The New York Knicks, once thought of as the top threat in the East to defeat the mighty Miami Heat, are out of the playoffs. And they have one of their own to blame, following Saturday’s 106-99 Indiana Pacers win and series conquest in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Lance Stephenson grew up in Brooklyn hating the Indiana Pacers. After a rough start to NBA career, though, he grew into loving working for his adopted hometown and Pacer team, and he was likely more than cognizant of the criticism that arose from his time spent as Indiana’s top backcourt penetrator during the team’s Game 5 loss against the New York Knicks on Thursday. With George Hill out, the Pacers needed someone to step up on the perimeter, and Stephenson (13 points on 13 shots) could not step up. Game 6, however, was about as “up” as steps come.

Even with George Hill in the Pacer starting lineup, Stephenson put up a career-high 25 points in the contest, topping his previous playoff-high in points by halftime by dropping 16 on the Knicks. Working between New York’s smallish lineup, the former University of Cincinnati guard also weaved his way toward 10 rebounds in just 34 minutes, his fourth double-digit rebounding game of the postseason. And though the Knicks reverted to their old, winning ways – a small rotation, plenty of three-point attempts – the team just could not keep in front of the younger Indiana Pacers.

Though he was mostly shut out of the fourth quarter, mostly, this wasn’t Carmelo Anthony’s fault. From the outset of the game it was apparent that the Knicks coaching staff was attempting to make Anthony’s mid-post looks a priority, and throughout the game the MVP-vote garner used his touch and savvy to out-duel an all-world defender in Paul George. Anthony tossed in 39 points on 29 shots before the Pacer defense decided that Carmelo Anthony, alone, was not going to send them to a Game 7 in New York.

Initially, the Pacers chose incorrectly, as the Knicks responded with a flurry of three-pointers from Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and Chris Copeland. The Pacer defense, ranked tops in the league for the better part of the 2012-13 NBA season, adapted. New York scored just 18 points in the final quarter of their season, as Stephenson tossed in some opportunistic makes, David West found some cutters with timely passes, and the Pacers earned trips to the line.

And before Knick fans and NBA know-alls toss the final tally in Carmelo Anthony’s face, they should understand that the Indiana Pacers are a better basketball team than Carmelo’s New York Knicks. The outcome of this series, is the correct one.

Part of that, in a weird way, is Carmelo’s fault. He demanded a trade to New York that saw Isiah Thomas (unofficially, as he was technically not a Knick employee at the time) inspiring a depth-killing deal from Denver to New York that gave Anthony both a maximum-level contract and very little room around him save for his fellow eight-figure earning teammates in Amar’e Stoudemire (two points in less than six minutes in Game 6) and Tyson Chandler (two points, six rebounds, and six fouls in less than 23 minutes). The Pacers’ bench is hardly inspiring, but Indiana’s rotation still had enough to circle the wagons when Anthony appeared to be well on his way toward winning the game by himself in the third quarter.

Indiana wasn’t bothered, though, which is impressive for a team that went into Saturday afternoon not knowing if George Hill could even suit up for the rest of the series; while potentially tailing off a year that was spent mostly without former All-Star Danny Granger. Roy Hibbert spent the better part of two months shooting less than 40 percent from the field. Coach Frank Vogel probably walks the streets of his own city without recognition. A guy named Sam Young, somehow, was crucial for key parts of this game. And yet the team is four wins away from its second NBA Finals appearance in the team’s post-ABA history.

The Knicks boast six former All-Stars, the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award, and the NBA’s sixth-highest payroll. This loss isn’t a damning indictment of going after big names and top salaries, though.

The Indiana Pacers, a team that sent all five of its starters to the podium following Game 6, were just the better team. And prior to their Game 1 matchup with the Miami Heat on Wednesday, you’ll have a small bit of time to learn their names.

George Hill will play in Indiana’s crucial, and potentially series-deciding, Game 6 against the New York Knicks on Saturday.

“We did everything by the book,” Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel told the media in the hours before his team’s match with the Knicks. Vogel told the media that his team’s medical staff, in concert with the NBA, put George Hill through all the proper paces as he recovered from a concussion suffered in Game 4 of his team’s series against the New York Knicks. Hill missed Game 5 because of that concussion, surprising most who witnessed both his brilliant play during the Game 4 win and affable demeanor post-game.

The NBA’s concussion policy is lightly defined, when it comes to choosing a number of games a player can sit out for; but what is known about the policy is the stringent, recently-made, tests that players have to go through. Whether the player in question enjoys the tests or not, the NBA runs an exacting standard of procedures put in place to determine if the athlete in question is fit to compete in a safe environment that would not leave the player in question prone to future head injury.

We hope that’s the case, at least. Saturday’s Game 6 is an important game, full of intrigue and season-deciding drama. What’s most important, though, is Hill’s long-term health. Brain “injuries” aren’t about gutting anything out; and it isn’t as if Hill (who was already dodging elbows from the likes of players like Tyson Chandler well before his concussion) was shirking his responsibility in Game 5.

We just hope his ability to suit up for Game 6 stems from a good report from a doctor that has nothing to do with the NFL, and that this is the last time we’ll ever have to discuss a head injury to George Hill.

The minds behind Ball Don’t Lie are going to preview each of the parings in the third round, with Kelly Dwyer going against character for a more genial take, Dan Devine bringing his inimitable mixture of both order and bedlam, along with Eric Freeman’s legendary look inside the reputations of some of the series’ key fixtures.

We begin with the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies.

Which team do you think will win the series, and in how many games? Vote here to let us know what you think.

Kelly Dwyer’s Guide Vocal

For the last 11 games, the span of the team’s run through the 2013 postseason, the Memphis Grizzlies have defended their turf against stars. Now, against the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals, the team will be asked to defend against a system. The problem for Memphis is that they don’t even know what system they’re up against.

The Grizzlies boast their conference’s best defense, but that hardly matters to a coach like Spurs head man Gregg Popovich. Though he’s been able to boast the luxury of fielding a rotation that includes Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili since 2002-03, the Spurs have taken on dozens of permutations since that year, in ways that go far beyond roster turnover. The Spurs adapt, effortlessly, and react with execution that pushes the limits of their ability. Even if capitulation is the result — the Spurs haven’t made the NBA Finals since 2007 — this doesn’t mean the team was caught off guard.

It just means there wasn’t enough time between games. As you may have seen last season, when the Spurs dropped four straight against an Oklahoma City Thunder team that was scarily gaining in confidence from contest to contest.

The Grizzlies just topped a version of that Thunder team that didn’t resemble last year’s conference-winning crew in the slightest, as the 2013 version was sadly missing both Russell Westbrook to injury and James Harden to a tax-saving trade. Prior to that, Memphis worked past a Los Angeles Clippers team that strangely decided not to feature Eric Bledsoe as much as expected, while fielding an injured and limited Blake Griffin toward the latter stages of the series. Grit and grind has paired with timing and opportunity, we should remind.

[Related: Grizzlies hang on in Game 5 for 4-1 series win over Thunder]

This doesn’t mean the Grizzlies are ready for their comeuppance.

The Spurs faced a Los Angeles Lakers team that didn’t have the talent to pull off a win at the playoff level and was looking forward to the end of the season by the time Game 2 began. Game 3 of the Western Conference semis saw Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry’s ankle go kablooie once again, and the Warriors star was left to scramble around like a real hamster huey for the next few games — barely able to lift while shooting long, loping jumpers that rarely hit. So apparently the sainted Spurs have backed into things a bit, as well.

Backing into things is Memphis’ advantage, as we know. Zach Randolph has not been the same since the lockout and an early season 2011-12 knee injury limited his all-world abilities, but his iffy shooting percentages from the teams’ regular-season matchups cannot be trusted. Marc Gasol’s chances at overwhelming Tiago Splitter should be in place, but nobody knows what sort of Splitter will show up, or how much Gasol will address the team’s need for fourth-quarter scoring in the actual first and second quarters of the game.

Memphis’ style, super-slow ball with an emphasis on interior play, is well-known. What is less programmable is the team’s pangs and fits since a midseason trade involving Rudy Gay shook up the franchise. The easy out is to assume that the Grizzlies take back to their 2011 ways, upsetting the Spurs in a playoff series without Gay in uniform, grabbing the momentum and home-court advantage while the league’s eyes were turned elsewhere.

The problem with that is that the Spurs are fully focused, this time around, and the team knows it can’t combat these Grizzlies with the same ancient attack it sent out in 2011, and Duncan also knows that he’s in far better shape to handle the Memphis group this time around. In many ways, this late-season version of the Grizzlies resembles the 2011 Spurs, squads that only need a wrench in the works to disrupt much-discussed plans about low post play and high efficiency shots. Perhaps these Spurs — with that depth and that group of youngsters that knows little else beyond executing as Coach Pop asks — are the underdog.

Perhaps that’s how it should be.

PREDICTION: Grizzlies in 6.

Contribute to the Chaos with Dan Devine

For as much as we try to study and analyze every aspect of NBA life these days, in every playoff series, there are unpredictable elements — a player, a tendency, a set, a decision, etc. — that can tilt a moment on its ear, change the complexion of a game or even determine the outcome of a series. For each matchup during this postseason, Dan Devine will look for those X-factors most likely to wreak havoc over the next seven games.

(The phrase "Contribute to the chaos” comes from the song “Twin Size Mattress” by the band The Front Bottoms, which Dan likes a lot.)

San Antonio Spurs: Tiago Splitter being better than Serge Ibaka, at least in context.

Throughout Memphis’ five-game win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ibaka struggled to sustain any offensive rhythm without injured point guard Russell Westbrook feeding him a steady diet of open looks. The power forward’s inability to provide scoring helped create a clear matchup win for the Grizzlies despite Ibaka’s sound work on the other end. When Ibaka was on the court in Round 2, Zach Randolph shot 42.9 percent and produced an average of 96 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com’s stat tool; when Ibaka sat, Z-Bo’s field-goal percentage rose nearly 11 percent and his individual offensive rating soared to 109.3-per-100.

With Tim Duncan likely to spend most of his time wrestling with Marc Gasol, it’ll be up to Splitter to match Ibaka’s work slowing Randolph while providing more efficient offensive contributions when required. The Brazilian big man actually did a good job on both counts in the teams’ four regular-season matchups. Randolph shot more accurately during Splitter’s minutes than when Tiago sat, but he shot less often, got to the line less often and scored about 3 1/2 fewer points per 36 minutes of court time against Splitter-featuring lineups. And while you can’t make apples-to-apples comparisons given Splitter’s significantly smaller role in the Spurs’ offensive machine, he was really effective in his opportunities against the Grizzlies, using his quickness and athleticism advantages to score 10.3 points in 26 minutes per game vs. Memphis this season and shoot a sterling 73.7 percent from the field when Randolph was on the court.

[Related: Tim Duncan predicts 'ugly' West finals against the Grizzlies]

Another key factor: Z-Bo was way less active on the offensive glass with Splitter around. With Tiago on the bench, Randolph vacuumed 17.3 percent of available offensive rebounds against the Spurs, a rate that would’ve topped Brooklyn Nets glass-eater Reggie Evans’ league-leading season mark. When Splitter played, Randolph came up with teammates’ misses only half as often (8.6 percent), managing just two second-chance points in 81 minutes. When you go back and watch the tape, you begin to see why.

With Mike Conley orchestrating up top or Gasol working from the elbows, Randolph tends to hang down on the baseline. Splitter more often than not does a really good job of not only tagging Z-Bo early, but also maintaining contact with him throughout the possession without letting his attention drift too much toward the on-ball action, which prevents Randolph from getting the kind of openings he so frequently exploits with quick slide-step duck-ins to secure rebounding position. While Randolph’s obviously a bull in the paint, Splitter’s combination of length and strength makes him a better bet to effectively box Z-Bo out than the likes of DeJuan Blair, Boris Diaw and Matt Bonner.

If Splitter can continue to slow Randolph on the offensive glass, make him work for post position, bother him with length on midrange face-ups and maximize his chances to make Memphis pay on the other end, it’ll go a long way toward neutralizing one of the key advantages the Grizzlies hold over most opponents. He doesn’t have to silence Z-Bo; he just has to turn the volume down. If he can’t, Randolph could have the kind of loud series that leaves San Antonio with a splitting headache.

Memphis Grizzlies: Keep Danny Green quiet, because that probably means you’re doing all right defensively.

Most of the rave reviews the fourth-year guard from North Carolina drew in Round 2 focused on his lock-and-trail work on Stephen Curry. But Green was also an important source of secondary offense for the Spurs in the semifinals, averaging 12 points in just under 36 minutes per game, shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and 44.4 percent from 3-point range.

His two worst shooting performances — 4 for 12 in Game 2 and 4 for 13 in Game 4, a combined 4 for 15 from downtown — coincided with the Spurs’ two losses in the series. Green’s shooting has actually been kind of an interesting bellwether for San Antonio all year; he sizzled (48.7 percent from the field, 47.9 percent from deep) in Spurs wins and struggled (35.5 percent, 31.2 percent) in losses during the regular season. It’s continued in the playoffs — 49.2/48.5 in San Antonio’s eight wins, 32/26.7 in their two losses.

This is, of course, more effect than cause. San Antonio doesn’t win because Green shoots well, but Green shooting well indicates good health for the Spurs. Nearly 62 percent of Green’s offensive possessions this season came on spot-up shots or transition looks, according to Synergy Sports Technology. Just under half of Green’s field-goal attempts came as a result of one of those two scenarios; that includes 79.5 percent of his 3-point tries, which he buried at a 43.7 percent clip in such situations.

Generally speaking, Green’s offense stems from either sound Spurs defense that triggers fast-break opportunities, allowing him to leak out to the arc while the opposition worries first about stopping the ball, or from well-executed Spurs half-court offense driven by drive-and-kick work from Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. When those two things are working, Green gets fed and produces; when those two things are working, the Spurs are incredibly tough to beat.

The Grizzlies are better equipped than most teams to throw a wrench in San Antonio’s works, though, given their talents for disrupting execution (second in the league in defensive efficiency this year), closing off the arc (sixth-fewest long-ball attempts allowed, second-lowest 3-point percentage allowed), stymieing open-court opportunities (fourth-lowest points-per-possession allowed in transition) and locking up shooters (fourth-lowest points-per-possession allowed on spot-up tries). All that makes Memphis the kind of defense tailor-made to keep Green buttoned up; they did just that this season. The duo of Tony Allen and Mike Conley — with some early-season Rudy Gay and Quincy Pondexter mixed in — held Green to just five points in 22.5 minutes per game on 28 percent shooting from the field and 22.2 percent from 3 during their four meetings, his worst marks against any opponent during the regular season.

If Green continues to produce at that level during this series, it will likely be a telltale symptom of a larger infection of the San Antonio offense. If he’s able to get loose like he did against Golden State, it might mean Gregg Popovich and company have found the cure for what’s ailed them against the Grizz these past couple of years, which could well result in a return to the NBA finals.

PREDICTION: Grizzlies in 6.

Eric Freeman’s Reputations Index

An NBA athlete can make great strides in the offseason, improve over the course of the 82-game schedule, and see his fortunes change due to a freak injury. Yet, even in a league where granular analysis reveals untold nuances in a single player’s game, the postseason still determines his legacy. A star can become a legend or be seen as lacking some necessary quality to win; a role player can lock down a lucrative local endorsement contract or search for a new home; a youngster can ascend to a new level of fame or fall into irrelevance. The Reputations Index is your guide to what’s at stake in each postseason series.

Tony Parker: The Spurs have been such a good regular season team in recent years that Parker has been mentioned as a potential NBA candidate (or at least someone who should be “in the conversation,” which usually means he has no chance of winning) at various points along the way. The argument is usually pretty simple: the Spurs are among the best teams in the league and Parker is their best offensive producer, so he should get some recognition.

There is no doubt that Parker is a deserving All-Star and future Hall of Famer, but there’s a sense that he’s not held to the same standards as other players at this supposed MVP level. As Ethan Sherwood Strauss argued in a piece at ESPN Insider during the first round, Parker has not played particularly well in the last three postseasons, seeing his PER drop at least 3.6 Hollingerians from his regular season level in each. This trend hasn’t continued in this postseason so far — he’s actually gone up from 23.0 to 23.3 — but Parker was not a continual force in the Warriors series and shot worse than 43 percent from the field in four of the six games.

Parker only deserves so much criticism for his play, because he’s still a highly effective player who the Spurs can’t leave out. Yet it’s also true that he plays a very different style from the players most widely acknowledged as the best in the league. Like anyone, Parker relies on a few go-to moves, but he also shows less of an ability to improvise when necessary. In his piece, Ethan incisively referred to his play (and, by extension, the entire Spurs offense) as a sort of choreography, a refined set of moves that can struggle in the face of disruption.

The Spurs have proven that it takes a pretty amazing effort to achieve that disruption, but the Grizzlies were very effective in doing so in 2011 (with a worse, or less established, defense than they now have). There’s a sense that, if Parker is to become a fixture in those MVP talks rather than just a casual participant, than he must respond to these difficult circumstances and transcend the disruption. Otherwise, he’s someone no one feels the need to argue about.

Manu Ginobili: Given the Spurs’ reputation as a no-nonsense outfit of restrained professionalism, it sometimes escapes mention that Ginobili is one of the most creative players of his era. If Parker sometimes struggles amid disruption, then Ginobili thrives in it, displaying his resourcefulness and in-the-moment creativity in countless postseason moments. San Antonio tends to depend on him more in the playoffs than in the regular season, and it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which they defeat the Grizzlies without Ginobili having at least a few stellar games.

[Related: Pacers top Knicks, set up East finals matchup with Heat]

Unfortunately, Ginobili was not close to his usual standard against the Warriors, shooting 34.2 percent from the floor for the series. At 35 years old, Ginobili is at a point in his career where he just might not be able to carry the same load he once could. If he can’t put up the performances that get the Spurs to the NBA finals, it’s possible he’ll be someone remembered for past exploits and not feared for the threat he poses at present.

Mike Conley: We’re in a pretty incredible era for young point guards, yet Conley is typically not mentioned among the best of that group. There are pretty clear reasons for that — he’s never averaged more than 14.6 points per game (this season) and 6.5 assists per game (both of the two previous seasons) and he’s not exactly an athletic marvel. Conley is best known as a solid point guard with the ability to score or make a play when needed.

That stance is beginning to change. With Conley serving as the Grizzlies’ top perimeter playmaker and making the All-Defensive Second Team this season, he’s building a greater reputation as one of the more effective leaders at his position. A winner doesn’t need to be the flashiest or most statistically impressive player to get attention. If the Grizzlies make the Finals, and particularly if Conley manages to outplay Parker in a few of those wins, he could join that group.

Tony Allen: Two straight All-Defensive selections have solidified Allen’s place among the best defenders in the league, to the point where it would take a full season of mediocre or downright bad play to remove him from that list. Yet there’s a difference between being one of the best defenders in the league for a few seasons and getting recognized as a generationally great specialist. Bruce Bowen isn’t just a helpful role player — he’ll go down as one of the key defenders of his era. It’s a difference in kind so big that it becomes categorical.

In this series, Allen will likely guard several players, primarily Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker but also Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, and anyone else on the perimeter who seems to be playing well. There’s enough variety there that he could make several different marks on several different games. He could have the kind of series that gets him closer to that lofty status. Then, he could have the chance to create even more of a name for himself against the Heat.

PREDICTION: Grizzlies in 6.

Related NBA video on Yahoo! Sports

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Sources: Raptors targeting Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri to run organization
• Coach K having change of heart over Olympic coaching gig?
• Are the Hornets returning to Charlotte?
• Mavs' Dirk Nowitzki offers to take 'significant pay cut' to woo free agents

On Saturday morning Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Toronto Raptors were hot to trot for Denver Nuggets personnel chief Masai Ujiri, which is a smart trot to be hot for, considering that Ujiri once worked for the Raptors, and the reigning NBA Executive of the Year. Prior to that news, though, the team was leaning on stranger outfits to guide their search.

The Toronto Raptors had been rumored to be hot on Phil Jackson’s trail, not as a head coach, but for a job running the team’s front office. They’re also trying to figure out the direction of the franchise after yet another year lost to the middling depths of the low lottery, while sussing out a payroll that currently is set to send them into luxury tax territory next season. They also have until Monday, because of a contract deadline, to determine whether or not current general manager Bryan Colangelo will be the man to lead them out of the mess that, um, Bryan Colangelo just made.

It’s clear that Tim Leiweke (the new CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) needs some help in figuring out what to do with the team his company owns, and any outside help is appreciated. Instead of going with a basketball mind, someone who has been there before or someone who is willing to think in hoop-related terms while minding this mess, MLSE has gone elsewhere. They’ve hired a head-hunting firm, weirdly. From the great Doug Smith at the Toronto Star:

While not officially on the job yet, Leiweke has been given all responsibility to determine Colangelo’s fate. The two men have met and discussed plans for the Raptors future but neither has spoken publicly about their feelings.

And Leiweke is not conducting the search for a possible replacement on his own; multiple NBA sources say MLSE has hired a head-hunting firm to whittle down a list of possible replacements.

Two names being tossed around NBA circles at the league’s annual draft combine are Kevin Pritchard, currently the general manager of the Indiana Pacers and Troy Weaver, the vice-president and assistant general manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

There may be others on any short list compiled by the unnamed search firm but neither of those are seen as the slam-dunk, high-profile executives many were expecting to emerge from Leiweke’s search.

From earthquakes to mayoral scandals to hiring yet more suits to decide what to do with hiring or firing the suits that get to pick which players wear the shorts, Toronto is keepin’ it weird.

Colangelo needs to go, and it’s clear that new MLSE Tim Leiweke was so unimpressed with the presentation that Colangelo gave the former Anschutz Entertainment Group CEO earlier this month that he’s considering other names to help lead the Raptors to their first playoff appearance since 2007. Phil Jackson, apparently, wasn’t receptive to whatever interest MLSE showed in the former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers coach, and as a result MLSE is stuck in no-man’s land with Colangelo’s contract deadline approaching. To some, the wait prior to the potential decision has become infuriating.

Still, there’s no shame in going a week or two without a GM. Especially if it means passing on Colangelo, and mostly because the Raptors are without a lottery pick in June’s NBA draft. Even with a payroll that could exceed $72 US next year, few would pick the Raptors to make the NBA’s playoffs in 2013-14 as currently presented, and if the next GM decides to rebuild (as the Raptors should) few NBA teams would be lining up to trade for the high-priced players that Colangelo signed off on acquiring.

This is why the Raptors need to take their time as they hunt down a new GM. This is also why the Raptors probably need to think in basketball terms, and limit the influence of a head-hunting firm that will only offer the names of unsuccessful NBA GM deputies as potential replacements. That’s how business often works, with the tenured number two candidates ready to take on the role directly above them, regardless of their acumen.

There was hope in Toronto, after Leiweke took over. It appears as if he’s handling the potential dismissal of Bryan Colangelo in a very Bryan Colangelo-styled way. There are a lot of cufflinks on the payroll, now.

According to a CBSSports.com report, the Charlotte Bobcats are in the process of claiming the name that resided in the city with the Charlotte Hornets from 1988-2002.

The name traveled to New Orleans when the franchise relocated, but recently became available when the Crescent City's NBA team ditched the Hornets moniker for the more apropos Pelicans.

It's a move that, if it comes to fruition, will be a hit in the Queen City. Between a terrible on-court product, a bitter taste from the loss of the Hornets and a general malaise toward the Bobcats franchise narcissistically named after founder and previous majority owner Bob Johnson, Charlotteans have had a tepid-at-best relationship with their current NBA team.

Since arriving in Charlotte, the Bobcats have made one playoff appearance and have a short but profound record of making poor personnel decisions.

But the Hornets – man, the Hornets. Now that's a different story. The basketball-crazed city fell in love with the franchise that arrived in 1988. Even when the team stunk, fans showed up and made noise. And after a few years, the Hornets actually got good.

Fans sold out the 24,000-plus seat Charlotte Coliseum for 364 consecutive games as the team with the iconic teal-and-purple color scheme won games with Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues.

But then it fell apart. Larry Johnson hurt his back, Alonzo Mourning took his talents to South Beach and the city grew frustrated with owner George Shinn, who became involved in a sexual assault trial involving a Hornets cheerleader and later made demands on the city to build a new arena.

