News from May 11. Lavoy Allen (junior, Temple, forward), Keith Benson (junior, forward, Oakland), Anatoly Bose (junior, Nicholls State, guard), Carlon Brown (junior, Utah, guard), Mike Davis (junior, Illinois, forward), Paul Davis (junior, Virginia Tech, guard), Kenneth Faried (junior, Morehead State, forward), Anthony Gurley (junior, Massachusetts, guard), Ravern Johnson (junior, Mississippi State, forward), Demetri McCamey (junior, Illinois, guard), Arnett Moultrie (sophomore, UTEP, center), Rico Pickett (junior, Manhattan, guard), Eniel Polynice (junior, Mississippi, guard), Tracy Smith (junior, NC State, forward), Quinton Watkins (freshman, San Diego State, guard), and Chris Wright (junior, Dayton, forward) withdrew their names from the NBA draft. The NBA deadline for underclassmen who previously declared to remove their names from the draft is June 14 [the NCAA has an earlier deadline for those who declared to withdraw and retain their NCAA eligibility]. Erick Dampier (Dal) underwent minor arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to clean out debris. The NBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the New Jersey Nets to Mikhail Prokhorov. Bos 120, Cle 88 at Cle Paul Pierce (Bos) had 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists. Kevin Garnett (Bos) had 18 points and 6 rebounds. Rajon Rondo (Bos) had 16 points and 7 assists. Ray Allen (Bos) had 25 points including 6-9 3-pointers. LeBron James (Cle) had 15 points on 3-14 FG and 9-12 FT, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists. Shaquille O'Neal (Cle) had 21 points on 7-11 FG and 7-10 FT and 4 blocks. Anthony Parker (Cle) had 14 points. Bos leads the series 3-2. Playoff Standings 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Finals (Best of 7) (Best of 7) (Best of 7) (Best of 7) 1 LA Lakers (4) _ 8 Oklahoma City (2) |_ 1 LA Lakers (4) ___ _ 5 Utah (0) | 4 Denver (2) ________| |_ 1 LA Lakers (0) _ 5 Utah (4) _ 3 Phoenix (0) | | | 2 Dallas (2) ___ | | 7 San Antonio (4) |_ 7 San Antonio (0) _| | _ 3 Phoenix (4) | 3 Phoenix (4) ______| | 6 Portland (2) |_ ___________ _ ___________ | 1 Cleveland (4) _____ | 8 Chicago (1) |_ 1 Cleveland (2) | _ 4 Boston (3) ______ | 4 Boston (4) ________| | | 5 Miami (1) |_ _______________ _| _ 2 Orlando (0) 2 Orlando (4) _____ | 7 Charlotte (0) |_ 2 Orlando (4) _____| _ 3 Atlanta (0) 3 Atlanta (4) _____| 6 Milwaukee (3) Second Round (all time Central) *if necessary Thursday, May 13 Game 6 Cleveland at Boston 7:00 pm ESPN Sunday, May 16 *Game 7 Boston at Cleveland 2:30 pm ABC [or Game 1 Bos@Orl] Conference Finals (all time Central) *if necessary Monday, May 17 Game 1 Phoenix at LA Lakers 8:00 pm TNT Wednesday, May 19 Game 2 Phoenix at LA Lakers 8:00 pm TNT ---- Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com For NBA stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html