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DAY 2
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
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With 2.9 seconds left in the third quarter, New Jersey’s Richard Jefferson and Atlanta’s Dan Dickau were ejected for a scuffle. That seemed to light a fire under the Hawks as they jumped out to a 61-57 lead in the first minute of the quarter on two free throws each by Miles Simon and Glover. The Nets came back to tie the game at 68 on a Victor Thomas jumper and, after four more free throws by Glover, they tied it again, 72-72 on a basket by Tamar Slay. But Udonis Haslem hit a pair of free throws with 2:08 to go to give the Hawks a lead they would not relinquish. Chris Carr’s jumper and two free throws and Der Marr Johnson’s pair of free throws with 2 seconds left iced the victory for the Hawks. Billy Thomas’s 42-foot prayer at the buzzer was not enough as the Hawks held on for the two-point victory.
The Hawks had jumped out to an early lead on a three-point play by Glover (8 points on 3-for-3 shooting in the quarter. Johnson added 6 points and Atlanta held the Nets to 33 percent from the floor (5-for-15) to take a 17-11 lead after one. They led by as many as 10 early in the quarter before the Nets mounted a comeback. Slay poured in 12 of his game high 23 points, including a pair of layups in the last 33.2 seconds of the half to bring the Nets back to within 2 at the break, 36-35.
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Neither team was able to pull away in the first half. The teams were tied 18-18 after one quarter and 37-37 at the half. But early in the third quarter the Magic began to assert themselves. A pair of baskets by Cory Hightower, an Olumide Oyedeji layup and three free-throws by Humphrey put the Magic ahead by 7 with 6:16 left in the quarter. San Antonio made a run of their own, mostly from the foul line. A pair of free throws by Stephen Jackson, two by Jason Hart and one by Jameel Watkins cut Orlando’s lead to 55-51. Then, Jackson made a three-point play with 21.2 seconds left made it a one point game at 55-54 entering the final quarter.
That was a close as the Spurs would get. A Cummings free throw, a slam dunk and a layup by Humphrey and a driving layup by Cummings later and the Magic was back up by 7, 62-55 with 6:16 left in the game. The Spurs made one last run on a fade away jumper by Amal McCaskill and Hart’s three point play to cut the deficit to 66-64. But the Magic made their free throws down the stretch to win it. Jeryl Sasser went 3-for-3 from the line and William “Smush”Parker hit a pair with 4.1 seconds left to put the game away.
Jackson led all scorers with 18 points and added 9 assists. Parker led the Magic with 13 points and added 4 assists and 4 rebounds. Humphrey and Hightower chipped in 12 points each. McCaskill pulled 9 rebounds for the Spurs while Hightower and Oyedeji had eight boards each.
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Woods and New York’s Jonathan Kerner exchanged baskets to start the second overtime before Lewis hit a 25-foot three-pointer and Woods slammed home a shot to put the Timberwolves up 90-85. Maurice Evans and Khalid El-Amin each hit a pair of free-throws in the last 16.3 seconds to ice the win.
Minnesota led for most of the fourth quarter and seemed to be in control when Evans hit a three-pointer with 1:21 remaining to give the Timberwolves a 72-68 lead. But the Knicks took advantage of two late fouls by El-Amin as Frank Williams hit two pairs of free-throws, the last two coming with 17.5 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime tied at 74-74.
The Timberwolves scored the first 6 points of the first overtime as Lewis hit a 19-foot jumper, Reggie Evans hit two free-throws and slammed home a shot to give Minnesota a six point lead with 1:47 left in the extra session. But again, the Knicks mounted a late comeback. Two baskets by Williams brought New York to within two. Then Williams drove the lane with 0.5 seconds remaining for the tying hoop.
All five Timberwolves scored in double-figures, led by Lewis with 20 points. Woods added 17 points and 9 rebounds, El-Amin tossed in 16 points and dished out 5 assists, Evans had 14 points and Evans chipped in with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Lavor Postell led the Knicks with 19 points while his backcourt-mate Williams had 18 points.
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Boston jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead in the first three and a half minutes of the game. Forte scored 11 of his 17 points to give the Celtics a 26-19 edge after one. The Celtics built the lead up to 43-30 on a pair of three-pointers by Brown. Washington cut the lead to 9 on baskets by Etan Thomas and Jamel Robinson in the final 1:03 of the half and went into the locker room trailing 46-37.
Both teams came out cold in the second half. Boston shot only 4-for-14 (28.6 percent) but Washington could not take advantage as they hit only 5 of their 18 shots in the quarter (27.8 percent) and trailed 58-48 after three quarters.
Juan Dixon and Bobby Simmons tried to get the Wizards back into the game with 6 points each in the fourth quarter. But Boston countered that attack as Brown scored 6 of his game high 21 points, hitting all three of his shots, and Omar Cook added five points in the quarter. Boston shot 53.3 percent in the quarter and led by as many as 14 points before settling for the 8 point win.
Washington out-rebounded the Celtics 43-31, but mistakes killed the Wizards as they committed 24 turnovers.
Brown also pulled down 6 rebounds and Forte dished out 4 assists to go with his 7 rebounds. Dixon led the Wizards with 19 points and Etan Thomas scored 11 points and had 12 rebounds.
- Recaps by Mike Swartz
