Eastern Conference:

Cleveland 84 - Atlanta 74

Cleveland wins series 4-0

• Another series goes ‘fo for the Cavs. LeBron James had 27 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, and Cleveland showed that they’re progressing from being the “Cleveland LeBrons” one-man show into a better and truer team, with great performances throughout the lineup for another sweep in the postseason. Delonte West had 21 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, Mo Williams had 4 three pointers for 12 points, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.


LeBron James and the Cavaliers waltz into the Eastern Conference Finals with another sweep. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

• Another case of “too little, too late” for the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks were not able to prevent Cleveland from improving on their NBA-record of winning 8 straight playoff games by double digits despite keeping this one relatively close. Josh Smith had 26 points and 8 rebounds for the Hawks, but Atlanta suffered through more poor shooting performances, with Joe Johnson having 18 points on 7-18 shooting (he did add 6 rebounds and 7 assists), and Mike Bibby going for only 3 points on a single trey in the final quarter (he shot 1-6 from the field). Flip Murray had 14 points on 4-15 shooting off the bench for the Hawks.
• The Hawks actually led after the first quarter, 22-15. Then they got mired in an offensive rut, and weren’t able to outscore the Cavs in any quarter after. It’s a mark of consoling improvement that they’ve reduced their deficit for each game, and were able to give the Cavs a bigger challenge in each one. LeBron did have to play 40 minutes again, and his shot wasn’t falling as nicely as in the previous game when he went for 47, but the Hawks just couldn’t pull it off against a superior team. Now Cleveland will get some rest while waiting for the Orlando-Boston series to finish (it can end as early as Thursday). I do hope that the Eastern finals (Cleveland vs. whoever will win that series) will be more interesting than the Cavs’ past two ho-hum sweeps against Detroit and now, Atlanta.

*****

Western Conference:

Denver 117 - Dallas 119

Denver leads series 3-1

• Just like the Atlanta-Cleveland series, Dallas has been reducing their deficits in each game. Only, unlike the Hawks, they were able to come up with a win in their series.
  

  Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki (R) had a duel with Denver's Carmelo Anthony, but he came up with the W in this game. (Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

  The Mavericks rode 44 points and 13 rebounds from Dirk Nowtizki (including 19 points in the fourth quarter) to a win over the Denver Nuggets. Jason Kidd had 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Josh Howard played through his gimpy ankles to add 21 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas. They were also able to count on their bench, with 11 points and 6 rebounds from Brandon Bass, who played a lot of minutes after Erick Dampier fouled out in 23 scoreless minutes, and 10 points from J.J. Barea.

• Denver wasn’t able to build on an 11-point first quarter lead, and several other big leads throughout the game. Dallas always came up with a huge run to close the score, and were able to lead late in the fourth. The Nuggets had a career playoff-high performance from Carmelo Anthony with 41 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 steals. Chauncey Billups had 24 points and 7 assists, and J.R. Smith had 19 points off the bench, including two baskets with the shot clock winding down in the fourth. Unfortunately, their performances weren’t enough.
• I was wondering why Carmelo wasn’t on Dirk in the last few possessions of Dallas, where Nowitzki repeatedly scored. ‘Melo had been having success guarding Dirk, with a couple of steals to his name at Dirk’s expense, but I guess his foul trouble (’Melo had 5 at that point) was a factor in the switch, as they’d need him badly if ever this one had went into overtime. Nene also had 5 fouls, and Kenyon Martin fouled out (he picked up his last while guarding Nowitzki) with only 2 points and 2 rebounds.
• Denver looks to close out the series in Game 5 in Denver, where they’ll hopefully be with Chris “Birdman” Andersen, who missed this game with the stomach flu. Denver also hasn’t lost in their home court in this postseason, and the couple of blowout wins they served against both Dallas and New Orleans (in the first round) have to give them huge confidence going into Game 5. However, Dallas is down, but will refuse to be counted out, if Dirk Nowitzki’s performance is any indication. I expect Game 5 to be a hard fought one, but I’m still penciling in Denver to end it at home.