Three Out Of Four Forks

Let's start with the Raptors, who had a big advantage at point guard in their series against the Magic, right? Um, er, nope. Jameer Nelson has been fine for the Magic, and Jose Calderon has eliminated any idea that he's better than TJ Ford, all while Ford has confirmed the reality that he's not very good, either. Despite Chris Bosh going for 39 and 15, the Dinos are a game away from elimination now, thanks mostly to a 2 for 15 performance from beyond the arc.

If Andrea Bargnani isn't out of the Association within five years, it will only be because someone is desperate for a 7' three-point specialist for their bench. If there's been a worse second season from a #1 pick that seemed OK as a rookie, I've never seen it.

Who's under the bus that's leaving Denver faster -- George Karl or Carmelo Anthony? The former played scrubs for most of the fourth quarter, while the latter went 5 for 22 in their must have Game 3 spankdown against the Lakers. Melo is now 4-18 in the playoffs, which is the third-worst playoff record in NBA history for players with over 20 games of experience. (Mike Miller's 2-18 leads the pack, Shane Battier is now 4-19, and Grant Hill is tied with Melo's lack of happy times. Something I wish I'd have known before picking the Suns to beat the Spurs.)

Denver's body language in this one spoke volumes, and that volume is entitled "Back the Truck Up And Blow Up This Team." To be fair to Drunken Master Melo, no Nugget of note was worth a damn; AI went 5 for 16, Marcus Camby took 2 shots in 28 minutes and missed 'em both, and Linas Kleiza only had 15. (Yes, that's good for Kleiza, but what the hell, anyone wearing a Nugget uni is damned today.) Post game, there was lots of quitter talk from Kenyon Martin, Karl, and even Coach Phillip, so you might just see the evidence of a spine in Game 4... but I wouldn't bet on it. The Lake Show just won a game where Luke Walton was their second biggest scorer. That's the very definition of Cruise Control.

In Utah, the home team finally won a playoff game, as the Jazz got balanced scoring and the Rockets didn't. A key moment was Luis Scola picking up his fifth and hitting the bench with 6:45 left, depriving the Rockets of a glue guy when they needed one. The Jazz won despite going 0 for 14 from the three point line, which kept the Rockets in the game late: there were any number of missed kill shots in the fourth quarter before this finally was put to bed with Deron Williams throwing down a hellish dunk at 2:40. If Williams wants to the best point guard in the Association in the next round, maybe they will give the Lake Show a series after all... though missing two free throws with 5.5 seconds left was kind of awful. Kudos to Mehmet Okur for the O-board and makes to clinch things.

This one will probably go 6, since the Jazz have been a terrible road team all year, but it's hard to see how Houston is going to win three in a row with, well, one player. But Yao Ming looked good in his suit on the bench. Oh, and nice work from the Jazz faithful in crunch time. "Over-rated" never gets old, and the fans with the sign "Where T-Mac Can't Ever Advance Happens" is also showing some good homework. Your T-Mac Can't Finish Update: 1 FG attempt in the fourth quarter.

Surprisingly, the Hawks were the only trailing team to avoid Fork City tonight with a convincing win over the Celtics; the 9-point final margin included some closing garbage points that made things look closer than they seemed. Al Horford gets the props for a spicy 17, 14 and 6 assist night from the center slot, though Josh Smith's five dunks were also tasty. Mike Bibby shook off his trash talk of the Celtics fans to outplay Rajon Rondo and Sam Cassell, and the C's got little outside of KG.

If Paul Pierce really is slowed by a bad back, their John McCain-esque easy road to the Finals just got harder... but I suspect the "road" team will reassert itself in Game 4. Still, the C's picked a curious time in their season-long evisceration of the Hawks to take their foot off the gas.