ESPN NBA

Five dribbles of chatter from the league's front-office and coaching grapevines:

Among the immediate concerns for the Indiana Pacers heading into the Eastern Conference finals against Miami is the state of David West's right calf. One of the longer-term worries, though, is West's forthcoming free agency.

The Pacers' veteran leader openly loves his situation in Indiana, which certainly gives Indy justified cause for optimism when it comes to re-signing the 32-year-old this summer. Yet the whispers are already swirling that Chris Paul's Los Angeles Clippers, in particular, are going to make a hard run at West in the offseason.

Indy will certainly have the ability to pay West more to convince its locker-room sage to stay, given that the Clips would presumably have to structure an offer with the $5.15 million midlevel exception available to non-tax teams. But you have to figure that the former Hornet -- who rose to All-Star prominence playing alongside CP3 -- is going to want to hear the details of a proposal pitching a reunion with his old point guard ... as long as Paul himself, of course, has decided to stay. If Paul re-signs with the Clips as most league insiders continue to expect, L.A. will then be seeking to add the final piece or two to cement itself as a contender with some staying power.

Yet it has to give Indy's brass some reassurance when it hears West say things like he did in the wake of the New York series when he described the Pacers as "the most together group I've ever been a part of."

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Early estimates suggest that the Toronto Raptors would be willing to offer Masai Ujiri an annual salary in excess of $2 million to leave the Denver Nuggets' front office.

The Nuggets, I'm told, nonetheless remain positive that they'll be able to hang on to Ujiri -- just named the NBA's Executive of the Year for the 2012-13 season -- while know that they'll obviously have to raise his reported salary of $500,000 to keep him from wanting to leave.

It should be noted that, as of Monday night, Toronto had yet to secure permission from the Nuggets to officially woo Ujiri. But that hasn't stopped the Nigeria native from being billed as the Raptors' top target after it became apparent that Phil Jackson -- despite his longtime friendship with new Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Tim Leiweke -- was in no rush to embrace Toronto's interest.

Jackson has said repeatedly in recent weeks that he wants the opportunity to run a team from the top, a la Pat Riley, for the first time in his basketball career. After ESPN.com reported that the 11-ringed coaching legend wanted to let the fate of the Sacramento Kings play out before deciding anything about his future, Jackson said in a subsequent visit to "The Tonight Show" that his discussions about running basketball operations for the Chris Hansen-led group trying to purchase and relocate the Kings to Seattle were "serious talk."

Some league observers, however, remain convinced that Jackson's flirtations with teams are largely aimed at convincing Lakers lead basketball decision maker Jim Buss to cede his organizational power to sister Jeanie ... which would theoretically enable Jeanie Buss to bring her fiance Phil back to Lakerland as L.A.'s next front-office chief.

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At least two teams came away from last week's Board of Governors meeting in Dallas convinced that the 22-8 vote in favor of keeping the Kings in Sacramento would have been a lot closer if NBA commissioner David Stern wasn't so determined to lobby owners in the room to keep the franchise right where it is.

Yet a third team consulted told ESPN.com that Sacramento likely would have prevailed anyway, with or without Stern's hard push, since a simple majority of just 16 votes was all that was needed to block the proposed relocation to Seattle.

My follow-up question: Does the league's ultimate decision to keep the Kings in Sactown do anything to erase at least a little of the bitterness that locals still harbor about the way the 2002 Western Conference finals against the Lakers played out?

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On the coaching front ...

One reason that the Nets' coaching search isn't moving too quickly: Lionel Hollins and Brian Shaw, two of Brooklyn's foremost targets, are still at work in the playoffs.

Sources say that the Grizzlies remain determined to sign Hollins to a new deal after the playoffs. Contract discussions were mutually tabled by both sides until the postseason plays out, but that does expose Memphis to a high-dollar offer from Brooklyn in July that gets Hollins' attention.

The Clippers, though still deliberating on the future of incumbent coach Vinny Del Negro, are now widely presumed to be in the running for Hollins as well after owner Donald T. Sterling -- who doesn't even attend all of his own team's playoff games -- showed up courtside Sunday in San Antonio to watch the Grizzlies get thumped in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. But skepticism persists, even if the Clips do soon have an opening, about Sterling's appetite to pay what it would take to extricate Hollins from Memphis, where he is revered locally.

Interesting footnote about the Nets' coaching search: Italian legend Ettore Messina, reported by Yahoo! Sports to be a candidate tempting Atlanta Hawks GM Danny Ferry, is not on Brooklyn's list. If the Hawks were to make him the first European head coach in NBA history, Messina would have to find a way out of Russian super club CSKA Moscow, which for years received considerable financial support from Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

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Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford, who previously interviewed for the Milwaukee Bucks' head coaching job, interviews Tuesday for Charlotte's opening. The Bobcats are also scheduled to interview Utah assistant Jeff Hornacek later this week, with both Clifford and Hornacek likewise in the mix for the Phoenix Suns' job.

• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: Prepare for the correction: The Spurs left the AT&T Center after Game 1 uniform in their belief that they were unlikely to make 14 3-pointers again this series. “I’m a math guy,” Matt Bonner said. “It’s highly improbable we’re going to shoot that clip again.” The trick for the Spurs in Game 2 will be to generate offense once the Grizzlies have located their perimeter shooters. As per usual, that effort will begin with Tony Parker, who must continue to attack off the pick-and-roll, put pressure on the Memphis defense in the paint and make good decisions from there. Protect ball and boards: With a lack of perimeter shooters, the Grizzlies can often struggle to score in a half-court offense. They generate much of their offense off turnovers and offensive putbacks. The Spurs did a decent job of limiting giveaways in Game 1 (11) and keeping the Grizzlies to a manageable 10 second-chance points. Without either of the above, it will be difficult for Memphis to score with the Spurs, even if its defense reverts back to norm. Adjust to adjustments: It’s no secret Memphis will want to get Zach Randolph going in Game 2. One way coach Lionel Hollins could accomplish this is to give more minutes to Quincy Pondexter and Jerryd Bayless, his best floor-spreading bench shooters, instead of the more offensively limited wings Tony Allen and Tayshaun Prince. That move would likely change the way the Spurs are defending Randolph, making it more difficult for guards to help, but it would also make Memphis a less potent defensive unit.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: Carving out space for Randolph could be every bit as difficult unless Memphis, which made the fewest number of 3s in the NBA this season, can prevent the Spurs from neglecting shooters in order to collapse on the interior. Gasol described a clear set of tactics from the Spurs: Play tight on him to negate his high-post passing skills, front Randolph and ignore the corners in order to “pound the paint.” It’s nothing the Grizzlies haven’t seen before, he said, but it proved to be highly effective as the Grizzlies made only five 3s and Randolph was limited to one meaningless basket. “We just need to keep moving the ball, keep being patient, get it some other way,” Gasol said. “But we cannot hold the all. Once we hold the ball, we’re allowing them to load up.” Conley said the team’s perimeter corps has to take more responsibility, not only by making the Spurs pay but by getting Randolph — who said he was so distraught over his play in Game 1 that he barely slept — involved.
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: According to several sources close to the situation, LeBron James does not, in fact, put his pants on one leg at a time. That being the case, it’s astonishing that Frank Vogel has “dismissed” the mighty Miami Heat as the “next team” in the Pacers’ way -- not “just another team,” as James misquoted him -- but the next team. Shame on Vogel for not genuflecting when he mentioned the Heat, or for volunteering to kiss James’ ring -- ring singular, not rings -- when the two teams meet up in the Eastern Conference finals beginning Wednesday in Miami. The gall of Vogel, who last year suggested strongly (and expensively) that the Heat were the biggest floppers in the NBA. Doesn’t he know he’s talking about LeBron and the Big Three and a team that has gone 45-3 in its last 48 games? (If you’re not picking up on the facetiousness here, go back to school and enroll in a reading comprehension class). … Of course, this is a non-story that has become a story, which means it’s a nice easy column. Because we love conflict, even when it’s artificial conflict. Because it’s a lot easier than calculating D.J. Augustin’s PER rating in the second round against the Knicks. Because we’re like that kid on the playground who used to try and stage fights, a la Don King. Did you hear what Johnny said about your girlfriend? Silly. But wonderful. Wonderful because there’s still some bad blood after last year’s compelling six-game series between the Pacers and the Heat.
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: Much will be different about this year’s matchup between the Heat and Pacers, and it all starts with Chris Bosh being healthy and at the top of his game. But how the Heat’s reserves affect the series might be the most significant key to the game. The Heat’s bench scored 55 points last week in Game2 of its Eastern Conference semifinals playoff series against the Bulls. In last year’s conference semis against the Pacers, it took the Heat’s reserves nearly three full games to reach that total. The major differences between the Heat’s bench now and the rag-tag group that slugged it out the with Pacers in 2012: Ray Allen, who was with Boston this time last year and gearing up for a match-up with the Heat, is averaging 12.2 points per game in the playoffs. … Chris Andersen, who was on his couch in Denver this time last year, has provided much-needed muscle and energy to the Heat’s second unit. … Norris Cole was a minor footnote against the Pacers last year, averaging 2.0 points and less than 13 minutes per game.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Our next chance to judge the James Harden trade — as if it hasn't been scrutinized enough — has come. The NBA Draft Lottery is Tuesday night. It will reveal this year's draft order and determine whether the Thunder will receive Toronto's first-round pick. It's a selection Oklahoma City received as part of a package that included Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and two other picks. Whatever happens, the team's fan base, as well as close followers of the trade's fallout, likely will be split. If the Thunder lands the pick, it'll be the 12th overall selection and perhaps viewed by most as a disappointment. If the pick remains with Toronto and rolls over into next year, the Thunder seemingly will get criticized for failing to receive an asset in exchange for Harden that could help sooner rather than later. A perfect storm put the Thunder in this position of possibly picking at the back end of the lottery. No way could this have been what the front office had in mind when the powers that be insisted on Houston including Toronto's first-rounder before pulling the trigger on the deal. But here they are, stuck with a worst-case scenario after everything that could go wrong for the placement of this potential pick did go wrong.
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: Since the regular season ended just more than a month ago, New Orleans Pelicans backup guard Brian Roberts hasn’t paid much attention to the upcoming NBA draft lottery set for Tuesday night. But whether the Pelicans pick up the option on Roberts' contract to retain him could largely depend on where they are slotted for the upcoming June 27 NBA draft. The Pelicans have only an 8.8 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick going into the lottery. But they have a 26.15 percent chance of staying at the fifth spot, where several mock drafts have them selecting Michigan point guard Trey Burke. Most have Burke, 6-feet, 190, being taken no higher than fifth and not lower than seventh. If the Pelicans draft Burke and they already have starter Greivis Vasquez, they could opt not to keep Roberts, especially with Austin Rivers having the ability to play both guard positions. But some of the mock drafts also have Pelicans addressing their need to improve their small forward spot by drafting Georgetown's Otto Porter or UNLV's Anthony Bennett if they can land one of the top three draft spots. ``Right now I’m just trying to see how things play out,’’ Roberts said.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: Will the Bobcats select a long-term keeper? History suggests the odds aren’t great. Since their inception in 2004, the Bobcats have made top-five selections four times. An Observer study last spring demonstrated top-five picks are precious: Thirty-six of the top 100 players in the league, as identified by that study, were top-five picks, including 15 of the top 20 players. … The Bobcats’ draft pick retention history is pretty threadbare. Of the 10 players chosen in the lottery (the first 14 picks) six are gone (two no longer in the NBA). Gerald Henderson will be a restricted free agent and three others – Kidd-Gilchrist, Bismack Biyombo and Kemba Walker – are still playing in Charlotte under their rookie contracts. These next two drafts could provide the Bobcats’ a do-over. Along with the 2013 pick, the Bobcats might have three first-rounders in 2014 and all could be lottery picks. The Bobcats figure to miss the playoffs next season and are owed picks from the Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons that could come due in ’14.
• Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal: As all of the NBA’s non-playoff teams gather in New York tonight for the draft lottery, the Cavaliers have to like the odds they carry into Times Square. The Cavs enter with the third-best chance (15.6 percent) at winning the lottery. The league is celebrating its 20th anniversary of the revamped weighted system, and the team with the third-best odds has won five of the first 19 years. No other lottery position has been more successful. The overwhelming question now is how excited it’s worth getting for a lottery victory when the draft is expected to be so dismal. The projected top pick, Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel, is offensively challenged and isn’t expected to play until close to Christmas while recovering from a knee injury. And that’s the best prospect. It only goes down from there. Nevertheless, the Cavs will follow the same protocol as the previous two years. Minority team owner Jeff Cohen will represent the Cavs in the sequestered room where the numbers are actually drawn and Nick Gilbert, son of owner Dan Gilbert, will again represent the Cavs on the podium during the television broadcast when the draft positions are revealed.
• Peter Botte of the New York Daily News: Iman Shumpert revealed that he will play for the Knicks in the Las Vegas summer league for the first time after missing it last summer while rehabbing a torn ACL and the year before because of the lockout. “They want to see me be more decisive offensively, which I already knew, but that would be big for me to work on this summer…and come in for training camp ready to do that,” Shumpert said.
• Michael Hunt of the Journal Sentinel: Given the NBA's willingness to relocate franchises far more freely than the other big leagues, the decision last week to keep the Kings in Sacramento in lieu of a crazy-money offer from Seattle was surprising. What wasn't surprising was the local reaction. The Bucks-to-Seattle drum was put out there and then beaten by politicians and community leaders who needed the news to throw another log on an arena-debate fire that isn't exactly raging at the moment. Two things: None of this was coming from Seattle. And if it is suddenly convenient to have the nation's 12th largest TV market looming as a bogeyman to jump-start serious arena discussions here, well, that is how the game is played. Of course, there is another way to look at this unexpected turn of events as it applies to the Bucks. Not long after the NBA prevented the small-market Kings from moving, NBA commissioner Stern, for the first time in a decade, began warming to the idea of expansion. In a Sunday story, the Seattle Times portrayed expansion as the city's best chance to reclaim the team that was stolen five years ago in the Oklahoma City rustle. … If Seattle is an imaginary threat to the Bucks, that doesn't mean the pressure is not there to make the organization worthy of a new arena. Since advancing to the Eastern Conference finals 13 years ago, the Bucks have made the playoffs five times, are 7-20 and have not gotten out of the first round. The effort to pull the Bucks from their self-dug pit should be from within, not from without.
• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: Bryan Colangelo’s tenure as the top basketball savant at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is at an end. His relationship with the sports conglomerate is not. In a move that should be officially announced as early as Tuesday morning, Colangelo will cede control of basketball operations as the president and general manager within the company and move to some unspecified corporate role, according to multiple NBA sources. Colangelo’s future has been cloudy since the arrival of new MLSE chief executive officer Tim Leiweke; the Raptors held an option on a final contract year for Colangelo and Leiweke seemed lukewarm from the start about picking it up. But the veteran NBA executive, seven years on the job in Toronto after more than a decade with the Phoenix Suns and a two-time NBA executive of the year, has always been a loyal and valued part of the organization, a fact not lost on ownership. Sources suggest minority owner Larry Tanenbaum may have been involved in the process of finding a suitable and significant position for Colangelo, a process that was still being finalized Monday afternoon, according to sources.
• Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: What you are about to read is pure speculation. I feel compelled to declare that up front, unlike so many NBA coaching rumors you read on the internet that quote "well-placed sources," which often is the Ouija board sitting next to the author or, even worse, an agent. So here goes: It wouldn't surprise me if Hawks general manager Danny Ferry, who has been looking for apotential replacement for coach Larry Drew, is waiting to interview Brian Shaw. Shaw is an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, who just upset the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs and now will face (and lose to) Miami in the Eastern Conference finals. … No, I'm not declaring Shaw as the favorite for the Hawks' job. But it would make sense if he's a candidate, especially if Ferry can't land Stan Van Gundy (who figures to have better options) and believes he and Shaw will be on the same page in terms of how to build a team. (This is why I believe San Antonio assistant Mike Budenholzer is a strong possibility.) And if you're wondering, yes, Ferry and Shaw did cross paths once: in Italy. Both played in the Italian League for Il Messaggero Roma in 1989-90. In fact, I've even located NBC News raw video links of the two walking together in Italy.
• John N. Mitchell of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Although he no longer plies his trade here, former 76ers coach Larry Brown still keeps his eyes and ears focused on all things basketball in Philadelphia. Brown, who coached the Sixers from 1997-2003, expressed some skepticism about the direction of his old team. Now the coach at Southern Methodist, he also bemoaned the loss of his chance to coach in the Big East Conference. Brown was one of eight inductees Monday night into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. The 72-year-old Brown is an old-school coach who is not sold on the heightened focus on advanced statistics in the NBA. "I'm not that kind of guy," Brown said when asked his opinion on the hiring of new Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie. "You're asking the wrong guy. This is not baseball. Guys hit better during the day than they do at night. You have lefties and righties. But this is not baseball. In this league, it's about teaching players and making them better." However, Brown said he does not rule out the role of analytics in building a better basketball team. "All the information, I'm sure, helps," Brown said. "But at the end of the day, this is a basketball town. They love kids that play hard, play together, play smart. And the best way to tell that about a kid is to look him in the eye in the most crucial moments of a game. That tells you so much. But you have to give this a chance.”
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: For the better part of three years, they had one of the most thankless jobs in the industry, trying to sell season tickets when their franchise was forever on the move? Good luck. Good night. And break out the suitcase. So imagine how the remaining members of the Kings' depleted ticket sales department felt Wednesday when NBA Commissioner David Stern announced the team was staying in Sacramento and negotiations were under way to transfer controlling interest to a deep-pocketed investment group headed by software entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive? There was relief, and disbelief. There were high-fives, and tears. There were jobs, and more jobs.

• Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: Zach Randolph called it his “win-win dance,” and the choreography was not cutting edge. He hopped, and he smiled, and he acted like someone who would never miss another shot. This was two years ago. Against the Spurs. When it seemed he would never miss another shot. He would eventually prove to be human. Still, the lose-lose dance he performed Sunday should be seen as the same kind of temporary tango. Because this isn’t Randolph. These aren’t the Grizzlies. And this isn’t how the series will continue. The Spurs will take how the series began. These Western Conference finals, after all, started nothing like last year’s did. Then, the Spurs had to scratch out the I-want-some-nasty game. … Sunday was closer to a Spurs clinic, as well as a counter to those who saw Memphis as the trendy pick. When Tony Parker wasn’t shredding Memphis, the Spurs’ shooters were overwhelming a group that was second in the NBA this past season in 3-point defense. … The Grizzlies will try. They will review film, and they will prepare to play to their strength. They will pound with Z-Bo as they pounded the Clippers and Thunder before, and dancing will be optional.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: Memphis’ abject lack of outside shooting (5 for 12 on 3s) killed them in two respects. One, they were outscored by 27 points from beyond the arc, easily the biggest different in the game. Two, it allowed the Spurs to basically ignore their perimeter players and collapse on the low-post tandem of Randolph and Marc Gasol. Gasol was active early on, but he needed 16 shots to score 15 points while drawing just two free throws. Randolph barely got any touches at all, scoring his lone bucket on a tip-in while missing 7 of 8 shots. He had been averaging 19.7 points on 51.2-percent shooting in the postseason. It’s fitting Gregg Popovich used a football metaphor to describe the Spurs’ strategy, which was basically a page taken straight from their first-round meeting with the Lakers — swarm the paint first, recover on shooters second. “Zach and Marc are a heck of a combination, probably the best high-low combination in the league,” Popovich said. “Everything they do is really difficult to stick with, and you’ve got to have a mindset to do it on every down. You can’t be perfect at it. They’re just too good. But the effort was there for 48 minutes.” … The Grizzlies have bounced back from 0-1 deficits to win each of their past two series. Conversely, the Spurs are 19-3 when they win the first game of a best-of-seven series in the Duncan/Popovich era.
• Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: So when he's asked about playing Indiana next, and how they'll strategize against him again, you know he's run the matchup through his mind. And it's not a hard conclusion on Indiana's best play against him. "They'll try to put me on the floor, maybe,'' LeBron James said. "They'll be physical with me, maybe. … The word is you've got to beat up the Heat to beat them. And every team has tried to do that." This wasn't just Indiana's way in their playoff series last year. It was Chicago's method last week. That series offered another glimpse into what may be the final rite of public passage for the best player in the game. Lots of teams hit LeBron at the rim. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau took it to uncharted territory. He ordered his players to get rough with LeBron in the open court, well before he became unstoppable near the basket. When Nazr Mohammed threw a two-arm wrap around LeBron near mid-court, then shoved LeBron to the floor, Thibodeau snapped. He said LeBron flopped. Nate Robinson then football-tackled LeBron near mid-court. There was something old-school gallant about Chicago's game plan, bit players trying to take out the game's best player. "Hopefully, the league will look at that,'' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. That's not intent here. It's, again, this strange, final passage LeBron seems to be making. Teams always played Michael Jordan hard right to the end of his Chicago run. But no one got Medieval on Jordan.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The last time I got a text from from Larry Bird at 1 a.m. it was about this time a year ago. It first started with a telephone call talking about how poor the Pacers played in their 32-point loss to the Miami Heat in Game 5. Then came the text message. My phone went off again early Sunday morning. It was Bird, who has kept a low profile since stepping down as a president last June. Bird was offering up nothing but praise this time about the team he put together. “Those who play together stay together!” Bird wrote in the text. Bird is right, the Pacers stuck together all year. They stuck together when Danny Granger was ruled out at the start of the season. They stuck together when they got off to a slow start. They stuck together when Granger came back and then went down again for the rest of the season. And they stuck together when they opened the second round of the playoffs as the underdogs against the New York Knicks. For years, outsiders have questioned the Pacers on who the face of the franchise is and who is going to lead them in the playoffs. The Pacers have shied away from getting caught up in that talk. They proved it again on Saturday after they eliminated the Knicks in six games.
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: Today, barring a stunning turn of events, it is expected Bryan Colangelo’s term in Toronto will end seven years and 81 days after it began. Under his guidance, the Raptors made it to the playoffs twice — in each of his first two full seasons on the job. The five-year drought since then more than justifies the organization heading in another direction. This is not an indictment of Colangelo. It’s just a recognition of the fact that he has had his chance to turn things around here and now it’s time to give someone else that chance. Much is being made right now of the Raptors’ dithering in this respect. Under recently named president and CEO — and this is key — but still not actively serving Tim Leiweke, the impression has been left that the organization is somehow being harmed by a lack of an immediate decision on the general manager. One way or another, that impression will end today. Colangelo probably had another year with the Raptors had MLSE not gone out and snapped up Leiweke. … There are plenty of targeted names out there to fill Colangelo’s shoes. From Denver’s Masai Ujiri to Indiana’s Kevin Pritchard to Oklahoma City’s Troy Weaver, there is plenty to like about the wish list but so far that’s all it is — a wish list. Ujiri, the Denver GM and former Colangelo assistant in Toronto, has given no indication he is interested, but nor have either of the other two. It’s all well and good to target a guy, even one as presumably easy as it would be to target the recently named NBA executive of the year in Ujiri. But it’s another to actually hook that target. So, yes, there’s still a slight chance Colangelo could be back.
• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: One theory making the rounds in NBA circles over the weekend is that both sides are trying to find a way for Colangelo to remain in the organization but perhaps in a different role. Other people in the league, however, are certain that the longer Leiweke lets the situation drag on, the more likely it is that Colangelo leaves and that the chief executive officer is plumbing the depths of other front offices to find someone with a reputation — and the ability — that would make a new hire seem like a big splash. But whatever the resolution, it won’t come until the last minute, at least. Monday is supposedly the deadline for the 2013-14 option on Colangelo’s contract to be picked up. It could be extended by mutual agreement. Still, there are other issues — and human situations — to be dealt with and taken into consideration. Colangelo’s chief lieutenant, Ed Stefanski, has been on the job less than two years, is under contract for one more and has a resumé just as impressive as any of the rival executives whose names have emerged publicly. But if Leiweke — and sources are adamant that this is his decision to make — insists on bringing someone in to work either with or independent of Colangelo in some senior role, where does that leave the well-respected Stefanski? And if Leiweke decides to cut ties entirely with Colangelo, the front-office upheaval could be significant. Along with Stefanski, assistant general manager Marc Eversley is closely aligned with Colangelo and someone new in charge might not be comfortable with that arrangement. Coach Dwane Casey, entering the final year of his contract, has the full support of Colangelo but does that change if there’s a new boss in charge? So it’s not as if Leiweke’s decision will only have an impact on one member of the front-office staff.
• Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: If you had to pick one man whose leadership is most essential to the future success of the Nuggets, would you go with coach George Karl or general manager Masai Ujiri? My vote: Ujiri is more valuable. By a power of 10. Contrary to popular belief, the potential free agent Denver really needs to lock up this offseason is not Andre Iguodala, a $15 million guard who shoots 58 percent from the foul line and is professed to be an all-world defender, yet can't be entrusted to lock down Stephen Curry in the NBA playoffs. Ujiri rescued the Nuggets from the chaos caused by Carmelo Anthony's trade demand. Ujiri has discovered real talent late in the first round of the NBA draft, while bringing Kenneth Faried and Evan Fournier to Denver. Ujiri would be far harder to replace in the front office than Karl would be on the bench. Sports executive Tim Leiweke helped bring the Avalanche to Colorado. Now Leiweke could steal Ujiri from town. Leiweke oversees the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors have cast covetous eyes at Ujiri. Ujiri deserves a big raise from the Nuggets. Pronto. … With all due respect to Ty Lawson, Ujiri is the MVP of the Nuggets. Lose Ujiri, and the Nuggets would be lost.
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: Carmelo Anthony sat shirtless and wore ice packs on both knees late Saturday night as he surveyed the losing locker room inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse. From his demeanor and posture right down to the accessories needed to heal his aching body, Anthony resembled Patrick Ewing more than ever after the Knicks’ season ended prematurely against the Indiana Pacers. The look said it all: Another prime year lost, another bid for that elusive championship wasted. “I mean, it’s a disappointment,” Anthony said. … The time, of course, is now. Anthony turns 29 on May 29 and has been in the league 10 years. That’s a lot of miles on his legs. Ewing was 31 when he reached the NBA Finals in 1994, his ninth season. A better comparison are two of Anthony’s contemporaries from the historic 2003 draft class. James, who turns 29 in December, has been to the NBA Finals three times and could secure a second straight championship next month. Wade, 31, is in his 10th year and has reached the Finals three times and won two rings. Anthony’s best finish was the Western Conference finals. Otherwise, he’s been out of the first round just twice. Anthony is in the prime of his career, but there is no guarantee that the best years are ahead for him and the Knicks. Maybe that’s what he was contemplating late Saturday night after another lost season.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: Orlando Magic fans approach Pat Williams whenever they see him around town these days. "Come on home with the first pick," they say. "Bring it on back," they say. "OK, we're looking for that first pick," they say. What those strangers are referring to is the 2013 NBA Draft Lottery, which will take place Tuesday night in midtown Manhattan. The Magic own a 25-percent chance of winning the top overall pick, the highest probability of any team, and Williams will be there once again, on stage, serving as the public face of the franchise. Williams, the Magic's co-founder and senior vice president, is a living, breathing good-luck charm. His teams have won the lottery four different times: thePhiladelphia 76ers in 1986 and the Magic in 1992, 1993 and 2004. "People just expect another one," he says now, chuckling. "We only have a 25-percent chance! I guess if I don't come back with the top pick, they'll say, 'Boy, what a bum he is. What was he doing up there?' " Many people remember Williams for his lottery fortune instead of his skill and accomplishments as a sports executive. Major networks have televised the lottery ever since the its inception in 1985, and Williams' reactions to his victories have been priceless.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: The Charlotte Bobcats are on their way to becoming the Charlotte Hornets. The Bobcats have started pursuing a name change to Charlotte’s original NBA team, an informed source confirmed to the Observer. Though the Bobcats will need permission from the league to make such a change, incoming NBA commissioner Adam Silver has twice indicated that shouldn’t be a problem. What’s still in question is when the name change could be implemented and how extensively the Bobcats would assume the Hornets’ old look. The source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, would not comment on whether the popular teal-and-purple color scheme would return to Charlotte. The Hornets were Charlotte’s first major-league team, and for most of 14 years the town embraced the team. The consecutive sellout streak for home games reached 364, nearly nine full seasons. Players like Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry still live here and are still prominent figures. The Hornets drafted power forward Larry Johnson and center Alonzo Mourning with top-two picks and they led the team to an unlikely victory over the Boston Celtics in a first-ever playoff appearance in 1993. But even before then the Hornets owned the town.
• Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: As the Dallas Mavericks contingent of Donnie Nelson and Keith Grant prepare to head to New York for Tuesday’s NBA Draft lottery selection, they do so knowing nothing strategically will determine whether the Mavs can walk away with the No. 1 overall draft pick. No tea leaves. No Ouija boards. No X’s and O’s. Just like the Powerball winner, it comes down to pure luck as to who wins the draft lottery. Owner Mark Cuban said: “As much as we want to say it’s all science, there’s a big part of it that’s luck.’’ The lottery is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the ABC Times Square Studios in New York City. This is just the second time in the Cuban era that the Mavs have been in the draft lottery. Cuban purchased the Mavs on Jan. 4, 2000, and Dallas was involved in the lottery some four months later after finishing the season with a 40-42 record.
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: Last summer, Thunder forward Serge Ibaka was said to be considering working with Olajuwon, but Ibaka didn't have adequate time. Ibaka was busy playing for silver medalist Spain at the Olympic Games in London and then returned to OKC to hammer out the details of a four-year contract extension worth at least $49 million that begins next season. Multiple times during his exit interview session on Thursday, Ibaka said his primary focus this offseason will be to find ways to “create my own shot.” Might this include a trip to Houston to work with Olajuwon? “Yes, it's a possibility,” the 23-year-old Ibaka said. “It depends on how the summer goes. If there's time, I would like to go (work with Olajuwon). I'm not just focused to go see Hakeem, I'm focused to work on my game. From what I've heard, it's a good option for me. … I really, really want to get better and create my own shot. So it's something I will focus on this summer.” NBA players who have worked with Olajuwon include Yao Ming, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Luol Deng, Emeka Okafor, JaVale McGee and Kenneth Faried. Olajuwon also has worked with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Thunder coach Scott Brooks is friends with Olajuwon and was his teammate for 2 1/2 seasons (1992-95) in Houston.

