While the Pacers and 76ers are about to go quietly into the night, the Blazers won their Game 3 home game down 0-2 to stay in their first round series against the Mavericks.

• Chicago Bulls 88, Indiana Pacers 84

While the Pacers very well may be swept, they have been able to adjust to Derrick Rose and may provide the beginnings of a blueprint on how to contain him over a seven-game series, using bigger, athletic defenders like Paul George who try to trap him. Rose scored 23 points, but was just 4-for-18 from the field, needing his 13-for-15 from the line.

With Rose struggling and Carlos Boozer completely incapable on offense, the Bulls were boosted by the likes of Luol Deng and Kyle Korver.

For the Pacers, they outscored Chicago by a 38-16 margin on points in the paint, but George, Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert combined to shoot 7-for-33 from the field.

• Miami Heat 100, Philadelphia 76ers 94

Yielding second chance opportunities in high volumes to the Heat is an impossible proposition and that is exactly what happened in Game 3. Miami had 20 offensive rebounds, leading to 24 second chance points.

I still look at this matchup as being a bounce or two away from being a series, but this is the type of Heat team we were initially expecting, even if they still don’t have a competent point guard and play without one during the end of games as they did here with Joel Anthony and James Jones with the Big 3.

I’m not sure yet if the Game 4 result will say more about the 76ers or Heat.

• Portland Trail Blazers 97, Dallas Mavericks 92

The Blazers were finally able to make their depth a difference, with Wesley Matthews scoring big early and then Brandon Roy and Nicolas Batum making key plays down the stretch.

Dallas received 25 points from Dirk Nowitzki and 29 from Jason Terry, but very little else from their supporting cast on a night where Tyson Chandler fouled out in 15 minutes.

While Portland’s 57.1% on 14 three-point attempts was terribly pivotal, you can also look to the +5 advantage on points in the paint, as well as Dallas shooting an uncharacteristic 13-for-23 from the line.

• Oklahoma City Thunder 106, Denver Nuggets 89

The Thunder joined the Heat, Celtics, Mavericks and Bulls in the up two games to nil column with a convincing, well-balanced victory over Denver.

Denver adjusted onto Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook following their Game 1 explosion, but the Thunder countered with strong offensive performances from Serge Ibaka, James Harden and Nick Collison.

The 54-31 rebounding differential was also huge for Oklahoma City, as they scored 24 second-chance points compared to just 10 for Denver.

The Nuggets just can’t effectively go small and quick against the Thunder and is why this was probably the worst possible matchup for them in the first round.

• San Antonio Spurs 93, Memphis Grizzlies 87

We knew Marc Gasol would regress to the mean and that the Spurs would have a better solution for defending Zach Randolph, but Gregg Popovich still needed Manu Ginobili’s return to prevent the series falling apart into an 0-2 deficit. 

Ginobili was a modest 5-for-13 from the floor, but his ability to get to the line 13 times was a big factor for the Spurs. Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Richard Jefferson and George Hill all scored 16 or 17 points apiece.

• Los Angeles Lakers 87, New Orleans Hornets 78

Even though Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol combined for just 19 points, the Lakers made significant adjustments to their defense to slow down Chris Paul.

The Hornets committed 16 turnovers one game after limiting themselves to three and the Lakers converted those into 22 points.

The Lakers also dominated the points in the pain battle, outscoring New Orleans by a margin of 50-32.

The Knicks and Blazers will look back on the first two games of their first round series with regret over missed opportunities.

• Boston Celtics 96, New York Knicks 93

Carmelo Anthony had 42 points on 30 shots, playing about as well as he is humanly capable, but without Amar’e Stoudemire in the second half and on an 0-for-11 from Bill Walker, the Knicks return home down 0-2.

Rajon Rondo had 30 points, hitting on 10 of his 15 attempts around the bucket. It was Kevin Garnett who came up big in the end with what proved to be the winning bucket in the closing seconds.

While the Celtics still have problems at center and their bench isn’t giving them much, to see Rondo play with the type of aggression he displayed on Tuesday is highly encouraging for their title chances.

• Orlando Magic 88, Atlanta Hawks 82

This was an ugly game offensively all the way around, but Dwight Howard was once again a monster and the Magic were a +18 from the line.

Howard had 33 and 19, going 9-for-12 from the floor and 15-for-19 from the line. If Howard can sustain that type of efficiency from the free throw line, Orlando can get away with the 4-for-16, 4-for-15 and 3-for-12 posted by Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson respectively.

There is a lot that can happen with Dwight Howard over the next 14+ months, but games like this from his supporting cast do not bode well. 

• Dallas Mavericks 101, Portland Trail Blazers 89

While one of the main storylines is appropriately the discontent of Brandon Roy, I’m not sure it really matters how Nate McMillan treats him when Peja Stojakovic and Jason Kidd are combining to shoot 8-for-16 from distance.

