European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 30, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 34 stars and stripes monday april 30 2007 cars blow Lead still put wizards on Brink by Joseph White the associated press Washington the Cleve land Cavaliers Are mastering the Art of doing just enough to win this time they managed to blow a 17point second half Lead against the shorthanded Washington wizards but win the Cavaliers did so if s hard to argue too much with the results when the big Basket was needed Lebron James hit a struggling but wide open Sasha Pavlovic for a three Pointer in the final minute of saturday night s Victory giving Cleveland a 30 Lead in the first round series James had his Best game of the series with 30 Points nine assists and six rebounds for the Cava Liers who on monday can com plete the first playoff sweep in franchise history a result that  be surprising since the wizards Are missing injured Al stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler were not playing against a High school team James said were not playing against an Mcaa team if s the Aba no mat Ter what personnel is on the floor we have to win the Ball game if s As simple As that we win by 20 we win by one or we win by six like we did tonight a win is a win now can we clean up some things yes definitely but As far As talking about were barely get Ting Over the Edge were up 30 we should feel Happy about that in an attempt to inspire the crowd and teammates Are Nas and Butler were introduced with Washington starting line up Arenas gingerly limped Down the Steps and across the court on his surgically repaired knee As the crowd went wild it was a Nice try but the game 3 followed the same script As games 1 and 2 the wizards while competitive  finish the Job the most glaring statistic was Washington 6for20 shoot ing in the fourth Quarter we just didst make plays again when we needed to coach Eddie Jordan said you spend so much Energy coming Back that a Little bit of fatigue sets in and you cant finish the play some times a Drunas a Rauskas added 24 Points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers but it was James pass ing that helped Cleveland hold on in the final minutes he fed Drew Gooden for a Dunk Ngau Skas for a jumper and drove to the Basket before dishing out to Pavlovic for the three Pointer that pushed the Lead to six with 25 seconds to play i had a Good look at it but Sasha had a better look James said if s All about making a bet Ter that was the better play Ive done it time and time and time again James said he asked coach Mike Brown to Call that specific play even though Pavlovic was having a rough night i missed All wide open shots said Pavlovic who finished 5for12 from the Field and had five turnovers and in glad my teammates believed in me and they still kept passing me the Ball when i was wide open i had to make that shot the wizards had trouble get pistons sweep away magic Roundup the associated press Orlando a Chauncey Billups scored 25 Points Richard Hamilton added 19 and the de troit pistons overcame a acklus Ter fourth Quarter to beat the or Lando magic 9793 saturday and sweep the first round series the sweep was Detroit s first in the playoffs since 1990 when the bad boys won a second consecutive Aba title Dwight Howard had 29 Points and 17 rebounds dominating the Post for the Only time in these Ries to Lead the magic he was 10 of 15 from the Field and v 9for17 from the free throw line Grant Hill added 17 Points for Orlando and Darko Milicic had 14 half of them in the closing minutes Detroit will face the Winner of the chicag Miami series the bulls Lead 30 heading into Sun Days game 4 spurs 96 nuggets 91 Tim Duncan had 20 Points and 13 re Bounds and Manu Ginobile and Tony Parker sliced their Way through Denver defense As visit v ing san Antonio took a 21 Lead in the Besto seven series game 4 is monday night at the Pepsi Center where the nuggets went just 2318 during the season