HARD IN THE PAINT: HEAT FIGHT FOR 2nd, MAGIC COME UP SHORT AGAINST BULLS

We don’t support player scrapping on court or field of play(looking at you hockey), but the plex in yesterday’s Heat/Celtics was clearly a sign of teams fighting for playoff position. At stake was a fight for second place in the east and the Heat bullied their way to a 101 – 77, throwing bows at a Celtics team that seems to be slipping. Lebron James continues his MVP push, putting up 27 points to lead the Heat in scoring and putting a ball in Jermaine O’Neal’s back for testing him.

On the other hand, O’Neal provided no support in the middle with zero points and zero rebounds leaving everyone in the world wondering why the Celtics sent Kendrick Perkins to OKC. Paul Pierce(24 points) and Kevin Garnett(21 points) held the C’s down in a losing effort, possibly due to coughing up 19 turnovers. Check the vid above to see a zero’s of confrontations between the two teams

Heat 101 – Celtics 77

Bulls stay winning(no Charlie Sheen), as Magic come up short

The Bulls already clinched first place in the East, so we were thinking they would loaf in a game against the Magic who were suiting up without Dwight Howard after he was suspended for another technical foul in a previous game. We were wrong, Derrick Rose doesn’t loaf he’s too fast and the Bulls are too hot right now to slack on their goal of reaching an NBA championship. Rose scored 39 points and was perfect from the free throw line as the Bulls edged out a 102 – 99 win over the Magic. The Magic were in the game up until the last second, and almost sent it into OT but Jameer Nelson’s long range 3 point attempt was an eighth of a second late. Ryan Anderson(28 points/10 boards) Jason Richardson(24 points) led the Magic in a losing effort.

Bulls 102 – Magic 99