Western/Eastern Conference Finals Game 1

This holiday weekend brought us one game closer to the NBA Finals with the Eastern and Western Conference Finals beginning Sunday.  

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The Spurs showed no signs of slowing down on Sunday as they push their winning streak to 19 games, including 9 straight wins in the playoffs.  After going down by 1 point, 47-46 at halftime and going into the 4th quarter down by 9 points, the Spurs fought back to get a 101-98 victory over the Thunder after an encouraging speech by Coach Gregg Popovich.  Popovich told his team going into the final quarter of play "I want some nasty" meaning more aggressive play and more confidence.  The Spurs has not loss a game since April 11th and this game was no difference as Ginobili sparked them to the victory over OKC with 26 points.  With the Thunder holding the Spurs to only 16 points in the 3rd quarter it looked like the Thunder may steal a game on Spurs court but the Spurs fought back in the 4th with Ibaka on the bench during the 4th  quarter for the Thunder.  Durant led the Thunder with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assist.  It will be interesting to see how the Thunder bounce back in game 2 tonight at 9:00pm on TNT.

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

The game for the Heat and Celtics seemed that the Heat would have their way with the Celtics after going up 21-11 and James outscoring the Celtics by himself 13-11 at the end of the 1st quarter.  The Celtics came out and looked tired and fatigued after coming off the 7 game series against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Although the Celtics were outplayed in the 1st quarter they fought back and went into halftime tied with the Heat 46-46 (after a shot by Joel Anthony of the Heat was called back due to a shot clock violation).  The Celtics seemed like their old selves outscoring the Heat 35-27 in the 2nd quarter in spite of receiving three technical fouls in the 2nd quarter alone.  Coming back out after the half everything seem to go the Heat way with the Heat pushing the lead back up to 9 at the end of the 3rd quarter outscoring the Celtics 26-15.  The Celtics were held to under 20 points in every quarter except for the 2nd quarter and the Heat eventually pushed the lead to as many as 16 points during the 4th quarter.  With the Heat shooting 50% from the field and the Celtics being held to 39.5% shooting the Heat held off the Celtics to win game 1 93-79.  The dynamic duo of Wade and Lebron combined for 54 points and James led both teams with 32 points and 13 rebounds.  Garnett led the way for the struggling Celtics with 23 points and 10 rebounds.  Ray Allen continue to show signs of pain struggling the entire game and ending with only 6 points from 1-7 shooting.  We will see tomorrow if the Celtics can bounce from last nights game, as game 2 will be played Wednesday at 8:30 on ESPN.