The Hornets left town in 2002 and were replaced with the Bobcats two years later. The magic has not returned.

Basketball fans in Charlotte have clamored for the return of the Hornets since New Orleans started to discuss a name change. Majority owner Michael Jordan has been studying the business side of bringing the Hornets name back to the city; if the wheels truly are in motion to do so, there will certainly be a, ahem, buzz around the return of a beloved friend.

But a color scheme and Hugo the Hornet won't be enough to get Charlotte fully behind its NBA franchise. After a decade of miserable basketball, Michael Jordan's top priority is finding the next Johnson-Mourning tandem.

If the Bobcats keep losing like they do, bringing back an old nickname won't mean squat.

Jason Owens is an editor at Yahoo! Sports and still has a promotional jersey signed by Kelly Tripucka from his childhood in Charlotte.

There's perhaps no one more intriguing than Kentucky forward Nerlens Noel, once considered the player most likely to become the top pick in the draft. That changed after Noel tore his ACL in mid-February. Yet, with only Kansas shooting guard Ben McLemore making a reasonable case for himself in the interim, Noel is still among the contenders for the top pick. The question is when he'll be ready and what his team can expect from him once he returns.

There is good news on the former issue. From the Associated Press:

Noel said he is ''ahead of schedule,'' but being ready for a season opener is overly optimistic and Christmas is more of a target date.

''I've started to shoot some free throws the last week with a different type of brace on,'' said Noel, who has yet to start running again in his rehab. ''I'm 100 percent confident of not just gaining what I had but definitely being stronger, coming back better. During this time that I won't be playing basketball I'll just be working on a lot of things that I needed to polish when I was playing.'' [...]

''It's an injury you've got to be mindful of,'' he said. ''You can't try to rush back from it. You want to have longevity in your career, just be careful with it.''

Noel said he'll be particularly careful about the mental aspect of being comfortable with his return.

''As much as you want to be back, you want to be playing as long as you can in the NBA and not have to reinjure yourself and go through all this again,'' he said.

A Christmas return would mean Noel — who presumably didn't pick that date because his surname is another name for the holiday — would miss all of training camp and two months of the regular season, which is obviously not an ideal situation for a rookie who played only 24 games in his lone season in Lexington. On the other hand, it goes without saying that whichever team drafts Noel will see him as a long-term investment, not someone who must be able to participate in the season opener no matter what. There's inherent risk in taking an injured player, but it's a gamble worth taking for a team that believes he's the best available choice.

That sense of the future could also make Noel's delayed return a benefit. While it's generally not considered polite to support tanking, the race for the league's bottom in the 2013-14 season could bring a major reward: Canadian forward and recent Kansas commit Andrew Wiggins, arguably the best prep prospect since LeBron James (or at least Greg Oden). The team that takes Noel will take him on his own merits, but it's hard to escape the idea that picking a promising player who also happens to be out for two months could give that franchise a leg up on next June's Wiggins lottery.

Tanking is a bad word, and no team will promote the upcoming season as an extended wait for a player whose first NBA destination will ultimately be determined by ping pong balls. But Wiggins is exciting enough that teams are bound to consider strategic losing as a strategy, or at least entertain the idea that pursuing the 11th best record in a conference isn't worth giving up a chance at Wiggins.

Again, this is not a slight on Noel, a shot-blocking force with the opportunity to develop a very good offensive game. It's just that delaying the gratification of seeing him in an NBA uniform isn't only good for the health of his career — it could help his team put together a championship-level core.

When the news broke that the New Orleans Hornets would change their name to the Pelicans for the 2013-14 season and beyond, opinions were mixed between those who thought it a fun change of pace reminiscent of the ABA and those who considered it a really dumb choice for pretty much all the same reasons. Whatever the case, it's different and will require some getting used to. Fans can be forgiven for not warming to "Pelicans" immediately after decades of being told that only the most immediately fearsome animals are suitable for mascot status.

Clearly, the franchise has some work to do. Luckily for them, they have received one very high profile endorsement of their new name. That's right — HIs Holiness the Dalai Lama, metaphorical manifestation of the bodhisattva of compassion, has worn a Pelicans hat to express his support. Check out the photo below for proof (via Jason Gallagher of Ballerball):

The Dalai Lama is currently touring the United States and is speaking several times in New Orleans through Saturday. (There's a livestream available at NOLA.com, if you care to watch.) It's unclear exactly who gave him the hat, or what he thinks of Hugo the Hornet, but putting on sends a message. The forces of peace and understanding are on the side of the Pelicans.

Or maybe not. As is clear from this photo of the Dalai Lama holding up a Portland Trail Blazers jersey and many more shots of the man in sports-related caps, he makes a habit of wearing hats of local teams. In his position as a spiritual leader who preaches acceptance of all things and a higher plane of consciousness, he sees the value in all teams and wears all branded apparel. When you think about it, the Dalai Lama is really like a more high-minded version of Lil Wayne, supporting all teams at once.

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: YouTube.com/NBA. Dirk Nowitzki hasn’t played a game of basketball in a month, but that doesn’t mean he can’t get all of our hearts a-flutterin’ as we look forward to this year’s NBA Finals.
PF: Pro Hoops History. Curtis Harris delves into the career of George McGinnis, who put up some ridiculous statistics in both the ABA and NBA.
SF: Daily Thunder. Thunder super-scribe Royce White discusses the various options Oklahoma City has with disappointing big man Kendrick Perkins.
SG: SB Nation. It wasn’t because of a terrible mismatch, and it wasn’t because he was playing poorly, but Tim Duncan sat out the crucial stages of his team’s series-deciding win on Thursday night. Mike Prada tries to discovery why that was, exactly.
PG: Sports Illustrated. Rob Mahoney also breaks down parts of the same stretch with a focus on Kawhi Leonard, who has been playing brilliant (and somewhat frighteningly-good) ball with Duncan off of the floor.

6th: VICE. David Roth on why it’s so damn fun to “actually, actively like” the San Antonio Spurs. Please read this column.
7th: The Basketball Jones. Here’s how funny Trey Kerby’s reflection on the last decade and a half of Bulls basketball is. I laughed so hard and for so long while reading Trey’s column that my wife, annoyed, had to leave the house to go outside. Bear in mind that, and I’m not kidding, Trey Kerby officiated our marriage.
8th: USA Today. Sam Amick reports what we’ve long suspected: Geoff Petrie’s days in Sacramento are numbered. Happily, the Kings’ days in Sacramento aren’t numbered.
9th: SB Nation. Ricky O’Donnell discusses the emergence of German-born point guard Dennis Schroeder, who unfortunately is sitting out this week’s NBA draft combine because of medically-based frustrations.
10th: 8 Points, 9 Seconds. Jared Wade with a rough, frustrating, personal, on point and ultimately quite good look at the impact of George Hill’s concussion.

Got a link or tip for Ball Don't Lie? Holler at me at kdonhoops (at) yahoo.com, or follow me on Twitter.

With every season that ends, for the playoff teams at least, we felt it right to take a look ahead. TNT already has the rights to "Gone Fishin'," and because we're sure that someone, somewhere, still likes that Wyclef song, we're going with "Gone Till November." And, yes, we know the season starts in October. Today? The Chicago Bulls.

I’ve already fawned over these Chicago Bulls plenty. The team’s unrelenting approach was an inspiration this season, and though Derrick Rose disappointed by not returning to the squad after an ACL tear, and coach Tom Thibodeau disappointed by running his players into the ground early on in the season, the team still gets to go into 2013-14 with Derrick Rose and Tom Thibodeau as its cornerstones. Not a bad start.

Big moves won’t ramp up the team’s roster prior to that start, though, unless the team’s ownership becomes ridiculously averse to paying the luxury tax, and either trades Luol Deng or Carlos Boozer to another team to shed salary, or waives Boozer outright using the amnesty provision. While that might seem like needless cost-cutting, understand that the Bulls have been practicing this sort of thing for years. If that sounds cynical and self-defeating, understand that I’m a Chicago Bulls fan that just watched 94 games of the 2012-13 Chicago Bulls. Inspiration swings both ways.

Chicago has assets to encourage deals that either lineup opportunities years from now, for 2013-14, or for the team’s pocketbook right away. Boozer can be traded to a team that still holds it amnesty provision. Deng has an expiring contract and was an All-Star this year. Chicago owns a Charlotte Bobcats first round pick that has declining protection until 2015, when it is only protected for the top eight picks, and 2016, when it is completely unprotected (just like Bobcat fans, tuning in to watch a night of Bobcat basketball). Meanwhile, despite his early-season inability to mind minutes, Tom Thibodeau may have the biggest basketball brain in the league, ready to put more and more disparate parts together in functional and competitive ways.

You get the feeling, though, that Chicago won’t undergo yet another rotation restructuring in this offseason. Part of that is the market, part of that is finances, and part of that is the team’s ability to give it one last go, as presently constructed, in 2013-14.

The trade market will play a part. Luol Deng’s game wouldn’t really fit in as perfectly elsewhere as it does in Chicago, a place where his step-back defense is best suited for Thibodeau’s system, and his endless slashing and sometimes shooting is perfect for an offense that relies heavily on interior passing even with Rose around. The plan with Deng remains unchanged, as the Bulls will run him into the ground for the last year of his contract, and then let the then-29 year old forward hit the open market in 2014, mindful of the wearying ten seasons he spent in red and black.

Boozer, to a lesser extent, is in the same boat. It’s true that his pick and pop game never meshed with Rose’s, as Derrick remains a poor pick and roll passer, but he’s a perfect fit alongside Noah offensively because Joakim’s tips and extra passing allow for a litany of good looks for the floor-bound big forward. Teams know this – they respect the Bulls, but they’re not taking on their second-tier stars in Deng and Boozer just to do Chicago favors.

The problem, once again, is the luxury tax. The Bulls horribly mismanaged their 2013 offseason and badly overestimated Richard Hamilton’s trade deadline value, so they ended up over the tax threshold for the first time in their very lucrative history in 2012-13. The team, even before draft picks, without unrestricted free agents Nate Robinson and Marco Belinelli re-signing, and after waiving Hamilton, will be over the tax threshold again in 2013-14. By now team owner Jerry Reinsdorf has earned more than enough with this Bulls team (a squad that in 1999 had to sign players to contracts just to make it over the minimum salary cap line) to pay the tax, but tax status also affects the team’s ability to sign players to exceptions, to say nothing of the impending repeater penalties.

And when Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng come off the books in 2014, LeBron James’ big free agent year? The Bulls will be just about capped out. In fact, it would be in their best interest to go over the cap with Deng again that summer, barring any other major moves between now and then, just to be able to use capped-out exceptions to fill a roster that will only have six players on it when July hits.

This is a long way of saying that Chicago doesn’t have many options to grab that Rose and Noah-helping second star over the course of the 2013 offseason.

The team shouldn’t waive Carlos Boozer this summer, unless it is that desperate to get underneath the tax line – something that shouldn’t be ruled out. Instead, the team should wait to cut Boozer during the summer of 2014, hoping that his release and Luol Deng’s move onto greener pastures will be enough to lure a max-level free agent. And they’ll have the money, too, even with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Taj Gibson set to make nearly $40 million combined in 2014-15. Adding a max-level star would only leave the Bulls with six players on the roster, but the team’s front office has proven that it can work around the edges in order to acquire bench help, as we saw in the summer of 2010.

All this is for 2014, though. For this summer, it’s more of the same. The hope that Rose takes the orthodox approach and returns to training camp as if 2012-13 never happened. The hope that the summer does wonders for the team’s four injured workers in Noah, Deng, Gibson and Hinrich. The probable hope that some team makes Nate Robinson a crazy offer that Chicago can excuse themselves out of not competing with, and the hope that bench depth at center somehow pops up in ways that can replace the admirable but declining Nazr Mohammed.

In the meantime, there will be plenty of waiting. Longing stares at LeBron or Kevin Love, and endless fascination about stashed Bulls prospect Nikola Mirotic (steadily improving, not exactly boffo stats but big praise for his work in Real Madrid this year) while hoping that Charlotte pick draws interest. There truly are chances here, between the amnesty clause, Dwyane Wade’s fading brilliance in Miami, the goodbye to Deng and the potential that Flip Saunders messes up a bit in his first few years as Minnesota GM.

Potentially, there could be lot going on.

This summer? There’s not a lot going on. Unless these Bulls decide to get weird with things. Following a season like this one, don’t rule anything out.

Phil Jackson went on Jay Leno’s late night television show on Thursday to promote his book "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success," speaking on record at the peak of the NBA’s coach-grabbing season. Though Jackson has spent most of the spring talking up his potential as a front office fixture, Leno couldn’t resist asking Jackson if a return to the sidelines was probable for the 67-year old 13-time (counting his playing career) NBA champion, along with other various tawdry subjects, and the inevitable comparison between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Jay Leno, who is no stranger to openly musing about taking someone’s job while that person still actually has the job, also asked if Jackson would consider returning to the Los Angeles Lakers as head coach should Mike D’Antoni be asked to move the Tonight Show to midnight be fired in the offseason. Jackson, at around the two-minute mark of this video, was tactful in his response. Watch:

Leno immediately moved into talk about Shaq coming to practice in the nude.

Jackson admitted to being intrigued by the Sacramento Kings’ potential move to Seattle, which was put on the kibosh on Thursday night as the Maloof family sold the once-proud franchise to a group led by Vivek Ranadive, effectively keeping the team in Sacramento. Jackson more or less confirmed rumors, in talking with Leno, that he had spoken with potential Seattle owner Chris Hansen in the months leading up the NBA’s decision to encourage a stay in Sacramento, though it appears that Leno was confused in thinking that Jackson was speaking about taking on a gig as a head coach, and not a personnel el jefe.

Then they talked about Shaq spying on a trainer using the toilet.

If you’d like to watch the interview in its entirety, including an awkward high five that Jackson weirdly decided to give Adam Sandler rather than shaking his hand, one YouTube rip is available here:

If you’d like to see Conan O’Brien’s take on NBA playoff-styled fashion, courtesy Team Coco, take a look at these clips:

And more ...

Hey, maybe you guys can help me out with something — does anyone reading know if the city of Memphis, Tenn., in general and its NBA basketball team, the Memphis Grizzlies, specifically, are fond of bluffing?

Oh, that's right — I should have remembered, because of the towels. OK, cool. Thanks for clearing that up, Oscar-winning Three 6 Mafia member (and noted right-to-bare/bear-arms enthusiast) DJ Paul and pals Drumma Boy, W&W and Ummet Ozcan. I appreciate it.

You can, and should, download "We Don't Bluff" here. It's the perfect soundtrack to all those blog posts reminding you why you should love the Grizzlies.

Hat-tip to Deadspin's Tom Ley.

For the second consecutive summer, the Dallas Mavericks could have significant salary cap space on hand if they choose to pass on re-signing some of their free agents. And, for the second straight year, this is in spite of Dirk Nowitzki’s much-deserved but massive individual contract, something that paid him nearly $21 million this season and nearly $23 million in 2013-14.

After being passed over by Deron Williams and left wanting in Dwight Howard trade negotiations, he Mavericks did well last year to put together what felt like a good enough roster to make the playoffs. The team acquisitions (O.J. Mayo, Darren Collison, Chris Kamen) all came through with up and down seasons, though, while Elton Brand sadly was a bit of a non-factor. The biggest problem above all was the loss of Nowitzki to a knee injury to start the season. Dallas competed for a playoff berth towards the end of the campaign, but with Nowitzki taking to nearly the season’s midpoint to start playing like the superstar he is, the Mavs just didn’t have a chance.

Now Dirk is talking up the future. He wants Dwight Howard. He wants Chris Paul. He wants to part of the draft decision-making process. And he wants some pizza, dammit.

(He was actually very nice about all these things. From the Dallas Morning News:)

On Dwight Howard and Chris Paul:

Dirk Nowitzki: We'd love to get one of those two. We'd love to get a player in here who can create his own shot and be a superstar-type player. It's still a long way to go until July. Those guys need to clear their minds a little bit and get away and then start thinking what they want to do with their futures. Hopefully, that's where we come in and put a great pitch out there and see what happens.

On the pitch to free agents:

Dirk Nowitzki: I'll definitely be a little involved. But I'll be in the draft 'war room' for the first time ... order some pizza and talk some basketball. I got one year left on this deal and then I'm coming off the books. So if that helps for us to be better I'm going to take a paycut. That's part of the pitch. [Team owner Mark] Cuban and Donnie [Nelson, the team’s general manager] have got to be part of the pitch.

(If that last part is a shot at Mark Cuban, who infamously declined to go visit Deron Williams at a free agent recruiting last year in order to work on his television show ‘Shark Tank,’ then Dirk should take it easy, here. No team was going to drag Williams away from the Nets, who could offer him more money while stocking his roster with high priced name players like Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace.)

(We don’t think that is a shot at Cuban, though.)

On Thursday, Nowitzki re-iterated his stance in a talk with reporters at an anti-texting while driving promotion, even calling the potential pay cut “significant,” if the Mavs are lucky enough to pry Howard or Paul from the clutches of the City of Angels.

From ESPN Dallas:

"It's not about money. Obviously, Cuban took care of me for a long, long time. I always tried to pay him back by hard playing and being here for this franchise, so I don't think we're going to fight over money. I want to compete over these last couple of years. That's going to be the goal."

[…]

"I guess that's something we need to look at next summer when it gets to the point, but I'm sure it will be a significant pay cut," said Nowitzki, the lone constant on the Mavs' roster during the 12-year postseason streak that was snapped this season.

Of course, Nowitzki’s not hurting for dough.

ESPN pointed out that only four players – Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan – have made more money in salary than Dirk Nowitzki over the course of their careers, and each of the active players on that list may walk away from the game when their current contracts expire. And Nowitzki may have already passed those top four in overall cash retention, due to the fact that his max contract status has never been in question, so Nowitzki has gone into all contract “negotiations” without an agent, without having to pay an agent fee for the deals he put pen to.

Every bit of extra bread counts, y’know?

Again, though, the Mavs may fall short. Plenty of teams have cap space this summer, with the NBA’s best center and point guard available, but the Lakers and Clippers have too much on their side for competitors to overcome unless either player makes a completely unexpected decision. Both the Lakers and Clippers are frustrated with their first round ousters, but Dwight Howard doesn’t like to hurt feelings and take chances, which is why he picked up his player option to stay in Orlando over a year ago even though he didn’t want to play for that team. And Paul will have plenty of say in all Clippers personnel and coaching matters moving forward, encouragement to stay.

Most important is the money, though, as Howard and Paul (who both struggled with at-times debilitating injuries last year) have the security of an extra guaranteed year to convince them to stay with their incumbent teams, and the ability to make far more money overall. And if this ticks NBA fans off, understand that this is a direct result of fan complaints following the sort of free agent star-hoarding the Miami Heat executed in 2010. The same sort of set-up Nowitzki is trying to encourage in Dallas.

And before we canonize Nowitzki, understand that the Mavs star should be taking a pay cut next year. Even a significant one.

Dirk will be 36 when the 2014 offseason hits, and though we expect Nowitzki to bounce back with an All-Star level season in 2013-14 (he was out of shape for parts of 2011-12 and injured for most of this year), age ain’t nothin’ but a factor. It’s also worth pointing out that a “significant” pay cut in Dirk’s terms doesn’t have to mean the Mavericks legend has to work for a minimum salaried contract. Dipping down to even $13 million a year instead of nearly $23 million? That’s significant. I don’t care how many bedrooms you can afford.

Through all of this, Dirk may be smartly angling for something he seems well-suited for following his active career. By working as a 7-foot intern of sorts in the Mavericks’ front office this summer, Nowitzki can get used to the ins and outs that championship creators Nelson and Cuban are already quite used to. Helping sway players and giving the team cap space to work with can only endear Nowitzki to the team’s front office more.

As if that’s even possible, at this point.

If you wanted to say that the Indiana Pacers lost Thursday's Game 5 more than the New York Knicks won it, I wouldn't fight you in a public square. While the Knicks did seem more willing to attack and press the action in taking a 10-point decision, the Pacers frequently seemed unable to get out of their own way, coughing the ball up time and again, failing to take advantage of their trips to the foul line and allowing a Knicks team that still couldn't shoot straight (just 41 percent from the floor in the win) to capitalize on their sloppy play.

Roy Hibbert knew he and his teammates had let a golden opportunity to finish things off and advance to the Eastern Conference finals slip through their fingers. After the game, the 7-foot-2 center — no doubt frustrated by his own pedestrian nine-point, seven-rebound performance in 31 foul-filled minutes — called the Pacers on the carpet and questioned their masculinity, according to Fred Kerber of the New York Post:

“Excuse all the women in here, but we played like p---ies tonight, to tell you the truth,” foul-plagued center Roy Hibbert said. “We didn’t deserve to win this one. I’ll probably get fined for that. I don’t care.”

If you're not sure which letters belong in place of those dashes, Kerber helpfully spelled the NSFW language out on Twitter. Be aware, though: It's the kind of blue talk that'll shock the monocle right out of your eye.

We certainly appreciate you prefacing your remarks, Roy — so polite, these Pacers! — but:

A) I'm sure any grown-ass woman in a post-playoff-game locker room has heard far worse;

B) Any apology should probably be directed toward "all NBA fans, and especially Pacers fans," to whom you'll probably have to say sorry after the league fines you for it; and

C) It seemed like your team lost less for reasons relating to genitals than because you turned the ball over 19 times and missed 14 free throws.

Then again, I don't have that sophisticated an understanding of basketball physiology.

Hibbert's teammates and coach were also upset at their performance, though they refrained from speaking vaginally, according to Kerber:

“We blew it,” Lance Stephenson said.

“The game was right there for us,” David West said. “Just some costly turnovers, guys not following assignments. That comes down to concentration. You [must] concentrate late.” [...]

“We’ve got to play better,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “Clearly if you’re not going to make your free throws and turn the ball over 19 times, we were out of sync offensively.

“Turnovers, free throws ... every team has a night like this.”

That it happened to Indiana in a closeout game on the road is unfortunate, but not particularly shocking, especially considering the Pacers learned not long before game-time that they'd be playing Game 5 without starting point guard George Hill, who was diagnosed with a concussion suffered during the first quarter of Game 4. While Hill had experienced some problems with ball security earlier in the series, most notably in the Pacers' Game 2 loss, he turned the ball over on a significantly lower share of his possessions than backup D.J. Augustin did during the regular season.

Beyond that, the general apple-cart-upsetting that comes with an injury to a starter would figure to have a particularly large effect on a Pacers team that relies so heavily on lineup continuity. Indiana's starting five (Hibbert, Hill, Stephenson, West and Paul George) was not only great, but it also played the second-most minutes of any five-man unit in the NBA this year, according to NBA.com's stat tool, behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder's starting five. (OKC didn't fare so great without its starting point guard, either.)

While the Pacers have multiple other players capable of handling the ball, midstream changes in who's initiating the offense, how entry passes are being thrown (especially when they're being thrown by Gerald Green, which, yikes), which ball-movement decisions are being made and when those decisions are triggering action all matter. So does the shift in role definition that comes with each of those guys having to take a little bit more responsibility for handling the ball — as Knicks guard J.R. Smith said after the game, the Knicks were pretty happy with George having to bring the ball up the floor more, because it meant he was starting possessions in a different role, which "takes him out of his game on offense."

Hill's status for Game 6 is very much in doubt. The team's listing him as day-to-day, but before he can be cleared to play, he must pass all tests included in the concussion protocol the league put in place prior to the 2011-12 season:

If a player is diagnosed with a concussion, he will have to complete a series of steps to confirm that he's healthy enough for competition. Once he is free of symptoms, the player must make it through increasing stages of exertion — from a stationary bike, to jogging, to agility work, to non-contact team drills — while ensuring the symptoms don't return after each one. Then the neurologist hired to lead the NBA's concussion program needs to be consulted before the player is cleared.

The process will likely take at least several days, if not weeks.

Individual players' recovery times have varied this season. Charlotte Bobcats rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist sat five days with a concussion in February, and his former Kentucky teammate, New Orleans Hornets rookie Anthony Davis, missed one week after an early November concussion. Los Angeles Lakers big man Pau Gasol was sidelined for 11 days in January, while Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Tyler Zeller was out for 12. Dallas Mavericks center Chris Kaman, who said he thought the concussion protocol was stupid, missed nearly a month between late January and early February.