David Thorpe's latest postseason MVP rankings are posted (Insider). Stephen Curry doesn't top the list anymore. We discuss:

• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Two years ago, Zach Randolph nearly carried the Grizzlies to the Western Conference finals but came up a little short. The Grizzlies’ power forward wasn’t strong enough to contribute to a long postseason run last season because of his challenging recovery from a knee injury. But Wednesday night, a healthy Randolph forcefully put his imprint all over the Grizzlies’ 88-84 Game 5 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Griz won the Western Conference semifinals, 4-1, on the strength of Randolph’s 28 points and 14 rebounds in the closeout game. He helped punch the Grizzlies’ ticket to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history. “Zach was huge the whole game,” Griz coach Lionel Hollins said. “He came out snorting and grunting. He carried us offensively.” In expressing his desire to win a championship, Randolph emphasized there’s still work to be done. Clearly, though, one of the league’s most feared bullies in the paint is back on the block. Also, grit-and-grind basketball will now play for a trip to the NBA Finals. “This just tells you that when you keep a core together and you stick with them, good things can happen,” Randolph said.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Shame it had to end like this. You can only wonder what would have been had Russell Westbrook been healthy. Instead, the inevitable finally happened tonight. All things considered, this was a great season. Nothing to be ashamed about. Division champs. Sixty wins. Best record in the conference. The best regular season in the OKC era even after James Harden was traded five days beforehand. A second round appearance even after Westbrook went down two games into the first round. “We had a really good season,” said Kevin Durant. More Durant: “It’s tough to swallow now, but I’m sure we’re going to look back on this down the line and really appreciate this tough time.” No need to panic. No need for big changes or major shakeups. Though it might not feel like it right now, this team doesn’t need it. All it needs is a healthy right knee. Get that back and the Thunder is back in business. Back to dominance. Back to being a championship contender. Back to having a bright future. In the meantime, we learned a lot about this group without Westbrook. We learned that Reggie Jackson is ready to break out, possibly as a Most Improved and Sixth Man candidate next year. We learned that Durant does need help and that Westbrook is indeed the best fit for him. We learned that Kevin Martin doesn’t fit, that Scott Brooks can and will bench Kendrick Perkins, that the Thunder’s system is serviceable for the regular season but shaky come the postseason and thatSerge Ibaka has many more strides left to take. … It was fun while it lasted, Derek Fisher. I wonder what the Thunder will do with him next year. His contract is up and the Thunder will have open roster spots. He proved he still has value, both on and off the court. … There’s no edge to this team. OKC is either going to out-athlete you or outscore you. But next year’s team needs some nasty. I’m looking at you, Ronny Turiaf. Find a way, Sam Presti, to lure Reggie Evans from Brooklyn. Rebounds and toughness. The Thunder’s got to have it.
• Greg Cote of The Miami Herald: Welcome back, Dwyane Wade. Your timing was impeccable. The chatter entering Wednesday night’s playoff game here centered on the thick elastic wrap on Wade’s right knee and the pain barking underneath it. Could Dwyane be his old, spectacular self? Or was he simply too hurt? The answers were inconclusive much of the night, but emphatic when they absolutely mattered. “I had a good couple minutes,” he said, smiling. Wade did, and that is largely why Miami beat the Chicago Bulls 94-91 Wednesday night to win this second-round series 4 games to 1 and jack the downtown bayside arena into fiesta mode. The result sent depleted Chicago into its offseason after a noble effort, and sends Miami on to the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals after a dramatically earned comeback. The Heat is now halfway to a repeat championship. It’s the easy half that’s in the books now. It’s what remains that will find the vintage Wade — healthy or playing like it — in ever greater demand. There is a country music lyric: “I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good, once, as I ever was.” That was D-Wade, late Wednesday. That might be Wade all this postseason, budgeting his energy and physical strength, waiting to strike, striking in bursts. Wednesday he would finish with 18 points, but the six of those he delivered last recalled a Wade unencumbered by knee-wraps or doubts.
• Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: Derrick Rose might not be planning much this summer. Whether the Bulls point guard likes it or not, the organization wants more say in what his offseason will consist of. “There will be a plan with him [this offseason],’’ coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We have an offseason program that he’s going to have to go through. It will be mostly the same, but we’ll be adding a few things to it.’’ With good reason. The Bulls watched their season come to an end in a 94-91 Game 5 loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday. It was the second time in three years that the Heat have put the Bulls on ice. The chasing is getting old. And chasing the defending champs with Rose sitting out the season with his surgically-repaired anterior cruciate ligament? The results weren’t so hot. This summer has to be about getting Rose at full strength physically and mentally if the Bulls want to put an end to their futility against LeBron James’ team. … It’s an even bigger issue when a team limps into a playoff series as the Bulls did. Rose? Out. Luol Deng? Out after complications from a spinal tap. Kirk Hinrich? Never recovered from a bruised left calf suffered in the first-round win over the Brooklyn Nets. … Trailing be three with the ball on the final possession, Nate Robinson and Jimmy Butler missed game-tying three-point attempts, ending a drama-filled season. The attention quickly turned to Rose, and rightfully so. … And now the right thing will be doing whatever the team asks of him this summer.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: Cruising through the web in the aftermath of Game 5, one angle stood out above the others: A short passage at Grantland illustrating just how well the George Hill/Kawhi Leonard swap has worked out for both franchises. Neither are stars, but they’re playing key roles on what will almost certainly be two of the last four teams standing in the 2012-13 season. Leonard has established himself as one of the game’s brightest young prospects with the Spurs, while Hill is running the point with a steady, sometimes spectacular hand for his hometown Pacers. Such was the case on Tuesday, when Hill erupted for 26 points as Indiana took a 3-1 series lead over the New York Knicks. Not long after Leonard scored 17 on only eight shots while applying such withering defense on Golden State’s Klay Thompson that he could not find the space to launch a single 3-point attempt. So many NBA trades are made to free up cap space, or unload a disgruntled star for pennies on the dollar. In this instance, both teams saw assets that could fill glaring needs — in Indiana’s case a starting point guard who had been groomed by the game’s best coach, and in San Antonio’s a much-need infusion of youth and athleticism on the wing. Had the Pacers kept Leonard, or if they’d even drafted him at all with the 15th pick in 2011 without the Spurs’ directive, he’d be overkill behind All-Star small forward Paul George. It would have duplicated the situation Hill faced in San Antonio, where his growth and role were always going to be stunted by the presence of Tony Parker.
• Monte Poole of The Oakland Tribune: The Warriors approach the possibility of postseason elimination amid heated dialogue about their offense. What's wrong with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson? Where is the torrid shooting that made them a popular storyline throughout the playoffs? The more substantive factor for the Warriors, though, has to do with defense. If they don't play it exceedingly well against San Antonio on Thursday night in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, the Warriors will walk out of Oracle Arena and directly into the offseason. Defense is the element of the game most consistently discussed by Mark Jackson. On Wednesday, a day after a 109-91 loss in Game 5, the coach once again leaned on the subject. Asked about the suddenly chilly jump shots rolling off the fingers of Steph and Klay, Jackson jumped atop an old soapbox built on the sturdy pillars of league history. … "They shot 72 percent in the first quarter, scored 37 points," he said of the Spurs. "That has nothing to do with Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry shooting the basketball." As someone who spent 17 years as an NBA player and nearly a decade as a close observer, Jackson realizes defense is crucial to postseason success. Understanding his team and the NBA, the coach expressed a tedious truth: Jump shots do not win championships and rarely get a team close to one. … Listening to several Warriors on Wednesday, it was clear Jackson's message was heard. Andrew Bogut, Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry all cited defensive shortcomings as the primary factor in losing Game 5. Their heads are in the right place. They seem to understand jump shots can be pleasing to the eye, but that defense determines how far a team goes during the postseason grind. Endurance, after all, requires full grasp of the basics as taught by lessons of the past.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The lack of respect is still there for the Indiana Pacers. They have beaten up, bullied and shut down the New York Knicks for most of the NBA’s Eastern Conference semifinals. But the credit has yet to show up for the Pacers. The talk of the series has centered on how the Knicks are missing shots, Iman Shumpert’s knee and who is and isn’t playing team basketball. The Pacers can put everybody (outside of the New York market, at least) out of their misery of hearing about those issues Thursday. The Pacers, up 3-1 in the series, can advance to their first Eastern Conference finals since 2004 with a victory. … There’s no better place for the Pacers to get the recognition they deserve than to do it in the Mecca — Madison Square Garden, known as the world’s most famous arena, where the stars sit courtside and the crowd will be so loud fans can’t hear the person next to them. “It’s going to be 10 times harder, it being in New York,” Pacers swingman Paul George said. “We know how well they play at home, so it’s going to take a great effort, so we’ll see where we’re at.” These aren’t the same Pacers who hoped they could win on the road. They know they can win on the road.
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: The Knicks won 54 games this season on the strength of their offense and were at their most dominant when the ball was moving, the floor was spaced, and Anthony and Smith were alternating good shots with smart passes. That identity has been lost, and Woodson has failed to do anything to restore it. Instead, Woodson went the opposite direction in Game 4 on Tuesday. He abandoned the small lineup that gave the Knicks their edge. He started Kenyon Martin, a defensive-minded enforcer, in a failed attempt to counter the Pacers’ size. He benched Prigioni, whose passing skills had been critical to the Knicks’ offensive rhythm for two months. (Prigioni has the best plus-minus rating of any Knicks starter in the playoffs.) Though the Knicks quickly fell behind by double digits, Woodson stuck with the big lineup for most of the night, thoroughly revamping his rotation in the 90th game of the season. … Woodson has indisputably been a net positive for the Knicks, corralling a locker room of volatile characters and disparate talents and presiding over the franchise’s best season in more than a decade. His failures in this series threaten to overshadow it all. On Wednesday, Woodson abruptly canceled his weekly radio spot with ESPN’s New York affiliate — a first this season. If the Knicks falter again Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, there will be no escaping the backlash. “Blame it on me,” Woodson said. As if the city needs any encouragement.
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: The Kings are staying in Sacramento. Can we say that again? The Kings are staying in Sacramento. In what would have been considered a major upset only four months ago, the NBA board of governors looked hard at Seattle but did a double-take when evaluating Sacramento. Come again? The league's owners remembered almost three decades of good times – of sellout streaks and international appeal and impassioned crowds even when the team was terrible. They listened to members of the relocation committee and, yes, to their stubborn, respected, retiring commissioner. And, ultimately, they envisioned a revived franchise with impressive new owners, a state-of-the-art arena and an invigorated fan base. "This was not an anti-Seattle vote," Commissioner David Stern said Wednesday. "This was a pro-Sacramento vote." It's true. It happened. Lightning struck, thunder rolled in, and tornado warnings were issued throughout the city known as Big D. But all that happened later in the evening. In the afternoon, while rain pelted the hotel where the owners convened to determine the Kings' future, the Sacramento entourage pitched a near-perfect storm of a presentation.
