Boozer powers Jazz past Warriors
SAN FRANCISCO: Carlos Boozer powered the Utah Jazz to a 115-101 road victory over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, the Game Four win putting the visitors on the brink of a Western Conference finals berth.
Boozer scored 34 points and added 12 rebounds to put the Jazz in a position to wrap up the best-of-seven series with a win at Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
Derek Fisher added 21 points, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, and Deron Williams contributed 20 points and 13 assists to the win.
"We couldn't handle Boozer," Golden State coach Don Nelson told reporters. "I don't think people realise, he is a major, major star. Their strength is our weakness. They're strong and big and go inside, and we're not."
Utah, which trailed by three points after three quarters, used a 7-1 fourth-quarter run to take control of the game as Fisher took over the scoring.
The Jazz guard had 14 points in the fourth quarter, getting 10 points in the final 5:55 to help the Jazz overcome an 87-86 Golden State lead.
His three-pointer touched off the 7-1 run and by the time it ended with a Fisher jumper at 4:07, Utah led 93-88.
Another three-pointer by Fisher at 2:16 started a 6-0 run that raised the Utah lead to 103-93.
"He knows what it takes to win," Jazz forward Paul Millsap told reporters.
Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington each had 24 points for the Warriors, but sparkplug Baron Davis scored just 15.
"We attacked the basket," Davis told reporters. "But I think we kind of got discouraged once we didn't get calls, and we can't play like that. We can't look to the refs and complain. I thought that took our aggression away."
Bulls avoid series sweep
Utah Jazz's Matt Harpring (right) and Golden State Warriors Stephen Jackson (center) chase a loose ball as the Jazz's Carlos Boozer looks on in the fourth quarter during Game 4 of their NBA Western Conference semifinal basketball playoffs in Oakland, California on Sunday. Reuters |
In Chicago, playing for pride after a second-half collapse in Game Three, the Chicago Bulls staved off elimination in their Eastern Division semifinal series on Sunday, pipping the Detroit Pistons 102-87
The win narrowed the series to 3-1. Detroit can clinch the best-of-seven series at home on Tuesday.
Luol Deng top-scored with 25 points while Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon each added 19 for the home team. Chauncey Billups scored 23 for Detroit, including 14 points in the fourth quarter, and Tayshaun Prince had 18 points.
"Our guys clearly had no intention of rolling over today," Bulls coach Scott Skiles told reporters. "We looked more relaxed and played more at ease. We'll need far more of that on Tuesday.
After shooting 34 percent from the floor in the first three games, Chicago shot 49 percent on Sunday.
Detroit's loss ended a run of 22 playoff games in which the Pistons held their opponents to fewer than 100 points.
"Their overall energy and urgency was much more of a factor," said Detroit coach Flip Saunders. "Now we have a series, and we're going to have to come out and win it."
Chicago ran up a 23-point lead late in the third quarter. But the gritty Pistons refused to roll over. The sell-out crowd at Chicago's United Center groaned as Detroit narrowed the lead to seven points, reviving memories of Thursday's comeback from 19 points down.
"(At that point) we weren't able to put enough pressure on them to see how they would react," said Saunders, who cited a Ben Gordon three-pointer with 3:20 to play as a turning point.
"We could feel a shift in momentum and were prepared for it," Hinrich said. "We realised we had nothing to lose."
No NBA team has come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. "We're still fighting uphill, but at least we're still fighting," Hinrich said.
Agencies
(China Daily 05/15/2007 page24)