There's no specific guidance in the league's policy on timeline; it's all handled on a case-by-case basis, and is predicated solely on the player's ability to pass the required tests. Though his peers' experiences wouldn't seem to bode well for his Game 6 availability, it remains possible Hill could be cleared by Saturday.

If Hill can't go, though, and the Pacers must once again go with a ball-handler-by-committee approach, there are strategic adjustments that Vogel can make to mitigate the fallout, but a lot of it comes down to execution. The Pacers simply have to have crisper passes and steadier playmaking from Augustin, Stephenson and George at the inception of possessions, and they definitely need West and Hibbert (six turnovers between them) to quit randomly throwing the ball out of bounds once they get it. Improved focus and increased precision probably would've finished this series in five games, and it can certainly do so in six back in the friendly confines of Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Hibbert didn't want to talk about the finer points of ball security, though; he was more interested in advanced gender studies, according to Kerber:

“We didn’t deserve to win,” Hibbert said. “We’ve got to like figure it out, man up, toughen up, sack up and try to close this thing out. ... But we didn’t deserve to win. We played soft.”

The need to "man up" seems less important than "hitting the open man," really, but whatever motivational tactics Hibbert and his teammates need to employ, they're going to need a significantly better effort to close out the Knicks at home on Saturday.

Depending on what the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, and Los Angeles Clippers decide to do with their fluctuating situations over the next few weeks, there could be as many as ten NBA coaching openings to fill during the 2013 offseason. Despite walking away from a potential playoff team in Utah two years ago, a team he’d worked with as an assistant and then head coach for the previous 26 years, former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has tossed his name into the mix of available candidates to fill one of those job openings.

Unless you’re the Milwaukee Bucks, an available team that is closest to Sloan’s home in rural Illinois. You can take that gig and stick it.

(I think that’s how the song goes.)

NBA.com’s David Aldridge was the first to report Sloan’s indifference, through quotes from Sloan’s agent Keith Glass. Glass, Aldridge relays, also represents former Bucks coach Scott Skiles:

"The bottom line is, Jerry doesn't really feel it's the right fit for him right now," Glass said Thursday.

"He's interested (in coaching again). He's in Chicago now watching the Pre-Draft. And his name keeps popping up with every job, and he hasn't applied for anything. He had a real nice meeting with them. They came to see him on his farm (in downstate Illinois). They had a great meeting just in terms of liking each other. (Bucks general manager) John Hammond said 'I wish I could have stayed and watched the game with him.' It's just not the right fit for Jerry, from Jerry's point of view. That's not a negative thing; that's just the reality."

[…]

"Jerry probably is a lot like Scott, in that the working conditions and where the team is (contender-wise) are important," Glass said. "For Jerry to go to a place that's going to take years to build—and I'm not talking about Milwaukee, I'm talking about anywhere—that's just not right for him. They have to be able to compete. Jerry is a competitor, and he wants to compete and teach."

The pedantic in me wants to point out that Sloan can “teach” a 20-win team just as much as he can a squad on the verge of turning into a title contender. And you can compete in Charlotte, Jerry. You may not be able to win in Charlotte, but you can still compete.

With that out of the way, this is a rare bit of on record clarity from a coach’s rep. Jerry Sloan is 71, and this will probably be his last job not because teams will stop courting him, but because he’ll likely walk away from a situation that displeases him, as he did in Utah two years ago.

(Mid-season. Don’t forget that. Out of the ordinary from someone that wants to compete so badly.)

Glass is telling teams that Sloan wants a win-now situation, a setup that wouldn’t see Jerry sticking it out through the rebuilding process. And though the Bucks made the playoffs this year, they don’t even know what direction they’re going in – with potentially Monta Ellis, Brandon Jennings, and J.J. Redick all leaving the team this summer, compared with Hammond’s annoying commitment to shooting for 41 wins.

The problem for Jerry is that they aren’t a lot of “win now” teams out there. Which is unfortunate, because we’d love to see his touch on the sideline again.

The Los Angeles Clippers come closest, but they have yet to make a decision on Vinny Del Negro. Free agent star guard Chris Paul is also an unrestricted free agent this summer, but he figures to stay with the team because it could offer him the most money, along with influence with personnel. The Brooklyn Nets are a step down after that – a big step down, after being busted by a beat-up Chicago Bulls team in the first round – and they also feature a player in Deron Williams that drove Sloan from the Jazz two years ago. Beyond that, it’s all rebuilding teams; unless you think Dwight Howard is going to sign with the Atlanta Hawks, and general manager Danny Ferry is going to change his mind.

Wouldn’t it be one of the cooler moves in recent history if Chris Paul, smarting from being unfairly compared to the great-but-not-as-great-as-CP3 Deron Williams for years, pushes for the Clippers to sign Sloan? And before you chortle at the idea of small town Sloan taking to Los Angeles, understand that Jerry used to coach the Chicago Bulls at the height of that city’s yuppie craziness, with a roster stocked with players that weren’t getting as much rest as they should.

Jerry Sloan is a fantastic coach that could put a team over the top if he recognizes certain elements of the modern game (don’t foul so much, and three-pointers are good!) can be adapted into his system. It’s hard to tell, at this early stage, if there’s an acceptable team out there that’s right to reach out for his services.

While the Spurs move on, the Warriors head home. Things didn't end the way they'd hoped — the Spurs defense again preventing the duo of Stephen Curry (22 points on 25 shots) Klay Thompson (10 points on 12 shots) from getting loose, an ankle injury severely hampering Andrew Bogut's influence on both ends of the floor, a very scary fall keeping rookie Harrison Barnes from finishing the game — but the Oracle Arena faithful appreciated the effort Mark Jackson's squad put into producing the team's best season in years ... and they stayed well after the buzzer, cheering and chanting to make sure the Warriors knew how they felt.

They got the message, and came back out to the court to let the fans know the feeling was mutual.

"We just want to thank you guys for your continued support all season," Curry said, as the crowd raised its collective voice. "You guys made Oracle Arena a great place to play. The energy, the passion you have for us ... it's unmatched across the league, so we want to just thank you guys. Obviously, it didn't end the way we wanted it to, but all the hard work and the foundation we built this year, we're going to keep growing and get back to this level next year."

Getting back to that level will be difficult — the Western Conference is always so competitive and Golden State's salary structure suggests they might have a difficult time making significant moves and additions in the offseason, meaning they're going to need sustained health and continued progression from the young core of Curry, Thompson and Barnes to reach new heights and attempt to advance beyond "feel-good story" status to the level of true championship contenders.

Those are issues for the days ahead, though. Thursday was about celebrating the journey, the fans who made it possible and the players who gave Jackson everything, as Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News wrote:

“Sometimes one of the best statements you can make is fight,” coach Mark Jackson said. “At the end of the day, our tank will be empty and our light will be bright.

“I truly believe that’s exactly what took place. Guys battled, guys gave me everything they had. We fought and I could not be prouder of any group.”

That pride shone through in the postgame dress of point guard Jarrett Jack, who chipped in 15 points off the bench and did his level best to handle more of the playmaking duties against a swarming Spurs defense with Curry limited by ankle pain over the last several games. "On the verge of tears" at his locker after the game, Jack — who now enters free agency — spoke with Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group about a quiet decision that spoke volumes:

[...] He couldn’t find the words to truly express what he was feeling, so he let his attire do the talking for him.

JACK: “Usually before I would do any media, I would make sure I was dressed a certain way. I brought one of my best suits. But looking down at this jersey, it’s just a sense of pride I don’t think I’ve ever felt as a professional. … Nothing in my closet is better than what I have on now.”

If the clip above isn't rocking for you, please feel free to check out the moment elsewhere, thanks to the NBA.

It’s the “news” that won’t go away, not that we’re complaining. Former top overall pick Greg Oden, who played just 82 NBA games between 2007 and Dec. of 2009, would like to make a comeback. He’s attempting to get his legs right after two microfracture surgeries and several other bad breaks, there was scuttle that he was going to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers late in 2012-13 in a prospect-stashing move for Cleveland, and he’s now working out in his hometown of Indianapolis, prepping for one final shot at a pro career

Former Ohio State top scorer Deshaun Thomas, a potential second round pick despite his refusal to give up his cell phone number like some gallivantin’ hussy, has been working out in Indy with Greg Oden. And according to Bob Finnan at the News-Herald, Oden’s workouts have been something else; according to the young one. Here’s Thomas’ take:

"Man, he looks unbelievable," he said at the draft combine. "He's running. He's lifting weights. You might be seeing a comeback. He looks like he's ready to go. He's running, getting in shape. I'll tell you one thing. For a big 7-footer that's all he does, running and getting in shape. He's looking right."

That certainly is encouraging. We’ve long thought that a slow and steady rehabilitation, after what was essentially a blown one in Portland, could put Oden on the right track. If Oden returns for 2013-14 he’ll be suiting up after nearly four years off, and in many ways that can work as a glass half-full proposition. All that time off, and the time spent building his leg strength back up properly, could be a boon for a young man who won’t even turn 26 until midway through the season.

We’re one step closer to Oden trying it one last time.

One day after the NBA's Board of Governors voted against a sale to an ownership group that would turned the Sacramento Kings into a new incarnation of the Seattle SuperSonics, it appears that the franchise will stay in its current home over the long term. As first reported by The Sacramento Bee and later confirmed by several outlets on Thursday night, Joe and Gavin Maloof have reached an agreement to sell the Kings to a local ownership group headed by tech executive Vivek Ranadive.

Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press has more details:

A person familiar with the deal says the Maloof family has reached an agreement with a Sacramento group headed by TIBCO software tycoon Vivek Ranadive to sell a 65 percent controlling interest in the Kings at a total franchise valuation of $535 million.

The person, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press late Thursday night because they weren't authorized to talk publicly, said there are about 30 investors in the group put together by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former All-Star guard.

An official announcement is expected Friday. The NBA is expected to officially approve the agreement next week. The person said the agreement has to be closed by May 31.

At various points in this process, the Maloofs expressed no interest in dealing with the group led by Ranadive and organized by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, instead claiming that they had a backup offer in place with Seattle bid leader Chris Hansen for a minority stake in the franchise. However, that situation changed once the NBA voted down the Seattle sale on Wednesday. Commissioner David Stern stated that he expected talks between the Maloofs and Ranadive to begin within 48 hours, and that appears to have happened.

The $535 million valuation is significantly less than Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's figure of $625 million, although that offer was itself bumped up to sweeten the deal after the initial valuation first reported in January. In practice, the Sacramento group will pay roughly $347 million for the Maloofs' 65 percent stake. It's unclear of the unique circumstances of this sale will have a major effect on NBA franchise valuations moving forward, but if they do then the entire NBA ruling class will benefit financially from this deal.

Meanwhile, Kings fans can breathe a sigh of relief. In the past 18 months, the Maloofs have attempted to move to the team to Virginia Beach, reneged on a handshake agreement with Mayor Johnson for a new arena in Sacramento, attempted to sell the team to this Seattle group, and generally done everything possible to alienate and insult the city's fan base. The sale to Ranadive and his partners promises a new beginning, an opportunity to install functional (or at least improved) leadership and carry the Kings into a more optimistic era complete with a new, state-of-the-art arena and a renewed sense of pride in the franchise.

To be sure, that process will be difficult. Although the Maloofs presided over the Kings' greatest successes in Sacramento during the early '00s, the last few seasons of their reign have been beset by a lack of direction and various cost-cutting efforts. In truth, the basketball team has been less the focus of the action than incidental to the real drama surrounding the Kings' future. Everyone involved with the team can now begin to transfer interest back to where it belongs and attempt to turn the Kings back into a playoff contender.

There are several procedural issues that must be sorted out before Ranadive can officially take over the team, but those appear to be mere formalities. It's time for Sacramento to celebrate the return of the Kings.

The Indiana Pacers are a poor offensive team, and yet they sprang out to a strong 3-1 lead in their Eastern semifinals matchup with the New York Knicks despite not setting the league ablaze with its offensive know-how. New York managed to keep their season alive in Thursday’s Game 5 win, though, mainly by deciding team-wise to not let this poor Indiana offensive team have chance after chance to showcase those poor offensive skills. Indiana dominated the Knicks in the offensive rebound department in the team’s three previous wins, and yet the Pacers were not allowed to be their typical, glass-cleaning selves on Thursday, leading to an impressive Knicks win.

The entertainment value of this contest was less than impressive. Though things settled down after a chippy start, both teams managed to keep their physical brand of ball on the level (though anyone on the other end of Kenyon Martin’s three fouls may disagree), and no tempers flared despite an aggressive, grimacing style of ball. That didn’t stop Raymond Felton’s ankle from going bust, though, or Lance Stephenson from taking several hard shots, and David West to nearly see his knee ligaments flash before his eyes after a fourth quarter collapse. Bodies were flying, and yet an Indiana team known for its league-best defense wasn’t the beneficiary.

Mainly because the Knicks stayed patient with their possessions. The team still moved quickly, whipping the ball around, but it also thought just as quickly when it came time to picking spots with jumpers. Players like Felton did fine work choosing when to fire the mid-range shot that Indiana doesn’t mind giving up, and even Carmelo Anthony’s isolation plays were of the forgivable variety – quick and successful post-ups against defenders like Paul George and Sam Young. Anthony finished his night with a passable 28 points on 28 shots. That isn’t to say there weren’t the usual array of questionable shots, but New York feeds off of that.

The Knicks, with their backs against the wall, earned this win. Still, the Pacers are going to be furious with themselves when they roll out of their ice baths on Friday and look at the game tape.

Indiana’s aggressive driving allowed for 33 free throws, but the Pacers only made 19 freebies on the night. And though point guard D.J. Augustin (starting in place of the injured George Hill) did fine work in nailing 3-7 three-pointers, overall he was a detriment. Augustin missed teammates in transition, he didn’t run the team’s half-court offense properly or react well to New York’s backcourt pressure, and his pick and roll defense on Felton was poor. It wasn’t a surprise to note that the game’s box score denied Indiana’s starting point guard of a single assist.

Hill’s absence was a major factor in this loss, but the Pacers also lost another significant key to its core between Games 4 and 5. Usually playoff rebounding champions that miss a combined 58 field goals and free throws in a game can reel in more than a dozen offensive rebounds, and yet the Knicks continually beat the Pacers to the punch on that end. Bereft of their second chances, the Pacers also had to deal with a Knick team that was now setting up its own offense in semi-transition. The Knicks didn’t remind anyone of the Showtime Lakers on Thursday, but that slight advantage as Indiana backpedaled was enough to throw a Pacer defense off-kilter just enough times to pull away.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson went with what for him was an off-kilter lineup in Tuesday’s Game 4, starting Kenyon Martin at power forward and going with an orthodox lineup that allowed the Pacers to bunch the middle and dominate the glass. The team’s return to a smaller starting lineup (with Martin out, and Pablo Prigoni back in) in Game 5 improved the team’s spacing, and the rotation reactions also put New York over. Chris Copeland was finally treated as a contributor worth treasuring, and he reacted by hitting 3-4 threes off the bench in 19 minutes, after playing just 31 minutes in the previous four games of the series.

Not all was fixed for New York. J.R. Smith’s 4-11 night was an improvement, but it speaks to his recent struggles from the floor that that sort of mark will be warmly reflected upon. And for the second straight game, Jason Kidd missed what was should have been an easy lay-up in transition, his go-to move for lo these many years. The Knicks have the veteran signed for lo these many two more years after this season, and he’s missed 21 of 24 shots in the postseason.

The Knicks are alive, though, and that’s all that matters. And with worries about George Hill and Lance Stephenson’s health and Indiana’s continued potential for ugly 15-point quarters, New York will go to Indiana and have a winnable Game 6 in front of them. If all goes right once again, they’ll play that deciding Game 7 with a frenzied Madison Square Garden on its side.

Even for all the Pacers’ mitigating factors, though, the Knicks had to play – let’s not call this a perfect game – but a focused Game 5 at home just to extend the season, and win by 10. And the Pacers still have those few hours of game tape to stew over.

Game 6 should be something else. It usually is, with these two teams.

Legendary NBA center Hakeem Olajuwon has created something of a second career for himself as a teacher of post moves to stars and promising young players alike. Hakeem's tutees are presumably drawn to him because of his reputation as a master of post moves, and it doesn't hurt that many of his previous students have seen success.

On the other hand, it's not as if Olajuwon should have a monopoly on working with professional basketball players looking to improve their interior games. While he may be particularly well known for his varied moves in the post, there have been plenty of big men with go-to scoring tactics worth imparting to a younger generation. It's unclear why another legend couldn't step up to fill a similar role.

Perhaps Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be that person. At a recent practice, Abdul-Jabbar taught one notable pro center his patented sky hook. Of course, she's not in the NBA. From John Marshall for the Associated Press:

After getting a crash course in professional basketball from some of the WNBA's best players over the past week, Griner was given the lesson of a lifetime on Wednesday with a one-on-one session on the skyhook with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

One of the NBA's greatest players teaching the nuances of perhaps the most unstoppable move in any sport? Yeah, that's pretty cool.

''I went to legend school today and it was awesome,'' Griner said at the Phoenix Mercury's practice court inside the US Airways Center. [...]

''I was star struck right there,'' Griner said. ''You know it when I don't talk; I like to talk and you know I'm star struck when I'm just listening. I hit you with the yes sir, yes ma'am, I'm definitely star struck.''

The tutorial was put together by Mercury Vice President Ann Meyers Drysdale, who asked the NBA office to see if Abdul-Jabbar would be available to address the team and work with Griner.

The circumstances surrounding this workout are obviously a little different than those with Olajuwon — a Phoenix Mercury executive (and Hall of Famer in her own right) set it up, Kareem spoke to the team in some kind of broader capacity, and Griner only worked with him for an hour. In many ways, it comes across as a less single-minded encounter, something that could double as a photo op in addition to whatever (presumably very real) instruction occurred.

At the same time, the public relations aspect of the meeting between Griner and KAJ is not to dismissed. In many ways, they have a lot in common. As a collegian at UCLA in the late '60s, Kareem (then Lew Alcindor) was seen as the kind of interior force who could remake the game, a unique talent who often appeared to be playing a wholly different sport from his opponents. Griner was the same way at Baylor, particularly at the defensive end. She has an ability to cover ground and stymie an opponent's offense that women's basketball just hasn't seen before. She can be a similarly revolutionary player for the WNBA and possibly change the way its teams play the game forever.

Whatever success Griner has won't take place because of an hour training session with an NBA legend, but it's also true that this meeting can get us to approach her career in a way similar to how basketball fans once looked at Kareem. The potential is there.

Kobe Bryant has played through broken fingers, and a severe and painful knee condition that resulted in him having to undergo fluid draining procedures in-between playoff games. His final two points of the 2012-13 season, following a seven-game run that saw him average 45 minutes per game, came at the free throw line, directly after he badly tore his Achilles tendon. He’s a tough dude.

Possibly a crazy dude, too. Because he sometimes puts himself in a position to where he could be swimming with sharks. And not in the metaphorical, Hollywood-sense. In the, “giant boat and shark-infested waters of the Pacific ocean”-sense.

Daniel Buerge of Laker Nation was kind enough to find this photo that Nike rep Heidi Burgett tweeted out on Thursday. After the jump, you’ll see a large picture of Bryant, pre-injury, as taken and explained by Nike’s Eric Avar:

Classic @kobebryant story, shared by Nike designer Eric Avar twitter.com/heidiburgett/s…

— Heidi Burgett (@heidiburgett) May 16, 2013

Here’s a larger version of the photo:

Daniel Buerge has the text from the photo’s caption:

“Avar witnessed Kobe Bryant’s alpha male personality firsthand on a deep sea fishing trip about 60 miles from Newport, California. “There are sharks, whales, dolphins all around, and he’s like, ‘If I jump, will you jump?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, we just saw sharks.’ He says, ‘Come on.’ No sooner do I say okay, he takes off his shirt and jumps. I literally grab my camera, and got this shot just in time.”

In Kobe’s defense, the whales and dolphins may not be aggressive enough to attack. He’s just playing the percentages, with this one. That’s what you do when you have Kobe Bryant-sized confidence.

And cojones. Get well soon, Kobester.

The Indiana Pacers will be without starting point guard George Hill in Thursday's Game 5 against the New York Knicks, Pacers director of media relations David Benner announced a little more than 90 minutes before tip-off at Madison Square Garden:

Pacers guard George Hill will miss tonight's game in NYwith a concussion. He sustained the injury in Tuesday's game

— David Benner (@PacersDMB) May 16, 2013

Pacers coach Frank Vogel told reporters that Hill is day-to-day after being diagnosed with a concussion, which Vogel said he sustained during a first-half collision with Knicks center Tyson Chandler. We don't know specifically when it happened, but midway through the first quarter, Hill went down hard after a Chandler screen:

Hill got up, continued playing and was great for the Pacers in Game 4, scoring a game-high 26 points on 9 for 14 shooting with four assists and three rebounds in a 93-82 win that gave Indiana a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series. That Hill played perhaps the best game of his five-year NBA career with a concussion is both remarkable and alarming.

Depending on the severity of his symptoms and the caution with which he and the Pacers' medical team treats the injury, the concussion could also prove to be a major moment in this series. Hill has provided sound two-way play for coach Frank Vogel throughout the first four games against New York, averaging 17.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in this series while also playing a key role in both deterring dribble penetration from the Knicks' guards and closing space on New York shooters to prevent clean, open 3-point looks.

In Hill's absence, the Pacers figure to rely more heavily on backup point guard D.J. Augustin, who has played well off the bench thus far in this series (8.5 points in 16.2 minutes per game, shooting 58.8 percent from the floor and 60 percent from 3-point range), but hasn't had to assume primary responsibility for getting Indiana into and out of its sets. Starting shooting guard Lance Stephenson, starting small forward Paul George and reserve guard Ben Hansbrough could all see time on the ball as well, Vogel told reporters.

Heading into Game 5, Hill and several of his Pacers teammates said they'd need to be "perfect" and play an "extraordinary" game to eliminate the Knicks on their home floor and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Losing Hill will certainly make that task more difficult tonight.

Over the years, basketball fans have become accustomed to considering Michael Jordan as a fairly vindictive and flawed person, not just an unimpeachable legend of the game. From his infamous Hall of Fame induction speech to more intimate profiles, Jordan has come across as someone who holds grudges and isn't afraid to interrupt the rules of polite company if it means getting what he wants. Presumably it's much easier for him to do these things than it is for an average schmoe, because he is the most famous basketball player ever.

Despite this now familiar perspective on Jordan's personal life, it's still somewhat jarring to encounter new details of his everday actions. Such is the case of rapper and actor Bow Wow (formerly Lil Bow Wow), a longtime friend of Jordan's sons. On one occasion, he found out just how invested Jordan is in his relationship with Nike. From a recent interview with Montreality (via For The Win):

I’m actually real cool with his sons, Marcus and Jeffrey…I would say, we kinda grew up together. Being on tour, every time we came to Chicago, even at the age of like 15, they would come around and we just clicked.

There’d be times I stayed over at the family, ya know, Mr. Jordan’s house…actually a funny story, I actually wore some Iverson’s to their house…and Michael Jordan woke us all up and was like ‘Whose is these?’…and I was like ‘they’re mine’…and I never saw My A.I.’s after that moment. I was in some Jordan’s going down to play some basketball.

Let this be a lesson to anyone who encounters Michael Jordan: do not wear another player's signature shoes around His Airness. Because, if he sees them, he might take them from you forever. Of course, the good news is that you'll get a new pair of Air Jordans from MJ himself, which is probably a better value proposition and cooler story in the long run.

Perhaps inadvertently, Bow Wow's story also connects to a relevant experience from his past. In the 2002 film "Like Mike," a young orphan played by Mr. Wow happens upon a pair of magical shoes (in a white and powder blue colorway reminiscent of North Carolina's look) that gives him the power to play like an NBA All-Star. Given the title and UNC connection, it is heavily implied that the shoes belonged to or had some relation to Michael Jordan. However, Bow Wow's style of play, No. 3 jersey, and cornrows make it pretty clear that he becomes more like Allen Iverson than anyone else. Effectively, the movie uses Jordan's legacy to prop up a superficial version of A.I.

