San Antonio 86, Utah 77 - This one was a 1 point game after each of the first three quarters, even though both teams had their moments through the first 30 minutes. The even play continued until there was just two minutes remaining, when from a 75-all tie, the Spurs went on an 11-2 run, including five in the final 30 seconds from former Providence guard Bryce Cotton, to snag the win and the slot in the Vegas quarterfinals. Vander Blue was one of five Spurs with at least 10 points, and the former MU guard had seven of his 10 points just in the third quarter. Blue also had two assists on the day.
Washington 78, Miami 67 - Like the Spurs-Jazz game, this one was tightly contested all the way until the end. Washington held a slight advantage with less than a minute to play when Jamil Wilson canned a three pointer to put the Wizards up 72-67. Wilson popped in a pair of freebies 10 seconds later, and the Wizards were able to ice this one at the free throw line from there. Wilson only had seven points on the night, but he got five of them when his team needed them the most, not to mention two of his seven rebounds in the final minute as well. Glen Rice, Jr., led the way for Washington with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while 15 points from Justin Hamilton topped the scoresheet for the Heat.
Chicago 79, Philadelphia 68 - We have a power outage for Chicago. Their three pointers weren't falling (7-25 as a team), so they were forced to go in different directions to score and protect their number 1 seed in the tournament. In case anyone was worried about Doug McDermott being able to hang in the NBA, I'd like to direct you to this sequence, where he gets two blocks on one possession, tips an airball to a teammate, and then hits a three in transition. The big players for the Bulls were Tony Snell and Cameron Bairstow, as the former teammates at New Mexico each poured in 18 points and combined to grab 15 rebounds with seven and eight respectively. Davante Gardner did not play for the Bulls.
New York 80, D-League Select 73 - It was all D-League in the first quarter, but the score almost exactly flipped in the second, and things were tied at the half. The Knicks assembled a 24-9 third quarter to take control of the game and advance to the quarterfinals. Tim Hardaway, Jr., was the major player for New York, scoring 25 points. The D-League was led by 20 points from Tony Mitchell, while Trent Lockett scored 12 points on 4-12 shooting and made up for his woes there by grabbing a game high nine rebounds. The D-Leaguers move on to the consolation side of the bracket.
Today's Schedule:
5pm: Toronto vs LA Clippers, NBA TV
9:30pm: D-League Select vs Philadelphia (tape delayed to 8am)