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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."

On video, it looks like strategy.

Stephen Curry, the NBA's newest and slightest superstar, who has been killing the Nuggets on ankles so brittle he recently tweeted "no ankle left unturned lol," was minding his own business, jogging through the lane three-and-a-half minutes into Game 5, when the Nuggets' Kenneth Faried stepped backward, directly into Curry's tender foot.

It wasn't an isolated event.

"Three or four plays in the first four minutes," estimates Curry, who says "of course" the Nuggets were trying to rough him up.

I knew this was coming. Intentional fouls, I've been increasingly realizing, are the go-to method of controlling superstars. Curry, with a skinny build and weak ankles, is more vulnerable than anybody. As he emerged as a player who could decide a series, the clock was ticking. He would get roughed up. It made too much sense.

"Some dirty plays early," pointed out Curry's coach, Mark Jackson, who later said this of Faried: "Take a look ... the screen on Curry by the foul line is a shot at his ankle. Clearly. That can't be debated. ... I've got inside information that some people don't like that brand of basketball and they clearly didn't co-sign it. So they wanted me to know they had no parts in what was taking place."

Jackson -- whose team has committed all kinds of hard fouls in this series (ask Andre Iguodala about Andrew Bogut) and this season, including some that caused injury -- spoke passionately in defense of hard play, and even hard fouls. But he stressed it was important for both teams to go to the trouble to avoid injuring each other.

On TNT later, Charles Barkley explained: "I've been on teams where you say ... this dude's too comfortable. Every time you get a chance, hit him. You want him to be thinking about 'Where am I going to get hit at next time?' You can't go out there like you're at a shootaround."

Shaquille O'Neal heartily co-signed, saying Jackson went too far in calling such a thing "dirty," insisting instead it's just the nature of the game. (Every retired player will tell you it was way rougher when they played. That's what they do, even though there's little evidence the game was really more physical back then.)

Here's the thing, though: Forget the teams for a second. Forget rooting for Denver or Golden State. Forget the tail-chasing debate about what's "dirty."

Put yourselves in the position of the people who are charged with keeping players safe: The NBA. They're the ones who have fallen asleep on the job here.

If you're the NBA, or any fan of basketball, you want nothing more than for Curry -- the most exciting player in these playoffs -- to keep creating artistic moments that fire the imagination. You want to see skilled players doing the skilled things that make this league unique, and distinct from MMA. You want this for every player.

In short, you don't want to see Curry play his best in Game 6 only if he proves his ankles can withstand intentional attack. (We already know they probably can't ... he has missed dozens of games from plays with no contact at all.) You want him at his best in Game 6 because the other team is not "hitting him every chance they get."

And we could have that, right now.

Teams are roughing up opposing stars because it works. It works because many intentional fouls are missed entirely by the referees, and those that are noticed, even dangerous ones, are punished too lightly to make it stop.

Barkley and O'Neal played in an NBA where there was no strategic reason not to rough a guy like Curry up. You "hit" him 10 times a night as a team, you get called for four or five. That's the cost. The benefit is he is intimidated, fearing for safety, and diminished as a scoring threat all night long, for every play of his night. The benefit is bigger than the cost! Someone with SportVu data can probably do the math: Six or seven extra free throws is a small price to pay for a dozen extra hits -- many uncalled -- that result in a cowed, hobbled or injured opposing star. That's a fantastic trade for the more aggressive team.

That's "playoff basketball."

No coach will go on record against it. They want the ability to hit players early and often, both because it's a valuable tactic for a team and because it's a particularly valuable tactic for coaches. Intentional fouls take power from superstars -- who'd dominate even more without fear of injury -- and give it to he who can order up the hits.

The problem, though, is that it's 2013, and the league has more than enough tools, right now, to clean all of this up. Getting away scot-free with a lot of cheap shots is a key reason this is a winning strategy. But why, in a world where every court is encircled by cameras, where everyone at home benefits from truly instant HD replay from all kinds of angles, would the people making the key decisions of the game not have real-time access to that crucial information? Why would we shrug and say "we can't catch 'em all" when we totally can?

