NBA Playoffs schedule 2013: Heat, Spurs both win on road

Check out the play below, and judge for yourself:

It was a pretty crucial incident, as it robbed the Bulls of a valuable bench player while they’re already dealing with a depleted roster. The Heat would go on to win, 104-94.

Here’s a .GIF of the play Curry was injured on:

Warriors coach Mark Jackson confirmed that the injury is a sprain in his post-game press conference, but wouldn’t speculate on Curry’s return, telling reporters that Curry was “icing it (and) getting treatment,” and that “we’ll see where he’s at” when it came to his availability for Sunday’s Game 4.

Tony Parker scored 32 points in the San Antonio Spurs’ 102-92 road victory over the Golden State Warriors to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals. Before the game, nearly all of the media attention had focused on the Warriors’ dynamic backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, but Tony Parker reminded everyone of his presence.

“They always forgot about me anyway,” Parker said in his postgame press conference. “I play for my teammates, Coach Pop, the Spurs and the city of San Antonio.”

Nate Robinson even blocked LeBron!

But Miami pulled out the win, making this Boozer yell more of a sad bellow than an excited scream.

Parker was the driving force in the win, especially in the first half, setting the tone and doing his best to quiet the crowd. Parker dropped 25 points in the first half and missed only three shots while doing it. Whereas Klay Thompson had used his length to slow Parker and relegate him to catch-and-shoots in the first two games, Parker looked to have a little more pep in his step, using his superior quickness to create space and even dropping in a pair of three-pointers.

Curry and Thompson, each having been the catalyst for mammoth performances in San Antonio, combined to shoot 12-of-37 and score 33 points. The sharpshooters did each hit three shots from beyond the arc, but Curry, a 45-percent three-point shooter, went just 3-9 from range. And that was before he rolled his ankle in the fourth quarter, causing him to limp noticeably the rest of the game. Curry is a game-time decision for Game 4 Sunday afternoon, head coach Mark Jackson said.

The Spurs kept to a familiar pattern for much of the game, building up a lead the Warriors would whittle down time and again, but they fended off a final charge in the last few minutes by locking down on defense and never letting their lead shrink under five points. Golden State never led in the second half, despite tying the game in the third and cutting the San Antonio lead to one with just over 10 minutes to go.

More worryingly for the Warriors, who lost the home-court advantage they stole with their Game 2 win in San Antonio, Curry turned his left ankle in the fourth quarter. He limped it off, and remained in the game, but was clearly limited in the final minutes of the fourth period. Curry was mostly ineffective in the second half before his injury, but with a quick two-day turnaround before Sunday’s Game 4, a hurt Curry may all but condemn Golden State to a 3-1 hole.

And one more for good measure!

Mostly, this game has been defined by Tony Parker’s exquisite scoring ability: the French star has 25 points to lead all scorers on fantastic 11-for-14 shooting, and scored the final four points of the half with two free throws and a killer 22-footer with just a second remaining.

Neither Thompson nor Curry has done a lot for the Warriors to this point, but Thompson has been especially quiet, with just four shots and one make on the night. The make was one of his two three-point attempts, but the Spurs have done well to limit the long-range assault that has carried Golden State in these playoffs.

I have no idea how Parker even contorted his body to get that shot up and over the rim, much less in. His body is facing the sideline as he puts it up.

But that was just the most incredible make of the first quarter for San Antonio, which made 15 of 23 shots — a cool 65.2 percent — in the period.

Complete game coverage: Hot Hot Hoops Blog A Bull

Perhaps the best moment of the game came when the 5’9 Robinson flat-out rejected the 6’8 James:

/bees fly out of his mouth

Nate Robinson is 5’7. He is not supposed to be able to do these things to LeBron James.

As you probably expected, the United Center crowd went crazy.

Say hello to your new favorite GIF.

The Miami Heat are winning again, but it hasn’t been as comfortable as Game 2. They lead the Chicago Bulls 52-50 at halftime.

Boozer leads the Bulls with 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Belinelli has 12 points and is a key reason why Chicago is only down two, despite this embarrassing miss:

Sometimes you don’t need to end a sentence with an exclamation point. A period will do more often than not.

As LeBron ran the ball up the court, Mohammed intentionally fouled James. James reacted by spinning and flinging Mohammed to the ground. LeBron was immediately awarded with a technical foul, which earned a reaction of disbelief from James. Mohammed gathered himself off the floor and shoved James to the ground, leading to another mosh pit of players trying to hash things out.

LeBron’s technical remained and Mohammed was ejected. Here’s video of the incident, via Sports Illustrated:

Andersen had went for the block on Robinson’s layup and fell on him when they hit the ground. Andersen rolled over afterwards and Noah shoved him for good measure as he rushed to help Robinson get back to his feet.

Players from both sides gathered in the ensuing mass of close discussion. Noah received a technical foul for starting the physical altercation.

Will the Spurs take command of the series, or will the dynamic backcourt of Curry and Thompson continue to be the story of the series? Here are three keys to Game 3.

San Antonio’s defense gave up 44 points to Curry in Game 1, and a dominant performance from Thompson should force the Spurs to adjust their game plan. The Spurs looked uncharacteristically unprepared to account for Thompson as he outplayed their perimeter defense. Aside from Thompson’s shooting ability, he also moves well off-ball and does not need much time or space to get a shot off. The Spurs are short on individual perimeter defenders to send at both Thompson and Curry and are in a bind defensively.

Here are three key questions heading into Game 3 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) at the United Center.

The Bulls don’t have the talent to keep up with top-notch offenses, so to have a chance they need to find a way to slow down Miami’s attack in Game 3. Tom Thibodeau may be the best defensive-minded coach in the NBA, so if anyone can scheme against LeBron, it’s him.

Now, all they have to do is protect their home court to advance to the Conference Finals. Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially against teams with as much talent and experience as Miami and San Antonio. On Friday, the two heavyweights will have a chance to steal home-court advantage back in two crucial Game 3s.

The Warriors, in contrast, could easily be coming back to Oracle Arena, one of the toughest places to play in the NBA, with a 2-0 lead. They blew a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter to lose a 129-127 2OT shootout in Game 1 before bouncing back with a dominating 100-91 win in Game 2, a contest they led practically the whole way.

Thompson’s freedom on the offensive end wasn’t just because of his individual play, though, as the Spurs were clearly overplaying Curry through the night. Notice how Ginobili was watching Curry during the inbounds as Thompson broke away.

The Spurs weren’t expecting Thompson to take control of the game for Golden State, and they looked unprepared to adjust as Thompson roamed comfortably on offense. Here’s another example of the Spurs, particularly Ginobili, being distracted by Curry on this inbounds play.

Deng suffered complications and lost 15 pounds after receiving a spinal tap last week, and he is simply too weak to play. Hinrich underwent a second MRI on bruised calf, as it has not been responding well to treatment.

• Joakim Noah: flicked off, flirting with death

Game 3 between the Warriors and Spurs is Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. The series has shifted to Oakland tied at one win a piece.

• Joakim Noah: flicked off, flirting with death