The Utah Jazz eliminated the Golden State Warriors from the
playoffs on Tuesday with a 100-87 victory in Game Five of the
Western Conference semifinals.
The Jazz sealed the series 4-1 before an exhuberant home crowd,
setting up a Western final with either Phoenix or San Antonio, who
are tied at 2-2.
"It's a great moment," Utah guard Derek Fisher said.
"Those are two of the best teams in basketball. We have no
preference, they're both going to be as good as any team in the
game. But we think we're a pretty darn good basketball team."
Andrei Kirilenko scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds while
Carlos Boozer had 21 and 14 rebounds. Fisher added 20 points for
the Jazz, who won despite committing 25 turnovers.
"It's all unbelievable right now," Boozer said. "The fans are
going crazy, we're going crazy. We're going to celebrate."
The loss ended the dream run for the Warriors, the No. 8 seeds
who stunned top seeds Dallas in the first round.
"There'll be no teary eyes in our locker room," said Golden
State coach Don Nelson. "We had a fantastic year.
"Congratulations to the Jazz and (coach) Jerry Sloan. I thought
they were just fantastic in this series."
The Warriors lost their cool at times in the second half on
Tuesday but Nelson made no apologies, saying his team's
aggressiveness was what got the franchise to its first playoffs in
12 years.
In Detroit, the Chicago Bulls eased to a 108-92 victory over the
Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, as Ben Gordon's 28 points and improved
shooting hauled the visitors back to within one game of the hosts
in their playoff series.
On the brink of elimination after falling 3-0 behind in the
Eastern Conference semi-final, the Bulls are still in with a chance
of becoming the first NBA team to overturn such a deficit and win a
best-of-seven contest.
The action now switches back to Chicago tonight.
Flash Gordon
"A lot of people were writing us off," Gordon told
reporters.
"But we had a lot of confidence in ourselves and I think that
showed in the last two games."
The young Bulls shot 57 percent from the floor in building a
21-point lead through three quarters.
"They were phenomenal tonight," Pistons coach Flip Saunders
said. "It's tough enough to shoot 70 percent when no one is
guarding you."
Luol Deng scored 20 points and Kirk Hinrich had 17 points and 13
assists to lead the rout.
"When you fall behind as we did and they're making shots, it can
be demoralizing," Saunders said. "That's what happens."
The Bulls shot 72.2 percent from the field in the first half,
just shy of the NBA record.
Chauncey Billups scored 17 points for Detroit, while Rip
Hamilton had 16 (15 of them in the first half) and Rasheed Wallace
15.
(China Daily May 17, 2007)
