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• Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The new tough-minded, cool and resilient, ain’t-no-call-in-the-world-gonna-cause-us-to-trigger-another-nuclear-meltdown Hawks returned to action Wednesday night. And they stuck around — for about a quarter and a half. Not long enough. What was it coach Larry Drew said earlier Wednesday when asked what had to change from when his players packed a suitcase, but clearly not their lithium, for games 1 and 2 of this playoff series? “Very glaring,” he said. “In games 1 and 2 we were not a very aggressive team, and we complained about all of the calls. You have to play through that. You can’t let that be a reason why we don’t play well.” … Question: What happens to the Hawks when their coach doesn’t tell his players to keep their cool? The Hawks lost by 23 points, 106-83. The Pacers now lead the series 3-2, with Game 6 in Atlanta on Friday. Drew has 48 hours to hose everybody off until then. Said Al Horford, “I know at times it can get frustrating but we can’t do that, especially on the road. … We have a group of emotional guys who want to win. But you have to be smarter.”
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: For weeks now, coach Frank Vogel has been waiting for a vintage Indiana Pacers defensive performance. For weeks, he’s been looking for the active hands, the help-side defense, the dig-in mentality that made the Pacers a dangerous and intriguing team all season long. Finally, after 12 straight games of giving up 90 or more points, the real Pacers — or at least we think they’re the real Pacers — showed up when they had a “must” win playoff game. Finally, after 12 games of watching their defensive numbers become bloated, the Pacers did a number on the Atlanta Hawks, beating them 106-83 in Game 5, taking a 3-2 series lead in a foul-besotted game that seemed to last four hours. The 90-point number is not an insignificant statistic for the Pacers. They were 31-6 during the regular season when holding opponents below 90, 18-26 when they did not. That, friends, was vintage. That was the Pacers who finished third in the Eastern Conference with 49 victories. That was who they are, but haven’t been in way too long.
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: Doc Rivers is fond of bringing in additional coaches during the playoffs. Which makes it a bit unfortunate that Terry Francona has a new gig. But it’s fair to assume the Celtics coach will, if he hasn’t already done so, be ringing up his old pal, the former Red Sox skipper and current Indians manager, as he tries to stitch together Celtics-Knicks 2013 with Sox-Yankees 2004. Rivers had to reach when his band of Bostonians fell behind the New York entry, 3-0, in this first-round playoff series. Hey, the basketball talk wasn’t exactly getting through. But after last night’s 92-86 Shamrock shakedown of the Knicks, it’s 3-2, and there has to be at least some trepidation on the latter’s plane as it heads to Boston today for a Game 6 tomorrow night that they never thought would be necessary. “Well, I’ll just say we’ve talked about something in that (vein),” said Rivers of the reference to the Red Sox’ comeback from three down in the American League Championship Series. “I’m not going to give you what we talked about, but it’s a guy. We’ve talked about people . . . yes. I’m not going to say what.” According to Celtics players, their coach told them about Kevin Millar, who now famously told people prior in ’04 that the Yankees shouldn’t let his team get Game 4. He reasoned that the Sox had Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling set to start Games 5 and 6, and if his club got to a seventh game, anything could happen. “If we win this next game, then anything’s possible,” said Jason Terry.
• Marc Berman of the New York Post: The Knicks and J.R. Smith said this series was over, but somebody forgot to tell the Celtics. In nothing short of a choke, the shaky Knicks allowed the Celtics to keep their season alive and take Game 5 in a 92-86 shocker Wednesday night at the Garden, staving off a so-called “funeral’’ for Boston. The Knicks appeared to get too full of themselves in the past few days and it cost them. Smith bragged the series would be over if he played Sunday. Following the lead of Kenyon Martin, several of the Knicks players had black jackets and black slacks hanging in their lockers before the game, pretending they were attending the Celtics’ funeral. After Game 4, Martin said he would wear black Wednesday after Jason Terry told him Sunday he wouldn’t let the Knicks dance at their funeral. Martin did and his teammates did too in a presumptuous move for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2000. “We were going to a funeral, but it looks like we got buried,” J.R. Smith said. The Knicks still lead the series 3-2, but it’s headed back to Boston, echoing memories of 2004 when the Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit to trounce the Yankees. No NBA team has recovered from a 3-0 series deficit.
• Nick Matthews of the Houston Chronicle: Kevin Durant apparently doesn’t know Omer Asik. The way Asik is playing, Durant will soon. In the fourth quarter of the Rockets’ 107-100 Game 5 victory, Oklahoma City used a strategy of fouling the Rockets’ center intentionally in hopes of making a comeback. It didn’t work, as Asik made 7-of-12 free throws in the stretch and eventually finished with 21 points. Durant called the strategy — “Hack-A- … Whatever His Name Is.” “We used hack-a …” he stumbled, trying to say Asik’s name, “whatever his name is, that kind of slowed the rhythm down a bit.” Oklahoma City was down 92-82 when it began the strategy and only cut the lead to 99-92 before giving it up. Here’s guessing that Rockets coach Kevin McHale might bring that one up to Asik for motivation.
• Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: The Thunder-Rocket series is proving two things, at least on the Oklahoma City side. How good Kevin Durant is. And how good Russell Westbrook is. The Rockets clubbed the Thunder 107-100 — it wasn't that close — in Game 5 Wednesday night, and everyone in Thunder blue is thinking the same thing. Uh-oh. History could be in the making. No NBA team ever has won a playoff series after trailing three games to none, but the Rockets are halfway there. And headed home to Houston. “Go home for Game 6,” said Rocket star James Harden, who posted a cool 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting. “It should be interesting.” Nothing but interesting. Even in victory, the Thunder has seemed completely lost without Westbrook, the mercurial point guard who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Game 2. Without Westbrook, the Thunder load is completely on Durant, who was mighty for three quarters Wednesday night, with 36 points on 11-of-18 shooting.
• Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post: How physical will Game 6 be? The Nuggets took their shots in Game 5 — and received a few as well. Will they continue this style of play? Perhaps more important, will the referees let them? Getting more hands-on with the Warriors was a large part of the Nuggets' success Tuesday. Golden State is ready to respond. Will the supporting cast show up again? Ty Lawson has been the lead player for the Nuggets in this series, but he had plenty of help in Game 5. Andre Iguodala nearly had a triple-double (25 points, 12 rebounds seven assists). All five starters — including a newcomer to the opening lineup, center JaVale McGee — scored in double figures. Wilson Chandler had his best game of the series, scoring 19 points (including five 3-pointers). Can the Nuggets force a Game 7? Denver needs to win Thursday night in Oakland, Calif., to play Game 7 at the Pepsi Center (where the Nuggets are 40-4 this season) on Saturday. To win Game 6, Denver needs to play better in the second half. During the series, the Nuggets have been outscored by 30 points in the second half.
• Carl Steward of The Oakland Tribune: While coaches Mark Jackson and George Karl continued firing shots Wednesday regarding alleged dirty tactics against Stephen Curry, Curry was ready to move on to new business. Curry said undue focus on the mounting physicality in the opening-round playoff series can only do a disservice to himself and his Warriors teammates as they try to finish off the favored Denver Nuggets at Oracle Arena on Thursday night. "Nobody's really talking about it in the locker room," said Curry. "We're just approaching Game 6 like normal. You can't get distracted by that. We have a chance to close out the series at home. It's a big opportunity we have to take advantage of." Jackson, however, continued to zero in on the Nuggets' rough treatment of Curry, specifically what he viewed as an intentional kick by forward Kenneth Faried to Curry's ankle. "I can live with physical basketball. Taking a stab at Steph Curry's ankle is not physical basketball," Jackson said. "If you attempt to kick him with your foot on his foot, that's not a basketball play. That's a cheap shot." Karl responded to Jackson's assertions at Denver's Wednesday practice. "My basic reaction is he's watching a different movie than I'm watching," Karl said. "If there's a scorecard and we're in a boxing fight right now, they're winning the fight. We won a round (here and there), but I'm going to tell you, I'll go to any arbiter now and show the dirty shots -- they're winning."
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: During the Game 5 telecast on TNT, Steve Kerr was asked about Rose working through the mental hurdles of coming back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and said, “I think where the Bulls are now with this series with Kirk Hinrich struggling with the calf injury, if Derrick is OK and there’s no threat to further injury, I think he’s got to play. He has to put himself out there for 15-20 minutes. “Look at what [Joakim] Noah and Hinrich are putting themselves through with their injuries. I think it’s time for Derrick . . . maybe he owes it to his teammates.” Hinrich said Rose doesn’t owe them anything. “We don’t feel that way,’’ Hinrich said. “We know what kind of guy he is and what kind of teammate he is, and we don’t feel that way. I haven’t heard one ill word said about it. You give a guy who has that type of character the benefit of the doubt. We know that he’s such a big part of this organization and this team that we trust he’s making the right decision for that and for himself.’’ Rose was working on his outside shot at the end of practice Wednesday but did not meet with the media, trying not to be a ¬distraction. Good luck with that.
• Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News: Belief is important. Talk is cheap. The Nets have always walked along that thin line. So why stop in the playoffs? "There's no doubt in our mind we are the better team," Andray Blatche said Wednesday, a day before Game 6 against the Bulls. "We're just in a hole." When the Nets step on the United Center court Thursday, they'll be one loss from elimination, one heartbreak away from a disappointing inaugural campaign in the outer borough. But trailing the Bulls hasn't sapped Brooklyn's public confidence, which has been swollen from the time players declared their championship aspirations in training camp. But the Nets have good reasons to trump their chances against the banged-up Bulls. They'd be leading this series if anything had gone right in the final three minutes of regulation in Game 4. Chicago point guard Kirk Hinrich missed practice Wednesday and is listed as "day-to-day." Derrick Rose is still unlikely to walk out of the locker room in a uniform. Joakim Noah is injured and getting abused by Brook Lopez. The Nets have a full roster, albeit with a starting shooting guard, Joe Johnson, who said Wednesday that his plantar fasciitis has him playing like "a decoy."

• Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: One cheap shot can change everything. The mojo in this NBA playoff series turned decidedly back in the favor of the Nuggets when Golden State center Andrew Bogut turned into a coward and went for the throat of Kenneth Faried. Any guise of good sportsmanship is gone. This is a brawl. Oh, it's on now. Golden State coach Mark Jackson accused the Nuggets of being "hit men." Faried countered by alleging Bogut has repeatedly hit him in the throat. Denver did more than beat Golden State 107-100 on Tuesday night to stave off an unwanted start to summer vacation. When Bogut lost his head, taking a cheap shot at Faried, it was the first sign Denver had wormed its way into the heads of the Warriors. "He just hit me, and I was shocked," Faried said. "But I was happy about it." Bogut cracked. And there is a crack in the door for the Nuggets to beat the odds, show Golden State who's boss and make an unlikely comeback from a 3-1 deficit to win the opening-round series. … Thanks to Bogut, they look like wannabe thugs. After a loss in Game 4 at Golden State, Faried was so frustrated he kicked a hole in the locker room wall. "They can bill me," Faried said. He'll be back, for Game 6, with the pressure on Golden State. This time, Faried and the Nuggets are looking to kick tail. The mind-set the Nuggets will take into this fight? "We ain't leaving here," Faried said, "until we've won."
• Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: Stephen Curry had a cold, cold look in is eyes for the last half of Game 5 on Tuesday, and he still had it in the locker room later. He looked outraged after the Warriors' 107-100 loss to Denver. He looked bruised. Really, he looked like he was plotting vengeance. And most of all, Curry looked like he wanted to play Game 6 right here, right now instead of having to wait until Thursday at Oracle Arena. … It’s not happy-fun, it's edgy NBA playoff-fun, where the longer a series goes, the more the passion and dislike boils over into something like an alley fight. And where there are on-court taunts and messages sent, including, according to Warriors sources, Nuggets players repeatedly telling Curry that he was a soft player. The Warriors still lead this series 3-2, and now they are angry, too. … Though the Warriors were clearly outplayed in this game, which denied them their first shot at clinching this series, their locker room was feeling good about the late comeback and the home game Thursday. And mostly, they were fuming about the hits Curry took from the first minutes of this game. "They tried to send hit men (at Curry)," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. The general point: The Nuggets delivered most of the hits--legal or not--and the Warriors failed because they didn't recover until the fourth quarter, when it was too late. The implied point: The Warriors are planning to hit first, second, third and 100th on Thursday.
• Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times: It's tough to win a playoff game going one on five. The Clippers gamely tried Tuesday at Staples Center, but not even the sustained brilliance of Chris Paul was enough on a night he nearly doubled the output of his fellow starters with 35 points. The Memphis Grizzlies didn't deliver a powerful jab during a 103-93 victory in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round series as much as what seemed like a knockout blow, taking a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Now that the series has started, to use that expression about the road team breaking through for a playoff victory, it's pretty much over for the Clippers. They have lost three consecutive games, and as tempting it is to use Blake Griffin's sprained ankle as an excuse or tout the Clippers' recent success at FedEx Forum, where they won twice in the playoffs last season and twice during the recently completed regular season, well, forget it. If Tuesday's no-show is any indication of the way the Clippers intend to play at a time when they need contributions from everybody, then they might as well call it a season instead of taking the flight to Memphis for Game 6 on Friday. That could be the end of the Vinny Del Negro era and these Clippers as we know them.
• Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News: Just the other day Blake Griffin was talking about how different these playoffs are compared to last year - the key being no longer having to drag an injured leg up and down the court. If Griffin didn't believe in the power of the jinx then, he might now. All it took was jumping innocently Monday during practice and then planting his right foot onto the foot of a teammate upon landing. The result being a sprained ankle so severe that if this was the regular season his absence might be measured in weeks, not hours. Not to mention a first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies that just got turned on its head. Griffin gutted it out Tuesday in Game 5, but gone was all the explosiveness that makes him one of the most gifted forwards in the game. He was limited, and it showed. And that left the Clippers stuck in first gear in a game they absolutely had to have to hold onto any sort of control of this series. … The problem is, ankle sprains don't just go away in a day or two, leaving the Clippers vulnerable the rest of the series. They have a training staff players continually praise for getting them ready to play, regardless of the situation - but they'll be put to the test between now and Friday's Game 6 to get Griffin's ankle to a point it can carry him through another game. The question is, will he be the decoy he was Tuesday or someone capable of actually contributing? And can he give them more than the three quarters he played in Game 5? Nothing less than the Clippers' season hangs in the balance.
• Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: What took so long? The Hawks vaulted back into their first-round playoff series against the Pacers by starting a bigger lineup that resulted in convincing home victories in Games 3 and 4. The greatest of the many benefits of the move has been the matchup of Josh Smith on Paul George. It has been a clear victory for the Hawks that has the best-of-seven series tied 2-2 and headed back to Indiana for Game 5 on Wednesday night. Smith has stifled George on defense. The Pacers’ All-Star small forward averaged 25.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists in Games 1 and 2. However, he averaged 18.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in Games 3 and 4. He had only three points at halftime in Game 4 on Monday when the Hawks built what was an insurmountable lead. He has not been the facilitator he was who made the Pacers’ offense so effective in the first two games. Smith also has prevented the Pacers from getting the ball to George in favorable places on the floor. The lineup change also meant that George had to guard Smith. It’s another battle won by the Hawks.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: It’s something nobody thought would happen at any point of the season, especially in the playoffs. Indiana Pacers power forward David West hasn’t had an impact in the series against the Atlanta Hawks. Not West, the backbone of the Pacers. Not West, the team’s most consistent player the past two seasons. Not West, the veteran savvy player who has managed to overcome his shortcomings in speed and athleticism to often end up schooling players at his position. Yes, that West. West continued to be unnoticeable Monday when the Hawks evened the series with the Pacers via their 102-91 victory at Philips Arena. … “I have to figure out a way to be more effective in this series,” West said. “I feel like I have an advantage at times, but we have to be able to catch a good rhythm in these games.” West is right: It’s time for him to get out of his funk. The Pacers need him. No offense to Paul George and the rest of the team, but they won’t win this series without West getting back to being the David West of the regular season.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: After missing the game's most important shot Monday night at Houston, a stick-back attempt from point-blank range, Ibaka whipped his head back, and then his body, and then crumpled to the court. As he remained on his backside, Ibaka put both arms over his head. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He had just cost the Thunder the closeout game at Houston. “It was tough. It was tough,” Ibaka said Tuesday, a day later. “I wanted to try to save my team, and it didn't happen. It was tough for me.” On the list of Thunder players who didn't deserve to deal with that amount of agony, Ibaka ranked a close second to Kevin Durant. … “It was my first time to be in that position, you know?” Ibaka tried to explain. He continued. “I didn't sleep last night, man.” … Ibaka insists he'll learn from it. “The good thing about it is we have one more game (Wednesday),” Ibaka said. “Like I said, for me, that was my first time to be in that position. It didn't happen, so now I know how it feels and I'm going to move on.”
• David Barron of the Houston Chronicle: Patrick Beverley has endured summers in Chicago and winters in Russia, so there isn’t much chance he’s going to get emotionally distraught over another night in Oklahoma City. And even if Beverley were prone to get his feelings hurt when people hurl abuse his way, he can consult one of the NBA’s reigning experts on the fine art of being a visiting team villain. “In the famous words of Bill Walton, if they’re cheering you in the opponent’s gym, you’re doing something wrong,” said Rockets coach Kevin McHale, a veteran of the Lakers-Celtics brouhahas of the 1980s. “I don’t think they’re cheering (Beverley), so he must be doing something right.” Wednesday night’s Game 5 will be the Rockets’ first game at Oklahoma City since the Game 2 incident in which Thunder guard Russell Westbook suffered a knee injury when he appeared to be trying to call a timeout and Beverley moved in for an attempted steal. Westbrook required season-ending surgery, and Beverley received all manner of Internet abuse from Thunder fans, including a couple of death threats from a Twitter account linked to an Oklahoma City ball boy.
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: Kevin Garnett will take the Madison Square Garden floor this evening to participate in his 1,453rd NBA game. He insists that he hasn’t considered there may not be a 1,454th. If the Celtics do not defeat the New York Knicks tonight, their season will be over — a 4-1 Eastern Conference quarterfinals exit. One of the first questions that will follow is whether Garnett’s career, too, will be at an end. But the Big Ticket doesn’t want to consider the fact he may be punching his ticket to retirement. Such thoughts can only get in the way. So when he sat his 6-foot-11 frame down at the C’s practice facility yesterday, his vision was sharply tunneled. He seems to play most every game as if it could be his last. But would this one be any different because it could be, you know, the last? “Not really. Game 7’s an all-out,” said Garnett, echoing a team theme that every game now is a Game 7, even though tonight’s is, indeed, Game 5. “That’s just what they are, the last opportunity to survive. Your mentality can’t be anything different.” … So if he did spend yesterday morning wondering what Thanksgiving on a beach would feel like, he wasn’t sharing that later. And he didn’t want to ante up for any hypothetical poker.
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: J.R. Smith will rejoin the rotation Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, and in all likelihood, the Knicks will close out the series. No N.B.A. team has come back from a 3-0 deficit, and the Celtics will probably not be the first. The Knicks have not lost a home game since March 7. The elbow, the suspension and the loss may ultimately become a footnote to an otherwise glorious season. But if the Knicks stumble in Game 5? If Tyson Chandler’s neck flares up? If Raymond Felton’s ankle turns? If Carmelo Anthony goes 10 for 35 again? Sometimes, it takes just a single sprain, one unlucky bounce or a shooting slump to turn a series around. The smart teams know this, and they act accordingly, treating each game as vital. Whether this series ends in five games, six or seven, the Knicks will have cost themselves vital recovery time — even more crucial for a team relying on so many older veterans. They need to preserve Jason Kidd’s 40-year-old legs and Kenyon Martin’s surgically repaired knees for the challenges ahead, and the expected showdown with the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.

It's late in a close game, your team has the ball, and they need to decide what to do.

Pick and roll? Isolation? Drive and kick? This shooter? That one?

These are tough decisions and precisely why coaches get the big bucks.

Too bad so many teams keep screwing these decisions up in these playoffs.

My radical proposal, developed over the last several years of obsessing over this stuff: Whatever your team does, it ought to be something with a good chance of succeeding. There are lots of right answers.

I'd bet big money time will make clearer that the wrong answer is to call timeout to set up an isolation play. No matter your opinion of advanced stats, these things are all true:

• Timeouts hurt the offense and help the defense.
• Isolations consistently rank as just about the least effective type of NBA play.
• It's essentially impossible to find evidence any player is predictably efficient against the double team.
• "Any random open player" has been shown to be a better option than a covered superstar, and it's not close.

And yet, look what has been happening in these playoffs.

THUNDER GAME 4 vs. ROCKETS

This has been the season that many teams have seen the light about moving the ball to the open man. For instance, instead of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade vs. the world, the Heat have surrounded their stars with deadly shooters. Predictably, it has made a massive difference.

The Spurs were counted out as old, but dusted almost everybody by continuing their long-term worship of uncontested shots.

See the trend there? Good teams that don't play Hero Ball sweep the first round.

Meanwhile, of the league's three top contending teams (Miami, San Antonio, Oklahoma City) this season, the Thunder were always the holdouts. They have long believed in isolation hoops. Perhaps this is no surprise ... their coach had a playing career that coincided almost perfectly with the heyday of isolation play. Smart research has long shown that the Thunder's offense is at its best when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook shot a little bit less, but the team sure does not run plays with that in mind. Their strategic approach has always been built around the idea that they want those guys shooting the rock.

The Thunder roster, led by the stars, are so doggone good that makes for a top-five NBA' offense anyway. But when Westbrook went down to a knee injury, a scary new decision faced Oklahoma City. Without Westbrook, would they finally see the value in open shooters? Or would they double down in their commitment to superstars, only this time with just one left?

The problem with having only one superstar is that my mom could draw up the defensive scheme. (On Monday night's broadcast Chris Webber saw what the Rockets were doing late to cover Durant and declared it the first time in his entire life he had seen a full-court double-team.) It's easy to make sure Durant faces a ton of defense every possession, and so what if he occasionally beats 'em all?

The result was the Rockets -- perhaps the worst defensive team in the playoffs -- held one of the league's best offensive teams (60-game winners) to a grand total of three buckets over the game's five final minutes. In that time Derek Fisher, Kevin Martin, Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha spent all kinds of time -- on video, it's glaring -- standing all alone in position to catch and shoot. Research shows open role players in those kinds of situations are vastly more effective than covered stars. According to NBA.com's stats tool, however, those four together combined for a grand total of one attempt, while Durant and fill-in Westbrook -- Reggie Jackson, took all the shots.

Simply put, with more respect for open shooters, and less fascination with who's shooting, the Thunder absolutely could have scored more. And they only had to score a tiny bit more to, you know, end the series.

It came to a hilarious head with 12 seconds left. The Thunder had been force-feeding Durant so religiously the defense scarcely looked at anybody else. And yet, in the face of evidence timeouts only help the defense, and despite a Rockets team scrambling to get in place, the Thunder called a timeout.

They hadn't run an actual play in a half-hour, and weren't about to. What could there have been to talk about? It was the stuff of Twitter jokes:

@truehoop "just to confirm guys, we're going with Kevin. I know you know, just wanted to emphasise. So, yeah... ' - Scott Brooks.

— Anton Trees (@as_trees) April 30, 2013

 

After letting the defense get set, the Thunder flirted with turning the ball over, and ended up losing valuable seconds trying to establish Durant. He gave up his dribble in the face of tough defense, almost turned it over trying to get it to Jackson, who scrambled to create a Hail Mary out of a broken play that failed at the buzzer.

Would it kill you to run a pick-and-roll?

ROCKETS GAME 4 vs. THUNDER
All the things I just wrote about Durant and the Thunder go double for the Rockets and James Harden. Kevin McHale uses Harden like you used your favorite new song when you were 12 -- again and again and again until it's completely worn out.

