Eastern Conference:

Miami 78 - Atlanta 91

Atlanta wins series 4-1

• This series has truly been the antithesis of everything the Boston-Chicago series has been. Josh Smith set the tone early, and Joe Johnson exploded from behind the arc to rout the Heat late, and advance into the second round and a date with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Josh Smith had 21 points and 9 rebounds, and Joe Johnson made 6-of-8 three pointers on the way to 27 points. Johnson added 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 steals. Mike Bibby had 11 points and 6 assists, and Flip Murray added 15 points off the bench.
• Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem were fighting early, and Michael Beasley had a solid game off the bench, the but Heat couldn’t avoid the rout, not with the rest of their players cold from the floor. They did hold Atlanta to .408 shooting, but the hot streak of Joe Johnson did them in.
• The Heat have surely improved this year, from a 15-67 finish last season to the 5th seed this year. Their rookies, Mario Chalmers and Beasley, now have a full season under their belts, and with some more improvements over the offseason (either with their current roster, or with acquisitions), then the Heat have a pretty bright future.
• The Hawks now head into the match up with the Cavaliers without home court advantage. They’ve relied on that for bringing the Celtics to the brink last season, and for this big game 7 this season, but they won’t have that luxury anymore. Al Horford and Marvin Williams will also have to be at 100% if the Hawks are to have any chance of defeating the Cavs. That said, I guess a Joe Johnson and LeBron James duel wasn’t what I was hoping for, but it’ll still be interesting to watch.

Semifinals:

Western Conference:

Dallas 95 - Denver 109

Denver leads series 1-0

• Nene exploded for a career playoff-high 24 points, including 18 in the first half to pound the Dallas Mavericks, and Carmelo Anthony shook off early foul trouble to be a scoring machine late, to win the first game of their series. Anthony had 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, while J.R. Smith had 15 points and 6 assists off the bench. Chauncey Billups, one of the anchors of the Nuggets, had a relatively quiet game with only 6 points and 6 assists, but he still managed to get the better of his match up with the Mavericks’ Jason Kidd, who scored 15 points, but had 8 of his team’s 20 turnovers.
• Dirk Nowitzki had a great game for the Mavs with 28 points and 10 rebounds, but he had little help from the rest of his teammates. Jason Terry had 15 points and 5 rebounds off the bench, but Josh Howard had only 15 points on 7-16 shooting, and only added 2 rebounds and a turnover, while Kidd turned the ball over too many times.
• Denver’s bench got in on the fun, with Chris Andersen adding 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 blocks, and Anthony Carter had 12 points, 4 assists and 2 steals. The bench performances will be key in this series, as Denver boasts of a deep team, while the Dallas bench has been inconsistent at best, with the exception of Sixth Man Jason Terry.
• Denver might also be looking to adjust to Dirk Nowitzki, and not allow him another field day like this one (the German shot 13-22 from the field). If Denver’s defense (something that up till recently hasn’t been very good) can continue to force a lot of turnovers and bad shots from the rest of the Mavericks, then they’re looking very good.