Miami Heat vs Chicago Bulls May 13, 2013
CHICAGO -- So much for South Beach style. The Miami Heat showed again they can get down and dirty.
LeBron James came on strong down the stretch to finish with 25 points, Chris Bosh added 20 points and 19 rebounds, and the Heat followed up the most lopsided playoff win in franchise history with a 104-94 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Shaking off a shove to the court that earned Nazr Mohammed an ejection and James an accusation of flopping from Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, the four-time MVP came through down the stretch, scoring 12 in the fourth quarter.
In the end, it was the Heat grinding out the victory.
"You can't win a championship being pretty and shiny," Bosh said. "You're going to have to get dirty. You're going to have to play physical. You're going to have to dive on the floor. You're going to have to do things that are extremely tough.
"I think people forget just two years ago we were a half-court, grind-it-out kind of team that was trying to beat you down. Just because we've moved to more of a free-flowing offense, we're more spread a little bit, that doesn't mean that we are just a run-and-gun team."
The Heat prevailed on a night when James was off target most of the way, hitting just 6 of 17 shots and even getting blocked on a layup by Nate Robinson in the third quarter.
But he and Cole hit two big 3-pointers. Bosh perked up after two quiet games, finishing one rebound shy of the club playoff record, and Miami's bench outscored Chicago's 36-8.
"For (Bosh) to have 19 rebounds, and for Norris to come off the bench and defend the way he did against Nate and also contribute offensively -- a big-time drive in the fourth and a big-time 3 as well," James said. "Those two guys were the reason we won the game."
Carlos Boozer led Chicago with 21 points. Robinson and Jimmy Butler each scored 17. Joakim Noah added 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Marco Belinelli had 16 points, but the Bulls couldn't pull this one out.
They were within 85-83 when Cole scored on a finger roll with about four minutes left, and Miami started to take control from there. James answered a 3-pointer by Belinelli with one of his own, and after Boozer hit a jumper for Chicago, Cole buried another 3 for the Heat to make it 96-88 with 1:48 remaining.
Finally, the Heat could breathe a little easier. Nothing about this one was easy, though.
Playing in Chicago for the first time since their 27-game win streak ended there, the Heat got all they could handle.
The Bulls made it clear early on they were going to put up a fight, and that had nothing to do with all the pushing and shoving.
Everton vs West Ham May 12, 2013
Everton
Subs from Mucha, Heitinga, Jelavic, Stones, Hibbert, Oviedo, Vellios, Duffy, Barkley, Naismith, Francisco, Hitzlsperger
Doubtful None
Injured Neville (knee, unknown)
Suspended None
Form guide DWLDWD
Disciplinary record Y59 R3
Leading scorer Fellaini 11
West Ham
Subs from Henderson, Spiegel, Spence, Pogatetz, Noble, Collison, Maïga, C Cole, Taylor, Chamakh, Wellington, J Cole
Doubtful None
Injured Tomkins (calf, 19 May), McCartney (knee, Aug)
Suspended None
Form guide DLWDDD
Disciplinary record Y70 R1
Leading scorers Carroll, Nolan 7
STAT-ATTACK
Head-to-head
West Ham are without a win in nine league matches against Everton.
The Hammers have won only six of their 33 Premier League matches against the Toffees.
And they have won just twice at Goodison Park in that time.
No side has conceded more goals in the opening 15 minutes of games than Everton and West Ham United (both 11) this season.
This is the 126th meeting between the sides. Everton have won 62, West Ham 36 and there have been 27 draws.
Everton
Everton have drawn 15 matches this season – the most in the Premier League, but only the two Manchester clubs have lost less than their six matches.
The Toffees have kept clean sheets in four of their last five league games.
Leighton Baines is the only outfield player to play every minute (3150) of every league game this season.
Marouane Fellaini committed his 77th and 78th fouls of the season against Liverpool last weekend, which is the most in the top flight.
Leon Osman has completed more dribbles (58) than any other player in the Premier League this campaign.
West Ham
West Ham have drawn four of their last six Premier League games.
The Hammers have lost just one of their last eight Premier League home games (W4 D3 L1), but won just one of their last eight away from Upton Park.
Andy Carroll won the same number of aerial duels (nine) as the whole Newcastle team put together last Saturday, but the striker has hit the target with just four of his last 19 shots on target.
Fulham vs Liverpool May 12, 2013
Fulham vs Liverpool
Sunday, 12th May 2013 at 3pm
Premier League
Craven Cottage
- Fulham are five points clear of the relegation zone with two games to play, but need to be cautious of complacency after relegated Reading beat them 4-2 last weekend.
- Two goals from Bryan Ruiz were not enough to distract from the fact that Fulham now have just one point from six games, and still have an outside chance of being dragged into the relegation fight. Ruiz is 3/1 to score at any time with 888sport.com.
- However, Fulham fans can take heart that against a different keeper the scoreline could have been different. Alex McCarthy made 13 saves against Fulham, the most by any keeper in the last round of games.
- At their own defensive end, Aaron Hughes holds the second cleanest defensive record in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, having averaged 541 minutes and 15 seconds between fouls this season, committing just four in total.
- Brede Hangeland, meanwhile, is one of five players in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to have made 200 or more interceptions so far this season. Hangeland has 203 to his name in total. Hangeland is also ranked third for blocks with 37 this season, and second overall for defensive contributions with 338.
- Behind Hangeland, Mark Schwarzer will become the third goalkeeper in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to make 200 saves this season. He’s made 199 to date.
- Liverpool battled out a 0-0 draw in the Merseyside derby in their last league outing.