As much as the Thunder offense was good all season but bad in crunch time, the Rockets are the kings of that particular dynamic, and have been for the same reason all season. They're also famously the most analytical team in the league, meaning almost certainly somebody is telling McHale this is a bad idea, but he's doing it anyway.

The Rockets' late-game offense consisted largely of Harden shooting tough shots against the Thunder's hand-picked defenders, Sefolosha and in one case after a switch, Ibaka, with teammates standing still and watching with the shot clock expiring. These are awful conditions for an offense -- how strange for the offense to have set up the conditions that precise way.

Non-Harden players made two of five shots in the final five minutes. None of Harden's three shots were all that close. One was an airball.

This is an old trend from the Lakers, which has been generally true throughout Kobe Bryant's career: The team builds a lead playing some kind of team-focused ball, and then the offense grinds to a halt late in games when the offense focuses increasingly on the team's "best option." In reality the team's best option is to keep using the screens, cuts, passes and movement of people and the ball that got them the lead in the first place.

KNICKS vs. CELTICS GAME 4
The Celtics won this game. Here's an exchange that shows why: With 1:12 left in regulation and the Knicks up two, Paul Pierce took a handoff from Kevin Garnett on the left side. Everyone knows Pierce is the Celtics' closer, and everyone knows his go-to closing move is a nifty little fall away jumper around the free throw line. By the time Pierce got to his spot and elevated, Tyson Chandler, Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton formed a nice crowd around him.

But ... surprise! Pierce didn't shoot. He passed. Back to Garnett. Who had roughly 400 square miles of open space all around him, as the defense had been wholly duped into crunch time hero worship. Garnett stepped into a nice tidy open jump shot. Not a hero shot at all -- and therefore a wonderful one, with very high expected points per possession. The best shots are open shots.

Meanwhile the Knicks, like the Thunder, were missing a key scorer -- in this instance J.R. Smith was out. And like the Thunder they used that as an excuse to go Hero Ball all the way.

So on the next possession New York got the ball to Carmelo Anthony, who was very well covered by long, lean Jeff Green, and missed a 29-footer as the clock expired.

It was as the Knicks believed there was literally magic in Anthony's fingertips. For much of the season the Knicks were a study in ball movement, with shooters hoisting open 3s at record rates. They tossed that playbook for this game, however, instead having Anthony launch 35 shots almost all of which were heavily covered. He missed 25.

The Knicks averaged more than 19 assists per game this year but finished this 53-minute overtime game with 10. It's easy to see why -- because in situations when a covered Anthony would have once passed to the open man -- and there were plenty of them -- out of a misguided conviction it was best for his team, in this game he fired away.

In the final five minutes of regulation plus overtime a collection of the Knicks most efficient shooters -- Steve Novak, Jason Kidd and Tyson Chandler -- didn't take a single shot, while Anthony shot a mighty ten and made but two. Non-Anthony Knicks, meanwhile, were three-of-six over those crucial ten minutes.

The role of a coach is to guide a team to run the plays that give the team the best possible chance of success. If you were an NBA owner, how long would you keep believing in a coach whose teams used the exact opposite approach when it mattered most, running plays that would predictably get bad results?

• Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: When Stephen Curry is officially anointed the greatest shooter of all time, they will talk about this game, and they won't have to say much else. When and if the Warriors finish off Denver in this series, they will point to the final 4 minutes, 22 seconds of the third quarter Sunday night, and it will all be explained. When thousands of Oracle Arena fans suffer from partial hearing loss for days and weeks, maybe years ... well, they will know what happened. Curry happened, like a thunder clap, over and over and over again. Was this the birth of a superstar? "Those guys are just coming to the hospital," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said of newcomers to the Curry-is-a-Superstar Bandwagon. "The baby has been born already. "We've been watching it all year long. He's put this team on his back. ... Here's where you recognize where the great players are." And from that, there might be no turning back. The practical result is that Curry's magical 22-point third quarter -- and 19-point storm in the final 4:22 -- pushed the Warriors to a 115-101 victory in Game 4 of this first-round series. "I was feeling a little warmer, bodywise, in the third quarter, just get a rhythm," Curry said after his ankle pain led to a sluggish first half. "The goal kind of looked a little bigger."
• Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: Nuggets swingman Andre Iguodala is paid a salary of $15 million, give or take the retail price of a yacht. But, right now, you can bet Iguodala would invest heavily to buy a clutch basket, a vowel or the star quality of Golden State guard Stephen Curry. Behind 31 points from Curry, the Warriors ran Denver out of the gym Sunday night with a 115-101 victory. After winning 57 games during the regular season, the Nuggets have picked a lousy time to suffer a three-game losing streak against the Western Conference's No. 6 seed. Here is Nuggets coach George Karl, with all the analysis you need from this series: "They're probably twice as good as shooters as we are." Curry is a bona fide NBA star. And Iguodala is not. With his team now a single game from elimination in the opening round of the playoffs, it appears Karl could become the most sheepish, miserable winner of the league's coach of the year award. … Here is what is sad. Iguodala's solid reputation is built on defense. Yet there is nothing Iguodala or anybody else on the Nuggets' roster can do to stop Curry, even when he's at less than full strength. Unless your name is Bill Russell or Dennis Rodman, the notion that defense wins championships in the NBA is largely a myth. This league is built around big shots who hit the big shot.
• Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: These Lakers were closer to the Sacramento Kings. But the Spurs convinced themselves of something else entirely. They took Popovich’s appropriate-fear message to another level; it was a self-created, alternate-reality fear. Baynes’ surprising start might have helped, since he wasn’t about to overlook a thing. But the energy that went through the Spurs was deeper than this. When Parker wasn’t spinning toward the basket, DeJuan Blair was moving his feet and muscling the Lakers’ big men. Afterward, a reporter reminded Tim Duncan of his long history with the Lakers. Without Bryant in uniform, did this feel like a chapter in that book? “You know what,” Duncan began, “it’s hard to answer that question.” Then, he answered it. Firmly. “I’m playing here and now to get to the next round. I’m not worried about the history of whatever, and the series of whatever. We were here to beat the team that was in front of us to move on. And however you want to put it in the book and put it in whatever chapter, we won this series, and we’re moving on, and we’re happy about that.” They should be beyond happy. The Spurs turned this series into an extended practice. They found rhythm they had lost at the end of the regular season, giving Tiago Splitter and Boris Diaw maybe a week to get healthy, and this will help everyone from Mr. Pop to Baynes. For when the real playoffs begin.
• Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: Superman took a powder. A cornerstone crumbled. The dude just left early. "This is like a nightmare," said Howard later. "This is like a bad dream and I couldn't wake up out of it." Here's how that nightmare can end. The Lakers don't re-sign it. The Lakers walk out on Dwight Howard the way he walked out on them. The Lakers shake themselves awake after watching Howard's pathetic performance Sunday and have the courage to move forward without him. Interestingly, just as the Lakers' phony glitter disappeared, their strongest fabric arrived. Moments after Howard's ejection, with the team trailing by 21 points, yeah, you guessed it, Kobe Bryant showed up. Making his first public appearance since tearing his Achilles' tendon just over two weeks ago, Bryant hobbled out to the chair behind the bench. The crowd stood and roared for the first time all afternoon. Bryant sat there the rest of the game, cheering and coaching. This franchise may be a mess, but it's still Hollywood's mess. … Even with Howard, they would be mediocre next season, so why not play without him while waiting for the contractual freedom in the summer of 2014 that could put them back in the championship race. Granted, once Bryant retires, the Lakers will never again be led by such a great closer. But you'd think they'll eventually be able to find someone actually willing to finish.
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: Here’s how you close out a series: 17 points in a four-minute stretch during the fourth quarter, including four three-pointers and a three-point play by LeBron James. Then, for good measure, a raucous dunk by James to cap it all off. James’ powerful, emphatic basket with 2:41 left in the fourth quarter gave the Heat a 16-point lead, sent Dwyane Wade out of his chair in celebration and sent the Heat into the second-round of the playoffs with a four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Heat defeated the Bucks 88-77 to close out the series. It all seemed almost too easy. The Heat held the Bucks to 85.3 points per game, and for many of the players, including veterans such as Ray Allen, Mike Miller and Shane Battier, it was the first series sweep of their careers. “Sweeping is the toughest thing you ever do,” said Udonis Haslem, who had 13 points and five rebounds. “Teams’ lives are on the line, and they might understand that they might not come back and win the whole series, but guys want to get one because it’s a pride thing. Nobody wants to get swept.” It was the Heat’s first sweep since the 2005 playoffs when Haslem and Wade swept through the New Jersey Nets and then the Washington Wizards in the first two rounds of the playoffs before losing to the Pistons in seven. The Heat now must await the conclusion of the first-round series between Chicago and the Nets — the new Brooklyn Nets — before focusing on its next opponent. The first game of the second round can begin no sooner than Saturday.
• Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times: Let’s play a Milwaukee Bucks edition of the game “Should he stay … or should he go?” After being swept from the playoffs Sunday by the reigning champion Miami Heat, most card-carrying members of Bucks Nation would like to see a thorough housecleaning of their favorite team, starting at the top with owner Herb Kohl to the bottom with the video coordinators. Can’t blame them, either. The Bucks had a most despicable season. From the beginning of training camp, when a disengaged Scott Skiles was coaching the team, to the middle of the season when they traded talented young forward Tobias Harris to Orlando for perhaps a rent-a-player in J.J. Redick to Sunday’s season-ending game, there has been non-stop turmoil surrounding the organization. You don’t have to possess telepathic powers to realize heads are going to roll. It’s just a question of how many of them. Rest assured, this offseason figures to be infinitely more intriguing and entertaining than this season. So, who should stay and who should go?
• Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News: Maybe now J.R. Smith will think twice about swinging an elbow to clear out an opponent in the heat of a playoff battle. This was the best way for Smith to learn his lesson: The hard way, with the Knicks missing him dearly in their 97-90 overtime loss in Game 4 on Sunday at TD Garden. And how is this for justice? Jason Terry, the guy Smith sent to the parquet with his blatant elbow on Friday in Game 3, prompting the NBA to suspend the Sixth Man Award winner, outscored the Knicks by himself in the overtime session, 9-6, to keep the Celtics alive. With Smith, the Knicks are clearly superior to the wounded Celtics, a No. 7 seed trying to make do without Rajon Rondo in this first-round series.But without the 16 points that Smith has averaged in this series, the Knicks fell behind by 20 and didn’t have enough shot-makers to match Terry in overtime in losing for only the third time in their last 22 games. Smith will be back Wednesday for Game 5 at the Garden. “I don’t care if Patrick Ewing comes back for them,” Terry said. “We’re going to treat it like a Game 7.”
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: There was no question, if this was Jason Terry’s final appearance at TD Garden as a Celtic, if the team decides to include him in an expected slew of offseason moves, he was going to exit with brashness. So on the fast break in overtime Sunday against the New York Knicks, when he could have penetrated to the hoop for a layup or drawn a foul, Terry pulled up a foot behind the 3-point line, unleashing a long-range shot with supreme confidence. The result? Swish. Swishes have been rare this season for Terry, signed to a three-year deal to essentially replace Ray Allen. He has turned out to be a defensive liability and erratic shooter. Yet, when the Knicks were stopping the Celtics’ halfcourt offense like Patrick Roy circa 1993, the Terry of old stepped in, scoring the final 9 points as the Celtics lived at least one more game with a 97-90 win. … Sunday was vintage Terry, the one who peppered the Miami Heat with jumpers in the 2011 NBA Finals, the fireball who plays with fearlessness, not anxiety, who approaches the moment with vigor, not hesitancy. “He was great,” Rivers said.
• Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: When we speak of all the things Josh Smith can do, Saturday’s Game 3 is what we mean. On a night when losing would have equaled cetain elimination, he scored 14 points, took six rebounds, made six assists and limited Paul George, the star of Games 1 and 2, to four baskets. Smith wasn’t the statistical standout – Al Horford had 26 points and 16 rebounds – but he was surely the Hawks’ MVP. Sometimes it seems as if we’ve spoken of no other Hawk for almost a decade, but Game 3 offered yet another reason why the Josh Smith conversation remains ongoing. When he’s good, he’s really good. (And he has been really good rather often, or else we’d never have noticed him in the first place.) When he’s not, we ask why. Then we point to the 3-pointers and say, “That’s why.” If Smith had never discovered the 3-point shot, he’d be one of the most admired players in the sport. Mike Woodson had all but disabused him of the urge to launch; in his final season under his first professional coach, Smith tried only seven treys. In three seasons since succeeding Woodson, Larry Drew has allowed Smith to keep doing the thing he does worst, and that has undercut the greater effect. Think about it. Has there ever been a player of such skill and such seasoning about whom there remains such a kerfuffle over shot selection?
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: The Pacers, these Pacers, are not the stay-out-all-night, party-hearty, go-hard-or-go-home types. So why can’t the Indiana Pacers, losers of 12 straight games in Atlanta, beat this ordinary Hawks team on the road? Why can’t they come into Philips Arena, which is usually three-quarters filled with fans who’d rather be watching football, and take down a team that will be dismantled at season’s end? It’s understandable to lose 11 straight in San Antonio, as the Pacers have. It’s not understandable to lose 12 consecutive times in Atlanta, where the Hawks have been beacons of mediocrity over the years. … If the Pacers accomplished anything during their gruesome film session Sunday — Roy Hibbert called it “an airing of grievances” — it was reaching the conclusion that most of their problems were self-inflicted. While the Hawks were playing with abject desperation, the Pacers were just showing up. Asked his biggest disappointment after watching the game and then watching the tape, coach Frank Vogel didn’t hesitate. “Our offensive disposition,” he said.
• Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: Kevin Martin says he doesn't deal in pressure. Doesn't acknowledge its existence. Fair enough. Let's use a different term. Responsibility. It's Martin's responsibility, more so than any other Thunder, to patch the scoring hole left by the injured Russell Westbrook. … Martin has not had a good series against the Rockets. Three games, 11-of-35 shooting, 38 total points. But we should have seen it coming. Martin arrived in the famous James Harden trade on Oct. 27 and was effective immediately. In 17 November games, Martin averaged 15.9 points. But his scoring has gone down every month, and the Thunder's reliance on Martin has gone down, too. In November games, Martin averaged 14.1 usages, which are possessions ended by a particular player, either by shot, foul shot or turnover. By March, that average was down to 12.2 and in April, 10.8. … Scotty Brooks, who has been preaching that no one can replace Westbrook's production, admitted he needs more out of Martin and even offered strategy that could help. “He scores better when he's moving,” Brooks said. “We gotta keep moving him.” If Martin can't be more productive with Westbrook gone, Martin will be moving, all right. Moving on.
• David Barron of the Houston Chronicle: With the Rockets’ playoff fate against the Oklahoma City Thunder hanging by a thread, coach Kevin McHale’s most important Game 4 decision might be whether he’s better off with a limited Jeremy Lin or a healthier but older combination of Francisco Garcia, Carlos Delfino and Aaron Brooks. Lin, who scored two points and was limited to 18½ minutes Saturday night by the chest bruise he suffered in Game 2, underwent therapy and ran on the treadmill Sunday while his teammates had a brief shootaround after watching film from Oklahoma City’s 104-101 win in Game 3. The Thunder lead the series 3-0, and no NBA team has come back from three down to win a best-of-seven playoff series. Garcia (18 points), Delfino (11 points) and Brooks (four points in nine minutes) in concert with Patrick Beverley had encouraging moments in Lin’s absence in Game 3, and McHale must decide how much Lin can contribute to that rotation Monday at Toyota Center. “That’s a big decision for us,” McHale said. “He couldn’t do a lot of stuff (in Game 3). We’re going to have to wait and see. It doesn’t do any good for him to play if he can’t help us. We’ll see.”
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: Considering what the Bulls did to the Nets in their Game 4 come-from-behind victory in triple-overtime Saturday, there’s no need for such comments to be off the record. The players know that when it comes down to heart, toughness, will and playing team basketball when it matters most, the Nets just aren’t in the same class. “From my perspective, I think so,’’ Bulls power forward Taj Gibson said, when asked if the Bulls are just a tougher team than the Nets. “I mean, we had a lot of injuries this year. For the last three years we’ve had a lot of injuries, and we’ve always been able to overcome the injuries. We have guys that can step up on any given night and play 48 [minutes], play whatever is needed. That’s the difference. We have guys that are ready to step into that moment, and it shows.’’ “That moment’’ the Nets needed guys? Missing in action. It started with C.J. Watson missing a dunk with 3:16 left in the fourth quarter, which would have put the Nets ahead by 16. Before that miss, Brooklyn had been shooting 60.6 percent from the field. After that dunk? The Nets did what they seem to do best: They shrunk.
• Roderick Boone of Newsday: Rather than rewinding all the footage of their epic fourth-quarter collapse in Saturday's triple-overtime loss to the Bulls, the Nets probably felt better off simply burying it in the backyard like an old soup bone. "We won't watch the last three minutes and say, 'Look, we missed this free throw, we turned the ball over, we did A, B, C and D,' " interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said Sunday. "I think they are very acutely aware of the mistakes that we made and I don't think we need that for tomorrow." Beaten up mentally and physically after being on the wrong side of what many see as an instant classic, the Nets are forced to pick up the pieces quickly heading into Game 5 of their first-round matchup with Chicago at Barclays Center Monday night. They're trailing 3-1 in the series, and there's no time to dwell on how they never could seal the deal Saturday despite appearing to seize control of the game in the fourth quarter. No time to lament their slew of mistakes. They're on the brink of calling in for early tee times in a couple of days if they can't find a way to upend the Bulls and help erase those nightmarish memories of 48 hours earlier. "Disappointment is probably not strong enough, but an extremely tough way to lose," Carlesimo said. "But when it's all said and done, that's what it was. It's a loss, and having a day in between is good. We have to move away from the disappointment and channel it.”

