NBA All Rookie Team Announced

1st team
G Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
G OJ Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies
G Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
F Michael Beasley, Miami Heat
C Brook Lopez, New Jersey Nets

2nd team
G Eric Gordon, Los Angeles Clippers
G Mario Chalmers, Miami Heat
G Rudy Fernandez, Portland Trail Blazers
G DJ Augustine, Charlotte Bobcats
F Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves
C Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies

Game 7 it is

The Chicago Bulls forced Game 7 in what has already been an epic series with the Boston Celtics. The Bulls outlasted the Celtics 128-127 in triple overtime. The Bulls overcame a classic night from Celtic guard Ray Allen who posted a career playoff high 51 points. Allen was blanketed throughout the game yet still managed to hit amazing clutch shot after amazing clutch shot. John Salmons of the Bulls scored a career playoff high of his own with 35 point, knocking down impressive shots of his own. Derrick Rose continued to exemplify poise, proving why he is rookie of the year with 28 points 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. After missing the two free throws in game 5 after a tough foul from Rajon Rondo, Miller bounced back with key plays at the end of regulation. Miller finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Joakim Noah had 15 rebounds while finishing a pivotal dunk plus the foul over Paul Pierce. Glen "Big Baby" Davis continued inspired play in the absence of their emotional leader Kevin Garnett. Davis scored 23. Rondo played facilitator on this night dishing 19 assists to go with his 8 points and 9 rebounds. Once again it was the Celtics bench that was nonexistent.

Although Paul Pierce is the Celtics best isolation player, I would have liked to see Ray Allen with the ball in his hands late in the game. Allen had it going where Pierce didn't necessarily. Pierce missed him at the end of the first overtime. Ray has had the ball in iso situations throughout his career and this was time for it. Rondo was given the ball with a chance to take Rose off the dribble. I would of least liked to see some type of dribble hand off with Allen getting him going toward the basket, putting the onus on the refs. I've argued since Allen was a Celtic that Rivers has made him one dimensional. Allen was in the corner where it looked as though Salmons was holding him as the world including the refs watched Rondo vs Rose. When a player has 51 in a game you put it in his hands and live with the result sometimes, especially this time.

The final battle of this epic war will take place Saturday May 2 8:00 p.m. ET.

Houston defeats Portland

The Houston Rockets took care of business on their home floor defeating the Portland Trailblazers 92-76. Ron Artest was the offense as opposed to just the defense for the Rockets, posting 27 points. Yao Ming finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. LaMarcus Aldrige led the Blazers with 26 points. Brandon Roy scored 22 in another tough effort with physical defense form Artest and Battier. The Rockects will now meet the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round on Monday night.

In a post game interview, directly after the game, Artest praised the Blazers and Roy for their effort. Saying Roy was the toughest player he had to guard. Artest claimed no had had ever had 40 on him, referring back to game of the series where Roy had 42 points. When TNT sportscaster Craig Sager asked about Kobe Bryant being a tougher player to guard Artest quickly returned to his original comment of Roy. I don't know if Kobe Bryant watches TNT but I wouldn't be surprised to see Kobe take the challenge of making Artest think twice about the number of people to "give him 40".

Magic finish off Sixers

Despite no Dwight Howard nor Courtney Lee the Orlando Magic ended the Philadelphia 76ers season with the 114-89 win. The Sixers didn't shot the ball very well (40%) and received "boos" during the game from hometown fans. Rashard Lewis picked up the slack offensively in Howard's absence scoring 29 points. Marcin Gortat did is part snatching 15 rebounds and 11 points replacing Howard in the starting lineup. Guard J.J Redick took advantage of his opportunity starting in place of Courtney Lee. Redick scored 15 points including five 3 point baskets. The Magic shot 53%. Philly's Andre's, Iguodala and Miller, scored 20 and 24 respectively. To make matters worse with a little under 7 minutes left, Samuel Dalembert and Hedo Turkoglu, exchanged what looked to be elbows at two different times during a possession. After a break in play the two walked up to one another nearly nose to nose. Here rather awkwardly it looked as though Dalembert kissed Turkoglu, much to his chagrin. The two were broken up as Turkoglu reacted in disgust. Turkoglu and the Magic must put the brotherly love of Philadelphia behind them and focus on the next round. The Magic await the winner of an epic game 7 of one of the most highly competitive 1st round series in NBA history between the Celtics and Bulls.

Denver sends New Orleans fishin'

Denver took care of business at home closing out their series with the New Orleans Hornets in yet another dominating victory, 107-86. Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 34 points as he look focused at the chase of advancing to the second round for the first time in his 6 year career. Chauncey Billups exuded that same focus as it seemed to rub off on the entire Nugget team. Billups added 13 points and 12 assists. The Nuggets shot 51% from the field. J.R Smith continued is offensive exploits with 20 points of the bench against the team that once drafted him. David West was a lone bright spot for the Hornets, finishing with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Chris Paul continually saw different bodies with length all over him. Denver switched a lot of pick and role screens were athletic and long forwards like Kenyon Martin and Chris "Birdman" Anderson. Denver meets Dallas in the second round Sunday May 3 3:30 ET on ABC

Atlanta prevails at home

The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Miami Heat 106-91. Joe Johnson seemed to finally get it going offensively scoring 25 points. A key to that change was he got to the free throw line more and made them count. Johnson shot 12-15 from the line well above the 52% he was shooting prior to that. He also did the other things that makes his game so versatile adding 6 assists and 6 rebounds. Josh Smith added 20 for the Hawks despite his late game blunder. Dwyane Wade was beat up in the physical game throughout. He was still able to put up a game high 29 points. Suffering from back spasms and tough collision caused him to hit his head on the floor. Referree's foul calling is and will remain to be crusial to these playoffs. Many argue the flagrant foul on Wade's block attempt at the rim of a Maurice Evans dunk try was a bad call. Ref's have to weigh the play and the plays that lead up to them in order to come up with the best call. I will admit I wouldn't want their job at playoff time. Miami will look to regroup and hold of elimination at home Friday May 1.

Another battle in the CHI/BOS war

The Boston Celtics took game 5 in overtime over the Chicago Bulls 106-104. This is the fourth overtime in three different games this series setting a playoff record. The series is so competitive their has been 48 ties and over 90 lead changes so far. Despite Kevin Garnet being sidelined to injury and Ray Allen being in foul trouble throughout and eventually fouling out mid way through the 4th quarter, Paul Pierce stepped up. Pierce went on to hit clutch basket after clutch basket on route to 26 points. Rajon Rondo continued his excellent play scoring 28 points, dishing 11 assists and grabbing 8 rebounds. Kendrick Perkins scored 16 points, grabbed a career high 17 rebounds and tied a franchise record for blocks set by Robert Parrish with 7. Scoring machine Ben Gordon continued to show no conscious scoring 26 points. Despite a hamstring injury suffered in game 4 Gordon fulfilled the well known basketball quote, "shooters keep shooting". Gordon only shot 6-21 from the field, but got hot late in the game as usual. Kirk Hinrich was a huge spark for Chicago off the bench scoring 19 points. On the game's final play Brad Miller was hacked by Rondo. Rondo took a swipe, but for what, depended on who you were routing for. Celtic fans would say the ball, but I'd say Bulls fans would say his head. It looks as though Rondo wanted to foul preventing an easy layup for Miller. It doesn't look as the the blow to the head was intentional. Referee's elected to call a foul but not a flagrant foul. The blow required stitches. After review the league confirmed the ref's made the proper call. What do you think?