NBA – Miami Heat defeat the Atlanta Hawks for 2nd seed in the East

The Miami Heat took advantage of the motivational boost that came from defeating the Boston Celtics on Sunday, and brought out their A-game to survive a come-from-behind rally via the Hawks bench, that almost cost them the game and the No.2 seed. Head coach Erick Spoelstra took a very different approach to this game.

While, as we covered on the previous entry, the Boston Celtics decided to rest all of its key players, giving up the No.2 seed to the Heat, in Miami, Spoelstra started and played to the end all of his stars. He was certainly looking for a way to secure the No. 2 seed behind the Chicago Bulls in the east.

It might be a little too early to make any predictions, on which coach took the better approach. Spolestra wanted to secure the seed and he has the advantage of counting on a team filled with young players. Doc Rivers, on the other hand, has to consider that most of his players are in the tail end of their careers. So yes, Spolestra avoided a match against the New York Knicks in the Playoffs, but those extra, somewhat unnecessary minutes played by LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade could affect them down the stretch.

LeBron James scored 34 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists while guiding the Heat to a 98-90 win over the Atlanta Hawks. Extra kudos must go to the Hawks who nearly rallied from a 20-point deficit while playing the fourth quarter with little-used bench players against three of the NBA’s best. And that should worry the Miami Heat just a bit. Yes, they were quite terrific against the Boston Celtics, but once we begin the playoffs, anything can, and usually does, happen.

Josh Smith scored 17 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists to lead the Hawks. With this defeat Atlanta has now lost a season-high five straight games, which is certainly not the way any team would like to close the season. Truth is, their first round playoff matchup with the Orlando Magic is not going to be easy, and the precedent they built last season doesn’t help their case either. The Magic wiped out the Hawks in four straight games a year ago in the Playoffs firs round.

It wasn’t an easy game for the Heat. Yes, they won, but like we mentioned before, the Hawks were heavily taking their chances while giving so many minutes to bench players. The Miami Heat appeared to had cracked the game by the time there where only 6 1/2 minutes left of the second quarter, hitting 11 of its last 14 shots.

Dwayne Wade handled most of the scoring load with 13 points — including 9 in a row — during a closing 25-15 run that turned a tight game into a 62-46 lead for the Heat by the halftime break. James and Bosh did the rest, combining for Miami’s other points during the spurt.

It is still uncertain what sort of performance the Heat are going to put together this postseason. Yes, they have clinched the no.2 seed in the Eastern Conference but we are talking about a team that underwent a mayor overhaul last summer, and that were struggling at 9-8 late in November. Yes, Miami got better, a lot better. But just over a month ago, they lost five in a row. Now Miami is heading to the playoffs with 14 wins in their last 17 games. That should make things interesting.

NBA – The Chicago Bulls crush the Atlanta Hawks

Derrick Rose keeps proving he is MVP material, this time leading the Chicago Bulls to a 94-76 crush of the Atlanta Hawks. Rose had a slow start, and it took a while to get his engine going, but once all the pieces began to fit in, he was unstoppable.  The talented point guard guided the Bulls with 34 points, 6 rebound and 5 assists for Chicago’s tenth consecutive win at home and 12th win in 14 games.

The Bulls are not really fighting to catch up with the Boston Celtics in the Easter Conference; Chicago has bigger expectations for their own team. What happens is that it is starting to seem as if at the end of the regular season, when the veteran-drived Boston Celtics are starting to drop their pace and lose too many games, the Bulls are getting stronger by the hour.

The Bulls didn’t seem to miss Carlos Boozer too much that night, as the talented player sat down for the whole game with a sprained left ankle. The key to the Bulls’ success in this game: the third quarter. By halftime, the Atlanta Hawks had managed to stay strong and where down only by two points. But Rose was just about to put on his one-man show and with 18 points alone in that quarter, drive the Bulls into a 24-10 run and extend the difference to 72-60.

Loul Deng had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, to keep on contributing to the Bulls. Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Josh Smith added 15 and Jamal Crawford scored 14 for Atlanta, which went cold in the third – its lowest scoring quarter this season – and remained winless since beating Chicago at home last week.

It seems it was payback time for the Bulls.

NFL- The New Orleans Saints defeat the Atlanta Falcons

They say that football is a game of the heart. Maybe. It is also a game of perseverance and a game of stamina. At 12-3 overall and 9-2 in the NFC, the Atlanta Falcons hold the best record in the NFL next to the New England Patriots. That is, had the Falcons managed to defeat the Saints, they would have a 13-2 record right next to the Pats. Still, the New Orleans Saints proved once again that they have the heart and the talent needed to take a go at defending the title they won last year. The Saints rallied for an 17-14 win over the Atlanta Falcons to secure their comeback into the postseason.

Critics had speculated that holding the best record in the league didn’t necessarily imply having the best team in the nation. And that sort of fell like the right description for what went on during Monday Night Football between the New Orleans Saints, the Super Bowl defending champions, and the Atlanta Falcons. Sure, the Falcons were coming from an 8-game winning streak. Sure, the Falcons at home had been just a bit short of brilliant with an impressive 19-3 record at the Georgia Dome under head coach Matt Ryan’s.

Drew Brees, the Saints starting quarterback and last year’s Super Bowl MVP, was quite effective when his team needed him most. Despite throwing to interceptions during the fourth quarter, he showed once again that he can really perform well under pressure.

At 11-4 the Saints had a couple of mishaps during the middle of the season, but the guys from New Orleans are showing that they have what it takes to fight again for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Saints had won 7 of its last 8 games before facing the Falcons.

It all went down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Chauncey Davis picked up Brees pass and went for a 26-yard touchdown in the open minute of the fourth quarter. That gave the Falcons the lead for the first time in the game. Drew Brees was then picked up again by John Abraham further into the fourth quarter. But it didn’t matter much.

Brees completed six straight passes in the 13-play drive that gave the Saints the win on the road. Just to get into the right perspective and so it stays on the record, we are talking about a magnificent 90-yard drive that ended with a 6-yard touchdown to rookie Jimmy Graham with little over 3 minutes remaining.

Drew Brees completed35 of 49 passes for 302 yards with one touchdown and 2 interceptions. His passer rating was on the 77.1 The Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan went for 15 of 29 passes for 148 yards and one touchdown with no picks.

The Saints will need the cheer for the Carolina Panthers during next week’s game. Should the Panthers managed to defeat the odds and win over the Falcons. It is not a very likely scenario. Oh contraire, it is very likely that the Falcons are going to wrap up their first division crown since 2004 and secure home court advantage through the NFC playoffs.