That was a good day. I’ll have a column up on it in the morning. Thanks for joining along!

Kobe missed his hero shots tonight but the Lakers may still escape with a win. Larger problem is LA’s outside shooting, which cannot be this bad in Denver or they will surely drop a game.

Very good effort from Jordan Hill ever since that OKC game. He’s been the perfect fit for this team.

Lakers need to get something positive here from Sessions. If he can help push this lead to 10 before Kobe and Bynum return the Lakers will be set.

That’s how the site got it’s name. What a defensive effort from Kobe.

Lakers start the second half with great energy and increase their lead four points in the first three minutes. Everyone with this unit getting involved, including Devin Ebanks playing some good defense on Danilo Gallinari (though he did allow a putback on one of his misses).

Lakers still not doing a great job on the boards and their transition defense isn’t doing well. Lakers are getting nothing from their perimeter players not named Kobe. They can win this way but it’ll be closer than they prefer.

Ramon Sessions has given the Lakers nothing of late. Los Angeles won’t make it past the Thunder with him playing like this.

Harrington and some good offensive rebounding is keeping the Nuggets in this game. Kobe doing his fair share of awesome things offensively to start this one, too.

The Nuggets have sustained the early run by the Lakers and they are pushing the pace against the Lakers. Bynum doing a poor job on the boards right now. that will have to change.

Lakers are passing the ball extremely well right now. Not sure this team can be beaten when the ball moves with these pieces on the floor. Bryant doing such a good job of finding the right spots on the floor and Bynum is anchoring the offense early.

And we are ready for tip in LA. Let’s see how Denver starts this game. Karl said it will be much better than game one.

I expected Pierce to go off but I didn’t think Atlanta would wilt in the second half. Larry Drew looks dumbfounded on the sidelines. I don’t think the Hawks recover from this. Celtics should win this series even if Allen doesn’t play in a game.

Pierce has taken over this game. Dagger three right there. I don’t think Atlanta can recover from this game. They just lost homecourt advantage to a team missing two of their top four players. 32 points, 13 rebounds and four dimes for Pierce. Incredible defensive effort from Avery Bradley in this one, too.

That was a heck of play from Boston. Dive from Daniels results in a dunk. Hawks need some good execution down the stretch, here. They are down two with five minutes to go.

Hawks have gotten lax as they often have over the past few years. Offense has no movement and the Celtics aren’t giving them any lanes to the basket. Atlanta needs to give the ball to Josh Smith and have the rest of the players on the floor work off the ball. It has worked many times before against this same defense.

Pierce continuing to get to the free throw line, which has allowed the Celtics to get back within five. He will obviously be the key to the fourth quarter for Boston.

Great basketball from the Hawks right now. Now they’ve created a good bit of separation. And with Boston unable to hit threes consistently, this 11 point lead feels bigger than it is.

Man, that was an incredible move from Smith that I haven’t seen from him before. Got KG looking one way and scored over the other shoulder.

Hawks start the second half with some nice action. Celtics going with a version of horns to get Pierce the basketball and Bass slides to the rim and draws a foul.

This Bulls-76ers game is certainly not an offensive showcase. Bulls playing exactly the same as they did for the majority of the regular season but Jrue Holiday has really killed them with dribble penetration during this stretch. John Lucas can’t contain him off the bounce.

A good half for both sides, in my opinion. Celtics are only down three and the Hawks are getting a ton of contributions from Teague. Switching to Bulls-76ers during half-time.

Celtics have yet to make a three in this series. Something tells me Ray Allen would change that.

Celtics get a nice spurt from Brandon Bass and Avery Bradley with some nice defense ta boot. Result is a five point lead with seve minutes left in the second quarter. Hawks just need to stay the course. Things will improve when starters return.

Tracy McGrady has battled with Larry Drew all year long but he’s been solid in the first two games of this series. I’m much more comfortable with the ball in his hands running the offense than Pargo. He’s had a couple aggressive moves at the cup in this quarter and he had that sneaky block of KG to get a stop for the Hawks.

Jeff Teague is playing out of his mind right now. What a defensive effort. Good to see him pumped about it.

The Hawks have weathered Pierce’s initial push but they haven’t exactly separated themselves, either. This should be a pretty close game throughout, but I think the Hawks depth, at least on this night, will lead them to a win.

I wrote a piece about this being Josh Smith’s coming out party but his off-the-dribble mid-range jumpers will certainly prevent that if he continues to shoot them. Hawks need him to facilitate from the high post not shoot.

As I expected, Paul Pierce is off to a hot start, dropping seven in the first two minutes.

Welcome, all. We’ll be paying more attention to the Celtics-Hawks game here tonight and catch up on Bulls-76ers later. I’m expecting a big game for Paul Pierce tonight with both Rondo and Ray Allen out. But Joe Johnson should rebound from his poor game one performance and Josh Smith should continue his dominant run. I think the Hawks win this one but Boston never goes down without a fight.

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