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The Boston Celtics showed that history and experience does matter when it comes to a winner-take-all Game 7, defeating the Philadelphia 76ers 85-75 to earn their third trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in the last five seasons.

The Celtics improved 21-7 all-time in Game 7s, the most such wins in NBA history. Entering the game, the players on Boston’s roster had a combined 27 games and 925 minutes of experience in Game 7s, compared to just three games and 59 minutes for the 76ers.

The 76ers dropped to 6-9 all-time in Game 7s, the most such losses in NBA history. Philadelphia has now lost each of the last 14 best-of-seven series its has played in which it trailed 3-2. That is the longest such streak in NBA history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Rondo Shines Late
Rajon Rondo was a non-factor through the first three quarters, scoring just seven points on 3-of-9 shooting, as the Celtics built a slim three-point lead. But he exploded in the fourth quarter, finishing with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his ninth career triple-double.

He scored all 11 of his fourth-quarter points after Paul Pierce fouled out with 4:16 remaining, personally outscoring (11-7) and outrebounding (3-1) the 76ers during that stretch.

His nine career playoff triple-doubles are tied with Wilt Chamberlain for the fourth-most in NBA history, behind only Magic Johnson (30), Jason Kidd (11), and Larry Bird (10). Rondo also joined Larry Bird as the only Celtics players to record a triple-double in a Game 7.

However, on top of recording a triple-double, Rajon Rondo had seven turnovers tonight. According to Elias, this is the first time a player on the winning side of a Game 7 committed at least seven turnovers.

Celtics Keys to the Game
In the first half, the Celtics used a strong running game to take a eight-point halftime lead. The Celtics outscored the 76ers 15-4 in transition in the first half, hitting 5-of-10 shots on the break compared to just 10-of-30 attempts in their half-court offense.

The Celtics took control of the game in the fourth quarter as they finally found their shooting touch from the perimeter.

Boston missed its first 14 shots from beyond the arc before Ray Allen hit a three-pointer with 9:51 remaining in the game, and ended up making its final three three-point attempts.

The Celtics defense also proved to be a difference-maker in Game 7, as it held the 76ers to just 66 points and 35 percent shooting on 92 plays in the half-court. The Celtics' half-court defense ranks first in points per game (68.5) and points per play (0.79), and second in field goal percentage allowed this postseason.

What’s Next
The Celtics will face the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night. The Celtics won three of the four matchups in the regular season, outscoring the Heat by nearly eight points per game while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor in those contests.

However, Mario Chalmers is the only one of the projected Game 1 starters to have started in all four games. In their final regular-season meeting, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Rondo, Kevin Garnett and Allen each did not play.

The Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics continue their storied playoff rivalry as they meet Saturday night (ABC, 8 ET) in Boston for the seventh all-time Game 7 between these franchises.

The Celtics own a 4-2 advantage in the previous six matchups, but the 76ers won the most recent game three decades ago in the 1982 Eastern Conference Finals.

Game 7 Stats To Know
History appears to be on the Celtics’ side as they are 17-4 all-time at home in Game 7s. They did lose their last such game in 2009 against the Orlando Magic, but they have never lost consecutive Game 7s at home. The Celtics are also 20-7 overall in Game 7s, the most such wins and second-best record in NBA history (min. five games).

The 76ers, on the other hand, are just 1-7 all-time on the road in Game 7s and haven’t played one since 1986. The franchise is 6-8 overall in Game 7s; the eight losses are tied for the most in NBA history.

Celtics Keys to the Game
The Celtics have yet to lose back-to-back games this postseason, having won all four contests following a loss. However, the Celts have not fared well trying to close out a series since the "Big 3" was formed entering the 2007-08 season. They are 10-13 in potential series clinchers (1-2 this postseason).

Kevin Garnett’s jump-shooting has kept the Celtics in this series. Garnett has made 26-of-55 (47 percent) jump shots from 15 feet and beyond. The rest of the Celtics have combined to shoot 30 percent from that distance this series.

The absence of Avery Bradley, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery on Friday, is significant for the Celtics, as it takes away their best five-man lineup this postseason.

When Bradley, Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass and Garnett have been on the court together, the Celtics have outscored opponents by 53 points. Their next-best lineup has outscored opponents by only 18 points.

76ers Keys to the Game
Philadelphia is looking to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001 and is trying to become the first No. 8 seed to reach the conference finals since the Knicks in the lockout-shortened 1999 season.

However, they will need to overcome history in order to make it to the next round.

The 76ers have lost each of the last 13 best-of-seven series in which they have trailed 3-2. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the longest such streak in NBA history.

One of the deciding factors in this series has been the 76ers' ability to establish the pick and roll. In their three wins, they’re averaging 11 points running the pick and roll. In their three losses, they’re averaging eight points on 29 percent shooting.

Offense has been an issue in the playoffs for the 76ers, who are scoring 86.6 points per game, the fewest among remaining teams. The 76ers haven’t scored more than 92 points in their last 10 games, the longest single postseason streak of its kind since the Pistons in 2006 (11 games).

During the great lockout of 2011, ESPN.com's NBA team put together a fun little project, which was ranking every player in the NBA.

We did the #NBArank project, as far as we know, in an entirely new way: We crowd-sourced it. More than 100 voters participated; all kinds of staffers at ESPN.com and the local sites, as well as nearly all of the TrueHoop Network. (We have used the same technique, by the way, to predict how many games every NBA team will win, before the season starts, and beat Vegas. It's an interesting system, but not a perfect one.)

It was a little tricky to figure out precisely whom to include -- at the fringes, in the summer, it's hard to know who is in and who is out of the league. We settled on some rules that left us with, as it happened, precisely 500 players.

As soon as that was decided, well, somebody had to be good ol' Mr. 500.

Hold that thought.

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John Hollinger (Insider) says that for the Sixers to win Game 7, they need to play a lot of Lavoy Allen.

He's been the one player that seemingly can neutralize Kevin Garnett's otherwise massive plus-minus advantage. Garnett is plus-55 for the series -- that's plus-58 when Allen is off the court and minus-3 when he's on it. One much-discussed key is Allen's ability to push Garnett further out and contest his shots, and the numbers back that up -- Garnett is 6-of-17 inside 15 feet against Allen and 19-of-26 when he's off the court. The regular-season numbers, albeit in a smaller sample, support this trend. Garnett was 1-for-7 from the field when Allen played, 21-for-34 when he sat.

But in terms of plus-minus, the impact has been just as great on the offensive end. The change in Philly's production based on the Allen-Garnett dynamic has been jarring: If Allen plays and Garnett doesn't, the Sixers score 121.2 points per 100 possessions; if both play, it's 103.2; and if it's just Garnett, Philly nets only 78.2.

Obviously, it's ridiculous to assign that big a swing to two players, but the data backs up the idea that Allen has made a huge impact (in fact, he quietly leads the team in playoff PER at 18.70, given his ability on the boards and around the basket), and he needs to play a major role in Game 7 if Philly wants to pull the upset.

(Statistical support for this story from NBA.com.)

Also worth noting: The Celtics get 48.5 rebounds per 48 minutes when Allen is on the bench. When Allen plays, that number falls all the way to 31.7. Big difference.

Lavoy Allen is young, big and making his presence felt.

---

I recently visited the Sixers' locker room on a mission to talk to Allen. It went like this:

We ranked NBA players 1 to 500 last summer. Somebody had to be Mr. 500. I can't imagine that felt great.

I didn't really worry about it too much. I got a little publicity. That's what I liked about it. People didn't know who I was before that. So I didn't really worry about it too much.

You didn't look at the people ahead of you and think, Come on!

No. No. Not really.

All right, look, that was us. ESPN.com.

That was you?

