NBA Underdogs Win On Wednesday
The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Houston Rockets to take a surprising 2-0 lead in the NBA playoff series. The Dallas Mavericks also squared away their series with the heavily favored San Antonio Spurs. In other words, it was a night for the underdogs.
Only three teams in the league have won a best of seven series after losing the first two games at home. The Rockets are one of those teams, and they will now have to do it again.
Back when we originally analyzed this game it was agreed upon that the Blazers would not be able to only rely on LaMarcus Aldridge to win the series. Â Turns out that was a bad assessment. Â Aldridge put up 43 points in Game 2 in the series and had some help about Damian Lillard who chipped in 18 points, dished the ball out for a score 11 times and pulled down eight rebounds.
Dwight Howard led the Rockets with 32 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. Â James Harden chipped in 18 points, however, Harden gave the ball away five times in the final minute of the game.
The Trail Blazers are only two win away from sweeping this series and will get the opportunity to do so at home this weekend.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, The Mavs tied up their series with the Spurs breaking a 10-game losing streak. Â Dallas picked up a whopping 21-point win over the Spurs.
Monta Ellis scored 21 points, while Shawn Marion scored 20 points. The real highlight was Dallas’ defense who forced the Spurs to commit 24 turnovers.
The loss was the Spurs third worst home court playoff loss in the team’s history. The series heads to Dallas for Game 3.
Manu Ginobili scored 27 points coming off the bench. Â Tony Parker contributed 12 points and Tim Duncan chipped in 11 points.
The Miami Heat also went over the Charlotte Bobcats to take a two game lead in the series.
