Miami Heat 108, Atlanta Hawks 93, Series is even @ 1-1;
Denver 108, New Orleans Hornets 93, Denver leads Hornets 2-1;
Orlando Magic 96, Philadelphia 76ers 87, Series is even @ 1-1;
Following the completion of the first two games of the opening series, it became clear who are the dominant home teams in the East and the West. There are only three teams who did their assignments while in their own backyard - the Cleveland Cavaliers, the LA Lakers and the Denver Nuggets among the eight teams holding home court advantage on their series.
Enjoying a home court advantage throughout the playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers are poised for their campaign to dominate the East by defeating the Detroit Pistons two game in a row. Lebron James combined for a total of 67 points in the first two games against Detroit and showed why he should be the MVP this season. There were no answers from Detroit on James' exceptional athleticism on the court. Perhaps the bench can mitigate the dryness of the Pistons' first five offense when the bench scored 30 of their 32 points in the 4th quarter in game 2. The backups provided a spark, diving for loose balls and very aggressive at the defensive end. These efforts remain to be seen in game 3 from the starting five if they want to extend this series to over four games.
Will the Pistons bounce back in game 3? It's hard to say. We saw a different Pistons team after Billups was traded to Denver. It was a lopsided trade as the Denver Nuggets ranked second in the West while the Pistons hang on at the 8th spot in the East. The Pistons were never the same. Though they remain well at the defensive end (8th in defense in the league out of the 30 teams), their offense lack intensity and nowhere they can match Lebron's squad. They are 3rd in the worst team in terms of the average points at 94.2 per game, along with Memphis and Charlotte Bobcats during the season. So what would we expect more in this series? Cleveland leads the Pistons 3-1 during their season encounters, and with how James is playing this season and going into this playoffs, this would be a sweep.
Will the Pistons bounce back in game 3? It's hard to say. We saw a different Pistons team after Billups was traded to Denver. It was a lopsided trade as the Denver Nuggets ranked second in the West while the Pistons hang on at the 8th spot in the East. The Pistons were never the same. Though they remain well at the defensive end (8th in defense in the league out of the 30 teams), their offense lack intensity and nowhere they can match Lebron's squad. They are 3rd in the worst team in terms of the average points at 94.2 per game, along with Memphis and Charlotte Bobcats during the season. So what would we expect more in this series? Cleveland leads the Pistons 3-1 during their season encounters, and with how James is playing this season and going into this playoffs, this would be a sweep.
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