Bow Wow does not specify when he had his Iversons swapped his Jordans, so it's unclear if MJ had seen "Like Mike" and wanted to make a serious point about confusing his historic accomplishments for the style of a new star. On the other hand, I don't think there's any harm in assuming this to be the case. Because, when you get right down to it, it's pretty amazing to consider Michael Jordan getting really upset at a movie in which Jonathan Lipnicki plays a young child named "Murph."

The Indiana Pacers stand just one win away from earning their first trip to the Eastern Conference finals in nine years, just 48 minutes from a rematch with a Miami Heat squad that ousted them from the playoffs in the second round one year ago. All they have to do is follow in the footsteps of the Heat and Memphis Grizzlies by taking care of business and beating Carmelo Anthony and his New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in Game 5 on Thursday night.

Given how easily they've handled New York for most of this series — and the fact that they've already won at the World's Most Famous Arena here in Round 2 — you'd think they'd enter Game 5 bursting with hubris, breathing easily and crowing loudly. Except that's not who these Pacers are and it's not what brought them here; to hear them tell it, according to Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star, they're talking like they're facing the '92 Dream Team:

“We haven’t won anything. We have to be perfect,” Pacers center Roy Hibbert said. “The [Knicks] play extremely well at home. We’re going to have our hands full. They are really an explosive team when at home.” [...]

“It’s going to be 10 times harder, it being in New York,” Pacers swingman Paul George said. “We know how well they play at home, so it’s going to take a great effort, so we’ll see where we’re at.” [...]

“We won in Atlanta, which is a hard place to win, with our backs against the wall, so we know we can win on the road and I think we’re going to take the same mentality to New York and try to close it out there,” Pacers point guard George Hill said. “But like I said, it’s not going to be easy. The [Knicks] play extremely well at home and we’re just going to do the best we can to make it tough for them.” [...]

“We know New York is such an explosive team, such a tenacious team, that we’re not in any shape or form comfortable with what we’re doing and we know we need an extraordinary effort like we had the last couple of games to get a win, and that’s what our focus is,” [Pacers coach Frank] Vogel said.

We respect the well-placed clichés, the repetition of themes and the pitch-perfect coachspeak, guys. But you're overstating just a tad. You don't need to be perfect; you just need to be really, really good, the way you've been throughout this series and, on the defensive end, throughout this season. You just need to be yourselves. That's been enough to beat this Knicks team three times out of four, and it'll be enough in Game 5.

You've used your combination of length and quickness on the perimeter, size and rim protection on the interior and well-drilled, on-a-string discipline to hold the Knicks' offense 10-plus points below their stellar season-long efficiency mark. You've played that suffocating defense, for the most part, without fouling, keeping the Knicks off the charity stripe and limiting their opportunities to get the sort of easy buckets that can help a struggling shooter find his rhythm. You've stalled out what had been one of the league's best offensive units for much of the first three games before sending it careening into a ditch in Game 4.

You've grabbed 56.4 percent of available rebounds in this series and scored nearly 17 points per game on second-chance opportunities, both the best marks in the second round. You've been so dominant on the interior that you influenced Knicks coach Mike Woodson to change his starting lineup for Game 4, opting to fortify his defense and rebounding at the expense of his team's offensive identity, which backfired in a major way — the Knicks still got outrebounded and pounded in the paint, but could not stretch the floor at all and had no hope of outscoring you. (Woodson said Thursday he's considering going back to the small-ball starting lineup that features Pablo Prigioni in place of Kenyon Martin, as a result.)

You've had the best player in the series in George. The 23-year-old emerging star who has found ways to impact the game on both ends of the floor even when his shot isn't falling, averaging just under eight rebounds, five assists and two steals per game while holding Anthony to 31.6 percent shooting when serving as the primary defender on the league's leading scorer.

You've had the best big man in the series in Hibbert. The 7-foot-2 Georgetown product's max contract looks a lot less dicey when he's grabbing twice as many offensive rebounds as Tyson Chandler has defensive boards through four games and holding New York to a paltry 45.3 percent on shots attempted in the restricted area while he's in the game.

You've had the better point guard in the series in Hill, who, quiet as it's kept, is averaging 17.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in this series while also teaming with Hibbert to all but eliminate the havoc-wreaking dribble penetration that Raymond Felton (a quiet 13 points and 3.5 assists per game this series) unleashed against Kevin Garnett, Avery Bradley and the Boston Celtics in Round 1. I said before this series that a steady, solid "Good George Hill" was usually enough for the Pacers to win games; while he's had turnover issues at times and hasn't always dealt well with the Knicks' traps, he's spent most of the series comfortably operating in "steady" to "sterling" territory, handing Indiana a victory in a matchup in which the Knicks were hoping they'd be able to take the check mark.

You've had the best coach in the series in Vogel, a man with enough confidence in his starting five, his defensive principles and the work his staff's put into ensuring execution to not bat an eye in the face of the Knicks' small lineups. He just told you to stick to what you do — shut down the rim, stay at home on shooters at the arc, contest everything, concede nothing and swarm the glass like your lives depend on it — and let the rest work itself out. His faith has been rewarded; one questionable timeout aside, he's had the steadier hand this series, and it's resulted in you having the upper hand heading back to Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

With the exception of about 10 minutes late in Game 2, you've had the better of everything. It hasn't been perfect, as some of those turnovers and missed shots can attest; it hasn't been extraordinary, in the same way that your 49-win regular season and No. 1 overall defensive efficiency ranking weren't "extraordinary." It's been consistent, clinical, professional and brutal — it's felt downright machine-like, really.

So leave the quest for perfection and transcendence to somebody else. Just show up at the Garden ready to punch a bunch of Manhattanites in the face. That's who you are; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

(It's nice of you to be so respectful, though. Clearly, you were raised right.)

With every season that ends, for the playoff teams at least, we felt it right to take a look ahead. TNT already has the rights to "Gone Fishin'," and because we're sure that someone, somewhere, still likes that Wyclef song, we're going with "Gone Till November." And, yes, we know the season starts in October. Today? The Oklahoma City Thunder.

Russell Westbrook’s knee injury may have cost his team an NBA title this season, but it could also go a long way towards saving coach and general manager Sam Presti a whole heck of a lot of criticism. To some Oklahoma City Thunder fans, that statement is just piling bad on top of bad.

Scorn for Brooks’ abilities date back two years at this point, and whether they come in the form of complaining about his limited mid-playoff adjustments or overreliance on certain vets, he’s taken quite a bit of heat following two straight five-game finishes to seasons in 2012 and now 2013. Presti, meanwhile, will receive tempered but certain criticism for his choices to ostensibly value contract extensions for Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka over one for Houston Rocket All-Star James Harden.

Both will be back next year, though. Brooks just finished the first year of a four year contract, and Presti has done so well in his first six years with the team that he’s earned several more years of goodwill. Both admirably and staunchly defended themselves (and by extension, the team’s owners) in the wake of the deal that sent James Harden to Houston, allowing for the team’s ownership to skate in the face of paying the luxury tax. On top of that, Westbrook’s season ending injury allows for most to consider the 2012-13 team a once-again championship contender that was just felled by bad luck at the worst possible time.

People should think this way. For as much as the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs are to be respected, this was the Thunder’s bracket to lose, and they lost it because an All-NBA-level player was taken from the team during the first round. Fellow star Kevin Durant hadn’t played without Westbrook since his rookie season in Seattle, and though he gamely tried to keep his team afloat, you don’t get out of the second round without significant depth and/or star power.

Durant and the Thunder are to be credited for keeping things as close as they did, and anyone criticizing Durant for not firing for 55 a game on the way to the floor would be getting it wrong. History may unfortunately push observers to forget just how close these losses were on their way toward pointing toward Houston’s first round near-comeback and the lone second round win OKC managed to pick up. Presti, Brooks, and the team’s ownership will no doubt be mindful of that as they take to the offseason.

It will be a complicated summer for the Thunder. Way back in autumn, following the Harden deal, you got the sneaking suspicion that Kevin Martin (the ultra-efficient sixth man the team picked up in return) was just going to be a one-year replacement for the Thunder’s former top sixth man. The team wasn’t going to pay the luxury tax with James Harden on board, so why would they move to pay the tax by signing Kevin Martin (who is an unrestricted free agent this summer) and diving over that line?

All of this must be pretty frustrating for Presti. His owners left a larger and established market to come to Oklahoma City, where the ravenous Thunder fans packed their gleaming new-ish stadium for years even prior to the team’s playoff turns. Now, after gobbling up four years’ worth of playoff revenue and doing most of the damage along the way with Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka and former forward Jeff Green all on rookie contracts, the ownership appears to be drawing a line in the sand.

We won’t know for sure until July hits. Using the amnesty provision on someone like Kendrick Perkins (set to make a ridiculous $18.5 over the next two seasons) would save the OKC ownership group money in basketball terms (with Perk’s contracts going off the book), but it wouldn’t save them anything in payroll terms, as the team still has to pay the rest of Perkins’ contract. And if the Harden deal is any indication, the Thunder owners are thinking more about payroll than basketball these days.

Perhaps that was a one time deal, though. Perhaps the Thunder could decide to play the tax next year in small amounts, re-signing Kevin Martin to appropriate terms, while keeping Perkins around. The sort of sunk cost thinking that other (big market) teams are afforded with the luxury tax probably isn’t in place here, because it may be more worth it to the Thunder to pay Perkins nearly $9 million next year for just a little bit of basketball than it would be to pay him and make him go away.

That’s on Presti. The amnesty clause wasn’t in place when he bid against himself to extend Perkins’ contract in February of 2011, so he can’t pretend to act as if he knew he could lop the deal off the books some time down the line. Signing Durant and Westbrook to big deals was a no-brainer. Serge Ibaka’s deal was less understandable, but still probably the right move considering his still-improving game. Presti dropped the ball with Perkins, though.

And he’s employing a coach that is routinely caught doing the same.

It’s possible to conclude that Scott Brooks might be wasting the prime years of Nick Collison’s career. The Thunder reserve is far more capable defensively and offensively than Perkins, a player that missed nearly three-quarters of his shots in the playoffs while still seeming out of place any time an opponent decided to initiate a screen and roll. Brooks often seems to making decisions based on reputation, which at times may be far removed from reality, and that could harm the team’s chances moving forward as Presti adds cheaper, older talent to round out his rotation.

This is still a championship core, taken down far too early because of Westbrook’s injury. And even the scorched earth policy – waving goodbye to Martin, cutting Perkins – could see the retention of that core should Jeremy Lamb build on what was a frustrating rookie year and Collison keep up his wily ways. What’s scariest for the rest of the league is the internal development: Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka are still growing, learning, and improving.

“Wait ‘til next year,” once again, though. Dammit.

The Golden State Warriors will fight to stave off elimination on Thursday when they welcome the San Antonio Spurs to Oracle Arena for Game 6 of their Western Conference semifinals series. After a 109-91 Game 5 rout that saw Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combine for just 13 points on 6 for 22 shooting in 70 total minutes, the lion's share of the questions have focused on how Warriors coach Mark Jackson can get his vaunted backcourt back on track and firing on all cylinders in a bid to extend the series to a deciding seventh game back in San Antonio.

Interestingly enough, just weeks after telling anyone who'd listen just how good and important he thought his sharpshooting duo was, Jackson now seems much more interested in the other end of the floor, according to Carl Steward of the San Jose Mercury News:

"It's not about their shooting," Jackson said flatly. "We didn't play well. We own it, and we move forward. We're disappointed across the board, and it is what it is. Now we make the proper adjustments, because we don't want to put together a similar game." [...]

Neither player was present before practice nor made available to the media to offer any explanations or solutions for what happened in Game 5. In their stead, Jackson poured cold water on their combined shortcomings as the main reason for the loss and spread the blame team-wide.

"We can make it about [Curry and Thompson], but for us, that's not what it's about," the coach said. "It's a four-point game in the third quarter. [The Spurs] shot 72 percent in the first quarter and scored 37 points. That has nothing to do with Klay Thompson or Steph Curry shooting the basketball."

To a certain extent, that's true. But only to a certain extent.

If San Antonio's going to shoot 51.9 percent from the floor and 47.6 percent from 3-point range, tic-tac-toe the Warriors to death to the tune of 30 assists on 40 made baskets, and generate 44 points in the paint primarily off the penetration of Tony Parker, as the Spurs did in Game 5, then yes, Golden State's in serious trouble for reasons that have nothing to do with their stars' shooting woes. That's what many of us expected to happen all along; that's why many of us (myself included) picked the Spurs to advance in this series in relatively short order. What changed that math, though, was the capacity of Curry and Thompson to combust.

The Spurs were pretty awesome offensively in Game 1, with six players in double figures, 13 made 3-pointers and a 50 percent mark from long range, and an offensive efficiency (109 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com's stat tool) that outstripped their seventh-best-in-the-league regular-season average. Still, the Warriors were in position to take that game primarily because Curry was ridiculous and Thompson and Barnes were able to take advantage of their individual defensive matchups away from the attention Curry was drawing. The story was a little bit different in Game 2, with both teams stepping up their defensive intensity and neither roster looking especially dangerous from the floor ... save for Thompson, whose 29-point first half provided the cushion Golden State needed to be able to withstand another late San Antonio run and even the series.

That was what made the Warriors dangerous — the presence of two players who could become untouchable for minutes at a time, first taking advantage of what the Spurs defense was designed to give them, and then bending the adjusted coverages in ways that created mismatches and opportunities for talented teammates to exploit. Since their individual early-series explosions, though, that presence hasn't really been present, as Spurs Nation's Dan McCarney notes — Curry's just 35.6 percent from the field since the third quarter of Game 1, and Thompson's shooting 32.7 percent since the first half of Game 2.

Lots of credit for that belongs to the man-to-man defense of Danny Green (on Curry) and Kawhi Leonard (on Thompson), although they don't really seem too into taking credit for it.

“We limited some of their touches and limited some of their shots, kind of denying them a little bit,” Green told Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News. “They missed a good amount, and I think it's due to fatigue a little bit and playing a lot of minutes every other day. Luckily, for now, they aren't hitting as many shots as they did in the first two games.”

“It's part me getting used to [Thompson], and part him missing shots,” Leonard told the Express-News' Jeff McDonald. “You just try to keep pressure on him and not give him an easy look.”

BBall Breakdown's Coach Nick has a really nice look at how Leonard has kept that pressure on Thompson, and how Gregg Popovich has been able to keep Curry off-balance with a variety of different defensive looks (with a little help from a balky ankle):

The increased attention on denying Curry and Thompson clean looks and forcing other Warriors to beat them has paid dividends for the Spurs. Pop and company might not love watching Harrison Barnes, Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry combine to average 51.3 points per game over the last three contests, but it's hard to imagine they're not pretty pleased that the three complementary players took 47.7 percent of Golden State's shots during that stretch, while Curry and Thompson (who took 50 percent of the Warriors' shots in Game 1 and 54.8 percent in Game 2) combined to take just 34 percent of Golden State's field-goal attempts in Games 3, 4 and 5.

You can chalk up Curry's ineffective Game 5 performance in part to the ill effects of that ankle sprain, note that he got multiple makeable looks and bet that the breakout star of the postseason won't again be "terrible, plain and simple" after rest and treatment. Recalibrating Thompson after a whisper-quiet performance that saw him not attempt a 3-point shot for the first time all season, though? That might be a tougher task.

“It felt weird out there — that is strange,” Thompson said after Game 5, according to Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News. “Kawhi, he’s a good defender … I’ve got to make plays in another areas and find offense in other ways.”

That's true, but the need for him to make plays in this particular area and find offense in this particular way outranks the need for him to diversify his portfolio at this stage of the game.

San Antonio can live with Barnes, Jack and Landry having to continue to prove themselves at the expense of additional looks for Curry and Thompson; with only two games left and Golden State needing both, the Warriors can't. It's incumbent on Jackson to recognize that, reach into the bag of tricks that brought us the "elevator doors" and "figure 8" screen games and pull out some new ways to give Curry and Thompson some room. If he can't, he'll have plenty of time to hone his defense-first speeches during the offseason.

I kind of can't believe it's only been a week since Joakim Noah's ejection in Game 2 of his Chicago Bulls' Eastern Conference semifinals matchup with the Miami Heat. It feels like way more time has passed between Noah getting the gate, a certain upset blonde Heat backer deciding to express her displeasure with the Bulls big man, her middle-finger salute going viral, the world learning her name is Filomena Tobias and the world going on to learn that she has what you might call a complicated backstory. (I guess the playoff schedule has a way of stretching things out.)

Well, if it's seemed like a long time to me, I can only imagine what kind of week it's been for Tobias. After initially saying she didn't want to comment on the incident and that those interested in it "need to get a life," according to her daughter, she's now decided to apologize, sort of, while also taking those of us who've written about it all to task.

In a statement issued to noted basketball resource Jose Lambiet's Gossip Extra by her attorney, Anthony Barbuto, Tobias copped to making an "ill-mannered" gesture, but remains upset by the subsequent "very ugly and despicable intrusion" into her personal and legal history:

“Ms. Tobias has been a devoted Miami Heat fan for as long as she can remember, and like many other devoted fans, she unfortunately allowed her passion for the team to disregard proper fan etiquette. She is only human, and her emotions got the best of her,” Barbuto wrote after consulting with Tobias.

“She offers her genuine apologies to anyone she has offended, and she requests that her privacy, as well as the privacy of her family, be respected at this time.”

“Ms. Tobias is distressed at the needless national attention this incident has garnered and the unwarranted invasion of privacy by the press into her personal life, including the malicious and untrue reporting about her husband’s tragic passing,” Barbuto’s statement reads.

On one hand, you can certainly understand Tobias being somewhat less than thrilled that this incident dredged up myriad allegations, since withdrawn by her late husband's brothers and never charged by police, that don't make her look so great. On the other, the only reason anyone ever went looking for any of those things in the first place is because she went out of her way to make a scene by angrily shoving her finger about an inch from the face of a professional athlete because of, I guess, reasons? I'm all for not blaming victims, but I'm not sure that having what appears to be a loose definition of "only human" and "passion for the team" necessarily makes you a victim.

However, in the interest of avoiding such incidents in the future, let's all make a deal. You avoid getting in people's faces and giving the finger in public, and we'll quit doing Internet searches for your name and letting people know if a massive New York magazine feature story was ever written about the bizarre circumstances and aftermath of a rich man's death that prominently involves you. Deal? Deal.

One last note from Barbuto's statement: “With that said, Ms. Tobias remains loyal to the Miami Heat.”

We congratulate Ms. Tobias on the Heat's Wednesday night victory over the Chicago Bulls, and hope she enjoyed watching her favorite team advance to its third consecutive Eastern Conference final.

Hat-tip to ProBasketballTalk's Dan Feldman.

Hey, did you know that people like to compare Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant? Fans do it, video editors do it, Kelly Dwyer does it (and Ernie Johnson told me Wednesday night that KD's a "good dude"), Larry Bird does it, and even Jordan himself does it. Seriously, it's basically the absolute favorite thing of everyone who likes basketball. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

One basketball lover, however, has largely been reticent to compare the two legendary shooting guards — Phil Jackson, the man who coached Jordan and Bryant through their respective championship-winning, Hall-of-Fame-securing primes with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. In his forthcoming book "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success," however, the Zen Master opens up and shares his thoughts on the tale of the tape between two of the greatest players the game has ever seen.

From Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, who got an advance look at "Eleven Rings" and is sharing the wealth:

"Michael was more charismatic and gregarious than Kobe. He loved hanging out with his teammates and security guards, playing cards, smoking cigars, and joking around," Jackson said [...]

"Kobe is different. He was reserved as a teenager, in part because he was younger than the other players and hadn't developed strong social skills in college. When Kobe first joined the Lakers, he avoided fraternizing with his teammates. But his inclination to keep to himself shifted as he grew older. Increasingly, Kobe put more energy into getting to know the other players, especially when the team was on the road." [...]

"Jordan was also more naturally inclined to let the game come to him and not overplay his hand, whereas Kobe tends to force the action, especially when the game isn't going his way. When his shot is off, Kobe will pound away relentlessly until his luck turns. Michael, on the other hand, would shift his attention to defense or passing or setting screens to help the team win the game."

Jackson also gives M.J. the nod as the "tougher, more intimidating defender," whereas Bryant would "rely more heavily on his flexibility and craftiness," along with (occasionally ill-timed) gambles, on the defensive end.

The coach's evaluations all seem pretty evident and reasonable, emphasizing the slight but importance differences in applied physicality between the two 6-foot-6, 200-pound guards. It's interesting to note, though, that Jackson's analysis of the differences in teammate interaction don't totally dovetail with the experience expressed by trainer Tim Grover, who famously worked with both stars, in his recent book, "Relentless."

Here's how Grover describes it:

A lot of gifted people will lower their skills to close the gap between themselves and those around them, so others can feel more confident, involved, and relatively competitive. I've seen Kobe do that briefly when he has to, as a way to bring his teammates into the action and keep them engaged. It can work well depending on the other players, and as soon as Kobe sees his teammates stepping up, he'll revert to his natural game. It's a conscious decision to make the other guys feel as if they were one team, not one superstar surrounded by a second-rate supporting cast.

Michael went the other way and came right out and said it: that's my supporting cast.

His message was clear and unrelenting: Hey, I'm not bringing my game down so you can look better; you bring your game up so you can look better. He refused to put his own game in the backseat just to give other guys more action, unless you proved to him you could handle the responsibility.

Grover does note, however, that Jordan "never showed frustration on the court" and "always stayed positive, always had fun out there," only flipping his lid on underperforming teammates after the final buzzer. He also lends credence to the distance Bryant at times places between himself and his teammates, noting that Kobe "shoots along before the game, never on the same basket as the other guys," and that his teammates often stay away and "would never encroach on his space" out of "respect."

All told, we're talking about such small degrees of differentiation — on the court, off the court, in the locker room — that while the Zen Master's breakdown does seem to favor Jordan overall, it in no way denigrates Bryant's status as one of the greatest players of all time and arguably the second-greatest shooting guard in NBA history.

It does, however, appear to entrench Jordan as the greatest of all time in the mind of the man who'd know best. That measurement will likely sound about right to most of us, and probably will only fuel Bryant's fire as he rehabilitates from Achilles surgery in pursuit of a return to the court, a Jordan-equalling sixth ring and more buckets to chase down M.J. on the all-time scoring list.

That urge to measure up and prove himself was apparent in Bryant even in his early years, according to Jackson, who also relates a great story about a face-to-face meeting between Kobe and M.J. during Jackson's first year in L.A.:

"Kobe was hell-bent on surpassing Jordan as the greatest player in the game. His obsession with Michael was striking," Jackson said. "When we played in Chicago that season, I orchestrated a meeting between the two stars, thinking that Michael might help shift Kobe's attitude toward selfless teamwork. After they shook hands, the first words out of Kobe's mouth were, 'You know I can kick your ass one on one.'"

Yep. Sounds like the shy, reserved, shrinking violet Kobe we've all come to know and love over the years.

Cuttino Mobley retired in 2008 at the too-early age of 32 years old. The former Houston Rockets standout was never an All-Star, but he was a solid starting-level shooting guard who mixed sound outside shooting with a point guard’s knowledge of spacing and timing. Mobley was being counted on in 2008 to act as a needed veteran buffer for a New York Knicks team in bad need of outside shooting, but an MRI revealed a heart condition (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) that encouraged the retirement.

At the time, Mobley said that the MRI “basically saved my life,” which flew in the face of a disappointing lawsuit Mobley brought up against the Knicks a few years later. In the suit, Cuttino alleged that the Knicks only asked Mobley to retire in order to realize luxury tax savings (for a roster that was already millions over the luxury tax) and to save money for the 2010 LeBron James-led offseason (completely incorrect in every way).

Years after that suit was sent away, the man they once called “Cat” is back to try and make one more NBA stab. It may be because his medical marijuana efforts have been smoked out, and it might be to spite the Knicks, but we’re guessing it’s mainly because Mobley still feels like he has something to contribute to an NBA team, and because he wants to go out on his own terms. Completely understandable.

From HoopsWorld:

On May 31, ASM Sports will be holding a pro-day for their draft prospects as well as their veteran free agents. Mobley will be one of the free agents participating in the veteran sessions, according to the agency.

The free agent workouts will include drills and five-on-five. Other notable free agents such as Josh Howard, Christian Eyenga and Rasual Butler will also be participating in the pro-day, which will be held at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas.

