Hits game-winner over Wade, Heat
Kobe hits a game-winning buzzer beater as the Lakers defeat the Heat 108-107. Down by two with 3.2 seconds left, Bryant slips when he catches an inbound pass and is forced to throw up an off-balance 3-point shot over Wade’s outstretched arm. Bryant:
It was the luckiest shot I’ve ever taken, by far. It felt good, [but] I just couldn’t believe this ball might go in on this shot.
In the duel between the two elite shooting guards, Bryant puts up 33 points and 7 rebounds and Wade drops 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Knicks 99-92 Nets
Linsanity begins as Lin has a breakout game in a win against the Nets, dropping 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Lin has hardly been a factor in the NBA, and was even recently sent to the D-League. However, Coach D’Antoni gives him a chance to run the offense:
I had my doubts, but we just stayed with it and he has some of the qualities that we needed.
Lin:
This night, it just hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest. It’s like I’m still kind of in shock about everything that happened but I’m just trying to soak it all in right now.
Knicks 99-88 Jazz
Lin starts his first game in his NBA career. He scores a career-high 28 points along with 8 assists to lead the Knicks to victory, despite missing their two all-stars Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. Lin:
Basketball’s so fun when you play on a team where people want to work together and work through tough times and overcome them and have victories like this. This one was ugly and we lost a couple of players, but this team has a lot of will.
Knicks 107-93 Wizards
Lin leads the Knicks to their third straight win with 23 points and a career-high 10 assists. Lin has had a breakout week after going undrafted in 2010 and recently being sent to the D-League:
Like I said after the last game, I wouldn’t have imagined this
Coach D’Antoni:
He just does everything easy and the rest of the guys around him are playing the way we want to play.
Knicks 92-85 Lakers
The Knicks defeat the Lakers. Lin has 38 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists. Bryant puts up 34 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers. Lin:
The only thing we established tonight is four in a row. Now we try to go for five tomorrow. I’m not too worried about proving anything to anybody. As a team we’re growing and trying to build on the momentum.
Bryant on Linsanity:
I think it’s a great story. I think it’s a testament to perseverance and hard work. Good example for kids everywhere
Knicks 100-98 Timberwolves
Lin leads the Knicks to a victory against the Timberwolves, extending their win-streak to five. Lin has 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. For the Timberwolves, Love leads the team with 32 points and 21 rebounds. Lin:
It was an ugly one, it was a gutsy one, it was a road win, everybody was tired. That’s the beauty of basketball. That’s the beauty of our time. We never gave up.
Knicks 90-87 Raptors
Linsanity continues as the New York Knicks defeat the Toronto Raptors. Lin puts up 27 points, 11 assists, and the game-winning three to extend the Knicks’ win-streak to six. Coach D’Antoni jokes:
I’m just glad it went like this so we can calm the Linsanity down
Lin:
It’s not because of me, it’s because we’re coming together as a team. We started making these steps earlier but we were still losing close games and so obviously it wasn’t fun. But when you win, that solves a lot of problems. We’ve been winning and we’ve been playing together.
Knicks 100-85 Kings
The New York Knicks defeat the Sacramento Kings for their seventh straight win. Lin plays distributor and puts up 10 points and 13 assists in the game. Lin:
As a point guard, my field goal attempts have been really high and I don’t think that’s necessarily good. I think it’s more of my job to distribute and get people in rhythm.
Knicks Coach D’Antoni:
I just thought we played really exceptionally well the first quarter. Just the ball was moving, every time we drew up a play they ran it perfectly. Every time I think there was an opportunity to make a great pass, they did it.
Pelicans 89-85 Knicks
The Pelicans defeat the Knicks and snap their seven-game winning streak. Lin puts up 26 points and 5 assists, but also has 9 turnovers in the loss. Ariza has 25 points and 8 rebounds for the Pelicans. Lin:
Just a lackluster effort on my part coming out and careless with the ball, and so nine turnovers is obviously never going to get it done from your primary ballhandler. It’s on me in terms of taking care of the ball and also the game in general.