You have no idea how many times a night, thanks to the magic of watching ESPN or TNT in HD with a remote control in my hand, I know precisely whether there was a foul or not, even as the referees have no idea. It's crazy. And it makes the NBA look crazy. Why do the people with the beer and the popcorn on the couch have better real-time information than the people making game-deciding calls?

NBA referees are the best in the world, but everybody thinks they're terrible because of this. And meanwhile, the game is not being called nearly as accurately, quickly or comprehensively as it could be.

My HoopIdea: Get away from stopping the game for video review. And graduate to a courtside referee or two, with as many TV screens as would be helpful, showing every angle imaginable. This video referee crew would constantly review all the best angles of what is happening right now as it happens. They might be a few seconds behind real time if they need to rewind briefly, but not much. They'd essentially know everything video could know, without having to stop the game to huddle around a single monitor. And when they know something the referees on the court missed, they'd be able to tell them at the next dead ball, or even sooner.

The plays where the video makes the referees look foolish ... they're usually at dead balls anyway.

Before you tell me this is loco, realize the league already does this. They review the games after they're over, for instance a whole day later. And then they "correct" the referees' work when it was egregiously wrong, either by apologizing for a missed call, and then warning, fining or suspending somebody for a flop, a dirty play, fighting or anything else.

I'm baffled by the delay. Players are hitting each other as part of team-wide strategy -- endorsed by Barkley, O'Neal and oddly, even Mark Jackson -- because they help them win games.

As long as the real punishment only comes after the game, there are still wins to be had for teams who are beating people up. Whatever the NBA believes can be gleaned from video, glean it when it's still useful to decide the game, when it's still useful to keep up with the fans at home, and to make the strategy of Tackle Basketball stop working.

The league's executives, from David Stern to Stu Jackson, have been clear they do not want teams taking the floor planning to hurt each other. Time to do something about it.

• 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.

Let's take a look at the three biggest keys to the Denver Nuggets win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 5.

Nuggets get back to what works
The Nuggets outscored the Warriors 50-24 in the paint Tuesday, the largest paint differential in any game in the 2013 playoffs.

The bulk of that damage was done in the first half, when they made 17-of-29 shots in the paint (56 percent).

Denver only outscored Golden State by eight points in the paint in the first four games of the series.

The Nuggets outscored their opponents by 17.4 paint points per game during the regular season, the best paint differential in the league.

Difference-Maker: Andre Iguodala
Andre Igoudala finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

He’s the first Nuggets player to hit all three of those statistical benchmarks in a game since Lafayette “Fat” Lever.

Igoudala made inside work a priority in Game 5.

He scored 14 of his points from inside five feet. In the first four games of the series, he totaled 20 points from that distance.

Curry cooled off
Stephen Curry was 7-for-19 from the field and made only one 3-point shot (he needed three to set the record for most 3-pointers made in a player’s first five career playoff games).

Curry was 4-for-10 when guarded by Ty Lawson, 2-for-5 combined against Igoudala and Corey Brewer, and 1-for-4 in transition.

The 1-for-4 in transition continues a trend. He’s 5-for-16 on transition shot attempts in this series.

Up 3-1 in the series, the Golden State Warriors look to close out the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.

It would be just the second postseason series that the Warriors have won since 1992, joining a 2007 series win over the Dallas Mavericks.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s tied for the second fewest series wins in that span. The Grizzlies, Raptors and Wizards also have just one in that span, while the Bobcats remain winless.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets look to avoid their eighth first-round exit over the past nine years.

Denver’s Defensive Woes
The Warriors are shooting 57.6 percent from the field over the past three games, and 53.0 percent for the series.

From the Nuggets perspective, the last team to finish a postseason allowing a higher field goal percentage was the Hornets in 1997 (57.0).

Those numbers are still heavily influenced by Golden State’s Game 2 outburst. The Warriors’ 131 points were the most in a regulation playoff game in five years, while their 64.6 field goal percentage was the highest since 1991.

Curry Makes His Mark
Stephen Curry is the third player in NBA history to tally at least 100 points and 40 assists in his first four career playoff games combined. According to Elias, he joins Kevin Johnson and Oscar Robertson.

Curry is averaging 27.3 PPG and 10.0 APG so far this postseason. Time will tell if he can keep up that pace, but only five players in NBA history have averaged 25 points and 10 assists in a single postseason (min. 4 games).