• Jerry Brewer of The Seattle Times: At the end of the fight, the old, vindictive NBA commissioner couldn't announce the winner without first needling the city he was about to make a loser again. At the end of a polarizing relocation issue that he once described as "wrenching," the man who always measures his words couldn't resist one smug remark directed at Seattle. At the end of another heartbreaking NBA result, David Stern taunted us. "This is going to be short for me," he told reporters in Dallas on Wednesday. "I have a game to get to in Oklahoma City." Ouch. It was a sucker punch followed by a gut punch. First, Stern reminded Seattle that its team is now in Oklahoma City. Then, he announced the NBA was rejecting the city's bid to get a team back. … For the past four months, we have been Stern's pawn. Now, we're back to being his punch line. No more. Let's not play this game anymore. The next time Seattle plays with the NBA, it has to be a fair game that the city is capable of winning. For certain, that means it has to be a game that Stern isn't overseeing, which will require waiting until Adam Silver takes over in February to engage in talks again. The Stern/Seattle relationship is too toxic to bother mending, and if there was any doubt about The Commish's grudge-holding ways, his opening remarks made his Seattle disdain clear. The league turned down an epic Seattle offer in order to do the right thing — and since when did the NBA start caring about doing the right thing? Seattle's failed bid doesn't just affect Sacramento. It gives a clear path for every incumbent NBA city to keep its team. Heck, the past two NBA relocation situations, both involving Seattle, provide a road map of what to do and what not to do.

• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: Let’s be honest: The befuddled, frustrated Knicks are out of answers. New York coach Mike Woodson blinked first, rolled out a big lineup for Game 4, much as the Atlanta Hawks did in Game 3. That meant inserting Kenyon Martin into the lineup at the power forward and moving Pablo Prigioni to the bench. “It’s the only choice they’ve got,” TNT’s Reggie Miller told me before the game. Except it didn’t work. The Pacers got out fast, and in no time, all of the Knicks’ big men — Martin, Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler — were in foul trouble. From the beginning, the Pacers dominated in ways they’ve dominated most of this series: points in the paint and rebounds, specifically offensive rebounds. And their defense was typically stifling, ultimately limiting the Knicks to 82 points, 36 percent shooting and just 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) from behind the 3-point line. The Big Two of Anthony and Smith went 16-of-45 (35.6 percent) from the field. What’s Woodson do next? Fact is, if he’s not getting monumental games out of Anthony and Smith, he’s got no options. Big lineup, small lineup or something in between ... the Knicks are in deep trouble. … “Our effort was off the charts,” Vogel said. Did we mention they played a perfect game? The Pacers are as tied together as they’ve been all season, and they’re just 48 minutes from a chance to take their talents to South Beach.
• Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News: In another era, Patrick Ewing regularly used to infuriate Knicks fans when he would lose to Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the playoffs, and still declare on his way into summer that the Knicks were the better team. Now we’ve got Carmelo Anthony saying basically the same thing, only in his case he’s unlikely to even earn a date with the Jordan of this era, LeBron James. “I still believe we are the better team," Anthony said when he again failed to produce in the clutch and the Knicks fell to the Pacers on Tuesday night, 93-82. “We are not playing at that level right now." Start with Anthony because everything about these Knicks starts with him, and now he is one defeat from the start of a long summer. He’s certainly not playing at the level of a player who finished third in the MVP voting, having failed to score a single point in the fourth quarter of Game 4, as the Knicks fell behind in these conference semifinals, 3-1. But you can also say that he is performing like a player who is in the midst of only his second trip to the second round, and is finding out how difficult it is to win in the playoffs, even if the opponent isn’t James and the Heat. The irony in all of this is that the Knicks have felt that their assortment of bigs, including Tyson Chandler, Kenyon Martin and Amar’e Stoudemire, would give them the upper hand when they faced the smaller Heat in the playoffs. But they can’t even deal with the Pacers, with Anthony growing more frustrated by his inability to carry his team.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: Golden State’s “Splash Brothers” backcourt continued to dry up with Curry scoring nine points on 4-for-14 shooting and Klay Thompson going 2 for 8 en route to a paltry four. Kawhi Leonard had the bulk of the coverage on Thompson, while Danny Green and Parker split time on Curry. Leonard hounded Thompson so thoroughly that he squeezed off just eight shots, none from 3-point range. It was the first time this season he hadn’t had at least one attempt from long range. On the series, Curry is shooting 35.6 percent since his 22-point third quarter in Game 1, while Thompson is shooting 32.7 percent since his 29-point first half in Game 2. … According to WhoWins.com, teams that took Game 5 in best-of-seven series have advanced 85.7 percent of the time. … Tim Duncan’s latest achievement: He scored 14 points with 11 rebounds for the 143rd playoff double-double of his career, tying Wilt Chamberlain for second all-time. (Magic Johnson leads with 157.) Granted, Duncan did it in 199 postseason games compared to just 160 for the Stilt. But any time you can tie a standard set by Chamberlain — on the court, at least — you deserve to take a bow. … The Spurs wasted no time putting one of the worst collective shooting performances in franchise history behind them, erupting for 37 points — almost matching in 12 minutes their post-halftime total of 42 in Game 4 — on 72.2-percent shooting. They couldn’t help but cool off from there, but they still finished at a series-high 51.9 percent with 30 assists on 40 field goals. “We moved the ball very well,” Manu Ginobili said. “That’s who we are and it’s great to see.”
• Monte Poole of The Oakland Tribune: There was a point in the third quarter of the Warriors-Spurs game Tuesday night when TV cameras caught Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut on the bench. Steph was chewing his nails, Bogut appeared to be in discomfort, and the Dubs were trailing by 11. The Warriors were trying to play catch-up behind the offense of rookie forward Harrison Barnes and veteran guard Jarrett Jack. Moreover, they were hoping to get back into the game with the interior defense of heavy-legged Richard Jefferson and one-legged David Lee and foul-prone rookie Draymond Green. Though each has had his moments, the sight of this particular lineup was a perfectly good time to conclude the Warriors would lose Game 5 of this Western Conference semifinal. … The Curry-Bogut snapshot was a fitting illustration of how the Warriors have come full circle. After a surprisingly good regular season and some incredible performances in the playoffs, they on Tuesday were back where they were when the season began last October. Their postseason run hanging in the balance, they're back to being held captive by the fragile physical states of Curry and Bogut. … No, this is to suggest the Warriors are up against it like they haven't been at any time this postseason. Their most important players are wearing down, and it shows. It will be difficult to win two straight against a Spurs team accustomed to the suffocating air of the playoffs.
• Shandel Richardson of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: The decline in Wade's numbers is often contributed to the injury that has bothered him since early March. He is dealing with a deep bone bruise on the knee that, despite a week off between the first and second rounds, remains an issue. It resurfaced Monday when Wade collided knees with Bulls forward Jimmy Butler in the second quarter of the Heat's 88-65 victory. Spoelstra took offense to the injury being the focus, even though the Heat are one win from advancing to the conference finals for a third consecutive year. "I understand the interest level in it, but what you dislike about team sports is people lose sight of the main thing being the main thing," Spoelstra said. "Dwyane's proven himself as a warrior, he's helping us win and at the end of the day we're up 3-1 with a chance to close out. We knew going into this series that it wasn't going to be about averages and that was one thing we had to have a discussion about before the series." Wade's status is "day-to-day," according to Spoelstra. Unlike last year, there is no structural damage. He did not need to have the knee drained as was the case last season against the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs. The Heat will evaluate him Wednesday before making a decision if he plays in Game 5. They were in a similar situation in the close-out game against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. With a comfortable 3-0 lead, the team chose to rest Wade. … Teammates have been aware of Wade's issues for a while. He has just refused to let it become a distraction.
• Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times: It looks like … it’s over. This playoff series moves back to Miami on Wednesday with the Heat up 3-1. As much as we might like the story of the gritty, beat-up team that refuses to die, that story has run its course and collapsed before the finish line. There is no shame in it for the Bulls, who fought hard until the end. Along the way, lots of people started rooting for a team that was down to athletic tape, stitches and a heartbeat. But Miami has too much, and the Bulls have too few healthy bodies. Every shot they took Monday came with labor pains. Many of their jump shots fell short, a sign of tired legs. “It’s tough because you’re getting good looks,’’ Bulls forward Taj Gibson said. “But if you’re not getting the ball up on target, it’s tough.’’ Scoring nine points in a quarter is harder to do than scoring 40 points in a quarter. It was the lowest-scoring quarter in Bulls’ playoff history. Oh, and their 65 points were a franchise low for a playoff game. It’s the latest numerical reminder that talent always wins out in a seven-game series in the NBA. Or, if you prefer, good health always wins out.
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: Memphis ranked 16th in the NBA in free-throw attempts at 21.3 per game during the regular season, but is leading all playoff teams in attempts at 31.9 per game. Meanwhile, the Thunder was second during the regular season at 26.8 attempts, but is eighth in the postseason at 24.4. The Grizzlies have taken 20 more free throws in their four games against OKC. Thunder four-time All-Star Kevin Durant shot 27 times in Game 4 on Monday night and went to the free-throw line only once after getting fouled, and that came with 1:48 left in regulation. Durant's lone previous free-throw attempt came on a defensive 3-second call.
• Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: If you're tired of missing Russell Westbrook, mentally worn down from wondering what might have been, here's a change of pace, Thunder fans. Go back to missing James Harden. Remember when the biggest Thunder mystery was how Boomtown would fare without ol' James in the postseason? Seems so quaint now. Now we know what real trouble looks like. Kevin Durant spent last spring leading the Thunder to the NBA Finals with the help of two co-stars. Now he's trying to survive the Memphis Grinders with the help of no co-stars. So finally, the camp that declared Sam Presti should play out the season without a Harden trade has collected ammunition. It's not that the Thunder needs three stars to win an NBA title or even contend for the same. It's that the Thunder needs two. Which you could well see as the Thunder struggled to dispatch the pesky Rockets, much less these saber-toothed Grizzlies. We all learned Westbrook's value in the eight games since the infamous meniscus — hey, that almost rhymes — injury. But so, too, have we discovered Harden's true value. Elite depth. … The difference between Harden and Martin is not that vast. So the trade was solid. You can't predict that the unbreakable Westbrook will break. But it took the infamous meniscus to make the Harden trade really hurt.

• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder found out just why the Grizzlies have three NBA All-Defensive players and a stinginess that earns them the right to be called the most oppressive team in the league. It was a reminder Monday night that couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Thunder. The Grizzlies, though, did what they have all season — turned up their defense intensity when it mattered most. Memphis held Oklahoma City to 1 of 8 shooting over the final five minutes of its 103-97 overtime victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinal series in FedExForum. The Griz took a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 is Wednesday at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. The Thunder will need better clutch play from Durant if its wants to extend the series. Durant missed all five of his shots in the overtime. Mike Conley led the Griz with 24 points. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph each chipped in 23 points for the Griz, who haven’t lost at home in the postseason. The streak was in jeopardy for most of the night.
• Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: By third quarter's end, Memphis had caught the Thunder, and it was back to the grit-and-grind basketball that has defined this series and at which Memphis excels. Ibaka was superb much of the game; he had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone and found his shooting touch, which had disappeared. Martin was good, too. But Memphis doesn't let any offense look good for long. So at crunch time, expecting to deliver winning offense is dicey. In this same situation two years ago — down 2-1 at Memphis in the West semifinals — the Thunder won an epic three-overtime game. But Durant that night had help from names that now are gone. James Harden, gone to Houston, and Russell Westbrook, gone to injury. This Thunder team, at least against Memphis, can't rely on offensive heroics to win. It must win with defense. And the defense disappeared for too long in Game 4, and now the Thunder season is in serious jeopardy.
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: They were all caught up in the celebration of one of the spare offensive highlights in Monday night’s 88-65 victory over Chicago. There was one notable exception, one guy who stayed stapled to his spot. That guy, Dwyane Wade, is caught in a pain loop. Discomfort is his undeniable, unfortunate reality these days due to the bruised right knee that began bothering him in March, idled him for much of April and continues to trouble him in May. … “I aggravated it,” Wade said. “Just a shooting pain. It hurt, but eventually I was able to come back, re-tape my knee and try to finish.” Yes, he did return, making three of his final five shots to finish with six points — including a dunk on a pass that was reminiscent of one James gave him in Game 4 in Indiana last year to get him going. Going forward, it’s clear that his issue isn’t going away without a full offseason of rest and rehab. Yes, going forward. … So it’s no longer a question of whether the Heat can win a championship without Wade at his best, as I believe they can. It’s a question of whether they will. … So would it help to skip Game 5 against Chicago, as he skipped Game 4 against Milwaukee? “Nah,” Wade said. “Just some days are better than others. In certain games, I might do a move and the shooting pain might come up. This was the first time y’all seen it. Other times I’ve been able to not show y’all.”
• Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune: If the Bulls don't stun the Heat in Game 5 in Miami, this will almost certainly go down as Richard Hamilton's final home game at the United Center. (At 35 with back issues, he'll have his $1 million option bought out by the Bulls.) The same fate figures to await Nate Robinson, who will be an unrestricted free agent and likely has priced himself out of the Bulls' plans. Robinson reached the highest of highs in Game 4 of the Nets series, scoring 23 points in the fourth quarter — one shy of Michael Jordan's club postseason record for a quarter. Contrast that to Monday. After shooting 0-for-6 in the first half, Robinson threw the ball away on a break, missed the rim on a lefty layup and had a runner off the glass go in and out. That left him shaking his head. It was his 12th field-goal attempt of the game — all misses. "When you're trying to shoot shots you make every day, every game and they don't fall, it takes a toll," he said. "And then you don't want to feel like you're hurting the team by shooting even more." Thibodeau pulled Robinson after 32 minutes and four turnovers. It didn't help that he banged his left shoulder in a collision with James.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: Q: You have the life of luxury. You work one day a week during the regular season. But how much do you think about running a team in the front office? Reggie Miller: “All the time. It would have to be the right situation (and), for me, the only situation I know is Indiana. Those competitive juices always flow. During the regular season, not so much because it’s only one day a week. It really picks up come the end of March and April when the playoffs are about to start and we have a lot of games. That’s when my blood starts to boil and I start to sweat a little bit more. I’m in the action because every possession means something. That’s when I think I could possibly do that. Again, it’ll have to be the right situation. We’ll see. I’m not going to broadcast forever. I’ll probably want to do something else in basketball, which will probably be running a team or at least helping run a team.”
• Howard Beck of The New York Times: A victory over the Pacers on Tuesday would tie the series and make it a best-of-three affair, with two of those games at Madison Square Garden. A loss would leave the Knicks in a 3-1 hole, with long odds of recovering. “Tomorrow will tell us a lot about our team,” said Carmelo Anthony, who called Tuesday’s game both a “must win” and a “gut check,” each an apt cliché. The Pacers have yet to lose a home playoff game. The Knicks are 0-3 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse this season and have seemingly forgotten how to score. Only eight N.B.A. teams have won a series after falling behind by 3-1. Team health remains a serious concern. J. R. Smith and Kenyon Martin were left at the team hotel Monday because of illness, with Martin showing some of the same feverish symptoms that sapped Smith of his strength in Game 3. Iman Shumpert was also held out of practice because of soreness in his surgically repaired left knee. … Mike Woodson agreed with Tyson Chandler’s concerns about poor ball movement, saying, “You’ve got to sacrifice the ball for the sake of the team, and good things happen offensively when you do that.” Carmelo Anthony’s 6-for-16 performance from the field Saturday — including an 0-for-3 mark in the fourth quarter — had some commentators suggesting he should shoot more, not less. Woodson waved off the entire discussion. “It’s just not Melo,” he said. “I don’t want this to be a one-man show.” Rather, Woodson said he wants to see a return to the style that had five Knicks averaging double-digit scoring in the regular season.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: The offensive numbers do not paint a pretty picture through four games of the Spurs’ Western Conference semifinal series with Golden State. The Spurs shot 35.5 percent from the floor in Sunday’s overtime loss in Game 4, their second-lowest mark of the season. Factor in 3-pointers (25.9 percent) and free throws (56.0 percent), and it was the Spurs’ worst collective shooting performance since the 11th game of Tim Duncan’s career in 1997. They’re at 42.1 percent for the series, and that’s after shooting a comparatively scorching 50.6 percent in Game 3. And yet, the Spurs remain relatively pleased with their execution. Everything, that is, except their frigid touch. “All in all we played pretty well,” Duncan said of Game 4, in which the Spurs missed 15 of their final 17 attempts. “Shots just didn’t go in for us. We left a bunch of points at the free throw line. Our shooting wasn’t great. But all in all, I don’t think we’re going to change a whole lot.” “Hopefully it’s an aberration to be that bad,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “But you can’t count on that. They go in or they don’t. You count on your defense, your aggressiveness, your physicality. That’s what we’re looking for.”
• Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: The NBA announced its All-Defensive teams on Monday, and no Warrior player received a single vote. “Get in line,” Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said before his team flew from the Bay Area to San Antonio for Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals. “Our executive finished in seventh place. Steph Curry was home during All-Star week. Joe Lacob is probably the No. 7 owner in the league. Harrison Barnes didn’t get any Rookie of the Year votes. He shouldn’t have been the Rookie of the Year, but he should be First-Team All-Rookie. Jarrett Jack wasn’t the Sixth Man of the Year. The only thing they got right was me.” Jackson finished seventh in the Coach of the Year voting, which was announced last week. Meanwhile, his team has made marked strides — doubling last season’s win total and improving their standing in opponent’s field-goal percentage and defensive rebounding by more than 20 spots among the league.

A while back I found that players who play a ton of minutes don't win NBA titles anymore.

It used to happen all the time. Michael Jordan did it constantly. But it has been almost a decade since any player has pulled that off, even though a who's who of MVPs and the like have attempted it.