Howard, Eyenga, and Butler may still have NBA-level skills despite their respective injury history, development issues, and questionable decision-making. Mobley’s chances, though, are the most intriguing.

Mobley wasn’t a lights-out shooter (his career mark of 37.8 percent from 3-point range is around the NBA’s average), and he doesn’t have the size (at 6-foot-4) to overcome the onset of age and loss of quickness. By the start of the 2013-14 season, though, he won’t have played for five years. Teams shouldn’t be encouraged to think that Mobley would essentially be walking into this fall’s camp (at age 38) as the NBA equivalent of a 33-year old, but his smarts and obvious passion shouldn’t be overlooked.

There are two problems beyond that.

First, Mobley was a fringe NBA player even back before the 2008-09 season. His overall efficiency had dropped three consecutive seasons prior to that year, and Mobley’s size never made him the sort of player who could easily overcome his scoring issues with all-out D. If Knicks general manager Donnie Walsh and then-coach Mike D’Antoni were expecting a big contributor, then they were off in their assessment, or just saying nice things on the record so as to save themselves from Mobley’s suit.

Secondly, the guy has a frightening heart issue, something that could do terrible things to him in relatively minor events like the lead-up to a scrimmage in front of scouts or following an 82-game season spent as a team’s sage veteran leader. That ASM Sports and the journalists they feed info aren’t taking the time to either get in Mobley’s way or at least reference the dangers of a basketball-playing comeback is unfortunate.

We get that Cuttino Mobley wants to walk off of an NBA court on his own terms. What’s hard to understand is why nobody is telling him that the approach to that symbolic ending may not be worth it.

Marc Gasol didn't have a monster Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, finishing making just five of his 13 field-goal attempts and grabbing a non-eye-popping seven rebounds in 41 minutes. But the burly center was there when the Memphis Grizzlies needed him most, with six of his 10 points — including a huge 19-footer with 27 seconds left — and two of his three blocks coming in the fourth quarter. And run back the tape on Kevin Durant's closing-seconds miss — check out which 7-foot-1 Spaniard is lurking just beyond the restricted area, ready to pounce on a drive and influencing Durant into pulling up.

Gasol's Game 5 numbers might not have been stunning, but his performance throughout the Western Conference semifinals was everything Memphis could have asked for and more — 19.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals in 41.9 minutes per game, shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the foul line, and anchoring a withering defense that held Durant and the Russell Westbrook-less Thunder to a paltry 94.3 points per 100 possessions, a mark that would've ranked below the Washington Wizards' league-worst offense during the regular season. He was a star, full stop, on both ends of the floor, and is as big a reason as any why the Grizzlies ousted the West's top seed in five games to advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

But he also knows just how good his Grizzlies are, that they were supposed to beat the wounded Thunder, and that Memphis' job isn't done yet. His postgame choice of pop-culture touchstone to illustrate that knowledge was pretty amazing, according to ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne:

This was a very big night for the Grizzlies. It wasn't the last night, though.

"It's not time to do that yet," Gasol said firmly. "To me it's not time to congratulate everybody.

"I'm a big Quentin Tarantino fan. There's this line [in 'Pulp Fiction'] from Wolf — which I can't say in front of you guys — when they [finish] cleaning the car up. He says, 'Let's not do that yet.'

"We're still in the process. We're still not there yet."

In the event that you have somehow made it through the last 19 years without watching or hearing about the specific scene from "Pulp Fiction" that Gasol's referencing, and you are the kind of insane person who gets upset about spoilers from movies that literally came out more than one decade ago — yes, such people exist, and my pet name for them is My Wife With Regard To "The Usual Suspects," Which Is Kind Of Infuriating Because We Literally Own It — I won't spell the reference out here. Also, I would probably get fired if I did, because as Marc notes, the line spoken by Harvey Keitel's Winston Wolfe is really, really NSFW. You can watch the scene in question here, if you are a consenting adult with headphones and/or there's nobody who'd get mad around.

Grit, grind, monster dunks, thrown shirts, pit bull rescues, huskies at practice and now a Wolf at the door. The Grizzlies will never stop working to make you love them, world.

Well, that ought to take care of mistaken identity cases like the one Jarron Collins shared with Y! Sports NBA columnist Marc J. Spears last week. Fashionable and functional. What a thoughtful parting gift, Jimmy Kimmel.

And thanks to the all-seeing/all-sharing community of Reddit, we know that the shirt's actually already made an appearance in the wild:

Now all Jarron Collins has to do is wear that shirt every day for the rest of his life so that people don't get confused about which twin he is. Might want to get a couple of spares made up for laundry purposes, Jarron.

If the clip above isn't rocking for you, feel free to check it out elsewhere, thanks to the official "Jimmy Kimmel Live" YouTube channel.

When Russell Westbrook went down in Game 2 against the Houston Rockets, the Oklahoma City Thunder knew that their ability to fulfill their championship aspirations would be seriously compromised. It seems as if the severity of Westbrook's loss couldn't communicate just how difficult that path would be.

Despite a late push by the Thunder and several missed free throws by the Grizzlies to give Kevin Durant a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, Memphis escaped Oklahoma City with an 88-84 victory in Game 5 to finish off a 4-1 series win over the West's top seed. They will now move on to the Western Conference Finals to face either the San Antonio Spurs or Golden State Warriors for a chance to move on to the NBA Finals.

Memphis nearly forced themselves to head back home for a Game 6. After building an 80-68 lead with 4:13 remaining, the Grizzlies saw the Thunder go on an 11-3 run over the next 3:46. With their offense stagnating, center Marc Gasol hit a huge, flat-footed 19-footer near the end of the shot clock for an 85-79 lead with 27 seconds left. At the time, it seemed like a dagger. However, Kevin Martin managed to draw a foul within six seconds and hit two free-throws to cut to four. Zach Randolph split a pair of free throws, and Reggie Jackson nailed a wing three-pointer to make it a two possession game. With Randolph needing a free throw to ensure no worse than an overtime finish, he instead missed both freebies to give OKC life. Despite scoring 28 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, he had a chance to become the game's goat.

Thunder head coach Scott Brooks has been criticized many time in his tenure for his inability to draw up compelling end-of-game plays, but in this case Durant managed to get a fairly good look from 16 feet with four seconds left in regulation. Tony Allen grabbed the rebound and hit both free throws to ice the game, and the Thunder are now gone fishin' much earlier than they'd anticipated at the start of the postseason.

The miss capped a very trying series for Durant. Without Westbrook, he was asked to take on a nearly impossible burden in carrying the Thunder back to the NBA Finals. That effort manifested itself throughout this series, with Durant playing no less than 43 minutes with major ballhanding responsibilities in each of the five games. Frankly, he looked exhausted, and his shooting percentage suffered greatly. After a 5-of-21 performance in Game 5, Durant shot 15-of-48 from the field in the last two games with no other player managing to score 20 points or more. The Thunder faced an uneasy adjustment to life without Westbrook, their early-game offensive sparkplug, and it's safe to say that no one was able to step up accordingly in his absence. The solution was often just to ask more of Durant, and one player can only do so much.

It did not help that the Grizzlies were to focus the best team defense in the league on one player. With three All-Defensive selections, including primary Durant defender Tony Allen, the Grizzlies were able to hold the Thunder to 36.9 percent shooting in this closeout win. Their imposing defense will face a stern challenge in the conference finals in either the Spurs or the Warriors, but they appear very ready to take on all challengers. With an offense that revolves around Gasol and Randolph in the post, the Grizzlies are something of an anomaly in today's NBA, but that size does not hinder them from playing fluid and punishing team defense.

Given the circumstances of Westbrook's injury, it's fair to wonder how things may have been different if he had not been lost for the playoffs. Yet it's clear that the Thunder would have faced a considerable challenge in the Grizzlies no matter their luck. Memphis is a uniquely talented squad with a clear sense of their own identity. Although they're not the highest seed left in the West, they could be the conference's scariest team at this juncture of the postseason.

Related NBA video from Yahoo! Sports:


Other Thunder-Grizzlies content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Memphis shuts down Kevin Durant on its way to a 3-1 series lead
• Kevin Durant wears Seattle SuperSonics hat during OKC practice
• Serge Ibaka vows to be more aggressive

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Derek Fisher attempted a 3-pointer with his team trailing by 11 points and just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter of Game 5 of his team's Western Conference semifinals series with the Memphis Grizzlies. As Fisher let his corner 3 fly, Grizzlies guard Tony Allen — who was up out of his seat on the Memphis bench and standing before the ball ever moved to Fisher — raised his right arm.

Maybe he was just reacting to the pass hitting the open man; maybe he was actively trying to distract Fisher to decrease the likelihood that the 38-year-old veteran would knock down the shot. Either way, Allen probably didn't intend what happened next:

Yep, that light blue projectile was Allen's warm-up shirt. He was holding it in his hand, and he inadvertently flung it out onto the court as Fisher was shooting.

Fisher didn't make the shot, but immediately appealed to the referees for some sort of satisfaction for the odd and unexpected defensive deterrent. Oklahoma City promptly received not only three points in exchange for the "interference" on the field goal attempt, but also a technical foul shot, which Kevin Durant knocked down, capping one of the oddest four-point plays you're likely to see in an NBA playoff game.

The T-shirt toss, the 3-ball and the technical freebie helped propel a 15-4 run that pulled the Thunder back from the brink of a blowout and within just two points of the Grizzlies at 64-62 heading into the fourth quarter. Ultimately, Allen's four-point misstep didn't wind up costing the Grizzlies, who outlasted the Thunder down the stretch for an 88-84 win that earned them a 4-1 series win that eliminates the Thunder and sends Memphis on to the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

If the clip above isn't rocking for you, please feel free to check it out elsewhere, thanks to SI.com's Ben Golliver.

When the Memphis Grizzlies traded small forward Rudy Gay to the Toronto Raptors in late January, one of the criticisms of the deal was that they had sacrificed much needed scoring and wing athleticism for the more virtual gain of long-term financial health. Veteran Tayshaun Prince, his replacement, was considered a good player on the wrong side of his career.

The Grizzlies' post-trade performance has silenced most critics, but it's still the case that Prince isn't thought of as an athletic dynamo. On Wednesday night, in Game 5 of the Grizzlies' Western Conference Semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Prince proved that his athleticism deserves some notice.

With just over 7:10 left in the third quarter, Memphis point guard turned a long rebound into a 4-on-3 fast break. Although the numbers were roughly even, Prince found a seam down the middle of the floor, took the pass a step outside the free-throw line, and exploded over three Thunder players for one of the flashiest plays of the playoffs so far. Serge Ibaka, Thabo Sefolosha, and Reggie Jackson have all seen better days.

Dwyane Wade may have entered the league less than a decade ago, and his youthful indiscretions may still making national news, but the man has been around for long enough to know how to drag a team to victory. The Miami Heat star worked his 158th playoff contest in Wednesday night’s Game 5, against a Chicago Bulls team he grew up rooting for. And despite a debilitating knee injury that forced him to hit the locker room to “re-adjust” (read: manually move his right kneecap back into place) during the third quarter, he still had enough to put his Heat over the top, and knock off the Bulls on Miami’s way to its fifth Eastern Conference final in the last nine years.

Wade dunked once in that pivotal fourth quarter, but the biggest damage he did to Chicago’s attack came by way of a loping, veteran style of misdirection movement, setting the Bulls’ defenders off course while raised for either in-between drives or long jumpers. Game 5 didn’t provide Wade the finest box score of his playoff career, but the setting and the stumbling blocks were enough to remind Heat fans of what a special player they’ve had the pleasure to have known since 2003.

Chicago’s fans, you can make damn sure, feel the same way about this particular batch of special Chicago Bulls. Just two nights after been blown out in an embarrassing 65-point showing at home in Game 4, the Bulls responded by falling behind quickly to the Heat by a 22-4 score. And yet it wasn’t just this initial obstacle that could have forced the Bulls into giving into a blowout loss to end their season, as there were other potentially enervating factors involved.

Combined with the Game 4 tally, the Bulls were outscored by a 110-69 margin over the series’ last 55 minutes by that point, all with Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich looking on from the team’s bench, and Luol Deng watching from home as he recovered from a spinal tap. Instead of fading away, the Bulls did their city proud by somehow embarking on a 49-25 run against a Heat team that truly was not taking plays off. Chicago’s offensively-lacking roster nearly doubling up a Detroit Pistons team in March was quite the effort, and yet against the defending champs the Bulls’ quick ball and player movement on offense and by-this-time-instinctual continued discussion and care on defense allowed the team to make yet another game out of what should have been something much more embarrassing.

Jimmy Butler, for the fifth time in a remarkable postseason, played the entire 48 minutes in the loss. Nate Robinson shook off a 0-16 shooting run that carried over from the team’s Game 4 debacle to warm up and leave every observer shaking their head once again – finishing the night with 21 points on just 15 shots. Richard Hamilton came out of nowhere to provide the sort indefatigable game opponents grew to learn and hate during his heyday with the Detroit Pistons, providing 15 points off the bench. And Carlos Boozer, who has received an unending daily (and sometimes deserved) delivery of disrespect by both obsessed and fair weather Bulls fans over the last three years, came through in the comeback with 26 points and 14 rebounds.

Self-aware Bulls fans that lived through Michael Jordan’s time with the team know what it’s like to have more than enough, and that was what the defending champions had on Wednesday. LeBron James, hounded by Jimmy Butler’s right arm all night, missed nine of 14 shots but earned 15 trips to the free throw line. Shane Battier shook off a big miss of a series before hitting two crucial three-pointers in the second half. Norris Cole was clearly perturbed by a frustrating third quarter, and yet his derring-do returned to form in the fourth quarter as the Heat made their comeback from 11 points down.

All while Wade, perhaps on his way to a third NBA title, surveyed the spots. Picking the places where he could use the back and forth dribble that he developed in Chicago’s south side, using the veteran know-how that both allows for him to somehow move a bruised kneecap back into a more functional place during timeouts, and lead his team to victory over a Bulls team he once cheered for.

It’s that Chicago memory. It’s long and it’s stubborn and it’s silly and annoying and you don’t have to like it, but it takes quite a bit to destroy. This remarkable Chicago Bulls team had it in long supply, during 2012-13. Dwyane Wade just needed about 12 or 13 minutes, partially spent in the locker room while re-adjusting his leg, to put it to use at the best possible time. This year’s Bulls team couldn’t lose to a more appropriate player.

Related NBA video from Yahoo! Sports:

Other Heat-Bulls content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Dwyane Wade’s ankle-bearing suit: Fashion faux-pas or good look?
• Heat hold Bulls to franchise playoff-low 65 points in Game 4
• Nate Robinson somehow blocks LeBron James’ shot

After a messy, drawn-out saga involving several potential moves, the long-term future of the Sacramento Kings looks near a resolution. As first reported by Sam Amick of USA Today and announced shortly thereafter by NBA commissioner David Stern and his successor Adam Silver in a press conference, the NBA's Board of Governors has voted not to authorize Joe and Gavin Maloof's pending sale of the Kings to a Seattle-based ownership group headed by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Initial reports state that the final vote came in 22-8 in favor of keeping the Kings in Sacramento.

While the Sacto-averse Maloofs have expressed little interest of selling the team to a local owner, it's expected that the Kings will stay in the city they've called home since 1985. In the press conference, Stern said that he believes the Maloofs will start talks with the local ownership group headed by tech entrepreneur and current Golden State Warriors minority owner Vivek Ranadive and organized by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson. It's possible that the Maloofs were simply posturing in their earlier statements, as they've done several times throughout this process, or perhaps they were promised new perks to make the sale to Ranadvie and Co. more acceptable.

This is obviously great news for Kings advocates in Sacramento, who have worked extremely hard over the past few months to put together a deal to keep the Kings in town. Mayor Johnson sought out local owners, settled on a comprehensive arena plan, and made a special point of working with the league office to ensure that the city did whatever it could to put forth the best possible case for why they deserve to keep the franchise. While there are open questions as to how much new arenas paid for with public funds actually local economies, there's no argument that the Kings are a source of civic pride for Sacramento. In this case, the city came together in pursuit of a common goal, and it looks like they'll end up successful.

It's unclear where this vote puts Seattle. Since the first terms of this sale were reported in January, Hansen and Ballmer have added to the offer to make it almost irresponsibly good, with a valuation of $625 million for the franchise and the promise that the new Sonics would pay into the NBA's revenue sharing fund on a permanent basis (apparently regardless of their revenue). In addition, the Maloofs apparently have a backup offer with the Seattle group that would allow them to purchase 20 percent of the franchise in what's pretty clearly a backdoor move to eventually put the team in Seattle. Yet, while Stern made the stupid misstep of starting his press conference by saying he didn't have much time to talk because he has to get to Oklahoma City — where the Sonics moved under fairly devious circumstances in 2008 — he and Silver also stated that Hansen and Ballmer did everything right in this sale. In other words, the NBA would probably like this group to own a team in Seattle.

It's just unclear how that might happen. Stern claimed that any talks of expansion would only begin after discussion of the next TV contract (which will probably begin this offseason) and only the Milwaukee Bucks would appear to be a currently for-sale franchise that could also feasibly be moved. (On the other hand, owner Herb Kohl, who represented Wisconsin in U.S. Senate for 24 years, might not want to sell to a group that would relocate.) It's also not clear if Hansen and Ballmer would be willing to go through this ordeal again, although they were certainly very motivated to bring the Kings to Seattle by any means necessary.

All of which is to say that the after-effects of this vote will be felt both immediately and for years to come. While this verdict and the league's comments suggest that the Kings will stay in Sacramento for some time, we still don't know what the Maloofs will choose (or be forced) to do in a new sale, how the Seattle group will respond to the news, and whether the NBA will try to avoid similar attempts at relocation in the future.

At this point, all we really know is that two cities have proven themselves to be viable homes for NBA franchises. That's a positive, in a way, but this particular vote is unfortunately a zero-sum game. It's great news for Sacramento and big disappointment for Seattle.

Mascots are an important part of the NBA, serving as furry mirth-makers in a league that often becomes too self-serious for its own good. There's no joy a mascot can't bring, whether it involves choreographed dancing or simply forcing fans to consider the ridiculousness of an anthropomorphic blue blob's existence.

However, the fact of the matter is that most mascots are very similar, both in their antics and looks. It's pretty much impossible to differentiate between the bear mascots of the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies, for instance, and that's even before you see them jumping off trampolines and high-fiving children.

So, when a mascot stands out as something special, you know that it's done some amazing work. Kudos to Benny the Bull of the Chicago Bulls, then, for being listed by Forbes as the most popular mascot in America (via TBJ). From Tom Van Riper:

Benny the Bull, who’s been entertaining fans at Chicago Bulls games for more than four decades, keeps a killer schedule that goes way beyond the Bulls’ 41 home games a season (or more like 50 including the preseason and playoffs). Benny does 250 events a year, from appearances at Chicago businesses and charities to private parties.

The work ethic and the athleticism he displays during game breaks at the United Center have paid off: Benny stands as this year’s most popular sports mascot. That’s the word from The Marketing Arm’s Davie Brown Index, which is based on a survey of public perception of celebrities and their influence on brands. For mascots, the DBI measures popularity by the following criteria: Awareness, likeability, attention-getting, photo-friendliness, interaction and fun. Fans were also asked if a given mascot happened to be his “absolute favorite” or “one of my favorites.”

Benny led the pack in pure likability and gets more photo requests than any other mascot in sports. His ascension to the top is something of an upset, moving against this year’s anti-NBA trend. Perhaps the trampoline-bouncing, slam-dunking hoops mascots are starting to become old hat: past favorites like the Phoenix Suns’ Gorilla, the Denver Nuggets’ mountain lion Rocky and the San Antonio Spurs’ Coyote are nowhere to be found this year. Instead, it’s been an up year for the warm and fuzzy, kid-centered baseball mascots.

For now, let's put aside the fact that Van Riper introduces his story by describing mascots as entities that exist purely to lure children (or "lil' consumers," as I like to call them) back to the arena in the future. We can also avoid discussing Benny's impact on the world stage, where challengers like Arsenal's Gunnersaurus await.

Instead, let's just give credit to Benny for being really, really great at what he does. In truth, he isn't that different from other mascots, but Benny attacks life with a mixture of verve and playfulness we need more of in this world. He expresses the NBA as what it should be — a fun thing that doesn't really make logical sense. Heck, it's arguable that he's the watchable member of this particular Bulls team.

With the Bulls in Miami tonight for what could be their last game of the season, it's possible that we won't see Benny in a basketball context for nearly six months. If that's the case, let's raise our glasses and toast to the friendly creature who adds a small bit of joy to our lives. He may have been created to hook children on a product for life, but he has become so much more.

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: SB Nation. While we try to figure out what's wrong with the New York Knicks and who's to blame for the 3-1 hole they're in, Paul Flannery takes the radical step of suggesting we take a look at the team that's beating them — the Indiana Pacers, a marvelous collection of defensive monsters and rising talents that's very much for real.

PF: Memphis Flyer. Chris Herrington's got 10 dynamite notes and nuggets to digest before Wednesday's Game 5 between the Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder, including a doozy about the Grizzlies' "clutch" defense that had me racing to NBA.com's stat tool to double-check it.

SF: The Classical. Whether he's authoring legendary victories, flaming out during horrendous defeats or just vomiting uncontrollably on the bench, it's almost impossible to know precisely what Nate Robinson will do next, which is what makes him one of the most compulsively watchable players in the NBA, as Jim Cavan writes.

SG: New Orleans Times-Picayune. Days after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle, New Orleans Pelicans shooting guard Eric Gordon says he played with bone spurs since the All-Star break: "My ankle bothered me everyday, even on days when I wasn't active."

PG: USA TODAY Sports. On the eve of the NBA draft combine, a good read from Jeff Zilgitt on the valuable contributions some recent late first-round and second-round picks are making to teams still alive in this year's playoffs.

6th: NBA.com. Chris Dortch offers a nice look at the rocky road from big-time college ball to the NBA draft traveled by Glen Rice Jr. — yep, he's Glen Rice's son — that includes a great line from the trainer preparing the former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket for the draft: "I haven't seen anything Glen sucks at."

7th: Hang Time. Jeff Caplan connects the dots between Oklahoma and Tennessee in the journey of All-Defensive Team guard Tony Allen, and the role a college assistant you've probably never heard played in changing the future of the Grizzlies.

8th: HawksHoop. A modest proposal from Bo Churney: It's time for Atlanta Hawks center/power forward Al Horford to start taking more 3-pointers.

9th: SB Nation. A nice, quick breakdown by Ricky O'Donnell of how the Miami Heat's high-pressure traps of the Chicago Bulls' pick-and-roll game led to Chicago's historically awful Game 4 offensive performance.

10th: E:60. Lisa Salters hangs out with Chris Bosh, getting a glimpse of what makes the Heat All-Star "a little different" in ways that sometimes make him a target of fans' jokes.

Got a link or tip for Ball Don't Lie? Give me a shout at devine (at) yahoo-inc.com, or follow me on Twitter.

That's Buckets, a very cute puppy who belongs to Memphis Grizzlies swingman Quincy Pondexter, and who recently tagged to a Grizzlies practice that was documented by Sports Illustrated as part of NBA-feature-writing beast Lee Jenkins' not-yet-online regional cover story on the Grizz. Buckets is a Husky, which makes sense, what with Pondexter having played his college ball at the University of Washington.

As if we didn't have enough to love about the Grizzlies, between their brilliantly bruising play, Zach Randolph being a jackin' dude who loves dogs and is scared of cats, Marc Gasol being a super crafty defensive monster and the whole team's love for cramming into elevators, now we've got Buckets. No fair, Memphis. Leave some lovability for the other teams.

Hey, want some more Buckets? Sure you do. We all do.

Just got done getting up some shots.. Couldn't leave home without my son.. 'Buckets' is a natural instagram.com/p/Xa-9Owml79/

— Quincy Pondexter (@QuincyPondexter) March 29, 2013

***

Off to PetCo.. Bane or Buckets? instagram.com/p/XNEbQ7Gl3p/ — Quincy Pondexter (@QuincyPondexter) March 23, 2013

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Buckets was a boss at the Vet today.. instagram.com/p/Yx8iY2ml0G/

— Quincy Pondexter (@QuincyPondexter) May 1, 2013

A well-meaning cadre of NBA scribes probably has the notes for their “I told you so” columns regarding the Memphis Grizzlies already in place. If Memphis downs the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, taking to the Western Conference finals for the first time in the franchise’s history, the immediate instinct will be to point to the team’s 35-14 record (including a Game 5 win) since the supposedly franchise-crippling Rudy Gay trade, and to remind anyone reading that the Grizzlies knocked off the currently favored San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2011 playoffs.