Allen Iverson (2004-05), Tim Hardaway (1990-91), Magic Johnson (1989-90), Isiah Thomas (1985-86), and Oscar Robertson (1961-62, 1964-65) make up the current list.

Curry needs to make only three 3-pointers on Tuesday to set a new record for 3s in a player’s first five playoff games. He has 18 through the first four games.

• Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The notion struck midway through another second quarter in which the Atlanta Hawks were extracting, without Novocain and with great force, the “d” from Indiana. “The Pacers can’t guard the Hawks,” declared a correspondent watching from on high, “and the Hawks can guard the Pacers. How’d that happen?” These are the Hawks and this is the postseason, so who knows? But know this: The Hawks can win this series and if they do, it won’t be much of an upset now. Indiana, the East’s No. 3 seed, just spent two games in Philips Arena making a case for itself as the most overrated team in the history of basketball, and the unloved Hawks … well, they’ve been lovely. Yes, this best-of-seven is tied at 2, and yes, the Hawks will have to take a game in Indianapolis, where they lost twice last week by an aggregate 32 points, in order to advance, But the dynamics of this matchup have been inverted. The Pacers, with much to lose, seem capable of losing it all. The Hawks, whose modest mission this season was not to stink before the real rebuilding begins this summer, look like a team constructed by a master craftsman. … So what happens now? The Pacers are very good at home, but they’ve been handed real reason to doubt. The looks on their faces during that second quarter spoke of anger and frustration but mostly bewilderment. This series was theirs to win. They’re in peril of losing it to a team that was built to be torn down.
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. So never mind what a certain not-so-humble (but good-looking) columnist wrote a couple of days back in this space: This Pacers-Hawks series isn’t over. It’s far from over. In fact, it’s just beginning, a best-of-three with two games in Indianapolis, after the Pacers’ 102-91 Game 4 loss to the Hawks. Mea culpa, mea culpa — which is Latin for “Man, did I get that wrong.” It still says here the Pacers win this series in six games — at some point I’m bound to be right about something — but it’s easy to lose the faith while watching the way they’ve regressed to the disconnected, defenseless style of play that marked the final week and a half of the regular season. What’s happened to this group? This was the league’s second-best defensive team in terms of points allowed. This was the league’s top defensive team in terms of field goal percentage allowed and three-point field goal percentage allowed. But they’re getting absolutely skewered by the Atlanta Hawks, who are making plays and leaving the Pacers players with hands on hips, shooting each other empty, angry glances. … Raise the red flags. Sound the alarm bells. This series, which never should have become a series, has left the Pacers with almost no margin of error. Color me fooled. And chastened.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: Finally, the ball did not bounce 12 feet in the air and stab the Rockets in the heart. Kevin Durant did not get the last shot. The Rockets held on. After consecutive games in which the Rockets did everything but close out a win, they held their breath as a pair of last-chance Oklahoma City shots came up short. When Reggie Jackson’s runner and Serge Ibaka putback missed, the Rockets escaped 105-103 on Monday night, sending the first-round series back to Oklahoma City with the Thunder leading 3-1 but giving the Rockets their first playoff win since 2009. “We know we can play with these guys,” said Chandler Parsons, who led the Rockets with 27 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. “We know we can beat these guys. We were in the same situation the last two games. No way we were going to give it up.” They had clearly earned it, coming back from a 13-point deficit and making just enough stops with the game on the line to extend their season to Game 5 on Wednesday night. “Great win by us,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “It was a gutsy win. I told our guys before the game, ‘One thing about our team, we’re not going to lay down.’ They fought all year long. We had different lineups. We’ve had different kinds of stuff happen. The one constant has been their willingness to go out and scrap and fight. I said, ‘There’s no way we’re going to lay an egg tonight.’ We went out and we fought hard.”
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: The frenzied finish resulted in a 105-103 loss for the Thunder, which failed in its quest to sweep this best-of-7 opening-round playoff series. Leading 3-1, OKC will try to close out the series in Game 5 at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The best news arrived roughly 90 minutes later when the Thunder boarded its charter and returned home after four draining days away from home. The team left OKC on Friday afternoon just hours after learning three-time All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook would be out indefinitely with a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee. The following morning came news that Westbrook would be lost for the entire postseason after having surgery in Vail, Colo. Later that night was Game 3, the first contest in Thunder history with no Westbrook on the court. OKC jumped out to a 26-point lead and managed to hang on for a 104-101 victory. A collective sigh of relief was visible from Thunder players, even from veteran power forward Nick Collison, who admitted it had been an emotional 48 hours.