The Boston Celtics survived a comeback effort by the New York Knicks to prevail in overtime and extend this first-round series to a fifth game.

Let's take a look at some of the keys to the outcome of this contest, one that snapped the Celtics' five-game playoff losing streak.

Key to the game: Celtics catch-and-shoot it well
The Celtics were finally able to put some points on the board in this series, and their performance in a number of areas contrasted their efforts from earlier in the series.

The chart on the right shows the difference between how the Celtics fared on catch-and-shoot shots in the first three games of the series, compared to how they shot in Game 4.

Paul Pierce, who was 0-for-12 on catch-and-shoots in the first three games of this series, was 4-for-7 in Game 4, with most of those makes coming early when the Celtics got off to their big lead.

Unsung star: Jason Terry
Jason Terry scored nine of his 18 points in overtime, making all three of his shots in the extra period.

Terry was 6-for-6 from 2-point range in this game, including 4-for-4 in the paint. He was 1-for-4 in the paint in the first three games of this series.

Carmelo may have gone a bit too far
Carmelo Anthony tied Bernard King’s Knicks record for most field goal attempts in a playoff game with 35.

Anthony became the first player to attempt at least 35 shots and make less than 10 of them in a playoff game since Michael Jordan did so for the Chicago Bulls against the Miami Heat in Game 4 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Finals.

Elias tells us that they are the only players to do that in the shot-clock era.

The 35 attempts tied the most shots he’s taken in any game (regular season or postseason) in his career.

Anthony might have felt the need to shoot more with the absence of J.R. Smith. The Knicks bench managed only seven points in Game 4, the fewest it has scored in any game this season.

Anthony did extend a streak of scoring 30 or more points in games in which his team had a chance to clinch in a postseason series. He’s done so in each of the first four games of his career. Elias noted that Jordan had the longest run of 30-point games in potential clinchers to start his career, doing so in eight straight games.

We also remind you …
The last time a Boston pro sports team trailed 3-games-to-none to a New York team and won Game 4 in an amount of time that went beyond regulation (ie: extra innings or overtime) was in the 2004 ALCS when the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees.

The Red Sox went on to win that series in seven games.

Even just getting to a Game 7 would be a notable accomplishment. Only three NBA Best-of-7 series have featured one team winning three straight games when trailing 3-0 in the series.

None have won the series.

• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: Heat forward LeBron James finished second this week in voting for defensive player of the year, and he wasn’t happy about not winning. “It sucks,” said James, who never has won the award although he has been MVP three times. “It sucks. It sucks.” Memphis center Marc Gasol received the trophy after finishing 14 first-place votes ahead of James … James was asked if his strong candidacy for other awards — notably the MVP — hurt his chances. “I don’t know,” he said. “It definitely sucks, though. Finishing second? Who wants to finish second?” The advanced statistics show that James was slightly more dominant defensively last season. Does James believe he did his best work this season? “Probably,” James said. “I mean, I guard everybody on the floor. I don’t know if there’s one player in NBA history who’s guarded one through five (positions).”
• Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times: Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings, who are perceived as the team’s best players, were throwing up brick after brick in games not to remember. Ellis, who can opt out of his contract after the season and is hoping to hit the jackpot as an unrestricted free agent, misfired on seven of his nine field-goal attempts. Jennings, who also hopes to pad his bank account this summer as a restricted free agent, was equally inept. He made a mere five shots in 15 attempts. For the series, Jennings has connected on 16 of 50 shots – a putrid 32 percent. This isn’t what Jennings had envisioned for himself or his team. If you recall, it was Jennings who, several weeks ago, brazenly said he wanted to take on the Heat in the playoffs. Jennings said he liked how the Bucks matched up. Then, just days before the commencement of the playoffs, Jennings did a Muhammad Ali impersonation and, brazenly again, predicted the Bucks would shock the world and win this series in six games. Jennings and Co. will be incredibly lucky to stretch this series to six games, which it most assuredly won’t. Jennings isn’t the sole reason the Bucks are in such a serious quandary. There are plenty of culprits. Ellis, for instance, managed seven points in Game 3, well under his team-leading 19.2 point regular-season production. … “I know my head is still high,” Jennings said. “I’m going to play until the buzzer is over. This team has to stay together.” For, in all likelihood, one more game.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Decades from now, when Tom Thibodeau's coaching legacy has been fully written, a Chicago fan may stumble across the box score from the Bulls' 79-76 victory over the Nets and smile knowingly, a nod to Thibodeau's reputation as a defensive tactician. A young fan in Brooklyn might peruse the same sheet and, much more simply, scream, "Man, the Nets stink!" The truth, at least on Thursday night at the United Center, existed in both schools of thought. The present reality — for fans of both teams everywhere — is the Bulls grabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series after a shockingly inept first-half stretch from the Nets that negated their late rally and the Bulls' almost equally shocking collapse. After a strong start, the Nets somehow missed 25 of 26 first-half shots and scored four points in 13 minutes, 45 seconds bridging the first and second quarters. Still, the Nets whittled a 17-point, fourth-quarter deficit to a one-possession game and lost only when C.J. Watson's open look at a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer missed everything under a late contest by Joakim Noah. "We did what we had to do," Carlos Boozer said. "In the playoffs, you have to win in different ways. Nothing is perfect."
• Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News: Even after the Nets’ shooting went cold, they had a chance to reverse the course of a rough week and salvage another brickfest. But like most everything the Nets hoisted up Saturday, the shot from C. J. Watson was off. Waaaay off. “Did I think it was good? No,” Watson said. “It felt good. I got a good look.” Watson’s air ball at the buzzer of a 79-76 defeat to the Bulls wasn’t the problem. After the Nets shot 35% – missing 25 of 26 during a stretch in the first and second quarters – they were lucky to be sniffing Chicago. But Watson’s potential game-tying shot off a broken inbounds play sealed Brooklyn’s current reality: the most expensive roster in franchise history is trailing the series 2-1, closer to getting bounced in the first round. “We got to win on Saturday (Game 4),” Deron Williams said. “That’s it. We’re very desperate. That’s the perfect word. We need to play with some desperation.”
• Ron Higgins of The Commercial-Appeal: During the individual pregame warmups, Zach Randolph was the last of the Grizzlies to leave the floor. He stayed extra long, working on his post moves, flipping in shots from both sides of the basket. Then, he went out and did it to the Clippers. The veteran forward had a turn-back-the-clock performance, going for 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Griz to a 94-82 game 3 victory in a first-round Western Conference series. The win cut the Clips series lead to 2-1 with game 4 set Saturday afternoon in FedExForum. … Randolph n his night: “Most definitely I wanted to come out and start aggressively. I wanted to be quick, hit my first few shots and stay aggressive. You know they double-teamed me, triple-teamed me, so just go fast.” On the wrestling with Blake Griffin: “It’s a physical game out there. Rough play is part of the game. You take it how it comes.”
• T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times: If you want to insist on remaining positive, this game proved only one thing: The value of the home-court advantage. And the Clippers still have it. OK, so maybe it also demonstrated what a difference former Clipper Zach Randolph can make when he's aggressive and free of early foul trouble. Randolph scored 27 points and had 11 rebounds, while his wrestling mate Blake Griffin had 16 points but only two rebounds. "It was probably my fault," said Chris Paul when asked what went wrong. And no reason to argue. He had eight points but also five turnovers, and the other Clippers followed his lead. "I think [the Grizzlies] played desperate," said Chauncey Billups, after the announcement that for their own security, all players must take the bus to the hotel, which is located across the street from the arena. "Their season was on the line tonight, and it took us too long to adjust to that physicality," Billups said. "It's time for us to show a little urgency." Amen. And does he understand a loss Saturday means the Clippers will definitely have to return to this crime-infested city? "We do understand that," said Billups. And I sure wish I could walk faster.
• Jim Baumbach of Newsday: No matter how appealing a scenario it was, the Knicks tried hard Thursday to avoid the temptation of envisioning themselves going up to Boston, winning twice and sweeping the Celtics. That, they insisted, is too far down the line to be thinking about right now. Instead, the Knicks insisted their focus is only on Game 3 Friday night, and with good reason. With this best-of-seven first-round series moving 200 miles north up I-95, the Knicks expect to be greeted by a more determined Celtics team in front of one of the NBA's more raucous crowds. At Celtics practice Thursday, Paul Pierce described the Celtics as "a desperate team now," which is exactly what the Knicks said they are preparing for after taking the first two games in New York. "I expect a team that's going to fight, make some adjustments," Carmelo Anthony said after practice. "They're home, so a lot is going to go into that emotionally, physically. We have to be prepared for whatever they're going to throw at us and just build off these last two games." Anthony said he would be "super-duper-happy-excited" if the Knicks won two and completed the sweep in Boston but stressed the importance of not looking too far ahead.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: The goal Friday at TD Garden is to simply win Game 3, to inject a hint of doubt and insecurity into the minds of the New York Knicks, who have played two rather average games yet walked away with resounding victories. While Celtics coach Doc Rivers has lauded the composition of his team, even after the season-ending injury to Rajon Rondo, eventually he understood that it was flawed, and the cracks from lacking a floor leader are evident. Using Paul Pierce as a point forward not only leads him into more unforced errors because he is playing out of position, it hinders his ability to defend and post up when he is trying to start the offense. Rondo’s value has increased exponentially over the past few weeks, as the Celtics have realized through trial and error that Avery Bradley is not a true point guard; that issue should be put to rest for coming seasons. The impressive contributions from New York’s Raymond Felton in this series only emphasize the Celtics’ weakness at point guard and how Rondo’s absence has forced several players to adjust their roles.
• Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: The sweet myth perpetuated by the Nuggets is they have no stars. So Iguodala got a ticket to the Summer Olympics as a member of Team USA by being the ninth caller of a radio contest? His salary of $14.7 million ranks among the top 25 in the NBA. Imagine the griping and moaning if the highest-paid player on the roster of a Nuggets team stumbling out the postseason gate were Carmelo Anthony, rather than Iguodala. This much is certain: If Josh Kroenke learned anything about the basketball business from his father, Stan, it's that it makes zero financial sense to pay a premium price for a team unable to do damage in the NBA playoffs. Facing a little adversity against Golden State hardly qualifies as a hardwood crisis for the Nuggets. But now we will find out if Iguodala is a money player. If he is not, then you can bet Iguodala will be making his money somewhere else in the league, if he truly believes his worth is anywhere near $15 million per year. Beat the Warriors, Mr. Iguodala. Or be thinking of the next NBA city you might want to call home. No pressure.
• Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: Stephen Curry is still on the big seesaw, even now at this most important and exasperating moment of his career. Happy, then hurt, great and then gimpy. Game 2 glory in Denver to tie the series 1-1 and then ... A left ankle sprain that kept Curry out of practice on Thursday and put his status in some doubt for Friday's Game 3 at Oracle Arena. … He said he couldn't have played if the game was Thursday, but Curry added that the team's careful approach to his ankle injuries in the last few regular seasons leaves more options open to get healthy quick now. That includes maybe (for the first time) taking a painkilling shot or two. Curry's right ankle is the one that has required multiple surgeries; he has rolled his left one, but never has needed surgery for it. "Just trying to manage the swelling and hopefully get it right by (Friday) night," Curry said. Still, after twisting the ankle during his 30-point outburst in Game 2, returning to action, and then suffering from a lot of swelling afterward, there's no way to know if Curry can be close to his usual self any time soon. The greatest players, though, figure out how to get through something like this when everything revolves around them. And the Warriors' playoff hopes absolutely revolve around Curry. And now, his recovery.
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: The most underrated factor in a 58-win Spurs season that surprised many was their 79.1 percent free-throw shooting, most accurate of the Gregg Popovich era. Through the first two games, their success at the line has continued: 31 of 39 foul shots (79.5 percent). Meanwhile, the Lakers have made only 25 of 37 (67.6), and Popovich hasn’t yet gone to full Hack-A-Howard. One of the league’s worst foul shooters, Howard has gone to the line only 12 times, making only six of those. Making free throws is a bigger deal on the road than at home. If the Spurs want to take that unbeatable 3-0 lead, they must to their part to keep the foul line differential going.
• Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News: The Lakers have tried nearly every tactic in overcoming how the Spurs have defended Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. They've force-fed the ball inside. That led to turnovers. The Lakers have taken outside shots. Many have fallen short. They've kept passing the ball in hopes of throwing the Spurs off-balance. That just wasted the shot clock. So with the Lakers entering today's Game 3 of their first-round series against San Antonio nursing a 0-2 deficit, Howard has tried another strategy. The Lakers center openly accused the Spurs, namely Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter, of flopping when he was called for two offensive fouls in the Lakers' Game 2 loss Wednesday in San Antonio. "I got a lot of my fouls on the offensive end just posting up," Howard said. "I thought the flopping rule was going to be put in this year. But I guess that's up for next season." The NBA announced harsher penalties during the postseason for repeat offenders, including a possible suspension after the fifth transgression.

• Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: OK, now it's time to prepare your ears for Game 3 at Oracle Arena on Friday night. But first, before I wade through all the incredible performances in the Warriors' 131-117 Game 2 victory in Denver, I've got two clear statements to make: This was Mark Jackson's finest hour as a coach. Young core, playing rookies, just lost one of their key players, switching up the rotation, a 6th seed on the road against a team that won 57 regular-season games and was 39-3 at home. … And secondly... * This was the best, most complete Warriors performance since Game 1 in Dallas, 2007, which singularly tilted the series towards the 8 seed and away from the 1 seed and the series never tilted back. We'll see if this victory leads to the Warriors taking the series. I think it's basically even-up from here on, but the Warriors had to get this game to have a shot at this series. … I think I'll still project Denver winning this in seven games. (I'm presuming Faried gets a lot quicker with two more off-days before Game 3 and as the series moves on.) But the Warriors just put a jolt into the NBA playoffs, which is always good. They're going to miss David Lee and they're probably not going to get too much further. But for now, the Warriors showed what's possible and how dangerous they can be.
• Woody Paige of The Denver Post: The Nuggets have a history of losing in the first round of the playoffs. They could be history again ... soon. The Warriors were making their own history Tuesday night, with torrid shooting, the best percentage (64.6) in a postseason game since 1991-92. The Nuggets were defenseless. The only way the Nuggets could lose was to let Stephen Curry go off. Curry scored 30, and the Warriors won easily. In Game 1 of the series, the Nugget threw two, three, four players at Curry. In Game 2 it was as if the Nuggets put no one on the Warriors' best player. … The Warriors certainly couldn't continue to shoot above 60 percent from the field in the second half. Well into the third period, the Warriors continued to shoot above 60 percent. Curry couldn't keep blazing, could he? The Nuggets managed to reduce the Warriors' lead below 10, but Curry had 10 more points in the third as the Warriors pushed the lead back to 13. Where has the team that hadn't lost at home since mid-January? Where were those Nuggets who have won 39 (including Game 1 of the series) at home? Where were those Nuggets who plowed through the NBA since February. Nowhere to be found.
• Greg Cote of The Miami Herald: There was this one particular little burst here Tuesday night for Dwyane Wade. It was like the old days. It was like the young days. Wade, bending, slashing for consecutive driving layups, then pulling up for a jumper soft off the glass. Three baskets in less than a minute and a half, Heat crowd reenergized inside the downtown bayside gym. There was this one particular little snapshot a bit later in this second first-round NBA playoff game: Wade, taking a pass near the free-throw line, one big stride and a leap finished by a one-handed dunk. Vintage stuff. If you froze the picture, his flight would have reminded you of the famous Michael Jordan silhouette. Later, Wade followed a miss with a dunk and then did that thing he does when he’s alone in a zone, lowering himself and spreading his arms as if about to take flight, fans roaring. Miami beat the Milwaukee Bucks 98-86 to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. No surprise there. The defending champions not dispatching an eighth-seeded foe would only rank among the biggest shocks in sports history. … No, the expected result was not the story Tuesday. For me, the story of the night was a gentle reminder that should nourish Heat fans: D-Wade can still bring it. Even still battling a sore right knee, he can still bring it. All things considered, he’s still pretty good for an old guy, isn’t he?
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: Backup point guard Ish Smith played only four minutes for the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. But Smith was in the game during a terrible 2½-minute stretch as the Miami Heat went on a 12-0 run to open the fourth quarter and take control in a 98-86 victory in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference playoff series. "You learn, you grow from it," Smith said. "That's a good team. There's a lot of good things we can pull out of this game. We'll do that, get better in practice and be ready for Game 3." Smith missed one shot and committed a turnover during that stretch as the Heat extended a three-point lead after three quarters to an 80-65 advantage. Smith and Brandon Jennings formed the backcourt at the start of the quarter, with Ekpe Udoh, Marquis Daniels and Mike Dunleavy in the frontcourt. "As a point guard you've got to learn from that," Smith said. "Who do I get a shot for or do I create a shot for myself? The turnover I think Brandon was open and Marquis was open, and LeBron (James) did a great job, just got his hand in the passing lane.”
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: In another time, another spring, the duel would have been tantalizing, electric and potentially epic: Carmelo Anthony versus Paul Pierce, for control of the Eastern Conference. The names alone inspire visions of a classic playoff scoring battle. In another era, it might have been. In this one, the duel has become an unfair fight, between a still-rising superstar and his superior supporting cast and a fading likely Hall of Famer, who has hardly any support at all. Anthony dominated the court again Tuesday night, overpowering Pierce and anyone else in his path, leading the Knicks to an 87-71 rout and a commanding 2-0 lead in this first-round series. Through two games, the Knicks have been sturdier defensively and simply better in the second half, but most of all they have Anthony, who has been brilliant in the critical moments. He scored 34 points Tuesday and might have gone for 40 had the Knicks needed it. He was at his best in the second half, making 8 of 13 shots from the field as the Knicks turned a close game into a stunning rout, outscoring the Celtics, 45-23, over the final 24 minutes. … The Celtics, playing without Rajon Rondo, have never appeared more rudderless, failing to hit the 80-point mark in both games. A younger Pierce would have simply assumed a greater load, but he no longer seems capable and finished with a relatively muted 18 points Tuesday night. Over two games, Anthony has outscored his rival Pierce, 70-39.
• Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: The Celtics have now played two games without the Kevin Garnettthey know and depend on. From the overall offensive malaise of Game 1 to Garnett’s foul trouble in last night’s 87-71 Game 2 loss to the Knicks, the Celtics headed home suffering from KG deprivation and in an 0-2 hole in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Garnett picked up three quick first-half fouls — two of the light-touch variety — and finished with five in 24 minutes — numbers far more influential than his 12-point, 11-rebound double-double. Garnett was restrained on the foul question. … Doc Rivers came much more to the point when he said, “I thought the fouls on Kevin were horrendous. Him not being on the floor — playing 24 minutes and never getting your rhythm, where you could see it looked like he was going to have a big game — it hurt us. And that’s just the way it goes. There’s nothing I can do about it now. But I thought that if it could have gone either way on those, they all went at Kevin. I think that’s tough.”
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The Indiana Pacers know the opportunity is there. They know the Atlanta Hawks are a fragile team that can be shook easily. The Pacers can protect their home court Wednesday and send the Hawks back to Atlanta down 2-0 with even more questions than they already have. It’s just a matter of which Pacers team shows up for Game 2 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse: the one that won Game 1 by 17 points or the one that had the tendency to have a letdown after success during the regular season? … The Pacers’ impressive Game 1 victory no longer means anything. The players can look at the Brooklyn-Chicago series if they need further proof. The Nets beat the Bulls by 17 points at home in Game 1, only to turn around and lose their home-court edge by dropping Game 2. If the Pacers lose Wednesday, home-court advantage belongs to the Hawks. Indiana will have to wait two days for an opportunity to get it back, and then it won’t be easy; the Pacers have lost 11 in a row at Atlanta. That makes winning Game 2 even more important.
• Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Josh Smith, the Hawks’ leading scorer, will play in Game 2 against the Pacers Wednesday after suffering a sprained right ankle in the playoff series opener. Smith was a full participant in Tuesday’s workout. He missed the on-court portion of Monday’s workout after suffering the injury in the third quarter of the Game 1 loss. “I should be all right,” Smith said. “It’s still a little sore but it’s playoff time and I have to suck it up.” Smith said he was hurt when he stepped on the foot of teammate Devin Harris with 9:33 remaining in the third quarter. He stayed in the game after a timeout. Smith finished with 15 points, but only four came in the second half. Hawks coach Larry Drew said Smith moved around well Tuesday and that he anticipated the forward would play Wednesday.
• David Barron of the Houston Chronicle: Kevin McHale, in schooling the Rockets for Game 2 of the series tonight after the Thunder’s 120-91 win Sunday in Oklahoma City, can hearken back to two of the most famous boom-and-bust cycles in NBA history to show how playoff fortunes can turn on a dime. “I’ve been in playoff series where we’ve won by 30 and lost the next game,” he said. “Every game is new unto itself.” … “Every game in the NBA is new,” McHale said. “Tuesday’s game is not like Wednesday’s game. They’re all different.” Meanwhile, in a universe more akin to the one occupied by the Rockets and Thunder, Harden was quick to note the possible parallels for the Rockets of Chicago’ Game 2 win over Brooklyn after the Nets took Game 1 of that first-round series. “You saw what can happen,” Harden said. “There’s just a matter of us fixing things, watching film and going out and executing. We know what we did (in Game 1). We know what we can change and how much better we can play. We’ve just got to go out there and do it.”
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: There are multiple reasons why Game 1 is one game, and OKC has provided several examples: Three seasons ago, when OKC was the No. 8 seed playing the No. 1-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, the Thunder won 110-89 in Game 4 to tie the series at 2. The next time the teams met at the Ford Center, the Lakers ended the series with a 95-94 victory on a Pau Gasol tip-in with 0.5 seconds left. Two seasons ago, OKC outlasted Memphis 4-3 in a thrilling Western Conference semifinals series that could have gone either way, yet every game was decided by at least eight points. The Thunder won Game 5 by 27, then lost by 12, then won (and clinched) by 15. Last season, OKC trailed 2-0 in the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, a team that had won 20 straight. The Thunder flipped the series and won four straight to advance to the NBA Finals. OKC's regular-season series this year against Houston offered similar evidence. The Thunder won the first two games by an average of 26 points and led the series finale by 14 points with seven minutes left, only to lose 122-119 at Toyota Center.
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: It is not often a contending team adds a former two-time NBA scoring champion less than a week before the start of the playoffs. That is exactly what the Spurs did eight days ago, when they signed 33-year-old swingman Tracy McGrady, recently of the Chinese Basketball Association. It could still be a while before McGrady makes his Spurs debut. Inactive for the Spurs’ 91-79 victory over the Lakers in Game 1, McGrady is all but certain to spend Game 2 on Wednesday night in street clothes as well. “We’re going real slow,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “We wanted to have another body just as an insurance policy. You don’t know what’s going to happen during a playoff series. We wanted to add someone.” Having arrived in San Antonio two months after his final game in China, McGrady has spent the past eight days working back into basketball condition and familiarizing himself with the Spurs’ playbook.
• Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: There's one big, blistering question facing the Lakers. So, uh, who's going to score for you guys? In three games without Kobe Bryant, the Lakers have shot 37.9% and averaged 89.7 points, the latter stat padded by nine points in overtime against Houston last week. They shot and shot and missed and missed in their playoff opener against San Antonio. They need to find someone besides Dwight Howard to make something happen Wednesday in Game 2. There are some doubters. "They can't," TNT analyst Kenny Smith said. "They can't. It's not enough." Don't anyone tweet that to Bryant. OK, go ahead. The Lakers could use a fire under their chairs with Bryant presumably watching again from home, though they didn't seem overly concerned about the lack of scoring power. "I think we missed shots, shots that we normally make," said Howard, who made eight of 12 in Game 1. "Scoring's not the issue. Defense is." Not really. The Lakers held San Antonio to 37.6% shooting in Game 1 and lost, 91-79. Defense wasn't the problem. Scoring and turnovers (18 against the Spurs) were the issue. Sorry, Dwight.

Game 2 between the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics was once again a tale of two halves.

The Celtics led by six at halftime, shot 56 percent from the field and held the Knicks to 38 percent shooting. Carmelo Anthony was also held in check (3-for-11 in the first half).

But the Knicks struck back, as has been the theme of the series. Let’s take a closer look.

Celtics Abysmal Shooting
The second half was a completely different story from the first.

For the second consecutive game the Celtics appeared to run out of gas. Tuesday night they were 7-for-36 (19.4 percent) from the floor in the second half. That’s their worst shooting performance in any postseason half over the last 15 seasons.

Boston scored 24 points in the paint, including the regular season that’s tied for their lowest output in a game this season. During this series the Celtics are averaging 27 points in the paint after putting up 38.1 during the regular season.

Offensive Diversity
Anthony has now scored 30 or more points in four consecutive postseason games. His production in both halves has been nearly identical. However, Anthony has passed 17 more times in the second halves of the games, helping the Knicks to a 33-point second-half advantage in the series.

The Knicks scored 26 points on pick-and-roll plays in the second half in Game 2 after scoring 13 points on those plays in the first half. The Knicks averaged 1.18 points per play on the pick-and-roll in the game and averaged 0.68 points per play on isolations.

Importance of being up 2-0
When the home team wins the first two games they have gone on to advance 94.4 percent of the time.
Only 15 teams in NBA history have come back to win a series after being down 2-0 (Oklahoma City came back from a 2-0 deficit last postseason).

Game 3 on Friday will be even more important, no team has ever come back to win a series from a 0-3 deficit.