Dirk Nowitzki had 33 points on just 22 shots thanks for a 15-for-17 from the line. 

Unfortunately for the Blazers, they largely matched the Mavericks in terms of shooting efficiency, but were a -7 on second chance points and -7 on points off turnovers as well.

Compared to the Celtics and Magic, Chicago and Miami are the playoff newbies. They each had very different teams during the 2010 NBA Playoffs and have already won twice as many games as they did a year ago (each won one).

• Miami Heat 94, Philadelphia 76ers 73 

This was the kind of game where it is painfully clear who the better players are on both sides of the floor. Miami has multiple players who can create their own offense and convert at will, while the 76ers simply do not if they are unable to get out in transition.

LeBron James won’t win the regular season MVP and it is still just two games, but his chances for a Bill Russell MVP have never looked better and he is the baddest man on the planet.

Things look bleak for the 76ers because anyone giving them a chance at making this a series expected them to steal one on the road while Miami was still ‘figuring it out’.

Andre Iguodala is a very good defensive player and this matchup is a test of his limits, but nine points over two games is unacceptable. Evan Turner was Philadelphia’s best offensive player and that is not a good sign for them.

• Chicago Bulls 96, Indiana Pacers 90

While the Pacers were able to force Derrick Rose into a lot of mid-range jumpers from the right side, he also was able to get to the rim efficiently and end up at the line for a 12-for-13 night there on his way to 36 points.

The Bulls had an eFG% deficit, posting a 41.6% compared to 45.5%, but they overcame that with an offensive rebound rate of 45.5. Nevertheless, they only had 14 second chance points compared to 15 for the Pacers on just nine offensive rebounds.

For Chicago to advance into the Eastern Conference Finals and beyond, they will need to win a lot of games like these where scoring is difficult. Luol Deng (2-for-10), Joakim Noah (2-for-10), Keith Bogans (1-for-5) and even Rose (11-for-25) struggled from the floor.

Roy Hibbert is down to two more tries to make his single-victory guarantee a reality.

The second day of the 2011 NBA Playoffs provided four tightly contested games and nearly four road upsets.

• Memphis Grizzlies 101, San Antonio Spurs 98

The Spurs limited Memphis on the offensive glass, Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich surely didn’t se a 9-for-10 from Marc Gasol coming. They probably also didn’t foresee Memphis going 6-for-10 from distance with O.J. Mayo posting a 3-for-4 and Shane Battier with a 2-for-2 and the dagger.

I expect the Spurs to emphasize the transition game a little bit more in Game 2 and also move the ball better as 13 assists for this team is unacceptable.

Memphis did an excellent job in controlling pace and San Antonio’s 47 attempts from the line played a part in that.

• New Orleans Hornets 109, Los Angeles Lakers 100

We can throw away the Phil Jackson has never lost a series after winning the first game storyline and I think we’re all the better for it.

Looking at the Hornets in preparation for this series, it shocked me that a Chris Paul team could be as inefficient on offense as they were over the regular season. But Chris Paul wasn’t always the Chris Paul we saw in Game 1. He had the expected 14 assists, but he also scored 33 points on 18 shots and turned the ball over just twice. Paul was scoring with the ease of an MVP and his assists were creating easy buckets at the rim.

As a team, the Hornets also had just three turnovers compared to 13 for the Lakers.

The advantage the Lakers hold over everyone, especially the Hornets, is in the frontcourt. While Andrew Bynum looked healthy and was productive, Pau Gasol was a no-show offensively.

A loss for a team like the Lakers sometimes is worth more than a win and this one could shock them into winning the next four.

• Boston Celtics 87, New York Knicks 85 

A 67.8 TS% Game 1 for Amar’e Stoudemire versus a just 38.0 TS% for Carmelo Anthony and New York had to go away from Stoudemire down the stretch. This helps explain why the Knicks had a tale of two offenses in their playoff debut together that they controlled for a large stretch of it. The part 

Beyond Ray Allen’s game-winner and team-high 24 points, the Celtics received fairly typical balance across the board. The other members of the Big 4 were largely inefficient, but were picked up by having a large impact with his 12 points on six shots, four boards and four blocks.

• Oklahoma City Thunder 107, Denver Nuggets 103

The Thunder have two superduperstars (Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to score 72 points) and the Nuggets have a nice collection of well above average scorers.

Eight of Denver’s nine players had at least eight points. Nene was the main man, scoring a very efficient 22 points on 11 shots.

The Nuggets had plenty of opportunities to win this one and will look to the no-call on the offensive interference and their inability to hit efficiently from the line (21-for-33) and from distance (4-for-16) as the main culprits.