We had 150 or so voters, and we ranked all the NBA players. I'm here to apologize. We were wrong.

It's all good.

If I asked you who 482 was, do you know who that was?

I have no idea.

But you know who number 500 was, though, right?

I do. I do.

I should thank you guys.

You're very big about this. But I'm telling you, we're watching you play, and emailing each other and saying, Man, we did a bad job on that.

I don't blame you guys. A lot of guys on the list hadn't played an NBA game yet. Someone had to be at the bottom.

The truth of the matter is, there are a lot of players we hadn't seen play much. We did a bad job. But you're killing it out there now. We couldn't have been more wrong. You're going to be ranked much higher next year, I promise you that.

Thank you.

HoopIdea wants to #StopTheFlop. To spotlight the biggest fakers, we present Flop of the Night. You can help us separate the pretenders from the defenders -- details below:

Paul Pierce is one of the most expressive players in the NBA. Whether he's yelling as he yanks down a rebound or making this face on a drive to the hoop, Pierce has a way of making it so even the fans in the nosebleeds can feel his pain.

Sometimes, it seems as though Pierce has built ways to embellish contact into the fabric of his game. Here he draws an and-one foul on a jumpshot over Evan Turner (Video). A close-up replay shows Turner isn't even touching him. But from the wide angle view (and the view of the official), thanks to wiggling extremities, it looks like Pierce is taking a punch to the gut as he releases the shot.

Perhaps that herky-jerky style that so flummoxes defenders can have the same effect on the officials.

Twitter also spotted another potential Flop of the Night from Pierce in Game 6, so we might as well show you that one too.

Watch Pierce's legs (Video) go limp during this blocking foul on Lavoy Allen. The bump is there, but it's almost entirely incidental. Still, Pierce's legs buckle like ancient pillars in an catastrophic earthquake.

Also worth noting: Ryan Hollins and Rajon Rondo's smiles as they pick Pierce back up.

Even without the acting, Pierce would likely have gotten this call, so it doesn't win Flop of the Night. But it does merit recognition and the attention of aspiring thespians everywhere.

When you see an egregious flop that deserves proper recognition, send us a link to the video so we can consider it for Flop of the Night. Here's how to make your submission:

• Alert HoopIdea to super flops with the Twitter hashtag #FlopOfTheNight (follow us on Twitter here).
• Use the #FlopOfTheNight hashtag in Daily Dime Live.
• E-mail us at hoopidea@gmail.com

In the mid 1970s, legendary Celtics coach and team president Red Auerbach gathered several NBA stars, and a veteran of refereeing, to make a video. The goal? To end flopping.

That's right, nearly four decades ago, Auerbach was the Pied Piper of what has become the Stop the Flop movement, as you can see on video.

"Coaches today in high school, college and pro, are teaching the players how to fall! This is unreal!"

The Auerbach in this video is not a man who minds jabbing a finger at the camera to make a point.

Auerbach leads players like Wes Unseld and Mike Riordan through flopping scenarios. After Riordan hits the deck, Auerbach quizzes him. "Did Wes Unseld hit that man hard enough to knock him down? What went through your mind, Mike? What was your purpose when making that pick?"

Riordan says that initially he was "trying to free my teammate Elvin Hayes here for a jumpshot or a move to the hoop without the ball. But also, if I could get away with it, to draw a foul on Wes in setting that pick. To fake a foul, in other words. That was the second purpose."

Auerbach brings Hall of Fame referee Mendy Rudolph into the conversation. Rudolph jokes about how "Mike went and did some 'Hollywood acting." Rudolph's advice: Don't call a thing.

Auerbach directs another scenario, with another flop. Rudolph says "it was a great acting job by Clem Haskins. Now the contact between Mike and Clem was totally incidental, and again the officials should ignore it completely to eliminate this kind of acting in our game."

Then Rudolph adds another option for officials: "If they’re smart, again, to stop it, to stop it early in the game: Call a blocking foul on this man right here, and he’ll stop falling on the floor picking up splinters on his backside.”

"Well I happen to agree with you," says Auerbach. "I am very, very much opposed to this kind of basketball.”

"We’ve got to stop this sort of play in the NBA," replies Rudolph.

Auerbach: "Exactly!"

Auerbach closes the video by turning to the camera and addressing viewers:

This segment is not aimed at referees, believe me. It’s aimed at coaches, it’s aimed at players.

What are we going to do about it?

Let’s clean this thing up!

Let’s not hurt the game.

• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: The Celtics are not expected to have Avery Bradley for the rest of the season because of a left shoulder injury. A source close to Bradley told the Globe that the percentile is in the "high 90s" that Bradley will be shut down and will perhaps need surgery. The source said that it's "highly likely" Bradley's left shoulder would pop out again -- it has popped out twice in the series against the Philadelphia 76ers -- and playing further would put him at risk of "serious structural damage." Bradley has missed the past two games with soreness in both shoulders, and the team's brass along with Bradley's representatives appear close to deciding to sit him for the remainder of the playoffs. Celtics coach Doc Rivers called Bradley's injury "day to day" but said he was not sure when he would return.
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: So the teams will reconvene on Saturday at the Garden to conclude the series in a Game 7. But if that’s going to be anything like what we witnessed in Game 6, you kind of wish they’d have just settled it on penalty kicks last night. All the talk of how the Celtics will match up in the next round has been replaced by the club’s mortal fear that its season could be over on Saturday. And it almost certainly will be if they don’t find it in them to move the ball better. Key stat comparison: Rajon Rondo came into Game 6 averaging 14.6 assists in the series, but last night the Celts had 14 as a team. The Bostonians couldn’t hit the ocean from the end of the pier for most of the night, shooting a whopping 33.3 percent. And this was particularly problematic because they took 55 outside shots and just 23 in the paint. ... It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but anyone -- beyond Sixers types understandably happy to survive another day -- finding pulchritude here needs to visit an optometrist forthwith.
• John N. Mitchell of The Philadelphia Inquirer: The Sixers have looked for Evan Turner to go to the glass and grab rebounds, start the fastbreak whenever the opportunity presents itself, and score more, something that coach Doug Collins has implored him to do. But one of his more pressing assignments going into Wednesday's win-or-go-home Game 6 victory over visiting Boston was to play a major role in helping to slow mercurial point guard Rajon Rondo. Not an easy task in this series, which has seen Rondo, on top of averaging 14.4 points and 14.6 assists through five games, mostly control the tempo in just about every contest. A huge part of Turner's Game 6 responsibility was to spread his 6-7 frame for long stretches of the game and - along with Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams at times - impede Rondo's progress wherever he went on the floor. Mission accomplished. Rondo was pedestrian at best, finishing with nine points on 4-for-14 shooting. His nine assists marked the first time this series he has not finished with at least 13, which goes back to Boston for Game 7 on Saturday. Collins gave assistant coach Michael Curry a lot of the credit for formulating the defense that finally stopped perhaps the best pure point guard in the league.
• Linda Robertson of The Miami Herald: NBA commissioner David Stern had no choice but to punish Haslem and Pittman. They were lucky it wasn’t worse. Pittman’s foul, which sent Stephenson to the X-ray room, was arguably as malicious as Metta World Peace’s elbow to the head of James Harden, who sustained a concussion. World Peace was suspended seven games. Stern doesn’t want to see the NBA sink to the level of the NFL, where the bounty scandal and the concussion issue have cast football in a mean, inhumane light. Nor can Stern allow the NBA playoffs to devolve into the mayhem that hurt the early part of the NHL playoffs. The NHL didn’t react quickly, but it did react correctly by ordering a 25-game suspension of Phoenix enforcer Raffi Torres for going after the head of Chicago’s Marian Hossa. There is no place for goons in sports today, not when the athletes are bigger, stronger, faster and able to inflict long-lasting damage. Haslem wasn’t trying to injure Hansbrough, but he took his payback role too seriously. ... If anything, the bruising nature of this series has dispelled the notion of Miami as the glamour team. This is a team Pat Riley and Alonzo Mourning can be proud of. Instead it was Pacers president Larry Bird bemoaning, “I can’t believe my team went soft. S-O-F-T.” There will be nothing soft about Game 6. But keep it clean.
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: For all of those counting out Indiana, my question is this: What have you been watching all year? This team has been tough-minded and resilient all season. It has had some bad performances, but the bad basketball hasn’t lingered. Pacers coach Frank Vogel said the other day, “They haven’t seen our best game.” Tonight, with the season on the line, the Heat will get the Pacers’ best game, even if it means Granger plays on one leg. ... The big problem for the Pacers is, they finally have the Heat’s attention. Maybe it was some of the pre-series talk. Maybe it was Stephenson’s foolish “choke” gesture. Probably it was the fact the Pacers were going toe-to-toe with them and pushing the Heat to the brink of utter desperation. Now the Pacers are in that spot. ... If these teams played with gloves, they would have dropped them already. But this shouldn’t be about evening the score on the stitches scoreboard. It should be about evening the score in this series, and making Miami sweat a seventh game in a series that deserves a seventh game.
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: The Western Conference finals are sure to bring about comparisons between a pair of super subs: Oklahoma City’s James Harden and the Spurs’ Manu Ginobili. Both are left-handed. Both have NBA Sixth Man of the Year awards on their mantles. Both play with a herky-jerky style that can be murder to defend. Harden, however, is the one with The Beard. “Mine doesn’t get that good,” Ginobili said. “I’ve tried.” One other key difference between the two: only Harden will enter Game 1 on Sunday with soaring confidence. Ginobili is coming off his second straight poor-shooting series, going 17 for 42 in the second-round sweep of the Los Angeles Clippers. That included a 6-for-21 showing from 3-point range that dropped his playoff percentage to 25.7 percent (9 of 35). Asked after practice Wednesday to gauge his confidence level in his jump shot, Ginobili said: “Not the best it’s been.” ... For the second time in this postseason, Ginobili is hopeful the start of a new series will change his luck. “This is a whole new story, a new series, and we don’t care about what happened against Utah or the Clippers,” Ginobili said. “Hopefully, I start off on the right foot."
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Kevin Durant on Wednesday shared his feelings on the violence that overshadowed Monday night's Game 5 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. “Anytime violence is involved it's unfortunate,” Durant said of the shooting that left eight people wounded. “But the only thing I can do is pray for the victims and hopefully everything gets resolved.” Russell Westbrook was finishing postgame interviews when word spread of the shooting but said just before the announcement was made that the Thunder Alley watch party would end that he'd be disappointed to see it go. “It's crazy how many people were outside and how many people come and support,” Westbrook said. “So I think they'll be a little disappointed. So hopefully they don't cut it off.” Forward Serge Ibaka said he was amazed at the size of the crowd outside when he saw live footage of the gathering flash on the Jumbotron during the game. “I appreciate the fans and their support because it's something amazing. I've never seen it in my life,” Ibaka said.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: ESPN reported Wednesday night that Shaquille O'Neal will meet with Orlando Magic officials next week to discuss the team's vacant general manager job. ... The notion of O'Neal as the Magic's general manager seems absurd at first blush, second blush and third blush. He played his first four NBA seasons for the Magic, leading the team to the 1995 Finals, but he left the franchise via free agency in 1996. One of the first tasks for the new Magic general manager will be to try to convince Dwight Howard to remain with the team for the long term. That could be difficult. SheridanHoops.com, citing an anonymous source, has reported that Howard wants a trade. O'Neal's relationship with Howard has deteriorated in recent years. O'Neal has hurled barbs and veiled insults in Howard's direction in recent years. And O'Neal has said he thinks Howard should remain with the Magic.
• Tony Bizjak of The Sacramento Bee: Restaurateur Patrick Mulvaney got a shock a few weeks ago when he contacted a client, the Sacramento Kings, to discuss last-minute details for a banquet at his midtown eatery. A Kings executive told him they were canceling the lunch at Mulvaney's Building & Loan. They had just seen Mulvaney's signature on a letter from 21 Sacramento businessmen to the NBA urging it to push the Kings owners to sell. Mulvaney's name also appeared on a separate list of businessmen attending the press event where the letter was signed. But Mulvaney says he wasn't at the event and had not signed the letter. His signature was forged. The man who organized the April 12 letter signing was Greg Hayes, a local business consultant and member of Mayor Kevin Johnson's Think Big Sacramento arena task force. Hayes admitted when contacted by the Bee last week that five of the signatures were not signed by the people whose names are listed. Hayes declined to say who put their names on the letter. ... A spokesman for the Kings, Eric Rose, declined to comment on the private investigator, but characterized Hayes' letter as part of "relentless unwarranted attacks" on the Kings ownership since the arena deal fell through several weeks ago. ... Restaurateur Mulvaney, a proponent of a downtown arena, said the Kings ultimately set up another lunch at his restaurant after Hayes' apology, and after Mulvaney talked with Gavin Maloof. "My relationship with the Kings is still solid," he said. "I don't have any right to tell someone else how to run their business."

• Ramona Shelbourne with a great profile on Kobe Bryant and the Lakers at the end of another disappointing season: "The circle of people Kobe Bryant trusts is small and getting smaller. In the last year, he has lost too many of them. Phil Jackson retired and is reachable only by phone now. Lamar Odom lost his way. Derek Fisher was traded. Pau Gasol has faded. Andrew Bynum isn't worthy yet. Only general manager Mitch Kupchak remains. Kupchak's place with the Lakers is different now. Everything is. The team let many of its longest tenured employees go during the lockout. Scouts, equipment managers, strength coaches, front office personnel. All discarded for unsatisfying reasons. Like Bryant, Kupchak's job is harder now. He has fewer resources. His options are limited. He took his big shot by trading for Paul, but it was taken away before it became a reality. After that, there was almost no way to make it right. At least not right away. But knowing and accepting are different things."
• Ric Bucher reports more bad news for Billy Hunter and the National Basketball Players Association, which is under investigation from the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan.
• Carlos Boozer is easily the worst frontcourt defender on the Bulls, and probably shouldn't have received an All-Defense vote. But his teammate Joakim Noah, the best defender on a top-3 defense, should have been a first- teamer.
• On the New York Times, Rob Mahoney takes a good hard look at the rebounding matchup in the Western Conference Finals: "No team closes out defensive possessions more effectively than the Spurs, and few are more capable of capitalizing on the offensive boards than the active and athletic Thunder. But the offensive rebound isn’t merely an end in itself. By extending possessions, the Thunder have the potential to derail San Antonio’s early offense, even if also has the potential for great risk, should the Spurs secure a defensive rebound quickly and cue the break. It’s a gambit that could go either way, making success all the more important."
• Courtside fashion icon Jimmy Goldstein on Russell Westbrook's duds: "I smile when I see Russell Westbrook's fashion choices. Wearing glasses without any lenses in them I don't think is something I admire, but if the players want to look like mirrors, that's their prerogative."
• Latrell Sprewell wasn't old school, he was Old Testament.
• Ben Wallace drives WHAT?
• Even when he misses, Ray Allen helps the Celtics just by being out on the court.
• The Thunder won't be showing their games outside the arena anymore, following a shooting after their Game 5 win over the Lakers. It's understandable, but a shame; that seemed like a very cool scene.
• On The Classical, Danny Chau argues Russell Westbrook has an organizing presence, in his own way: "Westbrook, with no discernible system in place in Oklahoma City, makes his teammates better by streamlining his duties on the floor. A traditional point guard is entrusted with the duty to create and reset plays. For the Thunder, that trust is dispersed three ways. On any given possession, Westbrook, Durant, or Harden are handed the reins to the offense. With three different styles of attack, there is no one identity to fall back on. Westbrook, by ceding some control to other playmakers, reinforces his structure of trust. It’s the closest Westbrook comes to molding the offense in his image. Tradition dictates the importance of maintaining control. For Westbrook, success relies on letting go."

