NBA Update

 After winning five of six games against San Antonio and Golden State, including three games on the road -- and after taking home court advantage in the Western Conference Finals away from the Warriors in Game One -- the Oklahoma City Thunder decided to rest up a bit in Game Two.  They conceded that game to the Warriors, 118 to 91, and the series is now tied at one game apiece.

The series now moves to Oklahoma City for games on Sunday and Tuesday.  The Thunder need to win both of these games in order to maintain home court advantage.  The Warriors need to win at least one of them to regain home court advantage.  The Thunder will know that it will be almost impossible to win a Game Seven in Oakland.  The Warriors will know that they have to win at least one of the next two games -- or set up a possibility for the Thunder to close them out in Oklahoma City in Game Six, just as the Thunder did to the Spurs.  So I would expect the next two games to be hotly contested.

Meanwhile, here are the scores of the ten games that Cleveland has played in the Eastern Conference playoffs so far (home teams listed first):

4/17:  Cleveland 106 - 101 Detroit
4/20: Cleveland 107 -90 Detroit
4/22:  Detroit 91 - 101 Cleveland
4/24:  Detroit 98 - 100 Cleveland

5/2:  Cleveland 104 - 93 Atlanta
5/4:  Cleveland 123 - 98 Atlanta
5/6:  Atlanta 108 - 121 Cleveland
5/8:  Atlanta 99 - 100 Cleveland

5/17:  Cleveland 115 - 98 Toronto
5/19:  Cleveland 108 - 89 Toronto

Cleveland has now won 17 consecutive playoff games against Eastern Conference opponents, which is a record for consecutive playoff victories against conference foes.  The last time a team without LeBron James won the NBA's Eastern Conference was in the spring of 2010, just a few months before the Heath Post began.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:
Cleveland 2 - 0 Toronto

WESTERN CONFERENCE:
Golden St. 1 - 1 Oklahoma City