- Pepe Reina can be thanked for keeping a clean sheet in that game, making 12 saves in total, the second busiest keeper in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for the last round of games.
- Glen Johnson has impressed going forward this season, but he may wish to concentrate on setting up colleagues rather than going for goal. He has the most ‘expensive’ goal in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, having required 44 shots at goal to score once, more than any of the other players in the Premier League to be stuck on one goal.
- That’s 8 more shots at goal than any other defender in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, ahead of second placed Daniel Agger who has had 36 shots at goal in total, scoring three goals in the process.
- Liverpool’s defenders may feel they can get forward and have an attempt on goal with a midfielder of the defensive quality of Lucas in front of them. Lucas is one of 22 players in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to have attempted 100 or more tackles this season, and one of five to have done so maintaining a tackles won percentage of 60% or over (62.1%).
- Even more impressive is how quickly Lucas has got to that milestone. He has attempted 100 tackles in just 1862 minutes this season. To put that in context, Lucas has made 111 tackles in 1862 minutes, while Mohamed Diame of West Ham, who has made the next highest number of tackles, has taken 759 minutes longer to attempt just two more tackles.
Norwich vs West Brom May 12, 2013
West Bromwich Albion
Subs from Myhill, Dawson, Tamas, Brunt, Odemwingie, Morrison, Thomas, Brown, Reid, Popov, Roofe, Allan, Hurst, Daniels
Doubtful Brunt (knee)
Injured Gera (knee, Aug), Thorne (knee, Aug)
Suspended Fortuné (last of three)
Form guide LLWDLL
Disciplinary record Y62 R4
Leading scorer Lukaku 14
STAT-ATTACK
Head-to-head
West Brom have won on their last three visits to Carrow Road – once in the Premier League and twice in the Championship.
This is only the sixth match they have played against each other in the Premier League, both sides have won two games each.
This is the 57th meeting between the sides. Norwich have won 17 times, West Brom 24 and there have been 15 draws.
Norwich
Norwich have scored 16 fewer goals than they had at the same stage of last season.
The Canaries have conceded more goals (13) from outside the area than any other team in the Premier League this term.
Norwich have won fewer games (two) in 2013 than any other top-flight side.
West Brom
West Brom had seven shots on target against Man City, the most by an away team at the Etihad in the league this season.
Only Reading (six) have conceded more goals to counter attacks than West Brom (five) this season.
West Brom have already secured successive top-flight top half finishes for the first time since the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons.
Romelu Lukaku is the youngest player to score 10 or more goals in Europe’s big five leagues this season. This game comes the day before his 20th birthday.
Last season Norwich 0 West Brom 1
Referee Howard Webb
This season’s matches 28 Y103, R4, 3.82 cards per game
Norwich
Subs from Bunn, Camp, Steer, Whittaker, Jackson, Fox, Kamara, E Bennett, Tettey, Becchio, Barnett, Tierney, Francomb
Doubtful Ruddy (match fitness)
Injured Turner (groin, 19 May), Surman (knee, unknown)
Suspended None
Form guide LLWLDL
Disciplinary record Y58 R1
Leading scorer Holt 6
New York Knicks vs Indiana Pacers May 11, 2013
The New York Knicks had to deal with a lot of media criticism after a poor effort in Game 1 against the Pacers, but they responded with an impressive victory in Game 2. New York outscored Indiana by 20 points in the fourth quarter, going on to win the game 105-79. Anthony might be getting some more help in the form of Amar’e Stoudemire, who has been out since March 7 following knee debridement surgery, and is expected to play 10-15 minutes in Game 3. Stoudemire gives the Knicks another big body to bang around with Roy Hibbert and David West on the inside. Anthony scored 16 of his 32 points during the decisive run in Game 2 as New York reached 100 points in a postseason game for the first time since 1999 with the 105-79 triumph. Anthony’s shooting was key, but coach Mike Woodson was quick to highlight the defensive effort. “The fourth quarter, we just defensively, we picked up,” he said. “We kept getting stop after stop and then we would rebound the ball and get it up and our offense began to flow like old times. It was kind of nice to see.” The scene was much different from Game 1, when the Knicks were outworked on the inside and outscored 59-38 in the middle two quarters.
The Indiana Pacers have had three days to get over the mental hurdle of Game 2’s breakdown. The Pacers dominated the Atlanta Hawks in Indiana during the first round and had no problem bouncing back from some tough losses in that series. The Knicks are winless in their last three games in Indiana, who were 22-19 ATS when playing at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in the regular season. After stealing Game 1 in New York, the Pacers got away from the game that won it for them. Indiana allowed the Knicks to play at a fast pace and it really hurt the Pacers, who are an interior based team. Paul George was one of the only noticeable players for Frank Vogel’s team, as he finished the game with 20 points (8-of-16 FG). George did, however, turn the ball over seven times. Indiana as a team turned the ball over 21 times, which is something that can not be done in the playoffs. David West was the Pacers second leading scorer and he only had 13 points (4-of-7 FG) in the game. The Pacers starting five has been playing big minutes in this series and they have gotten little production from their bench.
Pick: I like the Pacers in this game. I know that Stoudamire is back for the Knicks but this team may be better without him and he will only play 10 to 15 minutes anyway. Indiana really played at home vs the Hawks in the playoffs, winning each game by at least 15 points and they are 2-0 on this floor vs the Knicks this year, winning the two games by 5 and 34 points. the Knicks controlled the pace in game two and it got Indiana out of their game plan. The Pacers don't let teams dictate the pace on this floor and I feel they will get back to a grind it out, pound the ball inside kinda game and behind their defense that allows just 89.9 ppg at home they should walk away with a win of at least 7 points.
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