• David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune: Fans flocked to the Barclays Center for Game 2 on Monday night between the Bulls and Nets fully expecting to see a key trio take control of this series. Indeed, a Big Three did. Except the players weren't Nets stars Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson. To the surprise of everybody not wearing red, the game-changers were Bulls role players Kirk Hinrich, Nazr Mohammed and Marco Belinelli. If any visitors from Chicago had believed that was possible before the Bulls' 90-82 victory, somebody around Brooklyn might have offered to sell you a nearby bridge. Yet Hinrich did more for the Bulls than Williams did for the Nets. Mohammed provided a needed spark in the third quarter after a hobbling Joakim Noah went to the bench with foul trouble. Belinelli, getting Tom Thibodeau's nod in the rotation over Rip Hamilton, supplied eight key points in 11 minutes off the bench when the four other players on the court and a national TV audience wondered who was going to score. This team win was so very Bulls, using reserves and resolve to piece together a big enough cushion to absorb a last-ditch Nets rally. The basketball was so ugly at times, it was beautiful. Control of the series now sits in the meaty hands of Thibodeau and his resilient team. Thibodeau coaxed the Bulls to take greater care of the ball and protect the paint better than a second coat. He got the Bulls to outplay and outhustle a Nets team that confirmed itself as one of the NBA's great underachievers. The Nets got Thibbed.
• George Willis of the New York Post: It would be easy to point the finger at Deron Williams for this one. The stat sheet makes him a logical target. This is the playoffs, the time of year when your superstar has to play like a superstar. Williams did in Game 1. He didn’t last night in Game 2. After scoring 22 points on Saturday, Williams had just eight points, shooting just 1-of-9 from the field. “I didn’t play good,” Williams said, stating the obvious. “I’m not going to play like this again.” Truth is, the Nets’ 90-82 loss to the Bulls can’t be blamed on one guy. Blame it on the mind game. Leading up to Game 2, Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo preached about what he called “the mind game.” It’s part of handling the highs and lows of a best-of-seven series, something the Nets will have to figure out if they are going to beat the Bulls and advance to the second round of the playoffs. … They won’t win this series with Williams being passive or the Nets not bringing enough energy to match the Bulls. The old saying is a series doesn’t really get started until a visiting team wins. Now it’s up to the Nets to be the more desperate team going to Chicago.
• Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News: The first thing Blake Griffin did Monday was dunk. That was the best game plan the Clippers could've had for Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series against Memphis. Sounds simple? Yes, and that's the beauty of it. All it took was a dunk for Griffin to find his groove. And the Clippers needed their leading scorer and dunk machine to find his rhythm early. Griffin scored 21 points, and added eight rebounds, four assists and one block as the Clippers edged Memphis 93-91 to take a 2-0 lead in the series. "Blake was aggressive early and set the tone for us," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Chris (Paul) made the plays down the stretch." Paul made the play down the stretch. With the ball in his hands, Paul made a move on Tony Allen and made the winner, an off-balance shot that went off the glass and in with 0.1 seconds left. Griffin set the tone, and Paul finished it, by adding 24 points and huge shots down the stretch when Griffin was double-teamed. "I just thought (Griffin) came out aggressive," Del Negro said. "He made a couple of tough shots. Just trying to attack as much as possible."
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: J.R. Smith won an award Monday for a job he did not want, after a belated evolution few thought possible. Sixth Man of the Year? For much of the last nine years, Smith was perceived more as a liability than an asset: a talent without restraint, a gunner without conscience, a man with an adolescent’s disposition. He could score, yes, but he was just as likely to feud with his coach, be suspended in a playoff series or draw the N.B.A.’s ire with an unseemly Twitter message. He could lose a game with his shooting as easily as he could win one. It was only a year ago that Knicks Coach Mike Woodson, newly in charge of Smith’s career and comportment, declared: “I want his shorts pulled up. I want him to look presentable, be a professional.” A different J. R. Smith stood at a lectern Monday afternoon, looking sharp and confident and fully evolved in a slick gray suit, pressed white dress shirt and thin gray tie, smiling and clutching the first trophy of his N.B.A. career. … Last fall, Woodson told Smith he wanted him to play off the bench, to Smith’s great disappointment. But Smith would play nearly every fourth quarter and every critical possession, making the situation more palatable. He played more minutes (2,678) than any other Knick, and the most of any full-time bench player in the league. “He bought in,” Woodson said. “He didn’t like it at first, but he accepted his role, and he walks away with the Sixth Man award. So I’d say it all worked out for him.”
• Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe: High on the Celtics’ list of adjustments as they prepare for Game 2 of their first-round series against the New York Knicks here Tuesday night is to establish Kevin Garnett as a force. That plan isn’t exactly top secret, nor is it unexpected. But it’s very necessary after Garnett missed eight of his 12 shots in the Celtics’ Game 1 loss, leaving coach Doc Rivers to say that the team needs to do a better job spacing the floor to help Garnett. “We have to create for him,” Rivers said. “Kevin can’t dribble and pass it to himself.” Paul Pierce took it a step further when it comes to Garnett, saying that they need to do this establishing of Garnett early, unlike in Game 1. Specifically, Pierce said, they need to give Garnett the ball on the first four or five possessions to get him going.
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: The record will show that the Miami Heat defeated the Milwaukee Bucks by 23 points in Sunday's playoff opener. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra showed something completely different before Monday's practice at AmericanAirlines Arena. "I don't think we watched one play where we did something good," guard Dwyane Wade said of the video session. He also saw nothing wrong with that, a day after the Heat committed an uncharacteristic 19 turnovers that led the 22 Bucks points. "Pretty much all the film was on what we did wrong. And that's a good thing," Wade said. "We understand that we can play better, we can be more efficient." Because the level of competition will only get tougher should the Heat, as expected, advance from this best-of-seven opening-round NBA playoff series, Wade said Sunday's 110-87 result stood secondary. "With this team, I'm not worried about it," he said. "I'm not concerned about us coming into the game saying, 'Oh, that was easy we can play that way and win every game.' Because you can't win getting 20 turnovers."
• Michael Hunt of the Journal Sentinel: The long-term BMO Harris Bradley Center agreement, meant to play out the building's life, is a blessing and a curse. The breathing room helps for all of the obvious reasons, but it also allows indecisive leadership to draw out a long-term solution when the languishing Bucks need an adrenaline jolt now. You applaud Herb Kohl for keeping the franchise intact and in town when it would have been much easier for him to sell to outside interests. You can appreciate that he is willing to sell to someone committed to keeping the team around. As much as Kohl cannot make the proper owner appear, nothing would help more than the same kind of fresh-look injection the Brewers received nine years ago with the Mark Attanasio group. Rich guys with both a passion for sports and a willingness to lose money are rarer than the chance of winning a coin toss in the same year Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became eligible for the draft. But that is the kind of seismic event the Bucks need. You think about guys like Vivek Ranadivé, the Indian billionaire businessman who is a Golden State co-owner. While his involvement with the Warriors doesn't speak highly for his sports résumé, Ranadivé is trying to keep the Kings in Sacramento by taking a global outlook on the global sport of basketball. If such a world view might work in Sacramento, why couldn't it fly in Milwaukee? You think of Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets' billionaire Russian owner whose global perspective is making that franchise a hit in Brooklyn. It's a big world with more Ranadivés and Prokhorovs out there. Milwaukee has shaken its parochial leanings. Maybe it's time for it to think big about one of its precious assets as well.
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: But will Faried start Game 2? "I'll have to see him in shootaround, see how sore he is," Karl said. "But my gut says he probably won't start." That would mean Denver keeps its lineup of Ty Lawson and Evan Fournier in the backcourt, Andre Iguodala at small forward and Wilson Chandler and Kosta Koufos in the low post. If Karl decides to start Faried, who started all 80 games he played this season, the coach will have to make a decision about "Ill Wil." Do you slot Chandler at small forward, Iguodala at shooting guard and put Fournier on the bench? Or do you just replace Chandler with Faried, thus bringing the sparkplug off Denver's bench? In Game 1, Chandler actually corralled 13 rebounds (he averaged just 5.1) but was 5-for-16 from the field, missing all four 3-pointers, en route to 11 points.
• Monte Poole of The Oakland Tribune: Big Andrew Bogut was back in his comfort zone Monday, deflecting and swatting and discouraging numerous attempts to test his resolve. This was different from last Saturday, when the Denver Nuggets constantly tested the 7-foot Warriors center with shots at or near the rim, only for him to block four and affect maybe a dozen more in Game 1 of this first-round Western Conference playoff series. No, this was a group of reporters out to determine if Bogut, as we approach Game 2 here Tuesday night, would flinch on the subject of his cranky ankle. He did not. "I'm not really going to answer that, because I'm here playing in the playoffs," Bogut responded to the first query about his surgically repaired left ankle. "I'm not going to be one of those guys that says, 'I'm banged up,' or 'I'm not.' What's the purpose anyhow? I'm playing in the playoffs, so it's good." That speaks volumes about Bogut's mindset. He's determined to ignore any barking from his ankle, which caused him to miss 50 games at various points of the regular season, including two of the last three. … Bogut, who put up seven shots in Game 1, likely will be more scoring-conscious in Game 2. But it's more important that he remains a huge factor on the other end, near the rim, where the Nuggets like to live. That's where Bogut lives, too. It's where the Warriors want him to be, where they need him to be, even if his ankle is howling.

The New York Knicks have a lead in a playoff series for the first time since 2001 after edging out the Boston Celtics as the NBA playoffs began on Saturday.

It wasn't the prettiest of offensive displays, but the Knicks won the way they used to win during their last great run of success, by thwarting other team's chances to score.

Let's run through some of the statistical highlights.

Star of the Game: Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony had 36 points, six rebounds and four steals. He became the second player in Knicks history with a 35-5-4 combo in a playoff game, joining Patrick Ewing, who also did so against the Celtics in the first round of the 1990 playoffs.

Going Next Level: Anthony changes approach
Perhaps influenced by a hot first couple of minutes, Carmelo Anthony passed the ball on only three of 26 touches in the first half, and after his hot start, he missed 11 of his last 13 shots in the half.

In the second half, Anthony took a different approach. He passed 15 times on his 33 touches, the most important of which resulted in a key Kenyon Martin layup late in the game.

The Celtics contested 19 of Anthony's 29 field goal attempts, and he made 3-of-14 contested looks through the first three quarters.

Anthony finished strong, making 4-of-5 contested looks in the fourth quarter, including three over Jeff Green.

The Celtics disappearing offense
The Celtics had eight points and eight turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Including the first game Saturday, there have been 4,496 quarters of playoff basketball played over the last 15 seasons.

Saturday marked just the sixth in which a team had as many turnovers as points. Coincidentally, the Knicks were the last team with such a quarter- a 13-point, 13 turnover quarter against the Heat last season.

Impact factor: Bench play
There was a sharp contrast between the play of the two benches. The Knicks bench had 33 points, 19 rebounds and three assists. The Celtics bench was 0-for-7 from the field with four points, six rebounds and no assists.

J.R. Smith had 15 of those points for the Knicks. He excelled when going to his right, making four of five shots. He was 0-for-2 with two turnovers when driving left.

Remember the importance of Game 1
Entering the 2012-13 playoffs, there have been 438 best-of-seven postseason series in NBA history. Teams to win Game 1 of the series go on to win the series 78 percent of the time (341-97).

It's time to roll out the 2013 TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown.

Let's introduce this year's contestants:

• Arturo Galletti is back again, representing the Wages of Wins school of basketball analytics. He's an electrical engineer by trade and and works on sport analysis in his free time.
• ESPN.com Insider Tom Haberstroh joins the field for the first time.
• Stephen Ilardi, a professor at Kansas, consultant to the Phoenix Suns and author of the book, "The Depression Cure."
• Jeffrey Ma, the 2010 champion, is back. The movie "21" and book "Bringing Down the House" are about his experience as a member of the MIT Blackjack Team. He wrote "The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big In Business" and is the CEO of tenXer.
• Benjamin Morris, who won the 2011 Smackdown, has a blog at Skeptical Sports Analysis.
• Matthew Stahlhut, a sports gambling consultant, is the reigning TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown champion and looks to defend his 2012 title.
• Henry Abbott's mom.
• The Crowd represents the collective wisdom of more than 100 ESPN.com writers and TrueHoop Network bloggers. A similar model (our annual Summer Forecast feature) has beaten the Las Vegas line on regular season win totals each of the past three seasons.

There's a consensus among our panel that the Heat, Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets and Pacers will advance. Mr. Ma is the lone dissenter in the Knicks-Celtics series, as he picked the Celtics in 6. In both 4 vs. 5 matchups, the field is divided, which means the outcome of those two series will likely set the pace for the Smackdown as we move forward.

One interesting item from The Crowd's picks: It has six of the eight series winners closing out the first round on the road, a counter-intuitive prediction in a sport where home teams tend to dominate. Is there wisdom in this crowd? Watch this space.

The NBA playoffs begin this weekend with four games Saturday and four more on Sunday.

Let’s get you ready for the next two months with a list of our top stats to know heading into the postseason.

Heat trends point to a title
The Miami Heat enter the playoffs as the unquestioned favorites and will look to become back-to-back champions.

Only five NBA franchises have ever pulled off a repeat championship: the Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Rockets and Pistons. LeBron James, the runaway MVP favorite, can also be the first player with MVP and NBA titles in back-to-back seasons since Michael Jordan’s first two titles in 1991 and 1992.

Of the 12 previous squads to win 66 or more games in the NBA regular season, nine went on to win the championship that season.

The Heat finished with the third-best winning percentage by a defending NBA champion in league history, trailing only two of Michael Jordan's Bulls' teams from the 1990s and ahead of two of Bill Russell's Celtics' teams from the 1960s.

Each of those four other teams went on to defend the title successfully, a goal the Heat hope to accomplish over the next several weeks.

Lakers-Spurs foreshadowing
In the Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant eras for each franchise, the Lakers and Spurs have met in the playoff six times.

Each time, the winner has gone on to reach the NBA Finals. Four of the six times, the winner has gone on to an NBA championship. The Lakers are 4-2 against the Spurs in those playoff series, winning four of the past five.

This is the first time during those eras that the teams are meeting in the first round. And we could see something else new this year -- none of those series lasted seven games.

The Spurs will be making their 16th consecutive postseason appearance, the longest active streak in the NBA.

Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili will be making their 11th straight postseason appearance as teammates.

Celtics, Knicks recent histories are opposites
This marks the sixth straight playoff appearance for the Celtics. In each of their previous five appearances, they advanced past the first round. The Knicks, meanwhile, haven’t won a playoff series since 2000. New York is 3-15 in its past four playoff appearances.

Carmelo Anthony’s teams are just 2-9 in playoff series, both of those wins coming in 2009 when the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference finals before losing to the Lakers in six games. Anthony is 1-8 in playoff games in his Knicks career.

Coaching legends abound
The coaching in this postseason features three coaches with at least 60 career playoff wins: Gregg Popovich, George Karl and Doc Rivers.

Popovich trails only Phil Jackson and Pat Riley for most career playoff coaching wins.

The field also features three coaches that have won titles: Popovich (4), Rivers (1) and Erik Spoelstra (1).

The only other active coach who has won a title is Rick Carlisle, whose Mavericks missed the playoffs this season.

The value of Round 1, Game 1
How important is Game 1 in the first round of the NBA playoffs? The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that since the first round was expanded to a best-of-seven format in 2003, the team that won Game 1 went on to win 61 of 80 series (76 percent).

Teams that won Game 1 at home won 51 of 58 first-round series (88 percent) and teams that won Game 1 on the road won 10 of 22 series (45 percent).

One example of this: The Chicago Bulls are 19-5 all-time in best-of-seven series when winning Game 1. When losing a Game 1 of a best-of-seven, they’re just 6-15. On the other hand, the Brooklyn Nets are 7-2 all-time in best-of-seven series when winning Game 1. They are just 1-5 in best-of-7s when losing Game 1.

• Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: Yay? One of the most hyped teams in NBA history fell exhaustedly into the playoffs Wednesday. Appropriately, it happened with only three hours left in the season. Fittingly, it was clinched when they were just standing around. Ten minutes before the start of their game with the Houston Rockets, the Lakers learned that the Utah Jazz had lost in Memphis, meaning the Lakers were guaranteed the Western Conference's final playoff spot. There was no announcement. There was no confetti. There was only the live broadcast of the final seconds of Utah's loss blaring on the giant Staples Center scoreboard. Their ticket was punched by the image of Al Jefferson with his face buried in his hands. The Lakers, in the middle of their pregame warmups, barely stirred. The fans, engaged in their pregame texting, barely cheered. Only one person seemed immediately and genuinely excited. You can probably guess. "And to think some said we wouldn't make it," tweeted Kobe Bryant, who added the hashtags #keepcalm, #believe, #makeplayoffs, and #makehistory. The Lakers certainly would make some sort of history simply by getting out of the first round, where their depleted and underachieving team will now play the West's second-seeded San Antonio Spurs.
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: It was hard for the Spurs to find much encouraging about Wednesday’s 108-95 season-ending loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the AT&T Center, but the return of veteran guard Manu Ginobili was plenty enough. After missing nine games with a strained right hamstring sustained in the first quarter March 29 against the Clippers, Ginobili entered Wednesday’s game with 5:32 remaining in the first period. His presence on the court brought the loudest ovation from the Fan Appreciation Night crowd. It also energized his teammates, and the Spurs played their sharpest basketball while he was in the game. In the 11 minutes and 46 seconds he played, all coming in the first half, the Spurs outscored the Timberwolves by 10 points. “I was a little tired,” Ginobili said. “I’ve been lifting a lot to strengthen the area (of the hamstring injury). Where the tear was felt great. Condition-wise, I only played 12 minutes, but those 12 minutes felt good.” Ginobili went just 1 of 4 and scored two points with two assists, but those statistics didn’t matter to his teammates. What mattered was that he was on the court and in uniform, rather than behind the bench in David Stern-approved business attire.
• T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times: His team swept the Lakers this season, won a division title and recorded 56 wins in a Western Conference rich with worthy opponents. But there's a feeling within the Clippers that the players and the organization could do better with someone else. I'd suggest a psychiatrist. The front office turned sour on Del Negro earlier this season when he chatted with Celtics' boss Danny Ainge about a deal to acquire Kevin Garnett. They felt it wasn't his place to do so. Hard feelings remain. Del Negro also isn't as sold on keeping DeAndre Jordan as the front office is, and so there are grounds for continued conflict. If I knew the name of the team's wallflower general manager, I would tell you. Andy Roeser remains Donald Sterling's top aide, but he's lost much of his influence now that Sterling's son-in-law, Eric Miller, has joined the team in training as possibly Sterling's heir apparent. Too early to say if we're talking upgrade.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: When the Lakers eventually cracked the Rockets defensive double-teams inside, the Rockets bogged down. When Pau Gasol was masterfully playmaking and the Lakers shooters punishing the Rockets for the attention they paid to the Lakers’ big men who had become the focal point of the Los Angeles offense with Kobe Bryant out, the Rockets went one-on-one. When the seventh seed and a first round matchup with the Spurs seemed in sight, the Rockets crashed with one one-on-one misfire after another until the Lakers held on 99-95 in overtime, sending the Rockets regular season to a particularly disheartening defeat. The loss dropped the Rockets to a first-round matchup with the Thunder, pitting James Harden against his former team beginning Sunday in Oklahoma City. Harden, however, said he had not had the time yet to process that, with the concern more about the way he led the Rockets offense down the stretch on Wednesday.
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: Kevin Durant's run of three straight NBA scoring titles ended Wednesday morning when he revealed he would sit out that night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Chesapeake Energy Arena. It was a long shot anyway for Durant, who would have had to score 70 points to recapture the lead over new championCarmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks. “I definitely did not want to sit out, but medical staff and coaches thought it'd be a good idea,” Durant said after Wednesday's shootaround. “It would have been fun to try and get it. I don't know if I would have — 70s a lot of points. Who knows? That'd have been cool.” … How close did the scoring race have to be for Brooks to have given Durant his normal minutes in Wednesday's finale? “That's a great question,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said, not providing an answer.
• Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: Why not the Nuggets? Why not now? This is the best opportunity for Denver to win the NBA championship since it joined the league in 1976. Bring the optimism. Dream big. Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson has heard the same tired line, dripping with defeatist attitude, since he entered the NBA in 2009: It's impossible to win a championship in Denver. "Why would I buy into that? I believe that we can win a championship," Lawson said Wednesday. Why not the Nuggets? Why not now? There is every reason to believe the Nuggets will play in the Western Conference finals. In fact, I would guarantee Denver will blow the doors off its first-round opponent, give a proper burial to the golden age of basketball in San Antonio during Round 2 and advance to conference finals against Oklahoma City, except for the fact George Karl turns into Mr. Crankypants when I do his job for him.
• Marcus Thompson II of The Oakland Tribune: And now it gets real. The Warriors handled business in the regular-season finale, scoring a 99-88 win over the host Blazers on Wednesday. They locked up the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. And point guard Stephen Curry knocked down four from beyond the arc, setting an NBA single-season record for most 3-pointers. Now, Golden State makes its first postseason appearance since 2007. The Warriors will face the No. 3 Denver Nuggets in the first round. Game 1 is Saturday in Denver and Game 2 is Tuesday. The Warriors will host Games 3 and 4 at Oracle Arena on April 26 and 28. "At this point last year, most of us were having the conversation about when we were heading out of town," said forward David Lee, who totaled 20 points and 10 rebounds. "Bags were packed, cars shipped out. So for us, this is really exciting. We know we have a challenge in front of us and we're ready to get started."
• David J. Neal of The Miami Herald: When the Heat put The Big 3 together, some pundits projected 70-win seasons and the Heat threatening the 1995-96 Chicago regular-season record of 72 wins. As overheated as all that seems now, the Heat did close the third season of the Big 3 era not far from 70 wins despite resting its stars down the stretch. Heat forward Chris Bosh was asked Wednesday morning if there was any disappointment the defending champions didn’t reach 70 wins. Bosh shrugged it off, noting that the Heat started relatively slowly this season as it integrated new players into its rotation.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: Jim Boylan used Ekpe Udoh in the starting lineup with Ersan Ilyasova out with a wrist injury. Ilyasova is expected to be ready for the playoffs, but the Bucks didn't want to take any chances with him or center Larry Sanders, who missed his fourth straight game with a sore lower back. Udoh's parents are from Edmond, Okla., and attended the game. He had four points and six rebounds in 24 minutes against the Thunder. Udoh, Gustavo Ayon and Henson are expected to be the primary big men backups in the playoffs against Miami. Asked if veterans Samuel Dalembert and Drew Gooden would have any role in the playoff series, Boylan said, "I don't think so at this point, no." Asked if that was performance-based or some other issue, Boylan said, "No. It's just the way it is; it's just the way it is."
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: In the end, the Indiana Pacers’ first-round playoff opponent, the Atlanta Hawks, isn’t the issue here. The issue is the Pacers themselves, the way they’ve played the past two weeks, the fact they’ve morphed from one of the top defensive teams in the league all season to one of the worst during a stretch of five losses in six games. … If the Pacers play the way they played the first 75 games, they’ll be fine, will advance in five or six games. This is, after all, the team that finished second in the league in points allowed, first in field goal percentage defense, first in 3-point field goal percentage defense and first in rebounding. If the Pacers continue to play like lost souls, they can get run before they know it. The good news that came out of Wednesday night is the Atlanta Hawks will be the first-round opponent, and they figure to be a significantly softer touch than the Chicago Bulls. … There is doubt with this team now. There was none two weeks ago when they came back from a rousing West Coast trip. Now we wonder. The issue isn’t the Atlanta Hawks. The issue is the Indiana Pacers. Simple as that.
• Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It will be the Pacers. The Hawks went down to the final day of the regular-season to determine their first-round playoff opponent. They will play the Pacers after slipping to the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with two straight losses, the final being a 98-92 defeat to the Knicks Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Game 1 will be Sunday. The Hawks limp into the postseason, in a manner of speaking, so they won’t limp in the postseason. For the second consecutive game, coach Larry Drew opted to rest his regulars. Al Horford, Josh Smith, Jeff Teague, Devin Harris, Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver, a group that went 11-5 this season as a starting unit, did not play. Many in the blogosphere accused the Hawks of “tanking” the final two games. However, coach Larry Drew insisted he wanted to give players with nagging injuries extra time to heal and prevent additional issues. “That is always a fear,” Drew said of injuries. “You go through a whole season and you get to a point and it becomes a roll of the dice. Do you play a guy or don’t you? Do you take a chance of somebody getting hurt or don’t you? … We as coaches make decisions and we have to live with them. If things happen, we have to deal with the consequences.”
• Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: The Celtics realize they are carrying a torch more than ever for their city. The total meaning of that representation simply hasn’t set in yet. “I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re doing in that regard,” said coach Doc Rivers. “Anything we do or anything an individual outside the game does to give somebody comfort I’m all for it. If that’s what this does, I’m all for it.” Courtney Lee, who was a sophomore in high school in Indianapolis at the time of the 9/11 attacks, believes he has a clearer understanding of that meaning now. “As basketball players representing Boston, we definitely want to give the people something to cheer about,” he said. “You can’t replace losses and injuries, but you want to give those people something to take their minds off of it. I feel like with Boston, a big sports town, it will give them something to cheer about. Now I’m in a position where I play for the Boston Celtics, and this happened in Boston,” Lee added. “I’m sure our team will do something to get out and help the community. Lots of people will turn toward sports, and we can give them something to cheer about.”
• Al Iannazzone of Newsday: His tattoos, the hard fouls he delivers and all the facial expressions ranging from disdain and disgust to incredulous, dismissive smiles make people think they know who Kenyon Martin is as a person and a basketball player. He's tough, aggressive and physical. But it's been pride and heart that have made Martin a great late February pickup by the Knicks. He's on a mission to show he shouldn't have been unemployed for so long. "I'm just here to prove to people that I ain't never lost it," said Martin, who was out of basketball until the Knicks signed him. "I'm here to prove what I can do. That's everybody every night. Whoever put that uniform on that's opposite us they're going to see what they're missing." Martin is a confident, strong-willed player who has come back from two microfracture knee surgeries. People close to the 35-year-old veteran power forward say he doesn't get enough credit for his intelligence, and that Martin is a case of a book being judged by its cover.
• Mike MGraw of the Daily Herald: The Bulls went 3-1 against the Nets this season. What's interesting about that is Brooklyn used the same starting lineup in all four games against the Bulls — Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, Reggie Evans and Brook Lopez. The Bulls were always missing at least two regulars. In Brooklyn's lone victory, a 93-89 win on Feb. 1, the Bulls didn't have Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer or Kirk Hinrich. "I don't put a lot of stock in (the regular-season record)," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "They're really good and they're the higher seed. They earned that. I think they play hard. You have Lopez, who's a low-post presence. You have Deron Williams off the dribble, you have Joe Johnson off the dribble, then you have a lot of other guys who are very good basketball players. We have to be ready for them. They're tough. They have size. They have quality depth on that team, so we're going to have to play a complete game. Knowing your opponent well, being ready for that first game, I think that's huge." The last time the Bulls faced the Nets in the playoffs was the 1998 first round when John Calipari was head coach and Jayson Williams and Kendall Gill were key players.
• Tim Bontemps of the New York Post: “I thought our guys have done a good job,” interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “They had to handle a coaching change, which is not an easy thing, and I think they’ve played well. They played well on the road. I think we’ve improved, and we’ve got home court, which is significant. “Making the playoffs is significant. Winning the road games they’ve won is significant. But now we have one more to get through, then get through a couple days of practice and then it’s a whole new [season] … [the playoffs] will still color the year more than anything else.” There certainly have been plenty of ups and downs — from the brilliant 11-4 start in November that led to Avery Johnson earning Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honors, only to lose his job a few weeks later after the Nets went 3-10 to open December. Then, after Carlesimo took over, the Nets had arguably their best win of the season — a victory in Oklahoma City over the defending Western Conference champion Thunder — that propelled them on a seven-game winning streak and a 9-1 start under Carlesimo. … You can even include the two versions of Deron Williams the Nets have seen this season — the one from before the All-Star break who was dealing with ongoing ankle issues, and the slimmer, quicker one from after the break and a round of platelet rich plasma treatment in both ankles that has taken the league by storm over the last 20 games or so.