• Tim Smith of the New York Daily News: Ten days ago the Nets defended their home court at Barclays Center and opened their first-round series against the Bulls with a victory so resounding it seemed they were launching into a run that would carry them deep into the postseason. On Monday night, the Nets returned home having lost three straight games, including a triple-OT fiasco that followed an epic fourth-quarter collapse in Game 4. Gone was the ebullient spirit of that inaugural playoff game at Barclays Center, replaced by an atmosphere of desperation and disappointment as the Nets, in a 3-1 hole , stared down elimination. Only eight teams have rallied from that same deficit, but the Nets were 5-0 in Game 5 elimination games. There was hope. Brooklyn stoked that ember of hope and beat the Bulls at their own game, staving off elimination with a 110-91 victory . Now they head back to Chicago to face another elimination game on Thursday. “Our backs are against the wall right now,” said forward Gerald Wallace. “We’re in fighting spirit. We’re a fighting team and we’re not ready to go home. We feel like we’re better than this team. We feel like we’re good enough and a better team and we can come back and win three in a row just like they did.”
• Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune: The Bulls needed Kirk Hinrich for all 59 minutes he played in a Game 4 triple-overtime win. Monday night in Game 5, they had to figure out how to proceed without him. The simple solution, with Hinrich sidelined by a bruised left calf, was a heavy dose of Nate Robinson, who was coming off his 34-point explosion in Game 4. The offensive-minded Robinson, however, is light years behind Hinrich in terms of defensive ability. Rookie Marquis Teague and Marco Belinelli spelled Robinson for brief stints, but Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau relied heavily on his diminutive point guard, playing him 43-plus minutes. As Hinrich watched from a row behind the bench, Robinson played with his typical high energy but failed to match his Game 4 output. He looked for his teammates more than his own shots for a good portion of the game and seemed to run out of steam in the end. He scored a team-high 20 points and had eight assists in the Bulls' 110-91 loss to the Nets. Robinson went 1-for-5 from 3-point range and committed three turnovers. His most costly miscue came with two minutes left in regulation. Robinson picked up his dribble against Deron Williams and tried to force a pass to Luol Deng. Nets forward Gerald Wallace stepped into the passing lane and broke free for the game-clinching dunk. "Had a crucial turnover down the stretch that really hurt us,'' Robinson said. "I take the blame for that, and that's something I have to do better."
• Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post: Faces crinkled and shoulders shrugged in befuddlement. The question: What now? The Nuggets, down 3-1 to Golden State in their opening round playoff series, have had few defensive answers to the Warriors' offensive onslaught. What to do? It is suddenly a tough question. "Uh ... I don't know," Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried said. "I really don't." Nuggets guard Andre Miller: "That's the coaches' decision to figure out the adjustments, who is guarding who, certain things like that. It's a pride thing, and I think the coaches will figure out a way to adjust to things." Nuggets guard Ty Lawson: "Man ... whatever the coaches come up with." The problem is, most everything the Nuggets have tried on defense in this series hasn't worked after Golden State's all-star forward, David Lee, went down with an injury in Game 1. Warriors coach Mark Jackson then went with a small, three-guard lineup that has given the Nuggets fits. Lee's absence has turned the Warriors from a conventional team to a wild card, from having a dual low-post game to running a spread — four shooters on the perimeter, each with the ability to create a shot for their teammates. As a result, the Nuggets' defense been stretched thin and distorted beyond recognition.
• Carl Steward of The Oakland Tribune: In 438 best-of-seven playoff series throughout NBA history, only eight teams have rallied from 3-1 deficits to win. But coach Mark Jackson is having nothing with the odds that favor the Warriors to advance as they head into Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday. "We expect to see a tough Denver Nuggets team that's fighting for its playoff life, that's prepared and ready to keep the series going," Jackson said Monday. "The most difficult game is the close-out game. I've got a young team, and if we keep doing what we're doing, we'll put ourselves in position to move on. But it's a tough task, because this is a very good Nuggets team." The last team to complete a comeback from being down 3-1 was the 2006 Phoenix Suns. Kobe Bryant led the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers to the 3-1 advantage, but Phoenix won three games fairly handily to salvage the series. In 2003, the Orlando Magic got up 3-1 on top-seeded Detroit, but the Pistons rallied after the Magic's Tracy McGrady pronounced that it felt good to get out of the first round. The Warriors are making no such pronouncements. … Another number that doesn't favor the Nuggets: In seven of his eight seasons as Denver's coach, George Karl has failed to get out of the first round, three of those times with home-court advantage in the series.