Such a crusade would probably be lead by this annoying mug, the only guy who picked Memphis over San Antonio in 2011, and one who routinely wears a Tony Allen T-shirt presumably outfitted with a pocket square and de rigueur protector for such pocket.

All those instincts should be tempered, though. Because exclaiming in that style after a potential Grizzlies second-round win would both over- and underestimate this team, all at once.

To the first point? These Grizzlies are supposed to be fully formed “in spite” of the Gay deal, and yet the still-evolving team has only won by a combined 18 points over an Oklahoma City team playing without Russell Westbrook for the first time in the franchise’s history. Toss in some suspect coaching maneuvers from Thunder head man Scott Brooks and often-disappointing play by potential second bananas Serge Ibaka and Kevin Martin, and you have a patsy waiting to fall by at least one one-sided turn out of three. Or four, considering Memphis’ tough Game 1 loss.

To the latter point?

You underestimate the Grizzlies when your instinct following the team’s ascension leads you to giddiness in the wake of a potential victory over OKC, and probable showdown with a Spurs team with whom the Grizz match up so well. You should be expecting that the Grizzlies beat a Westbrook-less Thunder squad. You should be expecting the Grizzlies to overcome the home-court disadvantage against the Spurs, once again. The playoffs aren’t a time to suddenly sneer before trumpeting a Grizzlies team that initiated a massive and much-argued-over move midstream during the winter.

You’re either in or you’re out. If a deal to send Gay away for Tayshaun Prince and other parts that coach Lionel Hollins (sadly, in the case of Ed Davis) won’t use is a boon in basketball terms for Memphis, then you should be nodding smugly instead of applauding a Grizzlies “upset” win over the Westbrook-less Thunder. Virtue is its own reward, some dork with a side part once told us, and any preening following a Grizzlies win that should be expected should come off as tacky.

“Hero ball” is terrible. The Grizzlies were awful with Gay dominating late-game possessions in the postseason last year, and statistically the worst fourth-quarter team in the NBA prior to the trade mostly because Gay wasn’t “afraid to take the big one.” Inside-out play still dominates all even in the NBA’s modern, perimeter-dominated era. And efficiency matters in the playoffs, when the rotations tighten and every possession counts.

Followers of this logic can’t have it both ways, though. The Memphis Grizzlies are supposed to be here. If they win, act like you’ve been there before.

It’s a bit dicey to ask NBA fans to pull up their TVs (or, perhaps, the wonderfully multi-hued and -angled work of TNT Overtime) to take in a team that only managed to eke out 65 points (at home!) in its last game. A team that at times was a struggle to watch in years past, even when it had its best players roaming the court. You should probably watch what could be the Chicago Bulls’ final game of their 2012-13 season, though. Because NBA novelties usually don’t come more inspiring than this.

There is no way a team like this year’s Bulls should be playing an important basketball game on May 15. Spanning back to the late 1980s, you could pick highlight after playoff highlight of Bulls teams doing masterful and lasting things as May enters its second fortnight, but this particular squad is lost in comparison.

Save for the part where you get to all the buzzwords that Chicagoans hold so dear. The team competes. It doesn’t make excuses. It gives whatever it takes. All the eye-rolling features of a high school guidance counselor’s poster-filled walls actually apply to both generations of these Bulls teams.

Chicago couldn’t make a close game of it on Monday because the squad’s 5-foot-8, one-time-mocked starting point guard could not buy a bucket, missing all 12 of his shot attempts. This is coming on the tail end of a postseason that has seen the Bulls sparkplug-turned-savior broadsided by Gerald Wallace, stepped on by the same man three games later, and given 11 stitches after tussling for a loose ball with LeBron James. Nate Robinson briefly played in a football secondary unit in college, but Wallace and James are actually NFL linebacker-sized. And yet, well into the late hours on Monday night, Robinson (speaking over stitches in his lip and with his injured left shoulder wrapped and iced down) answered every single question posed to him about his ohfer 12.

This was a player brought in to be the 12th man, by the way.

Chicago is out of 12th men. Luol Deng hasn’t been the same since undergoing a spinal tap — an actual spinal tap — two weeks ago. He could not travel with the team and will be out for Game 5. Kirk Hinrich worked through eight different injuries this season — not eight different reoccurring flare-ups of the same injury, but eight separate injuries to eight separate parts of his body — and will be out with a calf bruise that will likely be revealed to be an amputation of some sort over the summer.

The Bulls’ front office doubled down on going cheap and relying on Derrick Rose to act as a late-season savior that would save them both cash and the 2012-13 campaign, and he smartly replied with the kiss off that, “Nah, you don’t really come back in the first week of March and immediately start playing like an MVP, guys.” Meanwhile, the bucket of ice that houses Joakim Noah’s aching foot after games and practices has become a Chicago landmark.

And yet, this team is still playing on May 15. A time of year where giants like LeBron James and Kevin Durant roam the earth. A time of year not usually suited for, “What if we mix it up in an attempt to free Daequan Cook and Vladimir Radmanovic for some open looks?”

Chicago’s just not supposed to be here. They weren’t supposed to go this long without Rose suiting up. Richard Hamilton wasn’t supposed to fall off the face of the earth. Noah wasn’t supposed to be this team’s best player nearly a month after considering shutting himself down for the playoffs because of his plantar fasciitis. And Robinson wasn't supposed to be the post-game go-to interview for actual quoted substance, and not silliness. This team shouldn’t be able to score 16 points against Miami’s trapping defense, and yet it scored 65 on Monday. This Chicago team, in comparison to the Heat, is unlike any team you’ll ever see. Because you’ve already seen the Heat, last year. They’re damn good.

The Bulls may make fewer than a third of their shots on Wednesday. They might be blown off the court by the defending champs in the presence of thousands of late-arriving fans whipping around white towels while the NBA’s most annoying public address announcer prattles on. The entire affair may be an affront to your sensibilities, regardless of your rooting interest.

The Chicago Bulls are playing on May 15, though, in a month and day they had no business being active for. Tune in, to see something you’ll never see again.

It sounds like a condition severe enough to shut down most players for the remainder of their season, and one too painful for most players to even considering working through. Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade, though, is not most players. The man has been working through a series of injuries throughout his pro career, a group of mostly knee-related maladies that had many wondering if he would have to limp off into the sunset far earlier (like in 2008, or during last year’s playoffs) than his talent and drive would deserve.

Now we have news about how Wade handles his latest setback. Wade physically pushes his right kneecap into a less stressful and painful place before games so as to give his team productive minutes. Because the kneecap won’t stick, though, Wade has to move it back over with one of the myriad accessories he has to wear to minimize the stress and swelling that his body deals with over the course of a pro basketball game.

With the Heat up decidedly in their Eastern Conference semifinals over the Chicago Bulls, wouldn’t it seem right for Wade to sit out a game? He’s done it before, suiting up but not playing in the deciding Game 4 of his team’s first-round sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks because of the bone bruise in his knee, an injury that was made even worse in Game 4 after Dwyane bumped knees with Bulls swingman Jimmy Butler.

Wade appears to be having none of it, though. He’s officially listed as a game-time decision heading into Wednesday night’s Game 5. Which, in Wadesian terms, means the guy is playing. Is Wadesian thinking the correct approach, here?

The earliest the conference finals can start is May 21, but there’s a chance that the series won’t begin until a week from Wednesday if the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers flail about and take their semifinals series to seven games. While the Heat are a top-heavy group that sometimes falls at the hands of lacking bench help, they’re also a team featuring the game’s best player, going up against a Bulls roster working without two of its top three players in Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, with a defender in Kirk Hinrich who has given Wade fits dating back years also looking on from the sideline.

It’s true that the Bulls miraculously pulled off the shocking upset in Game 1, taking down the defending champs to start the series. And while Game 3 could have gone either way, the Heat won Games 2 and 4 by a combined 60 points. The Heat shouldn’t prepare for yet another 30-plus point blowout in Game 5, but it isn’t as if missing Wade’s playoff averages of 12.3 points and 10 combined assists/rebounds is the worst thing for the team. Why not take advantage of a potential seven-day layoff between the morning after Game 4, and the start of the conference finals?

With that in place, it’s worth noting that this injury isn’t going to really mend itself just because it got a week off in May.

Topping that are the fears Wade probably has regarding an extended absence. Because he sat out Game 4 of the opening round, and because Chicago’s first-round series with the Brooklyn Nets went seven games, a full 10 days passed between Dwyane’s last game against Milwaukee and his first game against Chicago. Wade was no doubt displeased with his Game 1 work — his rhythm and decision-making was off, and he needed 16 shots to score 14 points in the loss while fouling five times.

Chicago, though impressive with its guile, is not at Indiana’s level right now. And if the Pacers do prevail with their current 3-1 series lead over New York, time off would mean Wade sitting for a week before taking on defensive hounds like Lance Stephenson and Paul George in the third round. Battered and beleaguered though they may be, players will always pick rhythm over rest.

This is likely the scenario here, as Wade (more than anyone) understands that this injury isn’t going away until the hottest days of summer. We should all just try to avert our eyes when Dwyane gets to kneecap-relocatin’ on the bench. Because that is some cringe-worthy stuff right there.

In these playoffs alone, we've seen a very young Coloradoan celebrate the former Denver Nuggets reserve and an older Heat supporter get considerably inkier in his praise of the Miami big man. We had not, however, seen a Baby Bird who combined both infancy and full faux tats.

Finally, thanks to Xiomy Gonzalez and Alexander Balaez, our long national nightmare is over.

The level of detail — from the neck tattoo to the earlobe stars to the sleevework — is just top-drawer. I'm not 100 percent sure I'm down with the marked-on headband, but I guess if you can get a baby to sit still and chill out long enough to draw that on him, on top of everything else, then you might as well go for it rather than just wrapping some fabric around his cruller. As long as we don't wind up with any Baby Birdman demon-faced pushups, I think we're going to be all right here.

Really, more than anything, I'm just glad I can provide encouragement for parents to draw on their children. Start fostering that lifelong love of art early, parents. You'll be glad you did.*

*(unless your child winds up covering roughly 99 percent of his/her body with birdman tattoos, in which case, you might later feel like you done goofed)

Hat-tip to That NBA Lottery Pick.

It's no secret that J.R. Smith can't buy a bucket these days — I mean, we've now even got a Twitter account mockumenting his every misfire. He's seemed lost for the last six games, and while he found a bit of rhythm in the fourth quarter of the New York Knicks' Game 4 loss to the Indiana Pacers, there's a chance that any revived scoring touch is either A) a mirage born of the Pacers calling off the dogs after building a 17-point lead or B) too little and too late, now that the Pacers have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Even after getting something going with 12 points on 5 for 10 shooting in the fourth, Smith is shooting just 28.1 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from 3-point range against Indiana, extending a cold snap that began with a 3-for-14 return from a one-game suspension for flooring Jason Terry with an elbow. Smith knows his poor play has hampered the Knicks' offense, and he accepted responsibility after Tuesday's loss, according to Howard Beck of the New York Times:

“My frustration level with myself is extremely high,” Smith said. “I take the blame for this whole series.” He made reference to the Boston series, adding: “I haven’t been playing myself. I haven’t played my part. I’ve been letting my teammates down. I’ve been letting my coaches down. It doesn’t feel good.”

Smith also acknowledged the stark difference between the sharp all-around ball he played late in the season and what he's provided recently, according to Newsday's Al Iannazzone:

"I have to play more efficient. I have to rebound the ball. One rebound, two rebounds is not enough. Paul George is out there getting 13, 14 rebounds. As a wing player like myself, I'm pretty much playing the same minutes. It's unacceptable. I have to keep him off the glass. I have to keep the other wings off the glass. Overall just play better."

Yes, he does. That's inarguable. What's sticking in my craw, though, is the "this whole series" part.

Clearly, the Sixth Man of the Year winner who averaged 18 points per game on 42.2 percent shooting and a 35.5 percent mark from 3 would be helpful. The version who averaged 22 a night on 46 percent shooting over the season's final 26 games would be even better. But Smith's far from the sole reason for the Knicks' abysmal play. There's plenty of blame to go around in this series, and you don't have to look very far to find Knicks who also have "to be able to step up and do what [they] do" if New York is to have any prayer of extending the Eastern Conference semifinals to a sixth game.

To wit:

• Coach Mike Woodson has invited questioning with some of his decisions, including his choice to go big early in Game 4 by starting Kenyon Martin alongside Tyson Chandler in an effort to combat the size and rebounding of Roy Hibbert and David West.

The decision made some sense — after all, Indiana dominated the Knicks on the boards in Game 3, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds that resulted in 20 second-chance points. However, by inserting Martin into the starting lineup, sliding Carmelo Anthony to small forward, bumping Iman Shumpert down to shooting guard and moving Pablo Prigioni to the bench, Woodson not only experimented with a configuration that hadn't played a second together this season, per NBA.com's lineup data, but also willingly moved away from the Anthony-at-the-four, two-point-guard-heavy, spread-the-floor, move-the-ball, hunt-open-3-pointers identity that propelled the Knicks to the league's third-best offense this season.

After spending nearly seven months figuring out what his most effective lineups look like, Woodson adjusted away from his team's strengths and into the Pacers', betting that Chandler (who has dealt with knee, neck and illness issues since about mid-March, who has been badly outplayed by Hibbert this series, and who scarcely resembles the force who was arguably the team's most important player earlier this season) and Martin (a middling rebounder at best throughout his NBA career) would make up for their lacking offensive contributions by more gamely battling the Pacers down low. He lost the bet. Indiana outrebounded New York 17-7 in the opening frame, outscored the Knicks 16-4 in the paint, led by seven after 12 minutes, and finished the game with significant edges in rebounding margin and percentage against the Knicks' big lineups.

• Another strategic choice by Woodson — having the Knicks' guards and wings double-team the post, largely in an attempt to quiet Hibbert, who had torched New York for 24 points in Game 3 — backfired badly. Indiana's bigs repeatedly kicked the ball back out upon feeling the double, triggering ball-swings around the perimeter ahead of scrambling Knicks defensive rotations that often resulted in either new opportunities to drive or wide-open 3-point looks. George Hill and Lance Stephenson capitalized, combining to shoot 5 for 13 from beyond the arc, as the Pacers' offense more frequently resembled the Knicks' offense than anything the Knicks have mustered in a month.

• Woodson doubled down on his dicey adjustments by not only moving Prigioni to the bench, but by all-but fastening him to it throughout Game 4.

The Knicks went 20-6 after Woodson moved Prigioni into the starting lineup in mid-March, and the 35-year-old Argentinian has been the only member of New York's rotation regularly knocking down 3-pointers this postseason, hitting at a 43.5 percent clip. New York's offense flows more freely when he's on the court, and his aggressive defense tends to help disrupt opposing backcourts. The numbers bear that out — New York has outscored Boston and Indiana by 18.4 points per 100 possessions when Prigioni is on the floor this postseason, and has been outscored by 5.6 points-per-100 when he sits, according to NBA.com's stat tool.

Prigioni played three minutes and 26 seconds on Tuesday, and didn't see the court at all after the 8:21 mark of the second quarter.

"I'm not going to sit and explain," Woodson said after the game, according to Newsday's Iannazzone. "Right now I'm reaching trying to find combinations that will work."

• Woodson's combinations continue to include guard Jason Kidd, who hasn't made a shot since the first quarter of Game 2 against the Celtics on April 23. In the time since his last make — a three-week period that has encompassed 8 3/4 games, of which Kidd has played nearly 196 minutes — Kidd has missed 17 straight shots, 10 of which have been 3-pointers, and he hasn't attempted a free throw.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's the second player in NBA history to play at least five minutes in eight straight playoff games without scoring. While Kidd's leadership and "intangibles" were thought to be major assets for a Knicks team aiming for a deep playoff run, he is now providing significantly less production than the much-maligned Mike Bibby did during New York's brief postseason appearance last spring.

• Kidd hasn't been alone, either. As Zach Schonbrun of the New York Times notes, Kidd, Martin and Shumpert played 61 combined minutes in Game 4, took 11 total shots and scored zero total points.

The lack of production from Shumpert, in particular, was killer. The 22-year-old swingman had arguably been the Knicks' best player in the final three games of the Celtics series and the first two against Indiana, averaging 13.4 points per game on 51/44.4/87.5 shooting splits while grabbing just nearly seven rebounds and two steals a night over that five-game stretch, swarming on defense and seeming to have his bounce back.

But he, like the rest of the Knicks, has seemed tentative and unsure in the face of a suffocating Pacers defense, missing 14 of his last 17 shots, including an 0 for 6 mark in Game 4 and five missed 3-pointers. How much of that is owed to the left knee injury he suffered during Game 3, which prompted the Knicks to fly their orthopedic surgeon out to Indianapolis to examine the second-year player, remains unclear. Knicks coach Mike Woodson told TNT's Rachel Nichols during the game that Shumpert's curtailed playing time had nothing to do with the injury, but rather due to his offensive ineffectiveness.

• With no Knick besides Anthony (24 points, albeit on 9 for 23 shooting) and Raymond Felton (14 points, albeit on 7 for 16 shooting) regularly making shots until Smith's late-fourth-quarter surge, Woodson's search for offensive punch continued to steer clear of sharpshooter Steve Novak, who has played just eight minutes in this series and didn't appear Tuesday until Game 4's final minute. He promptly hit a 3-pointer.

Woodson did give a longer look to forward Chris Copeland, with mixed results. The 29-year-old rookie was victimized on back-door cuts twice right after checking into the game, but scored six points in 12 minutes and made two of the three 3-point looks he got; whether Woodson's willing to live with the former in pursuit of more of the latter in Game 5 remains to be seen.

See? There's plenty of blame to go around, J.R. — from your coach to your center to your Yoda point guard, and everyone in-between. And none of that even really deals with the biggest problem:

The Indiana Pacers are really, really good. Maybe in the midst of all this blame, we should also give some credit where it's due.

For many NBA types, rings won as a player would represent the pinnacle of achievement in the sport; in Jackson's case, though, they serve as sort of a precursor and accent mark to the story of his later coaching accomplishments. As such — and also because they aren't quite as flashy as what came later — it seems like we don't often see Jackson sporting the rings he won on the floor. One Zen Master Twitter follower wondered what they looked like:

@philjackson11 Phil can you post a picture of your two Knicks championship rings? I've never seen a picture of them.

— Sean (@sthomas141) May 14, 2013

Jackson, now throwing himself wholeheartedly into social media, was happy to oblige, and do so in a pretty perfectly Phil way:

"here’s the best I can do…the 2 Knick rings are in the front of the picture," Jackson tweeted.

"The best I can do" is fantastic — like, "I've tried everything to get these other 11 rings out of the frame, but they just won't budge, and also I'm not that good at using my cameraphone. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to show you all 13. Sorry."

Alternatively:

"Hey, Phil, do you have five bucks I can borrow?"

"Hmm. Well, here's the best I can do — just grab that fiver in the front of this Scrooge McDuck-esque treasure heap."

"Um ... thanks?"

It's pretty rad that Jackson's willing to share this sort of stuff with his Twitter followers. It's also pretty great that he won't pass up even a small opportunity to remind us that he's got enough jewelry to put The Mandarin to shame. The lesson, as always: If you've got it, flaunt it, even when only asked for one or two of "it."

INDIANAPOLIS – The Knicks attempted to find another gear against the Indiana Pacers’ all-world defense on Tuesday, but the engine repeatedly failed to even turn over for New York. Indiana kept up its stifling defense and opportunistic offense in the team’s 93-82 win in Game 4, sending the series back to New York with the once-favored Knicks down 3-1, just one loss away from the end of the team’s up and down season.

The Pacers managed to pull out the home victory by moving up and down the court more adeptly and confidently than before, as Indiana was able to establish a speedier attack early that sustained throughout the game due to New York’s miserable shooting. Just 10 fast break points for the Pacers in its win, but because the team was able to move into its offense off of all those long rebounds following New York misses, coach Frank Vogel’s crew kept the Knicks at arm’s length all night.

To New York’s credit, the team’s initial spacing looked much better than it did during losses in Games 1 and 3. Carmelo Anthony attempted to initiate more screen and roll basketball, a response to two weeks’ worth of criticism that came to a head when Knicks center Tyson Chandler demanded his team entertain the idea of actually moving the ball following the Game 3 loss. The Knicks tried, the team moved into its once-stagnant offense earlier in possessions and attempted to push during their own transition forays, but the Pacers did brilliant work in getting in the way of calm offensive waters for New York. The Knicks attempted just two fast break shots, and Indiana’s length once again led to a pitiful shooting night for the visitors.

New York switched out the struggling Pablo Prigioni to start the game, moving Anthony to small forward and inserting Kenyon Martin into the starting lineup, but none of these switches did anything for a Knick team that finished the night with a 35.6 shooting mark – a percentage that topped their Game 3 shooting number by less than half of a percentage point.

Even Raymond Felton’s relatively hot start only allowed for 14 points on 16 shots in the loss, while Anthony once again struggled to free the clutches of Pacers swingman Paul George. Anthony played with effort and rebounded better (nine caroms) in the loss, but he needed 23 shots to score his 24 points.

Tyson Chandler came through with a determined, gutty effort (the center still doesn’t look like the all-around demon that did so well for the Knicks last season, and the Knicks were reduced to needlessly double-teaming Roy Hibbert in the first half), but his double-double output (12 points and 10 rebounds, three blocks) wasn’t enough.

On the other end, the Knicks had no answer for a confident, springy Pacers guard in George Hill; a player that may have turned in his best game as a Pacer, according to Indiana head coach Frank Vogel.

The Indianapolis native finished off several broken or delayed plays on his way toward 26 points on only 14 shots. With efficient shots at a premium in yet another clutch-and-grab, defensive battle, the Pacers point guard was able to find his way to the ball with ease after giving it up to start the possession, usually bailing his teammates out (Paul George and Roy Hibbert combined to miss 19 of 27 shots) with instinctual drives and finishes at the rim.

Hill was usually allowed to change the course of action in the contest because the Pacers were so active, yet again, on the offensive glass. The team pulled in 16 offensive rebounds just two nights after grabbing 18 in Indiana’s Game 3 conquest, and though the Knicks can’t expect to win when giving up totals like that, keeping a bead on Indiana’s long rebounds after perimeter misses is easier said than done. New York’s big lineup was little help: Anthony managed to pull in nine rebounds during his spell, but Kenyon Martin (always a poor rebounder) grabbed just five in nearly 29 minutes, and the team’s guards were no help.

Frustrated by the second half, the Knicks turned to fouling, sending Indiana to the line 19 times over the last two quarters, mostly on reactions and reach-ins that just did not have to happen. This helped the Pacers hold on despite a second half that saw the team shoot 36 percent, an offensive malaise that was the reason that Indiana was unable to turn this game into a blowout. Indiana won by “just” 11, but the outcome in this one was never in doubt.

It’s that Pacer offense, and not the team’s fabulous defense, that could bring this series back to Indiana. The Knicks will enter Game 5 in New York full of nagging questions – the team’s depth has abandoned them, the defensive rotations leave plenty to be desired, J.R. Smith has fallen down an offensive well (Smith has made just 27 of his last 91 shots, shooting 29 percent over his last six games) – but the Pacers will still be hard-pressed to put up 93 points again. Indiana has carried over its league-best defense into the postseason, but you have to worry about a team that was given so many chances in that win, yet failed to fully capitalize.

Maybe they won’t need to. Maybe Indiana’s defense, coupled with New York’s continued frustration, could be enough to end this series in five games. One wouldn’t think a veteran team like the Knicks would go out in such a blaze of incompetency, but with Indiana defending the way it does, will the Knicks have any choice?

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New York Knicks shooting guard J.R. Smith checked into Game 4 against the Indiana Pacers with 7:11 remaining in the first quarter. Sixty seconds later, the struggling Sixth Man of the Year took his first shot of the night, a 27-foot 3-pointer. As has been the case with most of his other shots in this series — and, really, since he elbowed Jason Terry in the chin — he missed.

