1.   An occasional exception was Simpson, whose quick first step got him by defenders for driving layups or passes to an open man underneath.

2.   And most impressively, all of the points came on driving layups, tip-in dunks or free throws.

3.   Cross finished with a career-high nine points -- on two driving layups and five free throws -- and had another career-high four assists.

4.   Even as the Knicks began sealing off the driving layups in the third quarter, they were allowing wide-open jumpers on the outside.

5.   He had several gravity-defying jumpers and driving layups, but none of the highlight-film dunks most of the crowd paid to see.

6.   He hit driving layups.

7.   He scored on four driving layups and made his medium-range jump-shot count each time.

8.   Johnson, whose touch has always been a question mark, missed four wide-open jumpers and two driving layups.

9.   They could not stop the wild jumpers or driving layups that Sprewell was coming up with on the fast break, which punished the Heat for every turnover.

10.   With an eye toward getting one another involved, they overwhelmed the zombie-eyed Trail Blazers with a stream of driving layups.