The Boston Celtics had a better regular-season record than the Philadelphia 76ers and feature three future Hall of Famers, a championship pedigree and some guy named Rajon Rondo.

There is a reason they were the favorites to squash the 76ers.

But one thing the Celtics are not is young and athletic, especially with Avery Bradley, who leads Boston in both departments, nursing an injured shoulder.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, has some of the best athletes not just in this series but in the entire league. Jrue Holiday, Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young are in an elite stratosphere of athleticism where soaring, did he really just take off from there?, one-handed fast-break dunks are possible.

Yet Philadelphia’s advantage in athleticism has hardly come to bear in its second-round series with Boston and it now trails 3-2. Part of the problem, of course, is that Boston -- when Rondo isn’t inventing a new hoops language in the fast break -- has a way of forcing teams to play its grinding style.

But the other half of the equation has been Doug Collins and Philadelphia's willingness to play Boston's game, rather than abandoning certain regular-season principles to exploit the Sixers' one advantage and tilt the game in their favor.

Run, don’t walk

When Holiday and Iguodala get rolling in the open court, they become a watered-down version of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James -- two phenomenal athletes who can start the break with a rebound or steal and are just as likely to finish the break with a thunderous dunk as they are to make the assist.

The 76ers have converted reliably off of turnovers and run-outs, but they still miss out on all kinds of early-offense opportunities by routinely walking the ball up the court.

Because Boston doesn’t even try to get offensive rebounds, the Celtics typically have plenty of bodies back. But early motion from sprinting 76ers can foul up the Celtics’ defensive organization, yielding early mismatches and four-on-four-type situations that the 76ers can attack.

Instead of immediately looking to set up the offense, the first five seconds of the shot clock should be “Jrue time,” in which he pushes the ball to probe and pressure the Celtics before conceding to a five-on-five, half-court possession.

The 76ers turned the ball over less than any other team during the regular season, which is a result of the design of Collins’ half-court offense. But 14 of their 15 Game 5 turnovers were in the half court, where Boston's smart defense can cut down angles and passing lanes. Perhaps counterintuitively, the 76ers can play a cleaner game by rushing a bit.

Spacing

The 76ers' continuity offense relies on a lot of dribble handoffs and side pick-and-rolls. These are great for getting big men open 17-footers, but they don’t produce a ton of drives to the basket because the Celtics -- after five games -- know the pattern and because the weak side is rarely properly spaced.

For instance: one one-dribble handoff in Game 4 gave Holiday a sliver of daylight to blow past his defender -- except the other three 76ers were all standing within 15 feet of the paint!

More high pick-and-rolls in the middle of the court for Holiday may be a simple solution.

The Celtics defend side pick-and-rolls as well as anyone this side of the Bulls. So keeping the ball in the middle, with shooters like Iguodala, Lou Williams and Jodie Meeks in the corners, can give Young -- who is easily the best pick-and-roll dive man at Collins’ disposal -- the space he needs to slash to the rim. With three shooters on the court in Game 4, Young’s fourth-quarter dives yielded dump offs to Lavoy Allen for layups as Boston’s wings arrived late from their rotations off of shooters.

There’s also the issue that a continuity offense like Philadelphia’s -- as opposed to San Antonio’s “motion weak” set -- can rely on non-playmakers to break down the defense. A more spread drive-and-kick attack will let Philadelphia’s big men besides Spencer Hawes do what they do best: finish.

Less Evan Turner

With spacing in mind, it’s time for Collins to take a real hard look at severely limiting Turner’s minutes. Aside from his heroic driving layup at the end of Game 2, he’s been terrible in this series. His playoff PER has dipped to 9.7, but he’s still playing 35 minutes a game in Round 2.

This is great news for the Celtics, who have gleefully abandoned Turner on defense any time he is more than 10 feet from the rim. He’s making 24 percent of his midrange shots while making only 40 percent of his rim attempts, because -- though he’s reasonably athletic -- he’s had a real hard time finishing with Kevin Garnett and Greg Stiemsma waiting for him at the rim.

Turner often looks like a good player -- he’s got all the moves. He will spin and cross over and generally look like a genuine scorer, except the ball hardly ever goes in and he doesn’t work his way to the line all that often. The Celtics' defense was designed to handle iso-heavy scorers like Kobe Bryant, so suffice to say it works pretty well when Turner decides it’s "iso time."

But his individual ineptitude is just the start of the problem. Because he can’t shoot, his presence makes it harder for Philadelphia to get the floor spacing it needs. One dimensional though they may be, at least Meeks and Williams demand attention outside the paint, which makes Holiday and Iguodala much more difficult to defend in pick-and-rolls.

Whenever Philadelphia has three viable 3-point shooters on the court, its athletic guards have more space to attack and its clever big men have room to make those nifty interior passes.

Can Doug Collins adjust?

The 76ers play a very, very controlled style and this is a deliberate result of coaching. Collins says he wants his guys to make plays (he famously told Jrue Holiday to make it happen in the Chicago series) but his continuity offense doesn’t always put them in position to be their best.

Focusing on getting everyone up court immediately and then freelancing for early pick-and-rolls and dribble attacks -- basically what the Denver Nuggets did against Los Angeles -- might be a solution.

The problem is that Philadelphia has a lopsided roster, with fast, dynamic wings and some slow, plodding big men. Specifically, Hawes and Elton Brand, their best big men during the regular season, aren’t equipped to play a style that relies on speed and athleticism. The continuity offense fits them well, but in this series it’s been the more athletic combination of Allen and Young that’s really given Boston trouble.

At this point in the season, it’s a tall order to ask Collins and the 76ers to overhaul the focus of the offense in time to pull off an upset.

But they are the underdog, and making such adjustments is what underdogs often have to do to exploit whatever advantage they can claim, rather than simply relying on what got them to this point. It’s a risk, but the bigger risk is doing nothing.

The Boston Celtics visit the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night (ESPN, 8 ET) for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Boston leads the series 3-2 after its Game 5 win on Monday, but the 76ers are 4-0 this postseason in games immediately following a loss.

In NBA history, teams that have held a 3-2 lead in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win the series 85.9 percent of the time (213-35). Teams with 3-2 series leads went 4-0 in the first round this postseason.

Since the new "Big 3" era began in the 2007-08 season, the Celtics are 2-10 in road games with a chance to close out a series. The rest of the NBA is 28-28 in such games.

Key Players
Kevin Garnett has increased his offensive production this postseason. He’s averaging a double-double with 19.3 PPG and 10.5 RPG, up from his regular season numbers of 15.8 PPG and 8.2 RPG. In addition, he’s shooting 52.1 percent from the floor in the playoffs, compared to 50.3 percent in the regular season.

The Celtics have outscored opponents by 136 points in the 403 minutes Garnett has been on the floor this postseason. Boston has been outscored by 85 points in the 130 minutes he’s been off the court.

Andre Iguodala is shooting 52.6 percent (10-for-19) from 3-point range but is shooting only 45.5 percent (10-for-22) from the free throw line in this series.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since the NBA instituted the 3-point shot in 1979-80, only two players have shot for a higher percentage from 3-point range than from the free throw line in a single playoff series (min. 15 attempts in each category). Tony Parker in the first round in 2004 (68.8 3-point pct; 68.2 free throw pct) and Rasheed Wallace in the first round in 2006 (54.2 3-point pct; 43.8 free throw pct).