Moments later, this appeared on Twitter:

Yes.

— Did JR Smith Miss? (@DidJRSmithMiss) May 14, 2013

And a new meme was born.

Eight minutes later:

Yes. — Did JR Smith Miss? (@DidJRSmithMiss) May 14, 2013

Five minutes after that:

.Yes

— Did JR Smith Miss? (@DidJRSmithMiss) May 14, 2013

Just after the start of the second quarter:

Yep. — Did JR Smith Miss? (@DidJRSmithMiss) May 14, 2013

And, giving credit where it's due, a minute afterward, when Smith knocked down his first jumper of the evening:

No!

— Did JR Smith Miss? (@DidJRSmithMiss) May 14, 2013

And so it went.

Unfortunately for Knicks fans, there were far more of the former style than the latter throughout yet another poor shooting performance for both Smith and the Knicks as a whole (31 for 87 from the floor, 35.6 percent). The result? A 93-82 loss that gives the Pacers a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Knicks will now need to win three straight games, beginning with Thursday night's Game 5 at Madison Square Garden, if they hope to stave off elimination and advance. To do so, they will need to overcome a Pacers squad that never trailed, once again dominated the boards (54-36, with 16 coming on the offensive glass) and got several strong performances — most notably, guard George Hill's 26 points on 9 for 14 shooting — to take firm control of the series.

How'd J.R. finish up?

Recap: yes, yes, yes, yes, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, no, yes, yes, no, yes, yes, no, no, yes, no, yes, no. — Did JR Smith Miss? (@DidJRSmithMiss) May 15, 2013

That works out to 19 points on 7 for 22 from the floor, though 12 came on 5 for 10 shooting in an all-over-but-the-shoutin' fourth quarter. Better than he's been, but not nearly good enough for the Knicks.

One last stat: The account's first tweet came at 7:18 p.m. EDT Tuesday. As of 9:48 p.m. EDT, it had 1,981 followers. Who says all the good social media ideas are taken?

And one last tweet, this one coming from Frank Isola of the New York Daily News:

J.R. Smith: "I take the blame for this whole series."

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) May 15, 2013

We appreciate your candor, J.R. There are already plenty of Knicks fans doing that, so at least you won't feel alone.

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The fight for the Sacramento Kings is reaching a fever pitch. After the NBA's relocation committee unanimously recommended the Kings stay in Sacramento, the group of Seattle owners led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (along with current Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof) has made efforts to ensure that they end up with the franchise. The Seattle group reportedly has a backup deal in place with the Maloofs to gain a minority stake and eventually move the franchise, in case their existing deal is denied when the Board of Governors votes on it Wednesday. (Never mind that Hansen and Ballmer have proposed so many different plans that it's now unclear exactly what the BOG is voting on.) It appears that Hansen and Ballmer are willing to pursue every possible lead in buying the Kings, and it's unclear what could inspire them to give up their quest.

It appears that those efforts may now be rubbing up against the league's typical standards of comportment and professional respect. As reported by Aaron Bruski for ProBasketballTalk, several league officials are getting tired of Ballmer's manner and methods as he attempts to lock down his purchase of the Kings:

But now that Seattle’s advances have been rebuffed by the NBA, sources say it’s Ballmer that has taken on a larger role in decision-making for the Seattle ownership group. The polar opposite of the soft-spoken hedge fund manager in Hansen – Ballmer is known for being loud and outrageous. Vanity Fair ran a seething piece (Microsoft’s Lost Decade) last August detailing a violent incident and more.

Now that Ballmer has taken on a larger role with the Seattle group, league sources tell PBT that the same bravado he has employed with Microsoft is turning heads at the league office – and not in a good way. It’s no secret that Ballmer is a handful — but a well-connected and filthy rich handful that the NBA would love to have in its stable. At least that was the case. According to league sources speaking to PBT under condition of anonymity, the recent power plays made by Seattle and the Maloof family have “started to weigh on the NBA to the point where any Ballmer-led proposal now or in the future could fall on deaf ears if he doesn’t change course.”

When asked to clarify, the source said that should the Seattle group continue to pursue a scorched earth policy with the Sacramento marketplace, they would jeopardize the city’s ability to secure an NBA team down the road should an opportunity present itself. [...]

“He’s on a rampage,” said one source. “He assumed he could backdoor Sacramento with a willing partner in the Maloofs, but he underestimated Sacramento and now he thinks he can twist enough arms around the league to force his way into the association.”

It's worth reading the full report, because Bruski provides several details on exactly how Ballmer is upsetting the league. In short, the idea is that he and his group are attempting to create a bidding war by changing the terms of the sale whenever it suits their interests. There are several problems with that approach, but the specific issue appears to be that Ballmer has more interest in figuring out a way to engineer a sale than in viewing the NBA as a long-term business partner to be worked with on a personal, friendlier way. The prospective Sacramento ownership group, by contrast, is working very closely with the league and has their full support (this is by necessity, obviously, since the Maloofs seem hellbent on selling for as much money as they can get, i.e. to Hansen to Ballmer).

It seems highly likely that Bruski's report is not merely news, but part of an effort on these sources' part to paint Ballmer in a negative light and perhaps shame him into being less forceful. The suggestion that he is jeopardizing Seattle's long-term NBA viability is not a minor one — it's basically a threat. As usual, the personal politics of the sale are playing out in public.

Yet, while there are ulterior motives in leaking this information, that doesn't mean there aren't broader points to be derived from it. The basic idea of this threat to Ballmer is that his actions have long-term consequences, whether that involves the inability of Seattle to get a team or the foiling of his personal attempts to become an NBA owner. The same can be said of the Seattle group's entire plan to get this team, too. While their circumstances allow them to bid exorbitant sums for the Kings, it's typically the case that the sale price of one franchise affect the future valuations of all NBA teams. It's nice to think that the market plays by fully logical rules and can acknowledge that these circumstances are special, but the course of a sale usually proceeds more irrationally (as we're seeing now).

In attempting to build the best offer, Hansen and Ballmer have created several dangerous precedents, some of which may become irrelevant if they are denied. Yet, if we assume that they do eventually get the Kings, it's hard to know how their actions will forge the next path for prospective owners. Will buyers attempt to deal solely with unhappy owners and bend the league as a whole to their desires? Will franchise valuations submit to the logic of financial analysis or the whims of billionaires who really, really want a team? Will that price out local owners in certain markets? There are many ethical questions such as these that deserve to be asked whenever a buyer emerges for a franchise. When we don't ask them and focus on the specifics of a sale instead — i.e. should the league bring this rich person into the fold regardless of his effect on the current system of ownership just because that rich and powerful? — there's a tendency to effect the long-term state of the league in pursuit of a short-term reward. A lack of foresight can create unintended consequences, many of which get sorted out with work stoppages that place the onus of responsibility on the players' union.

This argument is perhaps a little too strong, because the vast majority of new owners enter the NBA with little controversy. Yet, in the case of the Kings, even what the majority assumes to be the morally correct outcome could have a bad effect on the league because of this sale has proceeded. As Hansen and Ballmer added to their offer, the Sacramento group countered some of their key arguments by promising not to accept their full share of revenue sharing money should they fall into that group of franchises. (Hansen, in something of a response, promised that the new Sonics would pay into the revenue sharing fund on a permanent basis.) Put bluntly, this promise is a perversion of the goal of the revenue sharing system, an attempt to make the Kings more attractive to the NBA system by rejecting the rules of that system. Once again, the pursuit of a certain goal can have a drastic impact on the future of the league.

Whether or not Ballmer actually deserves this public shaming of his methods, the fact is that the NBA has made a very good point (inadvertently or not) about the ways in which short-term tactics affect circumstances over time. The personal actions of powerful men often have very public consequences.

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: Blank on Blank. The PBS Digital series that exhumes lost interviews and animates the conversation offers a cool spin on an 1992 chat between Ann Liguori and legendary big man Wilt Chamberlain about the peaks and valleys of being a giant. (Hat-tip to SB Nation's Tom Ziller.)

PF: SB Nation. With a pivotal Game 5 on tap Tuesday night, Drew Garrison looks at how the Golden State Warriors were able to exploit the San Antonio Spurs' pick-and-roll coverages late in their Game 4 win, and how San Antonio can tighten up their defense to help take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven series.

SF: All Ball. Lang Whitaker revisits "The Reggie Miller Show," a real thing that actually existed, because someone out there knew all along just how enjoyable Reggie would be to watch and listen to on television. (Featuring a young Conan O'Brien!)

SG: Grantland and The Point Forward. Smart friends of the program Zach Lowe and Rob Mahoney take us inside the offensive evolution of the stronger-than-ever Memphis Grizzlies, with Lowe focusing on the steady growth of point guard Mike Conley and Mahoney emphasizing the "decongestant" element of removing Rudy Gay from Memphis' half-court sets.

PG: HoopSpeak. A good read from Beckley Mason on maturity, experimentation and growth in the NBA playoffs, as viewed through the prism of wishing you'd learned more in college. (Been there, man.)

6th: The No Look Pass. Rey Moralde finds, and analyzes, a Kwame Brown YouTube highlight video soundtracked by Liz Phair, because this is the Internet and we can do whatever the hell we want.

7th: Salt Lake Tribune. After being eliminated from playoff contention on the final night of the regular season, the Utah Jazz front office is watching this postseason and envisioning brighter days ahead. If they want to get there, writes Kurt Kragthorpe, they should be taking careful note of how the Grizzlies became a contender.

8th: NBA.com. The NBA announced the 2012-13 All-Rookie First and Second Teams. Congratulations, selected rookies! Way to stink, unselected rookies!

9th: Liberty Ballers. With the Philadelphia 76ers hiring former Houston Rockets assistant general manager Sam Hinkie to lead the franchise in a new direction, and some local columnists not looking too kindly at Hinkie's analytics-focused past, Derek Bodner takes a closer look at what it means to brand someone an "analytic," and what being someone who focuses on "analytics" actually means. The big takeaway: Even if we don't always use the same words, we're still speaking the same language.

10th: Wizards Insider. Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman on the primary objective in developing stalled and confidence-devoid 2011 lottery pick Jan Vesely: "He needs to work on his head first."

Got a link or tip for Ball Don't Lie? Give me a shout at devine (at) yahoo-inc.com, or follow me on Twitter.

The NBA’s All-Defensive teams were announced on Monday, and no Golden State Warrior received a vote. Pretty standard, especially for a Warriors team that ranked only 14th in defensive efficiency during the regular season, a squad whose best defender (Andrew Bogut) has first team potential, but struggled throughout the regular season with ankle woes.

In his never-ending quest to motivate his young club, Mark Jackson offered up the sort of “us against the world”-technique that has worked so well for him this season. Here’s his response, as quoted by Rusty Simmons at SF Gate:

“Get in line,” Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said before his team flew from the Bay Area to San Antonio for Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals. “Our executive finished in seventh place. Steph Curry was home during All-Star week. Joe Lacob is probably the No. 7 owner in the league. Harrison Barnes didn’t get any Rookie of the Year votes. He shouldn’t have been the Rookie of the Year, but he should be First-Team All-Rookie. Jarrett Jack wasn’t the Sixth Man of the Year. The only thing they got right was me.”

Jackson finished seventh in the Coach of the Year voting, which was announced last week. Meanwhile, his team has made marked strides — doubling last season’s win total and improving their standing in opponent’s field-goal percentage and defensive rebounding by more than 20 spots among the league.

Of course, this is Jackson’s job. It’s not his job to get the voting correct (though his peers in the coaching ranks made some questionable choices with their picks with the All-Defensive teams), it’s his job to trump up the confidence of a team in its first playoff run, attempting to knock off a San Antonio Spurs franchise that has been through several long playoff conquests.

It’s my job to get it right, and while I think it pretty bogus that Stephen Curry was not an All-Star, his deserved presence on the team in February should have probably come at teammate David Lee’s expense. And while Bogut is one of my favorite players when healthy, and he’s shown All-Defensive mettle during the postseason (while still clearly hurt), he just wasn’t up to his old tricks in the regular season. And the Warriors, while improved under the “defensive mindset” that Jackson brought up later in his interview with Simmons, still aren’t quite a knockout defensive squad.

They’re a knockout squad overall, though, thanks in large part to the work of Jackson and his staff. The Warriors are so highly regarded that most are still calling the team’s Western Conference semifinals with the Spurs a tossup, despite it turning into a best-of three series with two games left to be potentially played in San Antonio. Sometimes great teams receive very little postseason award recognition, and I’m sure each and every award winner from this awards season would gladly trade in votes or even hardware for a chance to be still playing on May 14.

(Save for J.R. Smith. Not because he isn’t a competitor, but because the Sixth Man Award winner looks really sick today. Probably would prefer that Game 4 between the Knicks and Pacers be delayed.)

Jackson’s mini-gripe wasn’t all for naught, though. The NBA released its All-Rookie teams on Tuesday, and Harrison Barnes made the cut – and deservedly so. Good lookin’ out, coach.

Indiana Pacers legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller made waves earlier in this postseason by calling Game 2 of Indiana and New York’s Eastern Conference semifinal series on the anniversary of his famous “eight points in nine seconds” performance against the Knicks in 1994. Now, with the Pacers attempting to take a firm grasp on the second round series, the TNT analyst is now back at the Pacers’ home arena for his first postseason game in Indiana since Reg’s final game as a pro back in 2005.

On the eve of calling Tuesday’s Game 4, Miller talked with Indianapolis Star scribe Mike Wells to discuss, amongst many other things, the potential for Reggie to take to the Pacers’ front office in some capacity.

Q: You have the life of luxury. You work one day a week during the regular season. But how much do you think about running a team in the front office?

All the time. It would have to be the right situation (and), for me, the only situation I know is Indiana.

Those competitive juices always flow. During the regular season, not so much because it’s only one day a week. It really picks up come the end of March and April when the playoffs are about to start and we have a lot of games. That’s when my blood starts to boil and I start to sweat a little bit more. I’m in the action because every possession means something.

That’s when I think I could possibly do that. Again, it’ll have to be the right situation. We’ll see. I’m not going to broadcast forever. I’ll probably want to do something else in basketball, which will probably be running a team or at least helping run a team.

You don’t get the feeling that Reg is leaning too hard on angling for the Pacers’ gig. He’s talking to Mike Wells, one of the best NBA beat writers in this business, but he’s also dealing with a local paper, and nothing that will be replayed salaciously on Tuesday night’s TNT broadcast of New York and Indiana’s Game 3.

Mostly because Pacer personnel chief Donnie Walsh is the man that stuck his neck out for Miller in the 1987 NBA draft, taking him in spite of a rabid Pacer crowd that wanted local legend Steve Alford instead. And should Larry Bird return to the Pacers’ front office after a year off, it’s doubtful that Miller would attempt to usurp the man who coached him to the NBA Finals in 2000. That’s why, even though we think Miller would not be much of a success as a personnel man, it’s admirable that Miller is centralizing his front office hopes, while remaining respectful.

“Admirable” is also the sort of word that can be used to describe Pacers center Roy Hibbert, who is now playing more minutes per game than at any point in his career. Roy has averaged 25 minutes per game on his career, while never topping the 30 minute mark per game (even in his All-Star year of 2011-12) once in his five-season run. And yet Roy has been able to average 37.6 minutes per game over his last five playoff contests, featuring four Pacer wins, in a much-needed run between the team’s first and second round series.

Hibbert, who topped 40 minutes for just the fourth time in his career in Game 3, seems to want more. From Howard Beck at the New York Times:

“To tell you the truth,” Hibbert said, “I’d like to play the whole game.”

[…]

Hibbert’s success is a testament to his work on improving his physique — he became stronger and more nimble with the help of the M.M.A. workouts and a nutritionist — and his evolving offensive game, which began humbly. When he was a gangly 7-1 freshman at Georgetown, the Hoyas’ coaching staff was not sure what to make of him.

“He had a long way to go, and I think that’s probably an understatement,” Coach John Thompson III said in a telephone interview.

The Pacers have a long way to go. Miller contradicted himself while talking to Wells, noting that Indiana was in “uncharted waters” directly before bringing up the team’s similar 2-1 Eastern semifinals lead over Miami from a year before. The Knicks have had their struggles, but Indiana’s inability to smoothly score will keep these games close unless New York completely gives up. And, three days after being embarrassed by the Pacers physically in a tough Indiana win, the combative Knicks seem like the sort of group to pull out all the stops.

At least their fans hope that this will be the case.

Neither of these teams may top 90 points between now and the end of this series, but that doesn’t mean the intrigue isn’t there. If you deign to tune in on Tuesday, you’ll be watching two teams attempting to return to the peak of their 1990s runs as Eastern contenders, two franchises that refuse to disassociate themselves with the past.

That in and of itself – to say nothing of the spirited play – should be worth your eyes.

Just like my father always said: "If at first you don't succeed, make a joke out of the whole thing and throw a baseball into a crowd." It's not just advice. It's an ethos.

Good stuff, Amir Johnson. I don't suspect you'll be asked back to Rogers Centre any time soon, but I guess if John Wall got the chance to redeem himself after this rough outing at a Washington Nationals game, anything's possible.

Well, anything but not getting made fun of by your Toronto Raptors teammates for your lack of control:

Great first pitch by @iamamirjohnson -__- ....smh wrong sport not supposed to bounce it lol

— Quincy Acy (@QuincyAcy) April 19, 2013

Solid advice, Quincy Acy. You should try to remember that "don't bounce it" thing next time, Amir. Just file it away for safe keeping.

Video via AmirTV. Hat-tip to TrueHoop's Henry Abbott.

The fears facing New York Knicks fans heading into the Eastern Conference semifinals focused on the Indiana Pacers' defense. In general, the concern was whether a best-in-the-league unit even stingier than the Boston Celtics group that gave the Knicks' O fits in Round 1 would prove too daunting a task. More specifically, the worries centered on whether a younger, faster, quicker and longer-limbed squad than Boston — featuring wing defenders capable of shutting off perimeter penetration one-on-one, a 7-foot-2 eraser capable of protecting the rim without requiring double teams and a system geared toward running opponents off the 3-point line — would eliminate the kind of open long-range looks born of dribble penetration and ball movement that made New York so dangerous during the regular season.

Through three games, those fears seem well-founded. New York's averaging just 90.3 points per game in the Eastern Conference semifinals, shooting 43.2 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from 3-point range in the series, and is coming off a Game 3 suffocation that saw them set season lows in 3-point makes and attempts. The Knicks are averaging 100.9 points per 100 possessions against the Pacers, which represents a massive drop-off from their season-long efficiency (108.6-per-100, third-best in the NBA) and is heavily inflated by the Knicks' late-Game-2 run. New York averaged less than one point per possession in their Game 1 loss and scored at a heinous 82.6-per-100 clip in Game 3, which is a level of ineptitude miles beyond what even the absolute worst NBA offenses typically muster.

It's tempting to suggest that this is a matter of leading scorers Carmelo Anthony (29 for 70, 41.4 percent) and J.R. Smith (11 for 42 in the series, 26.2 percent) just being embroiled in a slump from which they need to shake loose. The reality, though, is that Indiana defends the scoring pair roughly this well — both Anthony and Smith shot less 38 percent against the Pacers this season — and that the poor 100.9-per-100 efficiency mark (which would have tied the Knicks with the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons for the league's ninth-worst offense this year) is actually a stark improvement over New York's regular-season numbers against Indiana (91.8-per-100, their lowest mark against any opponent this season). This is not a cold snap or a fluke; this is what happens when an excellent defense knows how you're going to attack them, and you continue to attack them that way.

With that in mind, Game 4 might be a good time for Knicks coach Mike Woodson to consider attacking the Pacers a different way — by counteracting Indiana's grinding size by going smaller earlier and trying to kickstart a flagging offense by inserting little-used rookie Chris Copeland, whom Woodson has said could see more minutes in Indiana on Tuesday. That's a good idea.

Back before the start of the semifinals, I suggested giving Copeland a longer look against the Pacers in our series preview, thinking that his combination of 3-point shooting, off-the-dribble creativity and ability to finish broken plays might come in handy. He didn't see much action in Round 1; after starting the opening game of the Celtics series due to an injury to guard Pablo Prigioni and performing poorly — scoreless in 13 minutes, with Woodson saying he thought the 29-year-old rookie “looked nervous” in his postseason debut — Copeland found himself buried on the Knicks bench, logging three DNP-CDs against Boston. Copeland hasn't returned to the rotation since the Knicks eliminated the Celtics, popping up only sparingly in Games 1 through 3 against Indy.

It is, to some degree, understandable that Woodson hasn't thrown Copeland out there more freely and more often. For one thing, as the coach noted at the Knicks' Monday practice when asked about the likes of Copeland and center Marcus Camby, the presence of Anthony, centers Tyson Chandler and Kenyon Martin, and just-returned power forward Amar'e Stoudemire makes for a pretty crowded frontcourt already ("I can’t play 13 guys, [expletive]").

For another, with points and possessions at such a premium in a slow-paced postseason series, you get why Woodson might be leery of relying on a defender who struggled at times in one-on-one situations, anchoring against larger defenders, executing his help-defense responsibilities as part of the Knicks' team defense and working on the defensive glass. On a basic, elemental, coach-from-your-gut level, if Woodson doesn't trust the comparatively inexperienced Copeland as much as he trusts the other veterans in his frontcourt rotation — and he hasn't all season — then it's easy to grasp why the coach wouldn't opt for Copeland in the most high-leverage moments of the season.

That said, from a more removed perspective, it seems clear that even those veteran defenders aren't having a whole hell of a lot of success in keeping the Pacers off the boards or slowing down the likes of Indiana center Roy Hibbert, who's eating the lunch of a diminished Tyson Chandler — 57.7 percent from the floor when Chandler's out there in this series, with 12 offensive rebounds in 87 minutes — en route to near-monocle podium games. So if the "try to match size, physicality and toughness" approach isn't working, why not try out a spark that might help you outscore the opponent — which has been the Knicks' M.O. all year — and create a different offensive look for the Pacers to deal with?

The Knicks' primary offensive problems in this series have been their inability to beat Hibbert at the rim, threaten Indiana's defensive rotations with dribble penetration and generate 3-point looks. Inserting Copeland into the mix would seem to at least open the door to ameliorating some of those woes, particularly if Woodson's willing to roll the dice by putting Copeland at the five against Hibbert in some of the super small-ball lineups that worked wonders for the Knicks near the end of the regular season, as identified by Grantland Xs-and-Os champ Brett Koremenos:

[Copeland] will often begin most possessions diving hard off a pick-and-roll. This is the Chandler role, and it’s a vitally important one for a team’s offense. That cut through the paint forces defenses to collapse and jam Copeland. What makes him unique as a 5, however, is that instead of loitering around the basket looking for putbacks on dribble penetration — something that can often create a cluster of players around the rim — Copeland spaces out toward the perimeter [...]

The ability to put another floor-spacer on the court also helps when the Knicks' original attacks break down. If their first few actions occur without a shot, the team just spreads the floor and allows perimeter players like [Iman] Shumpert, [Raymond] Felton, or Anthony to exploit huge driving gaps.

Those gaps exist because Copeland — unlike Chandler, Martin or a still-rusty Stoudemire — is a legitimate threat to hit perimeter shots. The Colorado product shot 42.1 percent from 3-point land this year, and his ability to consistently hit from both the top of the floor (42.9 percent above the break) and from the short corners (41.5 percent) could give the Knicks more options on pick-and-pop looks off screen-and-rolls, whether begun high or (more preferably) on the sides of the floor, as Posting and Toasting's Dylan Murphy prescribed after Game 3.

Chandler and Martin present no offensive threat when they act as screeners in actions initiated up top, because there is precisely zero chance one of them will pop loose for a jumper; for them to do any damage at all, they'll have to roll hard to the rim after setting the pick (which they haven't been doing all that much or all that effectively) and their path will bring them right into Hibbert, stationed in the lane, watching and waiting. (This is why you see a lot of Hibbert ignoring the Knicks' bigs in the screenshots accompanying Mike Prada's SB Nation breakdown of how good Indy's defense was in Game 3.)

