CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose netted 27 points and Joakim Noah added 21 points and 13 boards as the Bulls took a win in Charlotte 98-89 to secure the final No.8 seed in the NBA Playoffs.

The victory comes at the heels of severe internal conflicts that included a physical confrontation between head coach Vinny Del Negro and GM John Paxton. Throughout this, the Bulls were able to stay focused and end the season with a three-game win streak.

Here are all the Eastern Conference and Western Conference match-ups for the NBA Playoffs.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

No.1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No.8 Chicago Bulls

No. 2 Orlando Magic vs. No. 7 Charlotte Bobcats

No. 3 Atlanta Hawks vs. No. 6 Milwaukee Bucks

No. 4 Boston Celtics vs. No. 5 Miami Heat

WESTERN CONFERENCE

No. 1 LA Lakers vs. No. 8 Oklahoma City

No. 2 Dallas Mavericks vs. No. 7 San Antonio Spurs

No. 3 Phoenix Suns vs. No. 6 Portland Trailblazers

No. 4 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 5 Utah Jazz

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Never has a 10-64 record been as celebrated as it was last night at the Izod Center in New Jersey as the dreadful Nets beat the hobbling San Antonio Spurs 90-84 to avoid owning the worst record in an NBA season in the history of the league.

That record for least wins will continue to be owned by the Philadelphia 76ers who did it in 1972 after finishing that season 9-73.

Much of the season, the Nets appeared as sure as a slam-dunk to take the record after starting the season with an NBA-record 18-game losing streak and actually played one game at the Izod Center in front of only 1,016 fans.

Monday’s game seemed like an unlikely time for the Nets to get the win they needed. The Spurs entered the game after consecutive wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics but that’s why we play the games.

In Monday’s contest, despite shooting a dismal .376 from the floor, the Nets ‘took over the game’ . . . did someone actually just say that? The Nets ‘took over the game’ in the 4th quarter; going on a 15-4 run. The win was the Nets’ first over the Spurs since the teams met in the 2003 playoffs.

After the final buzzer, the crowd celebrated as the Nets’ public address announcer yelled into the mic, “We got ten! The Nets win!” but the Nets treated the team’s 10th victory more like a relief than a celebration.

“We don’t want to be a part of the worst team in history, so it’s exciting to get 10 wins, but it is 10 wins, you know what I mean?” point guard Devin Harris said. “We’re not going to jump through the roof because we won 10 games.”

“It’s a relief, you don’t want to go down in history as the worst team ever,” Keyon Dooley said.

“It’s a big relief. It’s a big relief,” chimed in guard Courtney Lee. “Now we can go out and ball and have fun and play.”

Bitch-Slap-Of-the-Week N.J. Nets – Sports Climax

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™