the seventh worst Home record in franchise history Parker led san Antonio with 21 Points and Ginobile added 19 but it was two old pros who put the game out of reach a flurry of three pointers from Robert Horry 10 Points and Michael Pinley 16 allowed the spurs to break away from the nuggets late in the third Quarter David spurs Center Tim Duncan left works against nuggets Forward Eduardo Najera in the third Quarter of the spurs Victory in game 3 the nuggets who got 28 Points from carmelo Anthony and 20 from Iverson never recovered jazz 98 rockets 85 Mehmet Okur broke out of his scoring slump with 16 Points stifled Yao Ming defensively and Host Utah evened its first round series with Houston Deron Williams added 25 Points including 11 in the third Quarter Utah outscored Houston 3317 in the period and again flustered the rockets into a listless second half while tying the series at two games apiece Yao scored 20 his lowest total of the series and had to fight through Okur and Jarron Collins All night Tracy Mcgrady added 18 Points before Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy pulled his Start ers game 5 is monday in Houston where the rockets won the first two games of the series Carlos Boozer finished with 15 Points and 10 rebounds and Matt Harpring added 17 Points As the jazz ensured there will be at least one More Home game this season Ting a Good look on their next pos session and the game was essentially Over when Roger Mason missed a three Pointer Antawn Jamison scored a Ca reer playoff High 38 Points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Wiz Ards Antonio Daniels who drove More aggressively to the Basket than he did in the first two games finished with 20 Points and 13 assists and Jarvis Hayes had 15 Points they made More plays Down the stretch than we did Hayes said we played hard but we just could not get the win it was very disappointing Washington had hoped the com forts of Home would give them the final push needed to beat the Cav Aliers even though the wizards have lost seven straight at Home and Haven won at the Verizon Center since March 28 the week before Arenas and Butler hand were injured instead the Blowout everyone had been expecting in this series seemed finally ready to happen the Cavaliers out hustled outre bounded and out talented the Wiz Ards in the first half to take a 6144 Lead to their credit the wizards didst give up Jamison scored 17 Points on 7for9 shooting in the third Quarter Jamison and Jarvis Hayes combined for 19 Points and Etan Thomas ripped re Bounds with authority in a 214 run with Jami sons Putback tying the score at 65 Midway through the Quarter but the wizards had a 4y2minute stretch without scor ing during the fourth allowing the Cavaliers to go on a modest 60 run that gave them the Lead for Good we understood that they would make a run but to come Back from 17 without us really putting up a fight or doing any thing to Stop those Guys is not Good basketball on our part said Cleveland Larry Hughes who had 11 Points and eight rebounds but we were Able to withstand it get a Little Cushion to make it even tougher on them at times we do go through a Little lax added Hughes but i think were at the Point in the sea son where we definitely have an other level that we can tap into and that s our goal Aba scoreboard playoffs first round Best of 7 Eastern conference Detroit is Orlando Detroit 100 Orlando 92 Detroit 98 Orlando 90 Detroit 93 Orlando 77 saturday Detroit 97 Orlando 93 Detroit wins series 40 Cleveland is Washington Cleveland 97 Washington 82 Cleveland 109 Washington 102 saturday Cleveland 98 Washington 92 Cleveland leads series 30 monday Cleveland at Washington wednesday Washington at Friday Cleveland at sunday May 6 Washington at Toronto is new Jersey new Jersey 96 Toronto 91 Toronto 89 new Jersey 83 new Jersey 102 Toronto 89 new Jersey leads series 21 sunday Toronto at new Jersey tuesday new Jersey at Toronto Friday Toronto at new sunday May 6 new Jersey