Thursday, April 21, 2011

Heat go up 2-0 on 76ers

MIAMI — LeBron James outscored Philadelphia's entire starting five in the first half by himself.

Open lane: Indiana's Mike Dunleavy drives past Chicago's Ronnie Brewer on Monday night in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series. The Bulls won 96-90 and lead the series 2-0. AP

So did Chris Bosh.

So did Dwyane Wade.

And that pretty much tells the tale of a night the 76ers would rather forget.

No comeback required for the Miami Heat this time. They went wire-to-wire on the lead, and moved two wins from advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

James scored 29 points, Bosh had his second straight double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Miami took a 2-0 series lead with a 94-73 victory over the abysmally shooting 76ers — who managed their second-lowest playoff scoring total in the last 56 years — on Monday night.

"It was a really complete game for us at both ends of the floor," James said.

Showing no signs of the migraine that he battled Sunday, Wade scored 14 points for Miami, now 17-3 in its last 20 games and halfway to winning its first playoff series since the 2006 NBA Finals.

"I'm feeling a lot better," said Wade, who wasn't able to eat Sunday and was very low-energy at times before Monday's game. "I lost a lot of weight tonight . . . but I think I did my job, to come out there and help my team get a win."

Thaddeus Young scored 18 points and Evan Turner added 15 for the 76ers, whose starters were outscored 76-29 by the Heat's first-string.

Game 3 is Thursday night in Philadelphia.

Bulls 96, Pacers 90

In Chicago, Derrick Rose scored 36 points, Carlos Boozer added 17 points and 16 rebounds, and the top-seeded Bulls pulled out another dramatic victory over Indiana in Game 2 of their first-round series.

Rose scored eight points over the final 4 minutes. Kyle Korver nailed another big 3-pointer to make it 90-85 with just over a minute left after hitting the tiebreaker in the opener.

A.J. Price hit three free throws with 23.4 seconds left after being fouled by Rose to cut the lead to 90-88. Luol Deng quickly answered with two of his own to make it a four-point game. Ronnie Brewer added two more after a missed 3 by Mike Dunleavy, and Chicago, which made its last 16 free throws, hung on to go up 2-0.

Danny Granger led Indiana with 19 points.

HOUSTON (AP) Rick Adelman is out as coach of the Houston Rockets.

The team announced that the Rockets and Adelman "have mutually agreed to part ways." Adelman's contract expires on June 30.

General manager Daryl Morey said in a statement Monday night that the decision came after "numerous discussions and careful consideration."

"It has been a privilege and an honor to work with and learn from Rick during these past four years," Morey said. "He is a Hall of Fame coach who earned the respect and admiration of our entire organization during his time here. These situations are always difficult, but we would like to personally thank Rick and his staff for their efforts the past four seasons and we wish them the best in their future pursuits."

The 64-year-old Adelman went 193-135 in four seasons with the Rockets. The .588 winning percentage was the highest among the 11 full-time coaches the franchise has had. Adelman led the Rockets to their only playoff series victory since 1997. His career record is 945-616 and ranks eighth in all-time wins.

"I have enjoyed my time in Houston over these past four seasons," Adelman said in a statement. "We accomplished quite a bit, despite overcoming numerous obstacles during the past few years."


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