Matching Copeland up against Hibbert, on the other hand, as the Knicks did in an April win while Chandler was sidelined, puts the 7-foot-2 center in the unenviable position of having to either concede jumpers to a good shooter if he's unwilling to abandon the rim/too slow to do so:

Or exit the paint to contest the shot, which affords Copeland the chance to showcase the small forward's off-the-bounce skills he brings to the stretch-five spot, either to create for a teammate with the paint now vacated or to look for his own quick-fire shot before the defense can adjust:

That mixture worked well in New York's April win, as Copeland continued his surprisingly strong play with 20 points on 8 for 12 shooting and going 2 for 4 from downtown in 34 minutes. In fact, as Koremenos noted, while Woodson went to Copeland at the five very sparingly (and, really, only out of necessity due to injury depletion and foul trouble) during the regular season, it tended to be a productive lineup configuration for the Knicks. The sample sizes are small, but the results were pretty interesting:

• Copeland as the small-ball center alongside Anthony, Smith, Felton and Jason Kidd: Nine games, 38 total minutes, 121.3 points scored per 100 possessions, 108.8-per-100 allowed, +12.4-per-100, 55.6 percent effective field goal percentage (which accounts for 3-pointers being worth more than 2-pointers) and 60.6 percent True Shooting percentage (which also factors in the value of free throws).

• Copeland, Smith, Kidd, Felton and Steve Novak (another range shooter who might be a welcome addition to the Knicks lineup on Tuesday): Six games, 35 total minutes, 127.6 points scored per 100 possessions, 117.2-per-100 allowed, +10.4-per-100, 64.2 percent eFG%, 69.1 percent TS%.

• Copeland, Anthony, Shumpert, Prigioni and Felton: Two games, 22 minutes, 144.5-per-100 scored, 80.5-per-100 allowed, +64-per-100, 61.6 percent eFG%, 62.6 percent TS%.

Three other Copeland-at-the-five lineups — with Novak-Kidd-Smith-Prigioni, Anthony-Novak-Smith-Kidd and Novak-Smith-Shumpert-Kidd — also posted stellar offensive efficiency numbers and shooting percentages in sub-20-minute packages. (The same went for several other floor-spacing lineups that didn't feature Copeland at the five and also saw only small-stint playing time, including Stoudemire-Copeland-Novak-Smith-Prigioni and Chandler-Anthony-Copeland-Shumpert-Kidd.) The doses were small, but these lineups were potent, due in part to Copeland's ability to create and exploit mismatches against slower, more paint-laden opponents.

Now, this isn't to say that the answer to unlocking the Pacers' defense is as simple as putting a dude with dreadlocks in the lineup and rolling out the ball — Indiana's been the league's best defensive team all year, and they're aware that the Knicks are likely to juggle their personnel and play-calling for Game 4. It will be incumbent on New York to take advantage of any slip-ups Indiana might make with sharp on- and off-ball action and quick decision-making. Another offensive playmaker in the mix could help New York's chances of capitalizing; after three games of largely punchless play, it's time to find out if Copeland can provide that spark.

In the spring of 2012, after a disappointing second round ouster, then-Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown met with Kobe Bryant to discuss initiating a Princeton-styled offense for 2012-13. With capable big men Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol already on the team, Brown set to hire former Washington Wizards coach Eddie Jordan, a noted Princeton expert and former Laker player, to be his lead assistant, with Bryant’s full blessing.

Things kind of fell apart from there.

The offense was thrown for a loop when the team acquired Dwight Howard and Steve Nash later in the summer, as the Princeton eschews the sort of ball domination that makes a player like Nash so effective. After a winless preseason and 1-4 start to the regular season, Brown was let go as head man. Former Suns and Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, owner of offensive sensibilities that fly directly in the face of the notoriously slowed Princeton O, was then hired. Jordan, sent to the end of the bench, ended up taking a gig to help resurrect the flailing and failing Rutgers NCAA men’s basketball team.

And while Eddie appears happy at his alma mater, like a lot of people he seems a little frustrated at a Laker year gone sour. And with a front row seat’s worth of perspective, he talked to the Washington Post’s Michael Lee at length about how the whole experience soured him for the NBA:

“When I was hired there, there was no Dwight Howard and there was no Steve Nash and Mike Brown said, ‘I want you to help me with the offense,’ ” Jordan said. “We went through the preseason running principles of the Princeton offense that Kobe had asked about and that Mike Brown presented to Kobe and they agreed it was good for the Lakers. We lost eight games, but Mike Brown wasn’t concerned about winning. He was like, we have an older team. Kobe has nagging injuries and we didn’t want to wear our starters out. But our starters were very efficient and our bench was very short, so you saw that throughout the whole season. The 0-8 preseason, we weren’t concerned about winning, we wanted to get guys in tune. Then Nash got hurt, then Dwight got hurt, Mike Brown got fired and it was an outcry and frankly — I think a lot of people in basketball would know — Mike Brown and his personality and his style, is great for solid NBA teams, but the Lakers are different. The Lakers are different. It was even hard for Mike D’Antoni to get it going.”

[…]

“Mike Brown hired me. He was awesome. He allowed me to do a lot in a large role and when he was gone, Mike D’Antoni was gracious enough to keep me there and I really appreciate both those guys hiring me and retaining me. [Former Bullets/Wizards coach] Bernie Bickerstaff and I were reassigned to the back of the bench and we were okay. We were happy to be a part of it,” Jordan said. “It was a season of injuries, non-chemistry, getting to know each other as the season went along. Clashes of personalities and approaches and then it was more injuries. The injury factor and chemistry kept it dysfunctional to where you couldn’t have great success.”

Jordan went on to specifically mention the role that most had him pegged for in the absolute best-case scenario, that of a top offensive assistant in the mold of Basketball Hall of Famer Tex Winter, helping lead Brown and the Lakers to a series of titles. Instead, he’s off to Rutgers after just one season with Los Angeles, one that has him telling Lee that he does “not want to be a head coach anymore in the NBA.”

It’s easy to point to the Princeton as an offense unfit for a team with Los Angeles’ weapons, as most NBA fans recall it as a slow-down attack designed mostly to keep small scholarship teams like Princeton in with a chance against the giants, while putting up a 68-64 final score. And though the Lakers’ struggles with the offense were apparent early on, very sound basketball minds did find ways for the team to succeed using its hallmarks. And it’s important to note that the Sacramento Kings (featuring a ball dominating point guard and two great passing big men) used portions of the offense to great effect during Rick Adelman’s time in California, and Jordan worked well with another assist-heavy point guard in Jason Kidd while supporting head coach Byron Scott on the New Jersey Net bench.

It wouldn’t have been my first choice for the Lakers, either with the roster that was in place when Jordan was hired, or after the Nash and Howard deals, but at this point I’m also not sure what to make of these Lakers. Nash doesn’t look to be super-effective without the ball in his hands, but his advancing age leaves you wondering if he can even approximate his formerly super-effective ways with the ball in his hands. Bryant was amazingly efficient in 2012-13, but he faces quite the uphill battle in 2013-14 while recovering from a torn Achilles, and D’Antoni never really seemed like he knew what to do with that Gasol and Howard pairing.

None of us do, really.

These are just some of the many reasons that Jordan is in Rutgers now, never looking back. Save for the big interview he gave that talked quite a bit about the Lakers. There have been a lot of those, incidentally, in 2012-13. Pretty good exposure, for a 45-win team.

With great players comes great responsibility, and also great intrigue and great drama. Those great players are going to get old, and they need to be replaced nearly as-great players at some point so as to sustain your team’s greatness. No team, for years, has known this better than the Boston Celtics, and yet nobody on the team – from the front office down to the coaching staff to the team’s great players – has any idea what they’re going to do with their potentially franchise-changing 2013 offseason.

Save for Paul Pierce. At least, according to Comcast New England’s Greg Dickerson. Because only about a third of Paul Pierce’s $15.3 million deal is guaranteed for 2013-14, rumors abound that team personnel boss Danny Ainge may want to cut ties with the star to save money, or deal him elsewhere to prop up an aging roster. Which is why Pierce, according to Dickerson, thinks his days in Boston are numbered. Here’s what the Celtics sideline reporter told his viewers on Sunday:

"I don't think they will (bring Pierce back)," Dickerson said Sunday on CSNNE. "And I know that the company that Paul Pierce hangs around in, they do not believe – and I don't think Paul Pierce believes – that he is going to be brought back next year at $15 million.

"I know for a fact that people around Paul Pierce have pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that he's played his final game in a Boston Celtics uniform. Again, Paul wants to stay – obviously for $15 million, but he wants to finish his career in a Celtics uniform."

[…]

"If Paul's gone, I think without a doubt Kevin Garnett is gone – either by retirement or he finally decides to waive his no-trade clause, and the Celtics maybe work something out with a (Los Angeles Clippers) team," said Dickerson. "But the list is real short; the teams that Kevin Garnett would go to, there might be two of them on it, and they both might be the Clippers and (Los Angeles) Lakers."

All with a grain of salt, this. We basically have one guy guessing what another guy is thinking about what another guy is thinking about what could happen in late June. That’s it. Ainge has until June 30 to bash around ideas on Pierce’s 2013-14 contract, and we haven’t even set the draft lottery yet. There’s still plenty of time to figure this out, or for the plans to become clearer.

Ainge found interest in his stars as trade assets surprisingly muted during the trade deadline, but new options and money-saving potential around the June 27 draft could change the market. During February’s trade deadline, the pitch on Pierce was that he was going to be able to help you put your lacking team over the top. This time around, Ainge can sell his future Hall of Fame as a cap buster. Send me your $15 million in salary for Pierce, Ainge can tell teams, and you’ll only have to pay $5 million next year to make him go away.

That’s only if these teams exist, though. There are obvious luxury tax fiends in Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles, but by and large the NBA has been cutting costs and minding the long-term deals since the lockout ended in the fall of 2011. Expiring contracts don’t have as much value as they used to, which puts both Ainge and Pierce (especially if Paul is dead set on walking away if it’s made apparent that he won’t be a Celtic next season) in a tough spot. To say nothing of Kevin Garnett and Doc Rivers, who still have to decide if they’re returning.

All of this is guesswork, though. Guesswork made to guess the potential work of a personnel chief a month and a half ahead of when that chief will have to make his big move. The Celtics would really, really like June to get here quickly. And not for the usual reasons.

With his play not generating much attention, noted fashion plate Wade has taken to raising eyebrows with his pre- and postgame attire. First, he hit us with a floral patterned jacket and matching shirt from Versace's Spring 2013 runway collection. Then, before Monday's Game 4 against the Chicago Bulls, he brought out this adventurous, ankle-bearing, double-breasted number:

Hit the jump for more on Wade's high-water look, from our friends at the Yahoo! Sports Minute and TNT's "Inside the NBA."

When the TNT broadcast team of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal turned their attention away from the Heat's Game 4 whitewashing of the Bulls and toward Wade's tight-fitting look, the jokes began to fly:

Not content to let Charles, Kenny and Shaq have all the fun, comedian/two-time NBA All-Star Celebrity Game MVP Kevin Hart got in on the act:

Major shout out to my man dwaynewade for rocking my personal suit to the game LMFAO #WTFdoYouHaveOnMan… instagram.com/p/ZRaawfCYp8/

— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) May 14, 2013

Yeah, more than the polka-dot pattern or the fit of the suit jacket, it's (obviously) the ankle-revealing cut of Wade's suit pants that make them look like A) "manpris" and B) "an accident." Reasonable folks can differ on the look, though; after all, this is the signature style that made Thom Browne a trendsetting figure and GQ magazine's 2008 Menswear Designer of the Year.

For those of you who think Wade's look worked and want to emulate it, athlete style guru Megan Ann Wilson offers some helpful advice before you hit the streets with bare lower legs:

Guys remember if you want to show some ankle cleavage like D-Wade - don't forget to moisturize. Ashy ankles don't go well with $500 loafers. — Megan Ann Wilson (@shegotgame) May 13, 2013

(And probably even less well with whatever non-$500 shoes you're rocking.)

So what's your take — did D-Wade pull this off, or should the slim-fit, ankle-revealing polka-dotted number get buried in the back of his closet? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

“Team without its second-best player loses close game to a very good team while playing on the road. Film at 11.”

If the Houston Rockets’ surprisingly competitive first round turn against the Oklahoma City Thunder wasn’t convincing enough, then the Thunder’s 2-1 second round deficit entering Monday night should have been more than the proof you needed to appreciate Russell Westbrook’s many talents. The injured OKC guard was badly needed throughout the Thunder’s 103-97 overtime loss in Game 4 of the team’s series against the Memphis, especially with Kevin Durant missing 17 of 27 shots against a world-beating Grizzlies defense.

Westbrook’s finest attribute – making an efficient offensive play when all hope is seemingly lost – would have fit in perfectly for the Thunder on Monday. Scott Brooks’ crew ran out to a 17-point lead in the first half based mostly on Durant’s presence and the sound shooting touch of Serge Ibaka, but the Grizzlies did well to cut the lead down to eight by the half. Oklahoma City roared out of the gate once again to start the third quarter, but Durant’s shooting touch wore down in the face of expert Memphis defense by Tayshaun Prince, Tony Allen, and Marc Gasol (geez, good luck scoring on that), and the Grizz had it tied by the fourth period.

(A quarter that kept up the tie, but not after seeing some of the best and worst from two of the more entertaining teams in the game.)

Derek Fisher airballed both a three-point attempt, a long two-pointer, while missing another three-pointer that hit the front of the rim before hitting the shot clock before (illegally) going in. Zach Randolph did expert work finishing off of broken plays, but he also saw plenty of his shots sent back (five of Zach’s attempts were blocked, on the night), and he was the unfortunate victim of a well-intentioned but ultimately misspent final play in regulation – one that saw him trying to beat Kendrick Perkins off the dribble to win the game at the buzzer. Thunder coach Scott Brooks kept Kevin Martin on the bench in favor of Fisher, while the Grizz countered with a weird 4:20 run of Keyon Dooling’s own.

This isn’t to say that this was a fourth full of folly, friends. Durant was dogged in his approach, and the Thunder did well to space the floor with the three-time scoring champion at the top of the arc, surveying his options. The Memphis defense is just too good and too damn adaptive to be caught off guard, though, as Allen, Gasol, Mike Conley and Prince (that’s three members of the NBA’s top two All-Defensive team, alongside an all-timer in Tayshaun) reacting and cutting off angles down the stretch.

Randolph and Gasol combined for a fantastic interior line in the win. The pair teamed for 46 points, 23 rebounds, three assists, just four turnovers (incredible, considering how much these two had the ball spaced out over 88 minutes), with seven blocks. Prince had his share of timely buckets off of loping improvisations. Conley tossed in 24 while turning it over just once in nearly 49 minutes. Jerryd Bayless and Darrell Arthur were not scurred off the bench, so to speak.

And Oklahoma City, as you’d expect, were just missing that game-breaking element.

It’s true that a made free throw or reversed call could have given the Thunder a win in regulation, and a 2-2 series heading back to OKC. Still, it was apparent against Houston that the defending Western champs just aren’t nearly the same without Russell Westbrook’s derring-do, and that unpredictable approach that RW usually brings to a game was badly needed against a top tier defensive team like Memphis. And this is still with replacement Reggie Jackson cutting expertly (15 points on 6-8 shooting) and Kevin Martin playing efficiently (18 points on 12 shots).

The Thunder has enough to work their way towards a Game 7 in Oklahoma City. Memphis still struggles to score, the referee calls (which were iffy for both teams tonight, despite a veteran crew) could go either way, and Durant’s brilliance could heal all wounds. Wounding all heels from a visiting Memphis group of bashers that would be looking for the series-deciding upset.

This is what happens when a superstar like Russell Westbrook goes down, though. And even if Kevin Durant is more than enough to build a team around, superstars aren’t easily replaceable. Especially in May.

The Chicago Bulls opened Game 4 with Carlos Boozer rebounding a missed Marco Belinelli 3-pointer and sticking home a point-blank putback to take a 2-0 lead. It was a pretty good start.

It was also the last time they'd hold a lead over the Miami Heat on Monday night.

The Heat ripped off an 11-0 run after that Boozer layup, led by 11 at halftime and opened up a 26-point second-half gulf before finishing off an 88-65 win over an injured, shorthanded and — on one night, at least — utterly hopeless Bulls side in what started (thanks to a post-work crowd arriving late to the comparatively early 6 p.m. local start) and finished (thanks to a painful-to-watch second-half drubbing) as an all-but-lifeless United Center.

[More: Steph Curry plays through pain in Warriors win; can he do it again?]

LeBron James led the way with 27 points on 9 for 20 shooting, handed out eight assists, grabbed seven rebounds and added two steals to pace the Heat, who took a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Bulls. Miami will have a chance to close the Bulls out at home on Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Chris Bosh followed up his big Game 3 outing with another strong showing, chipping in 14 points on 7 for 10 shooting, six rebounds and four blocks. Bosh controlled the game early, scoring 10 points in the first quarter and making five of his first six shots. He and James (six points in the opening frame) outscored a Chicago team that managed just 15 points on 6 for 22 shooting in the first 12 minutes.

The offensive struggles only got worse as the game progressed. Playing for the sixth straight game without both ailing swingman Luol Deng — who was, oddly and for no apparent reason, listed as active for Game 4 despite literally having trouble keeping down solid food — and still-calf-bruised guard Kirk Hinrich, the Bulls just could not consistently muster or sustain any offense whatsoever in Game 4.

The combination of sound Miami defensive work (both in the half-court and in stifling transition opportunities), sloppy Chicago playmaking (17 turnovers against just 12 assists) and very evidently dead legs conspired to lead the Bulls into some grim historical territory for the second time in this series. The bummer breakdown:

• Chicago's 65 points marked the lowest single-game total in Bulls franchise playoff history.

• The Bulls' 19 for 74 shooting performance — just 25.7 percent from the field — was also a franchise playoff-worst.

• Chicago's nine-point third quarter was the lowest single-quarter output in franchise playoff history.

• Those 19 field goals were four fewer than the previous low-water mark for made shots in Bulls postseason history, set against the Detroit Pistons on May 7, 2007, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.

• This was the third time in the last 27 years (as far as Basketball-Reference.com's database goes back) that a team has scored 65 or fewer points while shooting 26 percent or less from the floor in a playoff game.

No Bull symbolized the struggle more than Nate Robinson. The diminutive point guard, who'd gone from persona non grata to folk hero for his performances, simply could not get off the schneid on Monday, missing all 12 of his field-goal attempts, matching his four assists with four turnovers and going scoreless in 32 dreadful minutes.

[Slideshow: Best of NBA playoffs second round]

Robinson was two shots shy of matching the all-time playoff record for most field-goal attempts taken without a make — Chick Reiser (Baltimore Bullets, 1948) and Dennis Johnson (Seattle SuperSonics, 1978) each missed 14 — when he was taken out with 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter. He didn't return in the fourth. After the game, Robinson told Johnson of the Tribune that he hurt his left shoulder on this second-quarter turnover:

Robinson was replaced for the fourth quarter by rookie Marquis Teague. He missed his only two field goals and tipped a pass into his own basket. It was that kind of night, a miserable evening where the energy in a place often referred to as the Madhouse on Madison was best described in this tweet by TrueHoop's Beckley Mason:

Recap: Biggest cheer of the night from Chicago's fans came when LeBron mishandled a breakaway with the Heat up 23 in the 4th.

— Beckley Mason (@BeckleyMason) May 14, 2013

Yep.

There was one bit of cloudy sky for the Heat in Game 4: During a second quarter post-up on Bulls wing Jimmy Butler, All-Star guard Dwyane Wade appeared to reaggravate the right knee bone-bruise he's been dealing with for a month and a half and that kept him out of Game 4 of Miami's opening-round sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Wade would later return to the game, though he didn't look very good in doing so, missing seven of his 10 field goal attempts and finishing with six points, four assists and three rebounds in 29 minutes. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game the team wouldn't know how badly Wade dinged up the knee until they returned to Miami, but James acknowledged that all members of the Heat are well aware that Wade's nowhere near 100 percent right now.

Boozer, who gave the Bulls their only lead of the game, scored a team-high 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, but shot a woeful 3 for 14 from the floor. Center Joakim Noah managed a muted six points and nine rebounds in 36 minutes, while reserve big Taj Gibson chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds. Shooting guard Richard Hamilton, who's barely been used this postseason despite the Bulls' paucity of healthy and available bodies, scored 11 points and dished four assists in 22 minutes off the Chicago bench, as Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau let the 14-year veteran out of his doghouse in a desperate search for an offensive spark.

Whether Rip's appearance was a one-shot deal or we'll see a repeat performance in Game 5 remains to be seen, although with the Bulls facing elimination in South Beach, it would seem like there's no choice left but for Thibodeau to play every card left in his hand. (You know, "next man up" and all.) If these Bulls — so resilient throughout the season, in defeating the Brooklyn Nets in Round 1, in shocking the Heat in Game 1 — have anything left in the tank, they'll need to bring it out on Wednesday. But if Game 4 was any indication, not only is that tank on E — even the fumes are gone.

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This is about as sound a summation of the Bulls' crippling offensive struggles throughout their 88-65 Game 4 loss as I can offer. Sorry, Marquis Teague (0 for 2 for the floor). Sorry, Nate Robinson (0 for 12). Sorry, Bulls fans.

The Heat will look to finish the Bulls off when Game 5 tips at 7 p.m. EDT at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami.

Video via sky2847.

Criticize Chris Bosh's pregame warmup if you will, but he did hit five of his first six shots, score 10 points, block two shots and snag a steal in the first quarter of the Miami Heat's visit to United Center for Game 4 against the Chicago Bulls on Monday. So maybe you're the weirdo.

Vine via the Heat. Hat-tip to Next Impulse Sports.

Detroit Pistons big man Andre Drummond was one of the most impressive rookies in the NBA this season, a dynamic force who managed many impressive stat lines despite playing only 20.7 minutes per game. His per-36-minute averages of 13.8 ppg, 13.2 rpg, and 2.8 bpg suggest a player who could eventually turn into one of the most impactful interior players in the league. There are good reasons to be bullish about his future.

On the other hand, Drummond can look exceedingly raw, like a player who gets by on his athleticism and intuition rather than his refined sense of the game. Drummond must recognize this issue, because he has hired a pretty famous coach to instruct him on the finer points of his position. From Perry A. Farrell for the Detroit Free Press:

Is Hakeem (The Dream) Olajuwon in Andre Drummond’s future?

The Hall of Fame center, one of the game’s all-time great offensive players, is expected to work with the Pistons’ center-forward over the summer to help him with his offensive game, which is still in the infant stages.

Drummond has been at the practice facility recently. He took about a two-week break, according to Pistons.com, before getting back into the gym to work on his game.

Olajuwon has earned acclaim for his post work with star players such as LeBron James and Dwight Howard, and Drummond's hope must be that one of the best centers of all time will help him develop some much-needed go-to moves inside. These sessions don't run cheap, either, so Drummond must be serious.

Of course, Hakeem is far from a sure bet to improve Drummond's game, and not just because a few practices can't replace a whole offseason of workouts. Last summer, Olajuwon helped out JaVale McGee, who saw little improvement in his post game despite needing similar rudimentary instruction. McGee is a singular player and shouldn't be taken as precedent for anyone, but it's possible that Hakeem is better used as someone who can add to a readymade offensive game than as someone who can construct those abilities from nothing. After all, we're only talking about a few meetings — it's not as if Olajuwon will serve as Drummond's personal coach for a protracted length of time.

Plus, on a very simple level, it's arguable that developing a few post moves isn't Drummond's greatest need at this point in his career. While Drummond certainly isn't any kind of go-to player in the post (his impressive 60.8 percent shooting came on only 5.7 attempts per game), he scores enough on putbacks and dunks to justify major minutes. The real issue for Drummond is that he can't shoot foul shots at anything resembling a respectable clip. At only 37.1 percent this season, he's an obvious mark for Slay-A-Dre tactics, putting his long-term viability as a scoring option into question. Drummond can have all the post moves he wants, but they won't matter if teams have reason to hack him any time he gets the ball. There's even an argument that this deficiency endangers him, since his high-flying ways and immense strength could cause teams to foul him very hard in mid-air with some regularity.

There's no reason that Drummond can't work on his post moves and free-throw shooting at the same time, but he could be following a popular path of development that doesn't necessarily correspond to his particular needs. Every player has a different set of skills, gaps, and even learning style, to the point where a one-size-fits-all approach can often be a distraction rather than a solution.