J.R. Smith, Kelly Olynyk Suspended, Playoffs Continue

J.R. Smith was suspended for two games for his swipe at Boston's Jae Crowder in the Cavaliers-Celtics game on Sunday, and will miss the start of the Cavs 2nd round series. The Cavs will of course also be without Kevin Love due to his dislocated shoulder.

Because of the shoulder incident, Kelly Olynyk will be suspended for the first regular season game next year, which I'm sure won't make Cavs fans happy.

In last night's action all three trailing teams won, giving the first round a little more juice.

The Nets got even with the Hawks in Brooklyn with a 120-115 overtime win behind Deron Williams' 35.  Williams had been struggling all series, but went 7-11 from three in this one. The Hawks once again could not put the Nets away despite building a 2nd half lead. For a 60 win team, they are looking decidedly uncomfortable in this series, and now go back to Atlanta with significant pressure on.

The Bucks forced a game six against the Bulls by surprisingly winning in Chicago, 94-88. Michael Carter-Williams was the star, going for 22 with 8 rebounds and 9 assists as Milwaukee controlled the last few minutes of the game in a way they were unable to in earlier games, especially game three.  Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose, who had been great up until last night, combined for a disastrous 10-41 shooting night, and Pau Gasol's nice night was not enough to make up for that, as the Bulls shot under 35% for the game. Now they must go back to Milwaukee for a game six, something I'm sure they wanted to avoid.

Finally, the Blazers stayed alive with a 99-92 win in Portland. Damian Lillard found his game and scored 32 points, C.J. McCollum and Meyers Leonard combined off the bench for 31 on 13-18 from the field, and 2nd chances off the offensive glass made a huge difference for the Blazers, who came back from a seven point deficit entering the 4th quarter to win. The Grizzlies were without Mike Conley due to facial surgery, and while Nick Calathes and Beno Udrih played well in his absence, Conley's defense especially was missed. The series goes back to Memphis for game five, and no doubt the Grizz will feel some urgency to end it there.

Today in history

1521: Treaty of Worms. Ferdinand named Archduke of Netherlands-Austria
1770: Captain James Cook aboard the Endeavor lands at Botany Bay, Australia
1788: Maryland ratifies Constitution
1789: Mutiny on the Bounty
1923: Wembley Stadium opens--Bolton Wanderers vs. West Ham United
1965: U.S. Marines invade Dominican Republic
1967: Muhammad Ali refuses induction to army, stripped of heavyweight title
1969: Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France
1986: Soviet TV finally announces accident at Chernobyl 2 days after event

Today's musical birthday is Kim Gordon, most famously of Sonic Youth, born in 1953