NBA Today - May 16
Wed, May 16, 2007
By Associated Press
New Jersey at Cleveland (8 p.m. EDT). The Cavaliers are one win away from their first conference finals appearance in 15 years.
STARS
Tuesday
-Ben Gordon, Bulls, scored 28 points in Chicago''s 108-92 victory against Detroit in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
-Andrei Kirilenko, Jazz, had 21 points, 15 rebounds and three steals to lead Utah to a 100-87 victory over Golden State.
MOVING ON
Utah ended Golden State''s surprising run through the playoffs with a 100-87 victory, wrapping up the Western Conference semifinal series in five games Tuesday night. Utah will play either Phoenix or San Antonio in the Western Conference finals, which the Jazz haven''t been to since John Stockton and Karl Malone led them there in 1998. The Jazz improved to 7-0 at home in the playoffs.
MVP
Dirk Nowitzki ended the two-year MVP reign of good friend Steve Nash on Tuesday, picking up the trophy for a great regular season dimmed by a postseason flop. Nowitzki led the Dallas Mavericks to 67 wins this season, matching the sixth most in league history. He received 1,138 points, including 83 of the 129 first-place votes. Nash of the Phoenix Suns followed with 1,013 points and 44 first-place votes, and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers got the remaining two first-place votes. San Antonio''s Tim Duncan was fourth and Cleveland''s LeBron James was fifth.
SUSPENDED
Phoenix center Amare Stoudemire and teammate Boris Diaw were suspended Tuesday for one game for leaving the bench after Robert Horry''s flagrant foul of Steve Nash in Game 4 of the Suns'' Western Conference semifinal against San Antonio. The NBA also announced Horry was suspended for two games for knocking Nash into the scorer''s table with 18 seconds remaining in the Suns'' 104-98 victory at San Antonio on Monday night. Phoenix''s victory evened the series at 2-2.
SPEAKING
''We just aren''t ready to go home yet.'''' - Bulls center Ben Wallace after leading Chicago to a 108-92 victory over the Pistons Tuesday night, pulling to 3-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.