Stats to Know
Boston has yet to allow 100 points this postseason. The Celtics are one of three teams that haven’t allowed 100 points in a single game this postseason, joining the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.

Since scoring 109 points against the Chicago Bulls in Game 2 of the first round, Philadelphia hasn’t scored more than 92 points in any of the nine games since. That is the longest single postseason streak of scoring fewer than 93 points since the Detroit Pistons (11 games) in 2006.

• Greg Cote of The Miami Herald: Alternate alliterative slogan now fitting for this Heat-Pacers playoff series: No blood, no bling. It’s getting nasty in here. The team that gets through this second-round series — and that’s looking unmistakably like Miami now after Tuesday night’s 115-83 home rout — will have the scars and bruises to prove it. They handed out stickers made to look like Band-Aids to fans arriving at Tuesday night’s Game 5 in honor of Udonis Haslem needing nine stitches above his right eye from a flying Pacers elbow in the previous game. Before long, Dwyane Wade would himself need a Band-Aid, and not a pretend one, bleeding from above his right eye after a flagrant foul by Indiana’s Tyler Hansbrough. (Payback was swift with Haslem’s ensuing flagrant foul to Hansbrough’s face — an obvious retaliation that might have gotten him ejected from the game by a less tolerant set of referees.) OK, all of the above is true. But don’t get the idea the narrative of this Heat team and postseason has changed and that Miami suddenly is a blue-collar bunch embodied by Band-Aids and rebounds and role players rising. As much as Miami as a franchise likes to embrace a defense-first identity personified by a guy like Haslem, whom coach Erik Spoelstra incessantly calls a “warrior,” this team’s championship hopes don’t live in the trenches. Miami’s hopes live way up in the air, where the stars are, where the high-flying LeBron James and Wade are doing their acrobatics and their dunks and all the other stuff that fill highlight reels and that made Tuesday’s home crowd swoon and roar. And they just did it again.
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: This series isn't over. The Pacers still get to come home, and while a Game 7 in Miami is a daunting task, winning there is not impossible. But this didn't look good. It didn't feel good. For the first time in this series, there was a faint whiff of surrender in the heated Miami air. As tough and as strong as the Pacers have been, pushing it to at least a six- and maybe a seven-game series, they looked for the first time like they were just happy to be here. At the very least, they allowed themselves to be reduced to passengers along for the Miami Heat's wild ride. Did you know that Vogel is a magician? He's made a seven-footer, Roy Hibbert, disappear. And his players haven't helped, repeatedly failing to find ways to get the ball inside to the big man, who has one of the biggest mismatches in the series. And now, it gets worse. Or might get worse. Danny Granger twisted his ankle when James got under him on a three-point try, and Granger's availability in Game 6 is questionable. This is a deep team, but without Granger, the series is a no-hoper.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird doesn’t do a lot of interviews. He prefers to stay in the background and let his players get the attention. But when Bird talks, you listen. That was the case about two hours after the Pacers suffered the worst playoff loss in franchise history – 115-83 – in Game 5 against the Miami Heat. “I can’t believe my team went soft,” Bird said on the phone. “S-O-F-T. I’m disappointed. I never thought it would happen.” When asked to elaborate on those comments, an obviously frustrated Bird said, “That’s all I have to say.” Those are the strongest words I’ve ever heard Bird say about his team – good or bad – in my seven-plus years of covering the Pacers. ... Bird has spoken. Now we’ll see if his players respond to being publicly embarrassed – on the court and by their president – or if they’ll curl up in the fetal position in Game 6 on Thursday. If they do, the Pacers can go ahead and start their summer vacation now to avoid another embarrassing loss.
• Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Every stop along the way in the playoffs, every new situation, every game this group of 76ers team had never faced before - all of these new experiences are things Doug Collins has cherished for his team as it has maneuvered in the current postseason. Regardless of the individual result, it's all good for the future, according to the coach, even if the present remains an unfinished work. Now, after all that fresh exposure, the Sixers face a challenge they have seen before ... a potential elimination game. It arrives in the 12th game of the postseason, later than most expected, but it arrives nonetheless, in the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night when the Boston Celtics look to close out an Eastern Conference semifinal series that has brought out the best and worst in both teams. Last season, the Sixers lost their first three playoff games to the Miami Heat, staved off elimination once and then fell in Game 5 of that opening-round series. Not being swept was a small consolation perhaps, but there was no sense that surviving the one elimination game was because of nothing much more than a brief attention lapse by the Heat. This time around, however, much more is at stake. If the Sixers are able to hold serve at home and force a Game 7, they will have a real chance to advance to the conference finals for the first time in 11 years and just the second time since 1985. That would be a heady accomplishment for a team that limped to the end of the regular season, barely qualified for the playoffs, and looked like an easy out.
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: Logic would seem to dictate that the Celtics will take full note of their injury issues and launch a surgical strike that ends the series tonight. The need to get rest and rehab — even an extra day or two — is clear, and a good effort would keep the Celts from an extra game that could further strain their health. But logic has taken a severe beating from the Celtics of late. It appeared the Celtics would keep their act in order and take out the Atlanta Hawks in Game 5 after winning three straight in the opening round. When they raced out to an 11-3 lead in Atlanta, it seemed the C’s could put the hosts out of their misery with a few good defensive stands in a row. But the visitors seemed surprised when the Hawks came out of a timeout and played as if they were trying to avoid an embarrassment that would be sitting on the Celtics bench by the end of the night. The last two games against Philadelphia have come down to one team gathering some energy in the third quarter and flustering the other. But when you consider the Celtics’ talent and experience, they should be expected to keep their heads in such situations. How confident are you that they will? Exactly.
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: In a sense, this series sets up as a battle between the league’s old guard against its next wave. The Spurs are a grizzled four-time champion eager for one more shot at the crown during the Tim Duncan era. The Thunder are a young and hungry challenger impatient to assume the throne now. In order for the up-and-coming Thunder to take the next step, they must first overcome a savvy, veteran team that has successfully navigated this road before. ... As much as the Spurs believe they have their hands full with Oklahoma City, the Thunder are equally wary of the surging Spurs, who are riding a franchise-best 18-game winning streak. ... If there is a secret to handling OKC, the Spurs seem to hold the key. Over the past three seasons, since the Thunder became playoff regulars in 2009-10, the Spurs have gone 8-2 against them. That includes a 107-96 affair in Oklahoma City’s last trip to the AT&T Center on Feb. 4, when Tony Parker erupted for a season-high 42 points at Westbrook’s expense. ... With Durant, the 23-year-old former collegiate player of the year at Texas, locked up until 2016 and the 23-year-old Westbrook under contract until 2017, an NBA Finals appearance seems only a matter of time for the Thunder. The Spurs’ goal, starting Sunday: Delay Oklahoma City’s much-anticipated coronation for at least another year.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: The series could be decided by Russell Westbrook and Tony Parker. That's how significant of a matchup this is. But don't expect Westbrook and Parker to cancel out each other. Both are much too good and far too dominant for that. Neither will be able to defend the other. So the key will be which player can consistently make others better while contributing in other areas. Because the Spurs' offense is much more pass-oriented than the Thunder's, it seems Parker will have the advantage in that department and Westbrook will have his work cut out for him. Westbrook will have to be locked in while defending Parker in the pick-and-roll and try to limit Parker's penetration. If Parker can blow by Westbrook it will break down the Thunder's entire defense and lead to layups and open 3-pointers. So Westbrook needs to focus on defense first and offense second. He doesn't have to be great. He just has to be solid.
• Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News: No disrespect to the Thunder, World Peace pointed out. They took advantage of the Lakers' mistakes late in Games 2 and 4 and won the series. "They seized it, they grabbed it and hung on to it." World Peace said. Nevertheless, World Peace could not ignore the part about the Lakers' mistakes and how they opened the door for the Thunder to take advantage. "We underachieved. The best team in the NBA lost in five. The best team in the NBA should be up 3-2 and playing tomorrow," World Peace said. The way World Peace sees it, one of the problems the Lakers faced was their reliance on Kobe Bryant late in games, especially some of the younger guys who haven't played on the big stage before. As a result, some guys may have deferred too much to Bryant rather than having confidence in themselves. His advice to them is simple. "Guys have to trust themselves more. Sometimes guys rely on Kobe too much," World Peace said. "Mitch (Kupchak) brought you here. Mitch also assembled teams that won championships. He knows what he's doing and he brought you here for a reason because you're good. So believe in yourself."
• Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle: I'm not saying the Warriors won't draw in San Francisco. This is an astonishingly fine location, and the sheer novelty would pack the joint for a couple of years. But say the next five seasons bring a playoff drought, the type we've endured forever. There's no chance that S.F. arena would sell out. It's a different crowd, a different vibe, lacking that pure Oakland soul. Not that such concerns bother Lacob or Guber. They're onto something big here, and you can't blame them. These guys aren't Skyline High graduates, or veterans of the Rick Barry-Bernard King-Chris Mullin days. They don't remember Sonny Parker, Purvis Short or the smell of marijuana on an arena ramp in the anything-goes 1970s. These are Hollywood guys, essentially (and literally, in Guber's case). They're out to put the Warriors on a plane of sophistication with Chicago, New York, Boston and Philly. I wouldn't bet against them, either. And I don't think Stern would take the time to visit San Francisco, delivering a few cursory remarks on the podium, if he didn't think this would fly.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: Be honest: Does this sound like a man who is confident that his franchise player is going to sign an extension in Orlando? Which is why Martins and the soon-to-be-named new general manager must get an answer from Dwight by the draft. The Magic must begin the process of planning for the future — with Dwight or without him. This is best thing for everybody involved — the Magic organization, Magic fans and Dwight, himself. If he wants to stay, then call a mega-news conference before the draft, make the big announcement, sign the extension and become a civic hero once again. If he wants to leave, make it as quick and painless as possible, say goodbye and leave. This fiasco has been going on for far too long. Fans are disenchanted, teammates are in limbo, the organization is in disarray. The draft is more than a month away. It's time to make a decision and move forward. Haven't there already been enough hurt feelings, divided allegiances and lost jobs?

