News from May 1. The NBA fined Reggie Evans (Den) $10,000 and assessed him a flagrant foul level 2 for grabbing Chris Kaman (LAC) below the belt during Saturday's Den-LAC game. Kaman was assessed a flagrant for shoving Evans after the incident, but that has been downgraded to a technical. The NBA fined Richard Hamilton (Det) $15,000 for his flagrant foul on Michael Redd (Mil) during Saturday's Det-Mil game. Boris Diaw (Pho) was named as the Most Improved Player. Diaw received 80 of 124 possible 1st place media votes. Total position votes Player Points 1st 2nd 3rd Boris Diaw (Pho) ......... 489 80 28 5 David West (NO) .......... 283 22 52 17 Nenad Krstic (NJ) ........ 65 4 12 9 Gerald Wallace (Cha) ..... 46 3 6 13 Chris Bosh (Tor) ......... 43 3 6 10 Andres Nocioni (Chi) ..... 29 4 1 6 Tony Parker (SA) ......... 29 3 2 8 Mike James (Tor) ......... 21 1 4 4 Carmelo Anthony (Den) .... 19 2 1 6 Jameer Nelson (Orl) ...... 18 1 1 10 Chris Kaman (LAC) ........ 14 0 2 8 Yao Ming (Hou) ........... 14 2 2 1 Elton Brand (LAC) ........ 10 0 3 1 DeSagana Diop (Dal) ...... 8 1 0 3 Smush Parker (LAL) ....... 8 0 2 2 Pau Gasol (Mem) .......... 6 0 2 0 Mehmet Okur (Utah) ....... 6 0 1 3 Dwight Howard (Orl) ...... 5 0 0 5 Caron Butler (Was) ....... 4 0 1 1 LeBron James (Cle) ....... 4 0 1 1 Kevin Martin (Sac) ....... 2 0 0 2 Zaza Pachulia (Atl) ...... 2 0 0 2 Raja Bell (Pho) .......... 1 0 0 1 Kobe Bryant (LAL) ........ 1 0 0 1 Matt Harpring (Uta) ...... 1 0 0 1 Paul Pierce (Bos) ........ 1 0 0 1 Bobby Simmons (Mil) ...... 1 0 0 1 Josh Smith (Atl) ......... 1 0 0 1 Chris Wilcox (Sea) ....... 1 0 0 1 Maurice Williams (Mil) ... 1 0 0 1 The LA Clippers activated Vin Baker and placed Zeljko Rebraca on IL with chest pains. Dal 102, Mem 76 at Mem Josh Howard (Dal) had 24 points including 3-4 3-pointers and 9 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) had 27 points on 12-21 FG and 3-3 3-pointers and 7 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse (Dal) had 19 points and 5 assists. Pau Gasol (Mem) had 25 points and 6 rebounds. Mike Miller (Mem) had 10 points including 4-11 FG. Marquis Daniels (Dal, strained right hamstring) did not play. Dallas sweeps the series 4-0. LAC 101, Den 83 at LAC Elton Brand (LAC) had 21 points and 13 rebounds. Cuttino Mobley (LAC) had 23 points and 5 turnovers. Corey Maggette (LAC) had 23 points and 5 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony (Den) had 23 points including 8-24 FG. Greg Buckner (Den) had 20 points including 4-5 3-pointers. Andre Miller (Den) had 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. LAC shot 50% (37-74) FG and Den shot 37% (34-92) FG. LAC shot 24-27 FT and Den shot 11-15 FT. The LA Clippers take the series 4-1. Det 109, Mil 99 at Mil Tayshaun Prince (Det) had 18 points including 7-11 FG, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Chauncey Billups (Det) had 34 points including 16-16 FT and 6 assists. Richard Hamilton (Det) had 18 points on 4-14 FG and 9-10 FT. T.J. Ford (Mil) had 21 points including 9-14 FG, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 6 turnovers. Michael Redd (Mil) had 33 points on 10-17 FG and 12-15 FT. Det leads the series 3-1. Playoff Standings 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Finals (Best of 7) (Best of 7) (Best of 7) (Best of 7) 1 San Antonio (2) __ 8 Sacramento (2) |_ ______ _ 4 Dallas (0) | 4 Dallas (4) ______| |_ __ 5 Memphis (0) _ | | | 2 Phoenix (1) ____ | | 7 LA Lakers (3) |_ _| | _ 6 LA Clippers (0) | 3 Denver (1) __| | 6 LA Clippers (4) |_ _ | 1 Detroit (3) ____ | 8 Milwaukee (1) |_ __ | _ | | 4 Cleveland (2) ___| | | 5 Washington (2) |_ __| _ 2 Miami (2) ______ | 7 Chicago (2) |_ __| _ 3 New Jersey (2) ___| 6 Indiana (2) First Round (Central times) *if necessary Tuesday, May 2 Game 5: Indiana at New Jersey 6:00 pm NBATV Game 5: Chicago at Miami 7:00 pm TNT Game 5: Sacramento at San Antonio 8:30 pm NBATV Game 5: LA Lakers at Phoenix 9:30 pm TNT Wednesday, May 3 Game 5: Washington at Cleveland 7:30 pm Game 5: Milwaukee at Detroit 5:00 pm Thursday, May 4 Game 6: New Jersey at Indiana 6:00 pm Game 6: Miami at Chicago 7:00 or 8:30 pm *Game 6: Phoenix at LA Lakers 9:30 pm Friday, May 5 Game 6: Cleveland at Washington 7:00 pm Game 6: San Antonio at Sacramento 9:30 pm *Game 6: Detroit at Milwaukee 6:00 or 8:00 pm Saturday, May 6 *Game 7: Indiana at New Jersey TBA *Game 7: Chicago at Miami TBA *Game 7: LA Lakers at Phoenix TBA Sunday, May 7 *Game 7: Washington at Cleveland TBA *Game 7: Milwaukee at Detroit TBA *Game 7: Sacramento at San Antonio TBA