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The Hornets are in the playoffs as Chris Paul led New Orleans to a vital win over the Rockets. In other action, the Heat fell apart without Dwyane Wade and the Nuggets earned a big victory over the Mavericks.
The New Orleans Hornets' defense has been the team's rock of fortitude all season long, and Wednesday was no exception. The Hornets held a strong Houston Rockets offense to below-average efficiency en route to a playoff-clinching 101-93 victory. Chris Paul led the Hornets with 28 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
Houston's offense was held to 1.03 points per possession, quite a bit off their standard. CP3 stopped Kyle Lowry in his tracks; Lowry scored just eight on 3-11 shooting, and didn't get to the line. Kevin Martin popped in 21, and Luis Scola had 16 points and 10 rebounds. But a lack of production from Lowry and Courtney Lee (0-6 off the bench) hurt too much.
The Hornets don't get easy offense too frequently, but Houston's defense is poor and CP3 was on his game. Trevor Ariza shot better than 50 percent! New Orleans survived a bad night from Carl Landry, facing his old friends; Landry hit just 2-10 shots for five points.
New Orleans is in the playoffs. What a strange ride it has been.
Dwyane Wade didn't play, and the Miami Heat responded by losing to the Milwaukee Bucks 90-85 at home on national TV. LeBron James had 29 points and eight assists, but the Bucks pulled away in the fourth for the road victory. Maligned John Salmons (yep, that's his official new first name) led the Bucks with 17 points, but needed 16 shots to get there. Corey Maggette was more efficient, with 14 points on seven FGAs and six free throws off the bench.
LeBron didn't get a whole lot of help. Chris Bosh scored an inefficient 18, and no other Heater broke eight. Mario Chalmers shot 1-9 from the floor, Mike Bibby took only four shots, and the entire team combined for 21 free throws against the most foulingest team in the league.
The Heat do have something to play for (home court advantage in a potential second round meeting with the Celtics or a potential Finals meeting with the Lakers), but didn't show it.
Shawn Marion did his best to provide Dirk Nowitzki with a second star scorer to pump up the numbers, but the Dallas Mavericks still weren't able to beat the Denver Nuggets as the team's defense fell apart, giving visiting Denver a 104-96 win. Marion scored 21 on 10-14 shooting to go with Nowitzki's 20; J.R. Smith of the Nuggets shined a bit brighter with 23, including 13 on 5-6 shooting in the fourth quarter.
Rick Carlisle replaced one zero in the starting lineup with another, as Jason Kidd was inactive and DeShawn Stevenson entered the starting lineup. Stevenson had a completely unproductive five minutes on the court, missing all three of his shots, picking up two fouls and a turnover. Corey Brewer got the third quarter start over Stevenson and performed much better, with 13 points and three steals in 20 minutes.
The Mavericks are one game ahead of the Thunder for the No. 3 seed. If Dallas falls to OKC in the standings, the Nuggets would get the Mavs again in the first round.
In other action:
Warriors 95, Lakers 87: I'm not sure if Phil Jackson is being serious, but after the loss -- which eliminated L.A.'s hopes for the No. 1 seed -- the coach was asked whether he'd rest his players for the final four games now that nothing is at stake. His response: "They rested tonight." Zing!
Spurs 124, Kings 92: This was a two-point game at halftime, and a 22-point game at the end of the third. San Antonio shot 14-17 (82 percent) in the third quarter. They can be terrifying.
Thunder 112, Clippers 108: Blake Griffin scored 35 in his return to Oklahoma, but the Thunder held on for the contested win. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 55.
Knicks 97, Sixers 92: Carmelo Anthony won his battle with Andre Iguodala (31 points on 12-23 shooting), but Elton Brand won his battle with Amar'e Stoudemire (24/9 to 18/6). But the Knicks won. Spencer Hawes with a spectacular 0 points on 0-5 shooting performance.
Magic 111, Bobcats 102: Dwight Howard will be benched for his next game with his 18th technical foul. Gilbert Arenas had a mammoth game with 25 on 9-14 shooting (including six three-pointers). Gerald Henderson dropped a game-high 32 for Charlotte.
Pacers 136, Wizards 112: The Zards' streak ends at three. Danny Granger had 25 and Paul George had 23. Jordan Crawford had 29 (on a True Shooting percentage of .529, which is below league average) and Baltche had 23-10.
The following games had nothing to do with anything, and are presented without comment.
Suns 108, Wolves 98
Dwight Howard has earned his second technical foul-related suspension of the year. Finally! The Orlando Magic center was T'd for his reaction after drawing a 10-second violation while considering a free throw attempt. The free throw delay has become a Howard specialty, but this time he tacked on another move: dumping the ball in an area vacant of referees instead of returning it to Bennett Salvatore.
VIDEO: Tyreke Evans Dunks On Gary Neal, Matt Bonner Jogs With Perfect Form
by Tom Ziller
Something beautiful happened in the Spurs' win over the Kings in San Antonio Wednesday: someone captured a full clip of Matt Bonner's perfect jogging form! Check it out from the two- to four-second marks, and again from 24-27 seconds in. Just amazing.
It's too bad the camera is so focused on Tyreke Evans' dunk on Gary Neal. Could see more of Bonner's jog. Is he using the POSE Method, or Chi?
Apr 07 8:26a