• Trailer for a very cool-looking documentary on New York City pick-up basketball. Kenny Anderson, Fly Williams, God Shammgod, Homicide, Kenny Smith, Smush Parker, Headache, Julius Erving, Pee Wee Kirkland and others. What you might already be thinking.
• A very rough scene, including multiple shootings, in Oklahoma City after the Thunder win. Royce Young of Daily Thunder: "There were an estimated 10,000 people outside the arena Monday watching the game in Thunder Alley. It’s a question now as to if Thunder Alley will continue after this incident."
• John Hollinger (Insider) on JaVale McGee: "Turns out he's not just a punch line. McGee showed more development in two months in Denver than he had in four years in Washington, particularly on the offensive end where he showed some refinement with a sweeping hook shot. McGee still takes ridiculous chances on blocking shots he has no hope of reaching and leaves his feet constantly on the defensive end. On the other hand, he went for 21-14 against an elite frontcourt to key a close playoff road win, rejected a phenomenal 22 shots in 181 minutes, and had three 14-rebound efforts in seven games. In other words, while he's still something of a project, he's a productive project. Which makes him one of the league's most interesting names in restricted free agency. We know he's an athletic freak who probably has the highest leaping reach in basketball, so if he can just get halfway decent on the mental aspects he'll be a star. That tantalizing possibility, as the first round made clear, may cost Denver a lot more now that he's shown signs of possibly achieving it."
• Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register on the Lakers' season: "All the meanings could be seen in the final game: The Lakers were too slow, failed to defend consistently, had virtually no bench help, didn't get a team game from Bryant, couldn't depend fully on Bynum and had to accept excuses afterward from Gasol about what a tough year it was. 'He always wants me to be aggressive,' Gasol said of Bryant, 'but it's been tough for me. I've been in a facilitating role most of the year, pretty much the third option most of the year.' Then one of the last things Gasol said for the season was simply this: 'A lot going on this year.' Yes, more than enough to keep the Lakers from making that leap they've made look so seamless before ... from talented players to championship team. 'We just weren't doing it together,' Bynum said."
• This is turning into another one of those years ... if the NBA is rigged to favor big markets, they are terrible at rigging things. Out: New York, both Los Angeles teams, Chicago. In: Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Boston (bear with me), Philadelphia (likely not for long) and Miami.
• Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor on KFAN, when asked about the "one and done" rule that allows players to join the NBA after one year of college or equivalent: "My wife writes the checks. And she would not like to write a check if I told you what I thought about the whole thing. Because the NBA would calling up ... and saying to send a check."
• Idea from a Blazer fan's active imagination. How about hiring both Van Gundys in Portland, to take over jobs as coach and GM as they see fit? Would eliminate trust issues, dramatically improve the defense and create one hell of a sitcom.
• The owner of the Warriors and mayor of San Francisco making very strong comments, loaded with certainty, about the Warriors moving to San Francisco.
• Kevin Garnett has some thoughts about Philadelphia fans.
• Heat superstars wonder aloud what Danny Granger is up to with his tough talk, which is probably a decent sign Granger's tactics have been effective.
• Is Shaquille O'Neal in position to make fun of Metta World Peace for having too many names?
• Time lapse video of Staples Center's busy weekend, with a thumpin' rock beat.
• Kevin McHale gets a C+ for his coaching.
• Holy Italian league playoff buzzer beaters.
• A while ago, I got very excited about Ian Levy's pretty charts showing team's offensive plays and how often they use them. Now he has them for all 30 teams. There is a lot to glean from them. But also ... the lines of the charts, like clouds in the sky, luck into recognizable shapes at times. Can't help but notice that the chart of the Lakers' offense looks like a dead bird. The Heat's looks like a little singing cartoon dude. The Thunder's is a fighter jet. The Hawks (work with me on this) resembles the head of a Great Dane.
• Russell Westbrook had four turnovers in the whole series.

• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: The Thunder is moving on to the Western Conference Finals for the second straight season after closing out the Los Angeles Lakers 106-90 in Game 5 on Monday night. And in the clincher, it was Westbrook and fellow All-Star teammate Kevin Durant who carried the Thunder. Westbrook scored a team-high 28 points, while Durant chipped in 25. None, however, were bigger than the three by Westbrook that caused that passionate celebration. The play started with Westbrook intercepting a Ramon Sessions pass to Kobe Bryant at the top of the key. As Westbrook raced the other way, Sessions intentionally fouled Westbrook, wrapping him up in an attempt to prevent a shot attempt. But Westbrook powered through the contact and banked in 15-foot runner, sparking pandemonium inside The Peake. “That was an amazing play,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “Obviously, there was a lot of luck to that. But he put himself in that position to get a little lucky there.” Luck or not, it was a message-sending shot. It confirmed, once and for all, that the Lakers indeed can not guard the Thunder. It showed, once again, that this team, in this round, would not be stopped.
• Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: What happened here on a strange and sad Monday night felt like the end of an era. Kobe Bryant's window to win a sixth championship in Los Angeles may have officially shut, and who knows whether he will want to stick around to spend his final years pressing his nose against the glass? In the two seasons since they won the fifth championship of the Kobe era, the Lakers have lost their famed head coach, their celebrated locker room leader, and the powerful influence of their aging owner. Now they have been dragged to the curb of two consecutive postseasons like bags of old clothes, this time in a 106-90 loss to Oklahoma City that gave the Thunder a 4-1 series victory in the second round. What now? The Lakers flew home late Monday night with the raucous boos from the Chesapeake Energy Arena fans ringing in their ears while their future looked silent and brooding. Combine this loss with the four-game sweep by Dallas in last year's second round, and this is a team that has gone 9-13 in the last two postseasons. Combine Monday's four-rebound game from Andrew Bynum with his inconsistent playoffs and turbulent regular season, and this is a team whose brightest young star is a dim bulb. When Coach Mike Brown was asked late Monday where the Lakers go from here, he shook his head.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: Monday night in Game 5 against the Sixers, when the Celtics offense needed a boost after Philadelphia dominated the first half and threatened to take control of this stunningly competitive series, Brandon Bass produced one of the best quarters in Celtics playoff history, proving relentless and unstoppable during a critical stretch. His 18 points in the third quarter (and 27 overall) helped the Celtics fight off a valiant 76ers team, his outburst the primary reason why Boston cruised to a 101-85 victory at TD Garden. Bass ruled the paint in the third quarter, and the Celtics depended greatly on his production as they shook off a lethargic first half, finally gaining a semblance of momentum in the series after the Game 4 debacle. “To be honest with you, I wasn’t really frustrated,’’ Bass said about missing all but three seconds of the fourth quarter of Game 4. “I trust Doc and his coaching ability. For me, I just stay ready, and a night like tonight I was able to help.’’ The Celtics needed an athletic boost that was apparent from the tip. Kevin Garnett was forcing jumpers, trying in vain to get into a rhythm. Paul Pierce was again timid against the defense of Andre Iguodala. Ray Allen is obviously slowed by his sore right ankle and is shooting just 27 percent from the 3-point line in the series.
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: It wasn't youth that played the biggest role in the 76ers' not putting the hammer down on the Boston Celtics and coming back to Philly with a 3-2 series lead. And it wasn't the wise, old vets in the green and white just tapping into their playoff experience, either. What did the Sixers in, what allowed Boston to take a 101-85 victory and a 3-2 lead out of TD Garden on Monday night, was simply bad and, at times, stupid basketball by the visitors. The youth excuse can be thrown out there, but when passes are thrown with minimum velocity and with all the precision of a North Korean test missile and a player such as Brandon Bass torches you for 18 points in the most important quarter of the season, while you're turning the ball over six times, that's just bad, bad basketball. And after 11 playoff games this year, on top of the five last year, youth really can't be a crutch anymore.
• Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald: Shane Battier, the Heat’s new starting power forward, is giving up 30 to 35 pounds to the man he’s guarding, David West. The Heat’s starting center, Ronny Turiaf, is four inches shorter than Indiana’s 7-2 Roy Hibbert, and the Heat’s backup center, 6-9 Joel Anthony, is five inches shorter. Then there’s Udonis Haslem, who was draining clutch jumpers Sunday while playing with nine stitches and an irritating bandage hanging above a bloody cut over his right eye. Such is the demanding and difficult predicament that most of the Heat’s power forwards and centers have faced in this playoff series in the absence of Chris Bosh. And it’s a plight that will continue indefinitely, with Bosh continuing to do rehab on his abdominal strain. ... Tuesday’s critical Game 5 at AmericanAirlines Arena will hinge, in good measure, on whether LeBron James and Dwyane Wade can approach their extraordinary efforts of Game 4. But the outcome also will rest, in part, on the work of the Heat’s patchwork crew of power rotation players — a group that left an imprint on Sunday’s critical win.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The Pacers find themselves in a best-of-three series against championship-minded Miami, with two of the potential three remaining games set for South Florida. It doesn't matter that nobody outside the Pacers organization thought they had a chance against the Heat. The Pacers must put everything on the table so that there's no second-guessing any decisions that are made. Vogel found himself thinking twice about leaving Hibbert and West on the bench with four fouls each in the fourth quarter of Game 4. If the Pacers eventually come up short, it needs to be with their best low-post players on the court, even if it means they eventually foul out. As Vogel found out Sunday, they will do more good on the court than on the bench.
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: It was already after 1 a.m. San Antonio time Monday when Tim Duncan at last made his way out of the locker room at the Staples Center and began the long, slow walk down the tunnel toward the Spurs’ bus. It was then, at the end of a short series but a long day, that Duncan finally permitted himself a smile. “It feels a lot like some of the championship teams,” Duncan said after the Spurs administered their second consecutive sweep of this postseason, this one to the Los Angeles Clippers. “In saying that, we haven’t done anything yet. We’ve won two rounds. That’s it.” The Spurs are headed back to the Western Conference finals now, a place that used to be a routine stopover for Duncan en route to his summer home in the NBA Finals. His return has been a long time coming. This will be Duncan’s first trip to the pro version of the Final Four since 2008, and for a while it looked like that would be the last of his Hall of Fame-bound career. ... Players get older. Dynasties fade. New contenders emerge. It is the circle of life. And yet there Duncan was early Monday morning, walking out of the Staples Center and toward another conference final four years after his last, wrapped in an old familiar feeling. “We haven’t done anything yet,” Duncan repeated, as if to remind himself. Between now and the end of June, Duncan hopes to make at least eight more triumphant walks like it, step by step toward the NBA mountaintop.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: It's now up to you, Dwight Howard. Not anybody else. You got what you wanted. The Magic fired Coach Stan Van Gundy on Monday. They parted ways with general manager Otis Smith. You are now the de facto coach and general manager of the team. You are calling the shots now. The flagging franchise is in your hands. You can either heal it and bring it back to life by signing a contract extension or you can squash it by abandoning it to go play for Jay-Z's team in New York. What's it going to be, Dwight? ... Let's not forget, it was just a couple of months ago when Dwight decided to put off free agency for a year and professed his love and loyalty for Orlando. Remember what he said at that news conference? He said, "I'm very loyal and I've put loyalty above anything else. … I've got everything I've wanted right here in Orlando. All of that other stuff will come. But the first thing we have to do is win a championship. Right now we have a great opportunity to do that.'' Now we find out if Dwight is ready to live up to those words and show as much loyalty to the Magic as they've shown to him. They drafted him No. 1 out of high school when many of the experts said they should have drafted Emeka Okafor. They helped him develop into the most dominant center in the league. They have the second-highest payroll in the NBA and have spent gobs of money — sometimes foolishly — to try to surround him with the talent to win a championship. And now they have parted ways with the best coach in franchise history to try to keep him happy. It's now up to you, Dwight. Not anybody else. So when are you coming home from Los Angeles to sign that extension?

After a couple of scares in the Western Conference Semifinals, the Oklahoma City Thunder eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers, 4-1.

It’s the Thunder’s fifth straight home playoff win, which is their longest such streak since winning six straight in 2002.

Kevin Durant finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds for his sixth 25-10 playoff game over the last two seasons. That’s tied with Zach Randolph for most in the NBA during that stretch.

For the series, Durant averaged 26.8 points and Russell Westbrook, who scored 28 points in Game 5, averaged 25.6 in the series. It's just the fourth time teammates each averaged at least 25 points in a playoff series against the Lakers. Durant and Westbrook, however, are the only pair to lead their team to a series victory.

A big key to the Thunder’s success was that they outscored the Lakers by 13.8 transition points per game during the series, including by 17 in Game Five.

Westbrook (6.4), Durant (6.4) and James Harden (5.6) all averaged over five transition points per game in the series.

Despite the tight defense, Kobe Bryant did his best to keep the Lakers in Game Five.

His 42 points gave Bryant his 13th, 40-point playoff game, tying Wilt Chamberlain for fourth most all-time. It was the most points Bryant has ever scored in a playoff game when facing elimination.