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Lionel Hollins went with a trust factor over gut feeling. Who can I trust? That’s the question Hollins and Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro will ask themselves over and over again Tuesday night during a pivotal Game 5 of their Western Conference playoff series in Staples Center. Game 5 winners have gone on to win playoff series 83 percent of the time. So it’s no wonder that rotations shorten and coaches lean on a select group they deem old reliable in a long playoff series. “We’re trying to play the people who are producing and not have huge gaps or lulls,” Hollins said. “I’ve been trying to piecemeal rotations and keep our (starters) fresh. Everybody that got in (the rotation) during the regular season isn’t getting to trot out there. It’s just the way it is.” The series is knotted at 2-2 but the coaches couldn’t be further apart in philosophy. Hollins hasn’t dug deep into his bench and even regular-season super sub Bayless disappeared over the past three games. Conversely, Del Negro relied on most of his roster. He’s played all but two healthy players in the series.
• Phil Collin of the Los Angeles Daily News: They've bludgeoned each other for four games and they will for at least two more. But the more the Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies have at each other, the less pure basketball tactics will make a difference. In tonight's Game 5 of the best-of-7 Western Conference playoff series, mind over matter figures to trump anything out of a playbook in the Staples Center clash. "The biggest thing is a sense of urgency is going to be the key," Clippers guard Chauncey Billups said. "They played desperate basketball, now it's our turn. We have to make a few adjustments, but it's our turn now to play with a sense of urgency." The first-round series has been a classic case of NBA playoffs through the years. The teams are seeded fourth and fifth, and the team playing at home has been the aggressor and the victor. It's no surprise the series stands at 2-2, especially after they went the full seven a year ago. How close are these teams? To a man, they'll point out the one physical matchup that has illustrated the direction of this series, and it's rebounding. Win the rebound battle, win the game. And a closer look at the four games shows the margin of rebounding is eerily close to the margin of the final score.
• Jerry Brewer of The Seattle Times: As I've written before, this was the best time for the NBA to return, and now that Seattle feels left at the altar, old wounds have reopened, and old bitterness has resurfaced. With no expansion on the table, there is no clear path to acquire a team, and while the deal to build a $490 million Sodo arena could stay together for up to five years, can the fan base really stand to go through another relocation tug of war with an incumbent NBA city? It's impossible to trust that a victory is possible until Stern retires. Count the days until Feb. 1, 2014. Maybe then, when Adam Silver takes over as commissioner, the game will have clear rules. Hansen tried to win the right way. He tried to do it with transparency; no buying the Kings and pretending to want to stay in Sacramento. He tried to do it with record-setting money and a polished business plan. But the NBA is a liar's game, full of hypocrites, improper alliances, a lack of financial creativity and a commissioner who is more powerful than the owners he represents. Stern revises the rules according to his whims. It seems Seattle was destined to lose in this ever-changing game. We're back in a familiar place with that spirit-crushing league. Abandoned. Again.
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "Justice prevailed," said Jerry Reynolds, who has been with the Kings since their inaugural 1985-86 season in Sacramento. "This is the right decision. Seattle is a great city that deserves an NBA franchise. And at some point, they'll have one." But … "But this is our team," Reynolds added forcefully, and note the high level of cooperation that was necessary to facilitate the public/private partnership for a downtown sports and entertainment complex. "Sacramento is a major-league city, and it simply has to have a major-league sports team to grow. "When we travel around the country and see how these arenas have revitalized downtowns in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Miami, to name a few cities, I keep thinking that a downtown arena here can be just as special. And this was probably Sac's last best chance."