What interests me is: What happens? Those players who still play huge minutes ... what's happening to them?

I just took a peak at the top 20 players in total minutes played this season.

Now, think about this -- these are the NBA's Iron Men. Not just the ones who some coach theorized could pull off massive minutes. These are the ones who really did. This season.

If coaches are managing minutes correctly, you could expect this group to be among the NBA's least likely to get injured as the season moved into the playoffs. These are, presumably, theoretically, the men who can take it.

Were they?

As a group, they have indeed had it very rough.

I found these 20 players fall into four categories:

Catastrophic injury: Kobe Bryant, David Lee, Luol Deng, Russell Westbrook

This is amazing and scary. A full fifth of the 20 NBA players with the heaviest minutes load this year are either certain not to contribute any more this season, or are unlikely to.

Kobe Bryant, fourth on the NBA's list of minutes played this season, stars in this group with a ruptured Achilles. But he's part of an All-Star cast. Russell Westbrook's knee injury will keep him out for the rest of the playoffs and has dealt the Thunder's title chances a serious blow. He was 17th this season in total minutes played -- but was much higher on the list before some late-season rest.

All-Star Warrior David Lee has been getting back on the court in short stints, but by and large his hip injury has been a defining storyline in these playoffs. He was 12th in minutes played this year.

What would the Bulls, going toe-to-toe against the Heat with a short bench, give to have their typical minutes leader Luol Deng back? But he is out possibly for the rest of the playoffs with complications from a spinal tap, related to an infection. Many would assume that would have nothing to do with heavy minutes. That could be so. But don't forget that exhausted bodies can malfunction in many different ways.

Honorable mention: Derrick Rose is still out after being 24th in minutes per game last season. Over the 38 games before his season-ending injury, Rajon Rondo played 37.4 minutes per game, good for 13th in the NBA this year.

Banged up: Stephen Curry, James Harden, Deron Williams

Stephen Curry's playoff injury saga -- he has been a near scratch for many games -- comes on ankles that played the seventh most minutes in the league this season. And he's playing against the Spurs, the team that has always been so strategic in managing minutes in the regular season, to keep the injury-prone (Manu Ginobili) and aging (Tim Duncan) at their best. Should the Warriors have protected him a bit more to have him firing on all cylinders now? Worth considering for next year?

James Harden was underwhelming in the postseason -- he could barely eat while battling strep throat -- after playing the NBA's sixth-most regular season minutes. Deron Williams battled injuries all season, but still played the 19th most minutes. His Nets lost to the lower-seeded Bulls at home in a Game 7.

Didn't make the playoffs.

Say goodbye to Damian Lillard, who topped the minutes list, as well as DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday, O.J. Mayo, Evan Turner, Kemba Walker and Nicolas Batum.

Dealing with it: Kevin Durant, Paul George, Klay Thompson, LeBron James

Halfway through the second round, a grand total of four of the NBA's top 20 players in minutes played are alive in the playoffs anywhere near firing on all cylinders, health-wise.

That's the same percentage that have had catastrophic injuries.

Hats off as well to Bucks Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings, who made the playoffs intact after finishing in the NBA's top 20 in minutes played.

If Durant looked a little tired missing two free throws late in a Game 3 loss, it might have something to do with having played more regular-season minutes than every NBA player not called Damian Lillard. Indeed, unless the Thunder right the ship and win a chip, this will mark the 10th straight season nobody has both played 3,000 minutes and won a title. Durant is the only candidate remaining.

Youngsters George and Thompson were eighth and ninth in the league in minutes played (but at a hair below 3,000 minutes) and are performing well.

James -- in a season when his coach paid careful attention to managing his minutes -- still finished 16th in total minutes. And he's an interesting test case.

David Thorpe's theory is that the reason the NBA has changed to favor managing minutes is that defense has become a lot more work. Now it's five players moving constantly, while it used to be a lot of isolation basketball, with many players standing around watching as one guy pounded the ball into the post. Watch James at both ends and you'll see what Thorpe is talking about. There's not much standing around these days.

The Heat believe exhaustion due to long minutes is why James' performance tailed off badly in the 2011 Finals, which is something they have been trying to address ever since.

James has played 191 fewer regular-season minutes that he did two years ago. Did Spoelstra get him enough rest this time around? We'll find out in the next few weeks.

• Jeff Faraudo of The Oakland Tribune: In a game where neither team shot even 40 percent, Warriors coach Mark Jackson pointed to a player who scored just five points as "a game-changer." Center Andrew Bogut, limited by first-half foul trouble, delivered the defense and rebounding Sunday that helped rally Golden State to a 97-87 overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs, knotting their Western Conference semifinal series at 2-2. Bogut grabbed 18 rebounds, becoming the first Warriors player in 40 seasons to reach that total twice in the same postseason. He is the franchise's first player to corral double-digit rebounds in five straight playoff games in 24 years. "He's a game-changer because of his presence in the paint and his high IQ for the game of basketball," Jackson said. Bogut never has found his offensive rhythm this season while recovering from ankle surgery last spring. "My primary role is to plug that paint up and grab all those rebounds and provide energy plays," he said. "That's kind of been what I've concentrated on in the playoffs." The 7-footer from Melbourne, Australia, played just 5 minutes, 41 seconds in the first half before collecting his third personal foul -- and a technical -- and taking a seat on the bench. "He's a great defender, he's a great rebounder, he's a great rim protector. We were missing him," Jackson said. "But he's played lights out, and he certainly has elevated his game in the postseason." Bogut's role in helping the Warriors prevail in a game where there were few easy points was critical. Facing the specter of a 3-1 series hole heading to San Antonio, Bogut and his teammates utilized defense to win an ugly one.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: Warriors point guard Stephen Curry required a pain-killing shot on his injured left ankle to play Sunday. Even at less than his best, Curry still had a massive impact with 22 points and five 3-pointers. He had 16 after halftime, including a driving three-point play that capped a 9-0 run to start overtime and finished the Spurs off for good. Almost as important as his scoring was the extreme attention he continued to draw, clearing up space for Jarrett Jack (24 points) and Harrison Barnes (26 points) to operate. “Watching him warm up, I said there was no way this kid is playing,” Jack said. “The performance he put on down the stretch … I was honestly in awe.” The Spurs finished third in the NBA in free-throw shooting this season at 79.1 percent, a major improvement on what has long been a team weakness. That touch inexplicably vanished Sunday, as they missed 11 of 25 attempts, a crucial shortcoming in a game that went down to the final play of regulation. “It’s uncharacteristic,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “I don’t know why.” The Warriors, in comparison, made 20 of 25. The Spurs never really played well at any point. But they were at least five minutes away from taking a 3-1 series lead as they led by eight points down the stretch. They unraveled not long after, missing 15 of their final 17 shots as the Warriors closed on a 25-7 run. It was strikingly similar to what happened to the Warriors in Game 1, who lost in double-overtime after blowing a 16-point lead with four minutes left. “We had them where we wanted,” Manu Ginobili said, “and we blew it. It kind of hurts. We had a great opportunity.”
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Tony Allen was at a Super Bowl party, sitting at Mike Conley’s house supposedly to take his mind off hoops and enjoy the biggest game on the NFL calendar. But Allen kept talking NBA. The playoffs. Team pairings. Player matchups. You name it. Allen, the Grizzlies’ defensive-minded guard and most vocal player, spoke about his postseason bracket in early February. So now the Grizzlies host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night for Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series in FedExForum. And guess what? Allen predicted that this day and several dates with Thunder scoring machine Kevin Durant would come. “Whether he’s guarding (Durant) or not, Tony’s talking about it,” reserve forward Quincy Pondexter said. “He’s been excited about this, I know since we were watching the Super Bowl together. He honestly was talking about it then.” If Durant couldn’t tell by Allen’s doggedness on defense since the end of Game 2, then this should serve as a public-service announcement: Allen is taking his assignment on Durant and this series with the Thunder very personally. “This is the monkey on our back,” Allen said Sunday following Griz practice. “We’ve got to get these guys off our back.”
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Kevin Durant is doing it all. He's averaging 32 points, 12.3 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.7 steals and one blocked shot in the first three games of this semifinal series against Memphis. He's shooting 50 percent and playing 44 minutes per game. He's playing point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and defending the Grizzlies' center. … And yet he finds himself in the unenviable position of having to do more. That's the burden Durant now carries as a star without a sidekick. But even while doing it all, Durant is determined to do more. His team is in a 2-1 hole to the Grizzlies largely because his teammates have struggled to do their fair share. Durant, though, isn't pointing the finger. Instead, he's looking himself in the mirror. “I can do a lot more,” Durant said Sunday. “It's always things you can do more. I talk to one of my good friends and he said no matter how good you're playing you always can do more. That's how I look at it. I just got to find ways to help them out and put them in great positions and continue to just be a vocal leader, a positive leader on the bench and every single time down the court and we'll be fine.” Durant is leading the Thunder in points, rebounds, assists and steals this postseason. Point guards Reggie Jackson and Derek Fisher are the only other Thunder players shooting at least 45 percent against the Grizzlies. No other player is above 38 percent.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: It would be easy to say the Indiana Pacers are simply doing their jobs by winning at home. The Pacers are 4-0 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse during the playoffs. But it’s not that simple. The Pacers used their stingy defense to thwart Atlanta in the first round, and they’ve done the same thing twice to take a 2-1 lead over New York in the current series. Much of the national talk is centering on the Knicks’ problems. At some point, the Pacers deserve some credit. The Pacers would put themselves in a great position to advance to the Eastern Conference finals with a victory in Game 4 at the fieldhouse on Tuesday. “We have to come out and expect their best effort,” swingman Paul George said. “We got Game 1 and they came out with great effort in Game 2. We got Game 3 and we should expect them to come out with the same great effort in Game 4 as they had in Game 2.” The Knicks responded to their Game 1 loss by beating the Pacers by 26 points in Game 2. Here are five areas that are key to the Pacers’ success the rest of the series. 1. Keep the score low 2. Offensive Hibbert 3. Make sure George defends 'Melo 4. Be ready for anything from N.Y. 5. Rebounding dominance
• Neil Best of Newsday: In what has become an intriguing series for Xs and Os hoops geeks, it now is the Knicks coach's turn to try to solve his way out of trouble before it is too late. And he had better do it before the locker room frays, because that is a distinct possibility. Tyson Chandler has spent the past two days criticizing teammates for too much one-on-one offense and not enough rebounding. Chandler did not name names, but many will interpret his remarks Sunday about failing to share the ball and trying to do too much -- but not "maliciously," heaven forbid -- as being directed at Carmelo Anthony and/or J.R. Smith. Of course, teammates could fairly point out that Chandler has been the series' second-best starting center, by a wide margin behind Roy Hibbert. This could get ugly fast, with Game 4 looming Tuesday and the Pacers having been by far the better team if you subtract the final 1 1/2 quarters of Game 2. Woodson addressed all of this Sunday during a 12-minute session with reporters that mined every crevice of the game plan. He politely fielded every strategic question -- or were they suggestions? -- from using Anthony more on pick-and-roll plays to turning to Steve Novak, Chris Copeland or (gasp) Marcus Camby. Complicating matters is an ongoing Smith illness that kept him out of practice Sunday; he was joined in sick bay by Kenyon Martin. "At this stage of the game, most playoff teams are pretty set; we're kind of jumping around a little bit right now," Woodson said. "But we'll figure it out." There were two troubling aspects of the postmortems after Game 3 as they relate to the coach. One was that players and Woodson agreed the Knicks had failed to execute the game plan, from trapping Hibbert to pushing the pace on offense. "I have got to keep screaming and pushing and guys got to recognize that we got to get the ball moving from side to side," Woodson said. "That's the only way we can play and perhaps get out of this series." Whose fault is the persistent execution problems, the coach or the players? "It's both," Woodson said.
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: It was the type of gotcha moment that Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah couldn't help but exacerbate. There, by the Bulls' basket in the third quarter of Friday's Game 3, Miami Heat centerChris Bosh was chewing out teammate Mario Chalmers for a botched sequence on the previous possession. As Bosh's ire with his point guard increased, so did Noah's clapping. Impending doom? No, just a 104-94 Heat victory that produced a 2-1 lead in this best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series that continues Monday at theUnited Center. "Those," coach Erik Spoelstra said Sunday, "are called, 'Miami Heat huddles,' 'Miami Heat exchanges,' 'Miami Heat dialogue.' I get much more concerned when our dialogue is not passionate." Oh, it was plenty passionate. But it also was between teammates who shared misery during the 2011 NBA Finals and joy during the 2012 Finals. "That was a healthy conversation that was very demonstrative and animated," Spoelstra said. "But it was very specific and detailed to our spacing. I actually very much like that dialogue." The dialogue was followed up by a 34-point Heat fourth quarter. "We had a specific game plan that we talked about," Bosh explained. "I made a play and he didn't follow that game plan. I was going to be in a specific place and he thought I was going to be in another place. And I had to talk about it. We got over it. We talked about it. And we ironed it out and that was it after that." Typically, LeBron James or Dwyane Wade are the ones admonishing Chalmers. But Bosh thought it was a moment that required immediate attention.
• Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times: I don’t think I’ve seen more anger directed at a member of the Chicago sports community than I have at Derrick Rose. Not at Tank Johnson, Jay Cutler, Carlos Marmol or Adam Dunn. Not at LaTroy Hawkins, Milton Bradley, Bill Wirtz or Jerry Reinsdorf. And in the non-sports category, not even at Cubs fan Rod Blagojevich. If you want to pick a topic that will elicit outrage in people, choose Rose over the daily slaughter on our streets. Silly, isn’t it? All this hatred toward a basketball player for the sin of doing the wise thing. All this for doing what’s in the best interest of the Bulls’ future. All this for protecting the most valuable knee in town. I’ve received e-mails, and the city’s newspapers have received letters to the editor, all saying the same thing: Trade him. Trade that no-good so-and-so. Establish a franchise in Fargo, N.D., and trade him there. Really? Trade Rose because he doesn’t feel ready to test his surgically repaired knee in a game? Fine. Here are two No. 1 picks and a starter for Rose. Happy? Or, how about Rose for Kevin Love, straight up? Wouldn’t life be so much better? You wouldn’t have that former NBA most valuable player to kick around anymore. No more having to put up with a unique point guard who drives the lane without fear. No more having to listen to teammates gush about a future Hall of Famer. No more 25 points and eight assists a night. I’m serious. How many of you want to see him gone? Judging from what I’ve heard from people around the city, the number is not insignificant. … If Rose doesn’t get traded, I expect all of you outraged people never to cheer for him again. That will prove difficult when he leads the Bulls to an NBA title, though.

• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: Coach Frank Vogel said George was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Hibbert bluntly said before Game 2 against the Knicks that he feels like he’s the best defensive center in the league. The voters thought otherwise. George and Hibbert finished eighth and 10th, respectively, in the voting done by the media. But they’ve earned the respect of opponents. Hibbert has mastered going straight up to block shots, or at least alter them, without fouling. He has blocked nine shots through the first two games against the Knicks while frustrating Anthony and J.R. Smith on their drives to the basket. … George, the team’s iron man when it comes to minutes (averaging 40.1 per game in the postseason), has been responsible for chasing the league’s elite wing players all season. Anthony and Smith were a combined 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) from the field when George defended them in Game 1, according to ESPN. Vogel said George wasn’t defending Anthony during his scoring burst in the fourth quarter (11 of his 32 points) of the Knicks’ blowout victory in Game 2. The Knicks did a good job screening George, causing the Pacers to switch defensively to give Anthony the offensive advantage. George said Thursday that he must do a better job of fighting around screens.
• Barbara Barker of Newsday: Iman Shumpert knows how to make a statement. Take his hair, which he wears in an edgy, high-top fade that adds several look-at-me inches to his 6-5 frame. Take his fashion sense -- oversized glasses, oversized bow tie, large colored shoes -- which is sort of a unique combination of geek-chic and circus clown. Shumpert obviously isn't afraid of drawing attention to himself, so perhaps it's only appropriate that he produced the statement dunk of the Knicks-Pacers playoff series. You've surely seen the replay by now: Shumpert flying through the lane, reaching way back with his right arm to grab a rebound off Chris Copeland's missed shot and finishing with a screaming slam. Shumpert himself admits to viewing it repeatedly in the first 24 hours after the Knicks' 105-79 win in Game 2 Tuesday. It was the No. 1 play on "SportsCenter" that night. … The second-year swingman has recovered fully from the ACL surgery that sidelined him until Jan 17. When Shumpert returned, he often looked tentative, as if he didn't quite trust his knee. In the playoffs, however, he's emerged as an all- around player. Not only has Shumpert played top-notch defense, but he has turned up the offense when the Knicks need it most. Nowhere was that more evident than in Game 6 of the first round when he ended a 20-0 Celtics' run in the fourth quarter with a steal and fast-break basket. … Shumpert hurt his knee in the first round of the playoffs last season, on the same day that Bulls star Derrick Rose suffered the same injury. Much has been made about the fact that Shumpert seems to have fully recovered while Rose continues to sit. Shumpert, however, is not comfortable drawing parallels. Instead, he's too busy thinking about making his next statement, both on the court and off. Said Shumpert: "I want to just keep being aggressive."
• Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald: How do teams on the losing end of blowouts typically respond in the playoffs? According to Elias, 18 teams have lost a nonelimination playoff game by 37 points or more. Those teams are 7-11 in the next game. Paramount for the Heat on Friday is maintaining the same maniacal defensive intensity and not playing passively on offense. In Game 2, the Heat amassed the most lopsided advantage in paint points (56-18) of any team in the past 17 NBA postseasons. Some of those punctuated fast breaks, but also consider this: The Heat had 33 drives to the basket on half-court plays and shot 68 percent on those shots, according to ESPN. Only five times during the regular season did Miami score more paint points than it did Wednesday. The Heat shot 28 for 34 in the paint — remarkable productivity against a Bulls defense that excels at obstructing opponents’ forays to the basket. And it also helped that the Heat made 9 of 18 three-pointers after missing 17 of 24 in Game 1. The Heat scored more points on corner three-pointers than any team since 1996-97, but the Bulls were holding the Heat to 37 percent shooting on those attempts this season heading into Game 2. On Wednesday, the Heat shot nine of those corner threes and made five. This is encouraging, too: Even in the streak-busting March loss in Chicago, the Heat played aggressively, outscoring Chicago 54-40 in the paint and shooting 48 percent, with James leading the way with 32. But the Heat that night had no answer for Luol Deng, who scored 28 but is doubtful for Game 3.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: As of Thursday afternoon, coach Tom Thibodeau said the Bulls hadn't heard from the league office regarding possible fines or — less likely — suspensions for Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah. But make no mistake: The league is reviewing both players' ejections by official Scott Foster, which happened early in the fourth quarter of the Bulls' Game 2 blowout loss to the Heat. "I didn't really have an issue with him," Gibson said late Wednesday in Miami. "I just was trying to talk to him and get insight on the play. It kind of went the other way. I shouldn't have lost my cool." If disciplinary action is meted out, it must occur before tipoff of Game 3 on Friday night. The league also could be reviewing Mario Chalmers' neck grab on Noah, which drew a technical foul. "Playoff games are emotional. They're physical," Thibodeau said. "(Miami is) saying a lot of things too." The fact Noah left the bench area while drawing his second technical and ejection is immaterial since that automatic, one-game suspension applies only to fights. Gibson took more time to leave after his ejection and shouted profanity at Foster before getting escorted into the locker room by team security guard Eric Buck. "We had some calls that didn't go our way," Thibodeau said. "We can handle it better."
• Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: He looked like Russell Westbrook. He sounded like Russell Westbrook. But I'm not convinced. Too much smiling. Too much introspection. Too much charm. Westbrook sat down Thursday morning for a 17-minute interview with the Thunder press corps, his first public comments since the knee injury two weeks ago that required season-ending surgery. And Westbrook could not have been more engaging. The guy who never met a chip he couldn't strap to his shoulder went all Dale Carnegie. Westbrook was pleasant. Even insightful. … Maybe with no season to play, no games in which to become a destructive force for the opposition, Westbrook has no motivation to be surly. Maybe basketball brings to life Mister Grinch. Maybe the Thunder brass is right. Maybe the guy sitting at the table with a cast on his leg and a smile on his face is the real Russell Westbrook.
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: Following his team's 99-93 victory over the Thunder in Game 2 at Chesapeake Energy Arena, Memphis defensive ace and former Oklahoma State standout Tony Allen once again was bragging about point guard teammate Mike Conley, who finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. “Mike Conley is now one of the top five point guards in the league, whether anybody likes it or not,” said Allen, who had five steals in Tuesday's contest. “I know a lot of people have got their favorites on who they think it should be, but Mike Conley is in that conversation now, being able to do these types of things on the court night in and night out.” Allen's post-game speech actually was a continuation of a pre-game speech he gave about Conley on Sunday morning before Game 1. “He's Top 5. Top 5 now,” Allen said of Conley, his voice rising. “Ever since the All-Star Break, I don't see nobody playing better than him consistently and winning like him.” … Allen was asked about Golden State's Stephen Curry. “He's not a point guard, he a shooting guard,” Allen said. “He's just in a point guard's body.” Allen said the key for Conley's ascent was beating Paul in the first round.
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: Stop with the ball stopping: The Spurs’ default reaction to an uptick in Golden State’s defensive intensity has been a penchant for one-on-one isolation ball. It won’t work. The top assisting team in the NBA during the regular season, the Spurs produced only four assists in the first half of Game 2, a big reason they managed just 43 points. For the Spurs to have any hope of scoring with the red-hot Warriors, they must get back to the superb ball and layer movement that characterized their offense during the best of times. Can’t waste anymore time: There are 48 minutes in a regulation NBA game, but you wouldn’t know it by the way the Spurs have approached each of the first two of the series. They played one good quarter in Game 1 and one good half in Game 2, so at least they are trending in the right direction. If the Spurs can’t put together four solid quarters on the road, matching the Warriors’ energy, they are in trouble in Game 3. Don’t bet on regression: The common refrain among Spurs fans is that the Warriors have been uncommonly hot from the perimeter and will cool off. That’s not a given. Golden State has made 22 of 53 3-pointers in the series, a 41.5 percent clip. That’s not much better than the league-leading 40.3 percent they shot during the regular season. Second-year shooting guard Klay Thompson probably won’t go 8 of 9 again, but as a team this is who the Warriors are.
• Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: It's quantifiable, it's palpable and it's only deniable if you view all things through the prism of David Lee's All-Star reputation. It's a real thing, though: The Warriors are a more dangerous playoff team without Lee than they ever were when he was healthy. OK, let me also point out that Lee was absolutely necessary during the regular season when Andrew Bogut was out or limited and the team's younger players were playing young. The Warriors don't win 47 games without him, his work ethic, his ability to pile up double-digit rebounds and points (the much-publicized "double-double") and his true vocal leadership. But at this advanced stage of Warriors activity -- tied 1-1 with the Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals -- there just isn't much doubt that Lee's torn hip-flexor in Game 1 of the first round hasn't hurt them. It freed the Warriors to be more of who they truly should be, actually. They're faster, more flexible, more aggressive, tougher, more balanced, better on defense and now they're built around a powerful three-piece axis: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Bogut, a straight line of influence, and just ask the San Antonio Spurs how imposing that is.
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: If this Kings drama comes to a logical conclusion next week, with new owners and the promise of a new arena, and with the team's future secured and rubber-stamped by the NBA board of governors, Sacramentans can heave an immense sigh of relief and start rooting hard for the Indiana Pacers. Yep, the Pacers. Hoosiers it is, because in many respects, the Hoosiers are us. Pacers fans – in Indianapolis they refer to themselves as Pacer People – could write the textbook on how stubborn, small-market communities overcome the odds, fight off threats of extinction and relocation, and attract a billionaire owner and partner on an 18,000-seat downtown fieldhouse that is part shrine, part museum. When you walk into Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the first time, you don't know whether to bow or bless yourself. Mostly, you stand and stare, amazed and admiring. Yet not so long ago, the Pacers were grateful to be playing in any local joint that had seats, wooden floors and two rims.
• Dale Kasler, Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee: Miami Heat owner Micky Arison, in a Twitter exchange with a Seattle fan, suggested the committee's 7-0 vote amounted to a referendum on Sacramento, not a rejection of Seattle. The private tweets became public Thursday, less than a week before the NBA board of governors is expected to settle the Kings' situation once and for all. Arison, a member of the committee, said the April 29 vote boiled down to whether Sacramento has "done all it should to keep the team. The answer is yes." … Arison made his Twitter comments a week ago in a series of private "direct messages" to a Seattle fan identified as Danny. A Seattle radio station posted the dialogue on its website Thursday. A source with knowledge of the situation, but not authorized to discuss the matter, confirmed that the tweets were Arison's. … Asked about Seattle's future NBA prospects if the Kings stay put, Arison said the league will consider expansion, but not until "after the next TV negotiations." The NBA's current national TV contracts expire in 2016.