Bryant accounted for 44.0 percent of the Lakers field goal attempts, but accounted for 52.9 percent of their made field goals in Game Five.

He did struggle however when guarded by Durant, especially in the fourth quarter this series.

Bryant shot 1-for-10 in that situation whereas he shot 41.7 percent (10-24) against all other Thunder defenders. Only two of Bryant's 34 fourth-quarter attempts were inside of five feet and both of those came against Harden.

This is the fifth time the Lakers were down 3-1 with Bryant and they have gone on to lose the series each time.

The Lakers loss means there are seven different teams who have more playoff wins than them over the last two seasons. That includes the Memphis Grizzlies and their longtime rival Boston Celtics.

The Thunder, meanwhile, advance to the Conference Finals for the second-straight season.

The only other time the franchise advanced to the Conference Finals in consecutive seasons was when they made three straight appearance from 1978-1980 as the Seattle SuperSonics.

Statistical support for this story from NBA.com.

For a player who had never before scored 20 points in a playoff game, Brandon Bass announced his presence loudly in Game 5 against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Bass finished with 27 points - 18 of them in the third quarter - in a performance that few could have predicted.

In fact, if his teammates say they've seen this before, they're lying. Entering the night, Bass had not been the Celtics' outright leading scorer in any of their 76 team games this season.

The Celtics had seven different leading scorers in a game this season, including Sasha Pavlovic and Jermaine O'Neal, but Bass wasn't one of them until this game.

He hardly needed any help in the third quarter, when he outscored the 76ers by himself, 18-16. Bass went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the quarter and a near-perfect 6-for-7 from the field.

His 18 points in the quarter were the most he's ever scored in a quarter - regular season or postseason. His previous high was 16 points in the 2nd quarter against the Kings on Feb. 21, 2009.

The performance took some of the scoring load off the Celtics usual cast, and it came at a fortunate time as Ray Allen shot just 2-for-7 and Paul Pierce shot 3-for-7. The last time a Celtics player outside of their core four scored 25 points in a playoff game was when Eddie House went for 31 against the Magic in 2009.

Aside from Bass, the game shifted in the second half when the Celtics defense closed off the lane.

In the first half, the 76ers scored 24 points in the area within five feet of the hoop. It marked their most points within five feet in any half this postseason.

But in the second half the 76ers managed just 10 such points. They stopped going inside as much too - 31.4 percent of their field goal attempts came within five feet of the hoop. In the first half, it was 43 percent.

The win continued a trend of resiliency this postseason for the Boston Celtics - they're a perfect 4-0 this season in games following a loss. That trend might be a lot more comforting were it not matched by the 76ers, who are also 4-0 following a loss.

• Jeff Green was nearly the victim of a deadly sneaker avalanche.
• James Jones would be embarrassed if he missed a 3-pointer by as much as he missed this dunk.
• Philadunkia's Tom Sunnergren on the ageless Kevin Garnett: "The careers of professional athletes end, as a general rule, about the way Hemingway described going bankrupt: slowly, then all at once. An injury — say a knee sprain that happens in a February 2009 game in Utah — occurs, never fully heals, becomes a chronic, lingering source of discomfort, then, as the player fights through it, adjusts, maybe unconsciously to mitigate the pain, a host of other maladies spring from the adjustment: calf strains, tendonitis of various stripe, back pain. Bio-mechanical breakdown ensues. Eventually, they’re a shell of themselves. A copy of a copy; like that Michael Keaton movie, but even harder to watch. A season later they’re on a golf course. Kevin Garnett, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, is not on a golf course right now.
• Mike D'Antoni, from his interview with SI's Jack McCallum: "Could you use the word 'resign?' It hurts when I even hear the word 'quit.'"
• Lovely visuals illustrating that Kevin Durant has surpassed Kobe Bryant as a crunch time player.
• Neil Paine (Insider) points out that even if Kobe Bryant outplays Kevin Durant, Durant's supporting cast has the advantage: "Bynum and Gasol have been good in their own right during the postseason, but neither can give Bryant the kind of secondary scoring punch that Westbrook brings to Durant and the Thunder. Then there's Harden, not only the game's best sixth man, but one of its top players, period. During the regular season, he took on a similar possession load as Gasol and Bynum and was far more offensively efficient, averaging a staggering 1.254 points on possessions he was involved in ending. In the playoffs, he has ramped up his usage while still maintaining a sky-high efficiency, one of the big reasons the Thunder have the NBA's No. 1-ranked offense during the postseason. That's why the numbers are so clear-cut. Whether you're a PER proponent (Westbrook/Harden 22.1, Bynum/Gasol 21.6) a Win Shares per 48 Minutes guy (Westbrook/Harden .193, Bynum/Gasol .173) or an Adjusted Plus/Minus guy (Westbrook/Harden plus-2.6, Bynum/Gasol plus-1.8), all the advanced stats say the Westbrook/Harden combination is a better and more productive duo than Bynum and Gasol."
• Gonzaga's Robert Sacre, a legitimate 7-footer with good hands and decent athleticism, says all the right things at the Nets 2012 Draft combine.
• An inspiring bench is a beautiful thing.
• Is Andrew Bynum's best season ever tied to his revamped running form? Ethan Sherwood Strauss, writing on The Classical, investigates:" When I asked Lakers trainer Garry Vitti about the foot strike change, he explained that although this had indeed taken place, the evolution of Bynum’s movement 'was much deeper.' Vitti elaborated, 'Because of his gluteus medius weakness he had is known as a trendelenburg gait where his glute med couldn’t stabilize his pelvis … with increased strength of his glute he was able to control his pelvis better which translated to him being able to get his body over his forefoot which would allow him to propel himself more efficiently.'”
• Daily Thunder's Randy Renner with a statistical nugget that is as much a condemnation of the Lakers' passive defense as OKC's steady offense: "The Thunder has produced a turnover turnaround in the playoffs. During the regular season OKC led the league by averaging 16.3 givebacks a game. In the playoffs that number is down to 10.5 and that’s the best in the league. During this series with the Lakers the number is even better as the Thunder has averaged just 8.3 turnovers a game."
• USA Basketball releases its roster for the 2012 Select Team, which is sort of the Dream Team junior varsity.
• What was Roy Hibbert thinking?
• Brett Koremenos digs into Evan Turner's struggles for HoopSpeak. You have to wonder: If Turner wasn't a top 2 pick, would this be the case: "Currently, Turner’s 9.97 playoff PER ranks 114th amongst players who’ve seen a postseason minute. 114th. That’s out of 155 players who have seen the court in the postseason. This would be fine if he were one of the human victory cigars at the end of the bench, but Turner is playing 34.3 minutes per game in the postseason."
• It's funny what matchups end up being consequential in the playoffs. For instance, the Celtics are really having trouble with the Lavoy Allen-Thaddeus Young front court combo.
• Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol can combine to create some beautiful basketball, but this year they've drifted apart on the court.
• Without Chris Bosh, the origami paper-thin Miami Heat are proving that the "Big Three" model is dangerous, right? Not so, writes Heat Index's Tom Haberstroh: "Of course, the San Antonio Spurs offer a compelling counterargument. They actually have more of their payroll wrapped up in their trio than the Heat, but they seem to be doing just fine. Interestingly enough, the Spurs have taken the opposite approach to surrounding their Big Three: find younger diamonds in the rough and develop them in their system. While the Heat went wild for veterans on the wrong side of 30 years old, the Spurs plucked Gary Neal, Kawhi Leonard, DeJuan Blair, Tiago Splitter and Danny Green. The Spurs might not have gone the safe route with veterans, but their players have higher ceilings and a greater chance to provide more bang for the buck."