at Miami is Chicago Chicago 96 Miami 91 Chicago 107 Miami 89 Chicago 104 Miami 96 Chicago feeds series 30 sunday Chicago at Miami tuesday Miami at thursday May 3 Chicago at saturday May s Miami at Western conference Dallas is Golden state Golden state s7 Dallas 85 Dallas 112 Golden state 99 Golden state 109 Dallas 91 Golden state leads series 21 sunday Dallas at Golden state tuesday Golden state at Dallas thursday Dallas at Golden saturday May s Golden state at Phoenix is la lakers Phoenix 95 la lakers 87 Phoenix 126 la lakers 98 la lakers 95 Phoenix 89 Phoenix leads series 21 sunday Phoenix at la lakers wednesday la lakers at Phoenix Friday Phoenix at la sunday May 6 la lakers at san Antonio is Denver Denver 95 san Antonio 89 san Antonio 97 Denver 88 saturday san Antonio 96 Denver 91 san Antonio leads series 21 monday san Antonio at Denver wednesday Denver at san Antonio Friday san Antonio at sunday May Denver at san Utah is Houston Houston 84 Utah 75 Houston 98 Utah 90 Utah 81 Houston 67 saturday Utah 98 Houston 85 series tied monday Utah at Houston thursday Houston at Utah saturday May 5 Utah at necessary saturday pistons 97 magic 93 Detroit Prince 47 44 13 Wallace 39 6613 Webber 581611 Hamilton 613 66 19 Billups 612 1010 25 Mcdyess 210 00 4 Davis 00 00 0 Murray 13 24 4 Delfino 33 22 8 totals 3065 3138 97 Orlando Turkoglu 313 00 6 Battie 01 00 0 Howard 1015 917 29 Ghchi 78 36 17 Nelson 410 2211 Milicic 512 4514 Dooling 5101111 Ariza 16 00 2 Redick 12 00 3 to tals 3677193193 Detroit 22 25 26 2497 Orlando 25 21 21 2693 three Point goal Detroit 615 Billups 36 Hamilton 12 Prince 12 Wallace or Lando 28 Redick 11 Nelson 13 Dooling 01 Turkoglu fouled out Nelson re bound Detroit 44 Webber Orlando 51 Howard assist Detroit 17 Billups Orlando 19 Turkoglu total 26 Orlando 27 a17451 Cavaliers 98 wizards 92 Cleveland James 1122 57 30 Gooden 47 22 10 i Lugauskas 1013 44 24 Hughes 4112211 Pavlovic 512 00 11 Varjao 14 00 2 Snow 25 00 4 Gibson 12 33 6 Newble 00 00 0 totals 38761618 98 Washington Hayes 613 00 15 Jami son 1527 66 38 Thomas 1313 3 Stevenson 314 01 7 Daniels 713 66 20 Haywood 00 00 0 songaila310 00 6 Mason 1200 3 Ruf Fin 01 00 0 totals 36831316 s2 Cleveland 2635162198 Washington 22 22 311792 three Point goal Cleveland 613 James 35 Pavlovic 12 Gibson 12 Hughes Washington 722 Hayes 36 Jamison 26 Mason 12 Stevenson 17 air fun fouled 53 Good in Washington 37 Jamison As cleveland24 James Washington 18 Daniels total 16 Washington 16 a20173 spurs 96 nuggets 91 san Antonio Bowen 16 00 2 Duncan 92122 20 Eison 24 00 4 Finley 5111116 Parker 1023 0p 21 Horry 48 0010 Ginobile 49 101119 Oberto 24 00 4 Vaughn 00 00 0 Barry 00 00 0 totals 37861314 96 Denver Anthony 102161128 Nene 711 44 18 Camby 27 22 6 Iverson 720 69 20 Biake 36 00 7 Najera 02 00 0 Smith 410 44 12 Kleiza 00 00 0 totals 3377 2230 91 san Antonio 22 21 32 2196 Denver 25 15 27 2491 three Point goals san Antonio 921 Fin Ley 57 Horry 25 Parker 12 Ginobile 14 Bowen Denver 312 Anthony 23 Blake 13 Smith 03 Iverson fouled out Antonio 46 Duncan Denver 56 Anthony assists san an Tonio 23 Parker Denver 19 Blake total fouls san Antonio 20 Denver 16 techno Classan Antonio defensive three second 2 Denver defensive three second Denver coach Karl flagrant foul Smith a19951 jazz 98 rockets 85 Houston Battier 48 00 10 Hayes 23 014 Yao 815 44 20 Mcgrady 618 5618 Al Ston 514 00 12 my Tomao 11 00 2 Lucas 01 00 0 head 37 12 8 Howard 27 13 5 Spanoulis 12 22 4 Tsaka Lidis 00 22 2 to tals 32761520 85 Utah Kirilenko 0134 3 Boozer 71612 15 Okur 7131216 Fisher 16 45 6 Williams 1014 55 25 Collins 02 34 3 Jiricek 36 22 9 Harpring 510 7917 Millsap 26 00 4 Brewer 0100 0 Brown 00 00 0 Araujo 01000 to tals 3576 2633 9a Houston 21 24 17 2385 Utah 19 31 33 1598 three Point 620 Battier 25 Alston 27 head 13 Mcgrady 13 Hayes of Lucas Utah 28 Jiricek 12 Okur fouled 49 Alston Yao Utah 48 Boozer As Sis Shouston 19 Alston Utah 22 will iams total fouls Houston 26 Utah 25 technical Houston defensive three Sec Ond a19911