I mentioned this briefly yesterday, but this round of play is the first of ten instances of home-and-home series being played between teams in consecutive rounds. I decided that I would split these series up by at least a day, which is why Group D is returning to action today after a day off when they normally would have had the potential to play yesterday. Groups F, E, and G will also take the court again after having had the last couple of days off for the holiday. Once more, all simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Time to play some basketball.
Group F
Detroit shot an appalling 29.4 percent from the floor, the lowest of the tournament so far, so despite the Pistons forcing 19 turnovers, they couldn't take advantage. They had no answer for Kevin McHale, who went off for 24 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks, or Larry Bird, who had 24 points, 17 rebounds, and seven assists for the Celtics. Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 14 points and nine assists, while Ben Wallace added six points and 15 rebounds.
@ '84 Boston Celtics 113, '01 Los Angeles Lakers 107 (OT)
Derek Fisher hit a three at the buzzer to force the extra session, but the Lakers struggled a bit on offense in overtime as the Celtics took advantage of their opportunities in the battle of undefeateds. Larry Bird had a monster game with 33 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, and five steals for the quadruple-nickel that seems to happen at least once a day, Robert Parish added 17 points and 21 rebounds, and Cedric Maxwell chipped in 17 points, six rebounds, and five assists. The overtime loss might overshadow probably the best Shaq/Kobe combined game we'll see all tournament: Shaq finished with 31 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks, while Kobe dropped a game-high 35 points to go with 10 rebounds.
'89 Detroit Pistons 102, @ '68 Boston Celtics 96
The Pistons missed 16 free throws, but took 16 more than the Celtics did, and used a 35-22 advantage in the third quarter to take control of the game. Six Pistons reached double figures, led by a strong performance from Isiah Thomas to the tune of 19 points, five rebounds, and 10 assists. Bill Laimbeer added 15 points and 17 rebounds for Detroit. Boston got 26 points from Sam Jones, while Bill Russell finished with 14 points, 22 rebounds, and four blocks.
'98 Chicago Bulls 83, @ '52 Minneapolis Lakers 81
Scottie Pippen hit a bank shot with 49 seconds to go to give the Bulls the lead, and they were able to hang on against three attempts at forcing overtime, including a George Mikan shot from just outside the paint at the buzzer. Pip finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Michael Jordan played more of the Pippen role with 15 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists, and Ron Harper also added 15 points. George Mikan played 44 minutes and played well, with 29 points and 24 rebounds in a tough loss, while James Pollard added 18 and 11 and Vern Mikkelsen finished with 12 and 12.
Group E
@ '92 Chicago Bulls 121, '77 Portland Trail Blazers 99
The Bulls shot 56 percent from the floor, including seven of 10 from beyond the arc to complete the sweep of the Blazers. Michael Jordan went off for 30 points and six assists, Horace Grant added 16 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, and Craig Hodges hit five of seven threes off the bench to notch 17 points. Bill Walton finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead Portland, while Maurice Lucas added 20 and 10.
'69 Boston Celtics 114, @ '61 Boston Celtics 93
The '69 team completes the sweep as well, holding their '61 counterparts to 33.9 percent shooting and getting to the line 30 times. Bailey Howell had 19 of those free throw attempts and it helped net him 23 points and eight rebounds to lead the '69 Celtics to victory. John Havlicek added 17 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, and '69 Bill Russell added 14 points and 16 rebounds. Bob Cousy and '61 Sam Jones each had 16 points in the loss, while Gene Conley added 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
@ '82 Los Angeles Lakers 107, '53 Minneapolis Lakers 92
Los Angeles also completes a sweep of Minneapolis, though the guests shot 40 percent from three and got to the line 35 times. They had no answer defensively for LA though, as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar put up 23 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way. Jamaal Wilkes added 18 points, and Magic Johnson finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists for the '82 Lakers. George Mikan had 12 points and a game-high 19 rebounds for Minneapolis, while Vern Mikkelsen added 17 and 10.
The Celtics went 9-17 from beyond the arc and controlled the glass, but Golden State went bombs away, hitting 17 threes to complete another sweep and remain undefeated. Klay Thompson went off for 32 points and five assists, Steph Curry struggled from deep but still added 22 points, seven rebounds, and 10 assists, and Draymond Green finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors. Golden State's hot shooting spoiled a sublime performance from Bill Russell, who had 17 points, 20 rebounds, seven assists, four blocks, and four steals, while Bob Cousy added 20 points and seven assists.