David Thorpe has been watching the Warriors versus Nuggets series closely and has an array of observations and thoughts. He shared them by phone, and they are transcribed (and lightly edited for length) here:

Mark Jackson is incredibly inspiring

Mark Jackson has been absolutely tremendous. Everyone always wants to talk about X's and O's, but I believe the coaching game is half emotional. And on that stuff, he's scoring a 10 out of 10. They show those clips of Jackson during timeouts and he's inspiring Every. Single. Time.

Think about LeBron James and how he has grown as a player. It's not really about strategy, compared to a few years ago. It's about mentality. His biggest adjustment has been concentration and attention to detail. He has always had that quickness and size advantage. Now he punishes you with those every time you make a mistake guarding him. Now he's more balanced on his jumper and holds his follow-through. All things he has always known but that now he values more.

Denver is getting outplayed in those aspects. The Warriors are playing for their lives, and the coaching has a ton to do with it.

Jackson has been like the corner man in a heavyweight bout. Respect your opponent, but realize we're better. He's using action words, words with violence, but in a good way. He's got charisma. And look at his players' faces and you can see they absolutely believe.

Who would have guessed two weeks ago that in a Denver versus Golden State series, Golden State would have far more energy?

To my eyes, the Warriors were exhausted in Game 2. But they blew out the Nuggets anyway.

Stephen Curry walking the path

Coach Jackson has been saying amazing, uplifting, inspiring things about Steph Curry. And Curry has been "walking the path" as one of the best guards in the playoffs. Thirty-footers are within his range, and right now he absolutely believes he's going to make it.

If you were the Clippers, and right now you could pick any guard to lead your team for the next series, would you pick Chris Paul or Curry? We could argue all day about this for another series, or for next year. But for right now, I'd argue you'd be better off with Steph. Shooting is just so valuable, and Curry is playing like a top-five NBA player. (This also makes me think about that video we made about Trey Burke. Six-footers who can shoot the lights out are to be drafted quickly!)

George Karl is not inspiring

Everything's so different now. You know how many games Kosta Koufos started in the regular season? Eighty-one! You know how many he has started in this series? TWO! (He has played 64 total minutes in the four games of the series.) Evan Fournier was out of the rotation almost all year and is now starting. They've been moving the ball as well as any team all year and now the point guards, Ty Lawson and Andre Miller, both think they have to score to save the team (Ed. note: Miller's assists are down from 8.1 per 36 minutes in the regular season to 5.3. Lawson's are up a hair, from 7.2 to 7.5). This is also a strange time to see what Koufos and JaVale McGee can do together.

I recognize that injuries to Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried mean changes. But this is beyond what was necessary, and it seems to have had an unsettling effect on the team. They were once a breathtaking team in transition.

They are not what they have been.

The Nuggets have not come out with confidence, and they often look confused.

They keep forgetting to guard the top 3-point shooter in the league!

Kenneth Faried is not himself

Faried can't move. He looks like he's running in quicksand. I've long thought he might be the quickest power forward in the league. Now he looks like an older version of Spencer Hawes. He's Brad Miller, basically.

For the Nuggets to be the Nuggets, the team that reeled off 15 impressive wins in a row in the regular season, they have got to have the Manimal. Without David Lee in this series, the Nuggets should own the offensive glass. But Faried can't move. He's such a key to cleaning up all those misses on offense. This just isn't the same guy.

You probably heard about Faried kicking a hole in the locker room wall? I feel like I understand that. That's the dejection of incredible frustration related to his injury. In college, I was taught about how stroke victims get counseling to deal with the incredible anguish and frustration that comes with new limitations, and having to think about things you never had to think about before.

Faried has never had to think about beating people to loose balls. That just came naturally. But not now.

Defensive mistakes

The difference between how the Bulls have adjusted to injuries and the Nuggets is stark. Every Bull knows where to go at all times on defense, no matter who's in the game. They have been perfecting that for years. The Nuggets often seem not to know where to go.

In particular, Denver seems to be reacting to the passed ball, instead of anticipating where the play will be and heading there earlier. When in doubt, they should be running toward Curry. He's the best shooter in the world!

Warriors getting the most out of players

You could make the case halfway through this season that, on offense at least, Draymond Green was really not an NBA-quality player. He is literally playing for his basketball life.