Wayne Winston, who I would identify as a pioneer of adjusted plus/minus and a delightfully plainspoken dude with ties Mark Cuban -- but who is technically the John and Esther Reese Professor of Decision Sciences at Indiana University -- was kind enough to share his playoff ratings.

These are not to be interpreted as MVP rankings. But they are, for your viewing pleasure, a cleverly recorded ranking of who has been on the court when his team has played the best in these playoffs.

The one conclusion Winston takes from this: The Thunder should play Nick Collison as much as possible in place of the plus/minus challenged Kendrick Perkins.

The numbers are per 48 minutes, and adjusted for the other players on the court.

1. Chris Andersen -- plus-29
2. Mike Conley -- plus-24
3. Shane Battier -- plus-23
4. Pablo Prigioni -- plus-23
5. Nate Robinson -- plus-19
6. Stephen Curry -- plus-18
7. Nick Collison -- plus-18
8. Tyson Chandler -- plus-16
9. Klay Thompson -- plus-15
10. Lance Stephenson -- plus-15
11. Kevin Durant -- plus-14
12. LeBron James -- plus-13
13. Dwyane Wade -- plus-13
14. Raymond Felton -- plus-11

• Monte Poole of The Oakland Tribune: For two full days there was a look of self-disgust and acute determination in Klay Thompson's eyes, tugging at the corners of his mouth and, really, masking his entire face. It drifted away Wednesday night, clearing after Thompson delivered a half for the ages and, ultimately, a victory to the Warriors. The second-year guard summoned a huge and redemptive performance, game highs in points (34) and rebounds (14), to push Warriors to a 100-91 win over San Antonio in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals, squaring the series as it shifts to Oracle Arena on Friday. The Warriors faced yet another furious comeback, but this one never reached the game-swiping level as that of Game 1. The Spurs hacked at a 20-point deficit but never got closer than six. The cushion was built on Thompson's assertiveness and deadeye shooting while playing all but 84 seconds of the game. "I feel better now,'' Thompson said while dressing and preparing to walk to the postgame podium. "A lot better, actually.'' … The Spurs now have a problem. They entered Game 1 worried about Curry and couldn't stop him, entered Game 2 worried about Curry and got drilled by Thompson. Where do they go from here? "Klay was unbelievable,'' Popovich said, now serious. "A lot of those shots were tough. Some of them were wide open because of mistakes, but others were difficult shots, either contested or off-balance. He knocked them down. "That's what the playoffs are about.'' The Warriors are learning that. They learned it the hard way in Game 1 and the happy way in Game 2. The temperature of this series just went up.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: Manu Ginobili called it like it was after Monday’s Game 1, allowing that the Spurs hadn’t deserved to win a contest in which they trailed Golden State by 16 with four minutes remaining. The ensuing comeback in double overtime was the first in NBA playoff history under such circumstances. “It’s just one of those games that happens very rarely, like once in a thousand,” he said. (1 in 393, to be exact, but who’s counting?) As such, the Warriors’ victory in Game 2 felt like poetic justice. The Spurs again threatened Golden State late. But this time the Warriors held firm, holding their veteran opponents off after what had been a 20-point lead shrunk to six late in the fourth quarter. And now the series shifts to the snake pit that is Oracle Arena, where the Spurs lost both meetings this season. “This is everything,” Klay Thompson said leading all scorers 34 points. “It changes the whole dynamic of the series. We have the best home court in the NBA. To go back 1-1, give (our fans) a show on Friday, I’m getting jitters already thinking about it.” … In addition to evening the series at 1-1, the victory snapped Golden State’s 30-game losing streak in San Antonio. The Warriors last won here in February 1997, at which point Thompson had just turned 7 and Curry was 9. Curry seemed less impressed with the feat itself than the small detail that, after 16 years, Tim Duncan had finally been forced to drive home a loser against the Warriors.
• Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: But let's be clear: It wasn't the Heat who broke Chicago. The Heat jumped on them in the third quarter. But it was LeBron who took the Heat to that point. With a few minutes left in the half, this was still a four-point game, and LeBron was the only answer Chicago didn't have. He made seven of his first eight shots. He had 19 points at the half, which was the total of the other four starters combined. Another slow start for the Heat? A hangover from Game 1's loss? "We couldn't let last game affect this one,'' LeBron said. Unlike in the first half of Game 1, when he passed to open teammates, LeBron made sure to go hard to the basket right from Monday's start. Two early lay-ups and a dunk showed that. Even when he failed to make the play successfully, LeBron was actively involved. He determined where Chicago's defense went, certainly helped lure Noah into a technical foul — one of nine between the teams — and put their big men in foul trouble. Somewhere in all this, when the Heat saw LeBron being LeBron instead of the reluctant MVP, they transformed back into their championship form instead of the wayward team of Monday night. … By the end of the game, Wade sat with his shoes off. LeBron sat watching like a bystander. And Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was looking to Friday night in Chicago. "We've got to go get ready to go into the lion's den,'' Spoelstra said. The real Heat team goes, too.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Twelve seconds into the Heat's 115-78 victory over the Bulls, Udonis Haslem delivered a foul that sent Nate Robinson back to his college football days and down hard to the AmericanAirlines Arena court. The Bulls knew right after their stunning Game 1 victory that the Heat would produce a more impassioned effort Wednesday night. Nine technical fouls, two ejections and one flagrant foul later, they got their answer. The Bulls lost a game and their composure, suffering the largest margin of defeat in franchise playoff history and having Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson ejected by official Scott Foster in a flurry of technical fouls at the 10-minute, 13-second mark of the fourth quarter. This was no day at South Beach. In fact, about all this one lacked was Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau joining one of the many scrums to latch onto James' leg, a la when mentor Jeff Van Gundy did the same to Alonzo Mourning during a Knicks-Heat series in 1998. Gibson, who didn't leave the court in a timely fashion and continued to shout profanity at Foster, has a small chance of getting suspended for Friday's Game 3 — and certainly will be fined. Noah, who drew his second technical from the bench, entered the court area, which is an automatic suspension when an altercation is occurring. This wasn't an altercation because the Bulls showed little fight all night. "Not being very Zen," Noah said.
• Ron Higgins of The Commercial-Appeal: Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins seemed a tad looser in a brief media session Wednesday at FedExForum than he did two weeks ago in a similar situation. Back then, his team trailed 0-2 in a Western Conference first-round series to the Clippers, after being blown out 112-91 in Game 1 and then losing 93-91 in Game 2 on Chris Paul’s late shot. But on Wednesday with his team 1-1 after the first two games of the West semifinals at Oklahoma City, Hollins actually smiled a couple of times. That’s because his team has mostly controlled the first two games on the road heading back to Saturday’s Game 3 in FedExForum. … On slowing down OKC’s Kevin Durant, who’s averaging 35.5 points, 13 rebounds and 7.5 assists in this series: “We want to (cut off Durant’s supporting cast), but you still can’t let him get 50. We want to make him work and take a lot of shots. We don’t want to put him on the free throw line. It takes a lot of energy to be an offensive player, regardless of what people think, especially when you have the ball in your hand the majority of the time. We want to work him on that end and work him on the defensive end. We want to run and make him play the entire game,”
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: Thunder bigs combined for 17 fouls in Game 2. Nick Collison fouled out in just 15:22 of playing time, while Serge Ibakahad five fouls, Kendrick Perkins four and Hasheem Thabeet two. Meanwhile, Memphis frontcourt playersMarc Gasol and Zach Randolphcombined for six fouls with three each and combined for 39 points and 13 rebounds (six offensive). OKC was outrebounded 43-35. Was there anything Thunder perimeter players could have done to help alleviate foul problems for its frontcourt players? “It starts before they get into foul trouble,” Fisher said. “There were some things I don't think we did well in terms of how we defended the Grizzlies that put our bigs in tough positions. You obviously know coming into this series the frontcourt is going to be the focal point and so I thought we did a poor job tonight of providing support and really making it difficult for the two of those guys to be effective.”
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: (Frank) Vogel let his players down Tuesday. The Pacers, for as bad as they played in the first half, were in a good position to take control of the game and possibly go back to Indianapolis with a 2-0 lead in their series over the Knicks. Vogel thought calling a timeout and taking center Roy Hibbert out of the game was the right call to make. It just happened on this night, it turned out to be the wrong move. All it took was a Jeff Pendergraph sighting for the Knicks to forget about possibly losing Game 2. … On most nights when the NBA doesn’t schedule 115 days in between games, you can understand why Vogel said he didn’t want to play his starters 48 minutes. But Game 3 isn’t until Saturday. Go for the kill. Can imagine the Knicks heading into Bankers Life Fieldhouse down 0-2 in the series? What about the confidence the Pacers would have? Tuesday was the first time that Vogel was really scrutinized for his decision making. That’s pretty good considering he’s been on the job for more than two years. It just happened the wrong time.
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: Carmelo Anthony’s playoff record with the Knicks is now a nothing-to-write-home-about 6-11. Amar’e Stoudemire is 1-7, which includes hurting his back before Game 2 against the Celtics in 2011 while trying do a trick dunk in warm-ups. The following season against the Heat, he took out his frustrations following a Game 2 loss by smashing a glass case used to protect a fire extinguisher and severely cut his left hand. Neither the fans nor Garden chairman James Dolan were thrilled with Stoudemire’s antics, especially since he had to miss Game 3. Now the chiseled, 6-11 power forward with creaky knees is targeting Game 3 at Indiana Saturday night to make his playoff return. And you think Anthony should be feeling pressure? Puh-leeze. … Anthony is the protected one. He is Dolan’s guy, no question about it. That was proven again in the aftermath of Bernard King sending out, via Twitter, fair but critical analysis of Melo’s Game 1 performance. The fallout was King being emasculated. King, a part-time MSG Network analyst, claimed an associate was responsible for the tweets, which were later removed. Think about it this way: Do you think the Garden would have a problem if King tweeted: “Amar’e, you need to rest your body for next season”? I bet if Dolan had a social media account, he’d retweet that. This doesn’t mean that Stoudemire can’t help the Knicks. But if he’s playing 10 to 15 minutes, that means he’s taking playing time from Chandler and Kenyon Martin. Woodson limited Stoudemire to an average of 23.5 minutes in the 29 games. There’s no way Stoudemire, assuming he can play, comes anywhere close to that number in the playoffs. Stoudemire definitely won’t play much with Anthony. He shouldn’t. And if Woodson is still committed to making that duo a winning combination, he should start with next training camp, not Game 3. After all, there’s no pressure in October.