Celtics, Lakers Hold 2-1 Series Leads

Last night, San Antonio kept the Lakers from taking a 3-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals by holding off Kobe Bryant and his Laker teammates 103-84. The Lakers now hold a 2-1 lead.

In the East, the Celtics beat Detroit 94-80 on Saturday night. The Celtics lead the Eastern Conference Finals 2-1. The Detroit Free Press chronicles injured Detroit point guard Chauncey Billups' struggles.

Lakers Demolish San Antonio

Last night, the Lakers annihilated San Antonio 101-71. The Lakers lead defending World Champion San Antonio 2-0 in the NBA's Western Conference Finals.

San Antonio looks very bad. A Celtics vs. Lakers series appears to be imminent.

San Antonio Survives New Orleans, Advances to Western Conference Finals

Last night, San Antonio beat New Orleans 91-82 in the seventh and deciding game of the Western Conference Semifinals. San Antonio will face the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

The fact that San Antonio prevailed over Chris Paul and New Orleans is notable. New Orleans won the first two games of the series, and Chris Paul absolutely tore San Antonio's defense apart early in the series. And sports commentators of all stripes were quick to write San Antonio's obituary.

San Antonio was said to have suddenly become be too old, too slow and too soft to compete. Their dynasty was officially being written off as a thing of the past.

But then San Antonio figured out a way to slow Chris Paul, force New Orleans to settle for jump shots and expose New Orleans' weaknesses (lack of rebounding, lack of depth, smallish backcourt, etc.).

And San Antonio came back from the brink of extinction to win the series and advance to the Western Conference Finals.

As we noted yesterday, it seems as though the NBA and everyone in the national sports media is rooting for a return to a Celtics vs. Lakers NBA Finals (just like the old days). Here's to hoping for a San Antonio vs. Detroit Finals (just like 2005).

San Antonio Beats New Orleans, Forces Game Seven

Tonight, defending World Champion San Antonio beat Chris Paul and visiting New Orleans 99-80. In doing so, San Antonio evened the Western Conference semifinal series 3-3, and forced a deciding game seven (which will be played Monday night in New Orleans).

Once again, San Antonio was led by Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili:

"Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 25 points. From the 4:32 mark of the first quarter until 10:48 left in the game, he hit six 3-pointers.

Tim Duncan had 20 points and 15 rebounds. He has 7 of 14 from the field and 6 of 8 on free throws. Tony Parker had 15 points."

(Hat Tip: San Antonio Express-News)

San Antonio KO's Phoenix

Last night, San Antonio beat Phoenix 92-87 in game 5 of their first round playoff series. With the win, San Antonio -- the reigning NBA World Champions -- knocked Phoenix out of the playoffs.

San Antonio will face Chris Paul and New Orleans in the playoffs' second round.

Phoenix is headed home from the playoffs early ... again.

At the most recent meeting of Drive and Dish's editorial panel, we came to the position that it was unfortunate that Phoenix and San Antonio had to face each other in the first round of the playoffs. Those were two of the best teams in the league. And if they hadn't had to face each other in the first round, both teams could possibly have made it to the Western Conference Finals.

Although it's been said so often that it's almost cliche, the balance of power in the NBA is clearly in the West. The Western Conference has several outstanding teams: most of whom would likely be difficult to beat in the NBA Finals.

But only one team gets to emerge from the West. And, once again, Phoenix won't be that team.

But Phoenix isn't a young, up and coming team. They're a veteran squad who were assembled entirely for the purpose of making it to the NBA Finals this year. Phoenix General Manager Steve Kerr traded Shawn Marion away and acquired Shaquille O'Neal with one thing in mind -- to move Phoenix away from the perimeter oriented, wide open, run and gun style that had defined Phoenix Suns basketball, in favor of the more traditional, big man centered, half court basketball that dominates the NBA playoffs/Finals.

Phoenix traded for Shaq in order to beef up their inside game, so that they could contend for the NBA Finals.

But it didn't work.

So after putting everything on the line to make a run at the NBA Finals and falling short, Phoenix will be forced to make some changes in the off season.

An ESPN round table discusses Phoenix's situation and ponders Phoenix's options:

"Ric Bucher, ESPN The Mag: The Suns mortgaged their future to knock off the Spurs and failed. Shaq improved their camaraderie, hurt their D and reduced Steve Nash's ability to improvise. Take Phoenix off the contenders' list for the foreseeable future.

Tim Legler, ESPN: The trade ultimately must be viewed as a failed experiment to give the Suns the interior presence they lacked on both ends of the court. Although I agreed with Steve Kerr's rationale, in the end the Suns became a team that was porous defensively, and its inability to keep the ball out of the paint negated the improvement on the boards that Shaq brought to the table.

Chris Sheridan, ESPN.com: I didn't like it when they made it, and even though Shaq looked better than I thought he would down the stretch and in the playoffs, he is a massive liability cap-wise and could drag the Suns to the lower half of the West before he leaves.

Marc Stein, ESPN.com: It looks especially bad if the Suns can't rise off the mat to beat the team they specifically were trying to match up with when they brought in Shaq. Doubly so when you factor in the financial component. But I understand why Kerr made the gamble, and I felt that the Suns, like the Mavs, had to try something bold to keep up. The West was already slipping away from them. They weren't going to win the way they were."

Also:

Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express News points out that the San Antonio vs. Phoenix series featured a matchup between the two dominant big men of the NBA's modern era -- Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal:

"Duncan and Shaq have been the standard of excellence in the league, and a common statistic says how much. Since Michael Jordan retired, one or the other has been in every NBA Finals."

Shaq and Tim Duncan each have four NBA titles. And although they aren't held in the pantheon with Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Willis Reed and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Duncan and O'Neal are among the greatest big men who ever played the game. But for whatever reason, neither gets the respect that he deserves.

San Antonio Rallies Past Phoenix

San Antonio and Phoenix may be the best two teams in the NBA's Western Conference. So it's sort of a shame that they have to face each other in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

This evening, in a game that went into double overtime, San Antonio rallied from a double figure second half deficit to beat Phoenix 117-115 in game one of their first round Western Conference playoff series.

San Antonio's Tim Duncan sent the game to the first overtime period by hitting a wide open three point shot -- Duncan's first three pointer of the season -- at the end of regulation. Duncan finished with 40 points and 15 rebounds.

But it was Manu Ginobili took the game over for San Antonio in both of the extra periods. Ginobili kept taking the ball to the basket (and right at Phoenix's Shaquille O'Neal) and kept making his signature off balance left handed layups. One such off balance left handed layup -- over Phoenix's Raja Bell with 1.8 seconds left in the second overtime -- put San Antonio up for good.

Ginobili finished with 24 points, 19 of which came after halftime.

The two teams will resume the series on Tuesday night.

Note to Phoenix: Ginobili likes to go to his left.

Kelvin Sampson Joins San Antonio Spurs

Kelvin Sampson has landed on his feet. The disgraced former Indiana basketball coach has been hired by the defending World Champion San Antonio Spurs of the NBA.

Reaction from Spurs fans here.