CAVS, JAZZ STAGE RESISTANCE

 

 

In the East, well the Pistons had won Games 1 and 2 in Detroit. So far so good for "Detroiiiit basketballll" but any Pistons fans celebrating too early needed a reality check. In both home game the number 1 seed needed a late comeback to win against LeBron and crew. Which gave them fair warning about what was going to happen now. The series had switched to Cleveland and the odds on the Pistons bneing able to sweep this series looked very slim indeed.

Sure enough, the Cavs didn't hang around on home turf and looked to leave the Pistons in the dust though a very late 1st quarter surge by the visitors left the game tied at 22 at the end of the 1st. Detroit did pick up where they left off, but the Cavs were game for a fight and despite the Pistons leading 41-37 in the latter stages of the quarter, that was merely the cue for LeBron James to take over and secure the Cavs a 46-43 lead at half time.

That was fine by the Pistons, who've gotten used to needed to hit overdrive in the third quarter in this series and they did so here, breaking the Pistons late on to lead 63-62 with a quarter to go. On this occassion, the Cavs had more in the tank though. They took the lead immediately in the fourth and generally had the edge in the tight stretch. Drew Gooden takes credit for providing the most consistant back up to "King James" and the Cavs won 88-82.

In the West, it was a slightly different story. Yes the Spurs had won Games 1 and 2 in San Antonio, but added to that, the Jazz had never proven a serious threat in either game, coming alive in the fourth quarter by which point it was too little too late. So even with the scene switching to Utah for Game 3, there was still the possibility of a Spurs sweep in this series and the probability that the Jazz would at least wind up going 3-0 down on their home court.

Well the Jazz opened up 2-0 but after a two minute drought for both sides it was the Spurs who took over thanks mainly to Tony Parker's early work and it looked like a bad case of dejavu for fuming Jazz fans. However the 2nd quarter brought them a degree of hope with the Jazz nibbling away at the Spurs lead. However the visitors did enough to keep their scoreline ticking over and led 47-43 at the half but knew that they had to find a second wind in the third.

The Spurs opened up the third to lead 49-43 but it didn't take long for the Jazz to tie the game and with eight minutes left in the third they took the lead. The Spurs put up a fight but were nailed by a Derek Fisher three pointer mid quarter and from there on it, the Spurs had no resistance. The Jazz had already been good quality on fourth quarters alone so marry that to a more sustained comeback and you have the series favourites dumped on their backs for the night. Final score 109-83 and now it's the Spurs who have questions to answer for Game 4.

Well that's shaken things up.

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