Group G
@ '11 Dallas Mavericks 97, '76 New York Nets 71
Dallas forced a whopping 25 turnovers and held the Nets to 34.5 percent shooting to prevail in a battle of 1-1 teams. Tyson Chandler controlled the paint with 24 points and 10 rebounds, Dirk Nowitzki added 17 and eight, and Shawn Marion finished with 10 and seven off the bench. Rich Jones and Al Skinner each had 12 points to pace New York, while Julius Erving had a decent floor game with 10 points, four rebounds, five assists, three steals, and three blocks.
The Celtics topped 30 points in every quarter in this barnburner and shot 51 percent from the floor to set a tournament high for points in a game. Eight Celtics hit double figures, led by 30 points from John Havlicek. Clyde Lovellette added 18 points off the bench, Tommy Heinsohn added 17, and Bill Russell was excellent at both ends with 14 points, 20 rebounds, and six blocks. Billy Cunningham had 37 points and nine rebounds to lead the Sixers, Wali Jones added 18 and seven, and Wilt Chamberlain had a quadruple-nickel of 10 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, and seven blocks.
'97 Chicago Bulls 118, @ '58 St. Louis Hawks 107
Chicago pulled away with a 31-14 third quarter advantage after a back and forth first half, and held on for the solid win. Michael Jordan finished with 19 points, Scottie Pippen added 18, and Luc Longley had a solid outing with 17 points and six rebounds for the Bulls. Bob Pettit's 30 points and 19 rebounds weren't enough for the Hawks, and neither were 17 points and nine rebounds for Cliff Hagan.
@ '02 Los Angeles Lakers 119, '66 Boston Celtics 96
The Lakers hit 14 of 29 threes and pulled away late to stay undefeated and knock the Celtics from those ranks. Shaquille O'Neal feasted on the Celtics' frontcourt with 22 points, 19 rebounds, and five assists, while Kobe Bryant managed a quadruple-nickel with 22 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and five steals. Derek Fisher and Robert Horry combined for 29 points, including nine of LA's 14 threes. Sam Jones had 29 points and nine rebounds to lead the Celtics, while Bill Russell added 11 points and 23 rebounds.
Group D
'62 Boston Celtics 128, @ '63 Boston Celtics 120
The '62 Celtics hit 29 of 42 free throws to earn the split, while the '63 team managed just 27 attempts total and turned the ball over 22 times in a tough loss. '62 Sam Jones had 22 points and six rebounds to help propel his team to victory, while '62 Tommy Heinsohn added 21 and 17 and '62 Bill Russell finished with 16 and 24. '63 Sam Jones finished with 25 and eight, while '63 Russell had a quardruple-nickel with 13 points, 27 rebounds, six assists, and five steals, and '63 Bob Cousy chipped in 19 points, five rebounds, and eight assists.
@ '96 Chicago Bulls 115, '09 Los Angeles Lakers 99
The defending champs complete the sweep thanks to controlling the glass, attacking the basket, and hitting enough threes to move to 3-0 on the tournament. Scottie Pippen led the way with 26 points and five assists, Michael Jordan added 21 points and eight rebounds, Toni Kukoc chipped in 18 points, five rebounds, and six assists, and Dennis Rodman pulled down 18 rebounds to go with his eight points. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 25 points and five rebounds, Lamar Odom added 16 and eight, and Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum each contributed nine points and eight rebounds.
Washington is off to an 0-3 start despite shooting 46 percent from the floor and 6-10 from beyond the arc, mainly because they had no answer for an unconscious Cavs offense. Cleveland shot 56.8 percent from the floor, including 11 of 21 from outside. LeBron James went bonkers with a triple-double of 36 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, Kevin Love added 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Kyrie Irving chipped in 23 points. Elvin Hayes led the Bullets with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Bob Dandridge finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.
'07 San Antonio Spurs 102, @ '76 Boston Celtics 91
The Spurs complete the sweep and move to 3-0 behind a relentless attack that led to 31 free throws compared to Boston's 14. Tim Duncan only had 13 points, but pulled down 20 rebounds and blocked four shots for San Antonio in the win, while Manu Ginobili finished with 22 points and nine rebounds, and Tony Parker added 21 points and six assists. Charlie Scott paced Boston with 17 points, John Havlicek added 16, and Dave Cowens contributed eight points, 14 rebounds, and five assists.
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