And it looks like it. He is locked in to the idea of stopping the Nuggets at the point of attack. He's not just saying to himself that they're not going to score. He's saying they're not even going to get close. He is not the fastest guy on the floor, but he's so aggressive nobody can do anything against him anyway. Andre Miller scored a game winner against him, and it's almost like ever since then Draymond has said, "OK, that's not happening again."

Andrew Bogut has been a huge, huge, huge story. His energy and defensive presence have defined the interior play for the entire series. And on offense, well, in Game 4 he managed to score six field goals in 26 minutes. The Nuggets' big men, Koufos and McGee, managed just one bucket between them in more than 28 minutes.

Jarrett Jack's quickness makes a big difference, too. Denver is steering driving players toward the help. But Jack is so fast that he's just blowing right by them at full speed -- they're doing nothing to slow him down -- and then he loves to shoot a floater before the help can bother him. Against a lot of players, it's a good defensive approach to encourage the floater. But Jack loves it.

• 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.”

• 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.

Ethan Sherwood Strauss called it before it happened. Without David Lee, he wrote, the Warriors might be forced into playing Harrison Barnes as a stretch-four.

Which just might jump-start the Warriors' offense.

One game into the experiment, the Warriors won an entertaining, high-scoring game, the Nuggets defense was befuddled by all the shooters, Golden State shot lights out, Barnes made nine of 14 shots, and Strauss is looking prescient.

But that is not the same as saying he thinks the Warriors are better off, generally, without Lee. On WarriorsWorld, Strauss explains:

Barnes-at-the-4 is necessity as-mother-of-invention, and a wholly positive development for Golden State going forward. It bodes well for their chances in this particular long series, and should make them a better team as Harrison develops. What it does not do, is make David Lee expendable. To engage in some cross sports analogy, say a fastball pitcher develops a changeup and the latter pitch is flummoxing a certain kind of hitter. Success against that hitter doesn’t obviate the need for a fastball against others.

Lee is a huge, helpful part of GSW’s base offense. It just so happens that this offense, like many offenses, is well suited to going smaller against certain defenses. And Denver just might be the kind of team that’s ill suited to handling Golden State’s 4-out approach.

• 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.

• The story of the Maloofs long quest to leave Sacramento, as told by James Ham of Cowbell Kingdom: "The entire Maloof family hopped a plane for New York and asked Stern for permission to relocate the team immediately. That was 2006."
• Carl Bialik of The Wall Street Journal's Daily Fix: "Home teams have, on average, won 6.2 of eight Game Ones each season since 1984, by an average of 8.2 points per game; and 6.1 of eight Game Twos each season, by an average of 7.4 points per game. The good news, though, is that a set of Game One blowouts doesn’t predict the same outcome in Game Two. The correlation between first-round home-team wins in Game Ones and Game Twos is negative: The more home teams win their openers, the fewer win their second games — though the relationship is very slight. There’s also a negative correlation between median victory margin in Games One and Two; and a positive correlation, though a slight 0.2, between mean victory margin in Games One and Two."
• Paul George's motivation: Watching video of last year's playoffs and noticing Dwyane Wade taking plays off, knowing George would not attack.
• Tony Allen wishes he would have made Chris Paul drive the other way.
• Kevin Durant says he is done with being second.
• This is all kinds of PG-13, but fascinating how Michael Jordan's uniform played a crucial role in Eddie Huang's Obama-infused streetwear career.
• Lionel Hollins seems to have lost faith in his bench.
• Would be interested to hear from Mike Dunlap and Byron Scott about tanking. Two coaches who lost a lot of games for organizations that appeared to want exactly that.
• The Nets like to use isolation plays, but they didn't work on Monday night, when the team got one stinking bucket from that approach.
• Now that he's a featured part of the Nuggets attack, here's the book on Evan Fournier.
• Appreciating Mike Woodson.
• Kevin McHale says Jeremy Lin's best attribute is his toughness, and he'll bounce back.
• I'm a little distraught at how much time I spent watching this low-rent Chris Bosh sci-fi.
• The whole idea of a sixth man is a bit odd.
• Popeye Jones can snarl.
• Talking trash to Michael Jordan.

• 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.