. Near the end of the game Durant celebrated by thumping his chest and popping his jersey to show off the "Thunder" printed on the front while Westbrook, who scored 27 points, flapped his arms to egg on the screaming crowd. Game 4 is Saturday night in Oklahoma City.
Peace and Much Love To Ya :)
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