The LA Lakers were bulldozed by an inspired Oklahoma City Thunder team and bullied out of the NBA Playoffs as they succumbed to a 16 point defeat. Despite a 42 point game from Kobe Bryant, the Lakers were dominated by their opponents on both ends of the court which resulted in a 4-1 Conference semi-final defeat for the 16 time NBA Champions. The Celtics had one of their more easier outings of this year's post season as they mauled the Philadelphia 76ers at the Garden by 16 points. The C's were led by none of their formidable four (Rondo, Allen, Pierce and Garnett) on the points table but instead saw the rise of a new hero in Brandon Bass who scored the highest number of points in a single quarter in this post season with 18, beating LeBron James record.
Philadelphia 76ers 85 - 101 Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics were led by an unlikely hero in Bass, through the third quarter, which helped them take a confident 3-2 lead in their semi-final game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Brandon, scored 18 of his career high 27 points, in the third quarter which proved to be an important period in the game for the Celtics, as they overcame a half deficit to turn the tables around. The home team dominated the second half, outscoring their opponents by as much as 19 points to claim a comfortable 16 point victory. Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett, made important contributions on the night as well for the C's, with Rondo securing a usual double-double (13 points, 14 assists) and the Garnett scoring 20 points. Ray Allen made his first start in this post-season but contributed with just 5 points in over 33 minutes on the floor.
Basketball

One can never doubt the ability of superstars to overcome poblems, no matter how grave they may be. After facing scepticism from all quarters as to whether they can take on the Indiana Pacers on their own without the ubiquitous Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, responded emphatically by scoring a combined 70 points to give their team an 8 point win over their opponents to level the series 2 - 2. James had 40 points, 18 boards and 9 assists, that completely captivated both the audience at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse and their opponents the Indiana Pacers. Indiana coach Frank Vogel said after the game, "It comes down to this: yes, you can get the ball out of their hands and make other guys make plays but you get the ball out of one of those guys' hands and it finds its way to the other guy. It's not just like one superhero and a bunch of role players. You've got to worry about the other guy."
Kobe Bryant was back to being himself as he nailed all 18 of his free throws and scored 14 points of his 36 on the night in the final quarter, to lead his team's late surge to a three point victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Game 3 win was the Lakers' 2nd triumph in their last six postseason games while the victory also resulted in OKC's first defeat in this year's playoff. Kevin Durant had some of the most impressive buckets on the night and he shot a team high 31 points as he lead a confident OKC team throughout the game, offensively. The free throws were tumbling in, in Game 3, with only 3 shots being missed from the line, out of 70. It was that kind of a game, where both teams were neck to neck in every department possible, with both sets of players having their hot streaks and luckily, the Lakers decided to have their surge in the final quarter.