Knicks 104-97 Mavericks
The Knicks defeat the defending champions Dallas Mavericks. Lin has 28 points and 14 assists in the victory. For the Mavericks, Nowitzki drops 34 points and 5 rebounds. Lin:
This is helpful to us, not just to me but to us, just to be able to see where our team can go and what we can become, and I think that’s the biggest takeaway from tonight
Mavericks guard Terry:
I think they found something in Lin, and they’re starting to piece together a team that can beat anyone
Spurs 110-95 Heat Game 1
The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals. For the Spurs, Duncan has 19 points and 10 rebounds. For the Heat, James has 25 points and 6 rebounds. The arena experiences an air conditioning malfunction during the match. Spurs coach Popovich:
It was tough on both teams. They were pretty dead. We tried to get guys in and out. … It was really hot out there.
Heat 98-96 Spurs Game 2
The Miami Heat defeat the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 of the 2014 NBA Finals. James leads the Heat with 35 points and 10 rebounds. For the Spurs, Duncan puts up 18 points and 15 rebounds. Duncan:
Down the end there they executed really well. LeBron made some great passes and guys made open shots. We had the same result in the first game. They kind of flipped it in this one.
Spurs 111-92 Heat Game 3
The Spurs defeat the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the 2014 NBA Finals. Leonard leads the Spurs with 29 points and 4 rebounds. For the Heat, James drops 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. The Spurs have a phenomenal first half, shooting 25-33 from the field. Ginobili:
It’s not something you can plan for. There was no magic plays. We just moved the ball, and every shot went in.
Spurs coach Popovich:
I don’t think we’ll ever shoot 76 percent in a half ever again.
Spurs 107-86 Heat Game 4
The Spurs defeat the Heat in Game 4 of the NBA Finals and take a 3-1 series lead. Leonard puts up 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs. James drops 28 points and 8 rebounds for the Heat. James:
They smashed us. Two straight home games got off to awful starts. They came in and were much better than us in these last two games. It’s just that simple.
Spurs coach Popovich:
I’m pleased that they performed as well as they did while we’ve been in Miami, and that’s about as far as it goes. Now we’ve got to go back home and play as well or better.
Spurs 104-87 Heat Game 5
The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Miami Heat in Game 5 in order to win the 2014 NBA title. For the Heat, James puts up 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. For the Spurs, Leonard puts up 22 points and 10 rebounds, and wins the Finals MVP award. James:
We had a great first quarter, but from that point on they were the better team, and that’s why they’re the champions in 2014.
Duncan:
It makes last year OK
Warriors 122 -108 Blazers
The Warriors wins 122-108 Blazers and clinch their first Division Title in 39 years. Stephen Curry:
We might be a little subdued, but I think everybody is proud of what we’ve done. We still have 11 games left to keep getting better so I think everybody is focused on that.
Thunder 127 -117 Lakers
Thunder wins 127-117 against the Lakers. Westbrook has a double-double (27 points, 11 assists).
We did a good job of just staying in attack mode and finishing well in the paint
Spurs 130 – 91 Thunder
The Spurs win 130-91 The Thunder. Parker gets 21 points and six assists. Coach Popovich:
I think in general we played the way that we have to play to win a basketball game.
Cavaliers 111 – 89 Grizzlies
The Cavaliers wins 111-89 Grizzlies. Love has 20 points and 10 rebounds, James scores 20 points. Coach Blatt:
We came to play. We were focused on having a defensive presence in the first quarter, and I thought we had that right from the get go
Love:
Everyone really stepped up in the third quarter. So it was really, really good basketball.
James:
We obviously know how great they are defensively, especially in this building. For us to move the ball and share the ball like we did in the facet that we did was very impressive.
Rockets 95 – 93 Pelicans
The Rockets wins 95-93 Pelicans. Harden has 25 points and 10 assists. Howard had seven rebounds and a block on Anthony Davis. Howard:
We came back from a big deficit and the one thing I kept telling the fellas was, we’ve got to stop playing around with the game. We’re on a big mission to win a championship, and we’ve got to wake up and play. I felt pretty good. It seemed like as soon as I got out there it was time to sit back down, so it was kind of an adjustment. I’m just happy to be back out there playing. The main thing for me is just really helping the team on the defensive end. The other stuff will come.