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Ricky Rubio and Derrick Rose both tore their ACL’s this season. Rubio did so March 9 against the Lakers after the Timberwolves entered the day tied with the Rockets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Rose went down with 1:10 remaining in Game 1 of the First Round and the game already in hand for the Bulls.

Which point guard was more valuable to their team’s success this season? Most would probably assume Rose, the reigning MVP, was once again one of the most valuable players in the NBA when he was healthy. But is it possible that Rubio could’ve been a more valuable player than Rose?

RICKY RUBIO
In games Rubio played this season, the Timberwolves were 21-20 and had a chance to make the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Without him, the Timberwolves lost 20 of their final 25 games and finished last place in the Northwest Division.

With Rubio off the court, the Timberwolves were 7.1 points worse per 48 minutes. The Timberwolves offense wasn’t affected as much as their defense was without Rubio. They scored 1.4 more points and allowed 5.7 fewer points per 48 minutes with Rubio on the court.

DERRICK ROSE
Rose missed 27 games during the regular season and the Bulls were 18-9 in those games. They were significantly better at 32-7 with Rose, but they still maintained the top seed in the East without him.

The Bulls were 3.5 points worse per 48 minutes with Rose off the court this season. The Bulls were greatly affected offensively without Rose, but their defense actually improved. They scored 8.2 fewer points and allowed 4.7 more points per 48 minutes with Rose off the court.

SUMMER OLYMPICS
Neither Rubio nor Rose will be able to compete for their respective countries in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Which player’s injury will have a larger effect, Rubio on Spain or Rose on USA?

In the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Rubio averaged 8.1 assists per 40 minutes, the second-highest behind Argentina’s Pablo Prigioni. Spain had to rely heavily on Rubio running the point without Jose Calderon, who injured his leg and didn’t play in Turkey.

Calderon will be an offensive asset, but Spain could be hurt defensively without Rubio. Since Calderon entered the NBA in 2004, nobody has better than his 4.1 assist-to-turnover ratio. This season, the Raptors scored more, shot better and had a much better assist-to-turnover ratio when Calderon was on the court, but their opponents also scored more and shot better while Calderon was out there.

Raul Lopez, Sergio Llull and Juan Carlos Navarro could also contribute for Spain at the point.

Rose led USA in assists per game (3.2) in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Without him, USA’s point guard options are Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook. In the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Paul and Williams didn’t play and Westbrook averaged 18.8 points, 5.4 assists and 5.8 rebounds per 40 minutes. Paul (9.1 APG) and Williams (8.7 APG) both ranked in top five in the NBA this season in assists per game (Calderon was 4th and Rubio was 6th).

• The Thunder are doing a great job of locking up Jason Terry.
• I'm not sure it's possible to look tough when you're in Mickey Mouse ears, but the Pacers make a good effort.
• Tom Sunnergren of Philadunkia has some important advice for Jrue Holiday and the Sixers: "In an admittedly small sample, [Jrue's] shooting 70 percent in this series when Rose isn’t on the floor. In a larger one, he’s scoring 21 ppg in five games against the Bulls this season. Get to the basket, Jrue. Challenge Watson defensively: Derrick Rose only averaged 1.8 personal fouls per 48 minutes in the regular season, his backup committed 4.3. Use that. Most of all, though, the Sixers can’t relax for a minute. The Bulls are wounded, but don’t take them lightly, guys. You’re liable to get your hand bitten."
• Things I didn't know before reading this Mark Murphy feature on two of the unique talents in the NBA: Rajon Rondo introduced Josh Smith to Smith's future wife, and that the two crashed a prom together as high school seniors.
• What happened to Devin Harris? The picture at the top of this post says it all.
• The NBA playoffs are showcasing the guile of the Gasols.
• SI's Zach Lowe looks for ways the Nuggets can turn things around against the Lakers. Solving this issue is going to be a doozy: "The Nuggets have struggled to defend the Bryant/Sessions pick-and-roll, a play that has really flummoxed the league since Sessions arrived as the true dribble-drive threat Blake and Derek Fisher -- also occasional partners on this play -- could never be. They switched a ton in Game 1, leaving poor Lawson to try to defend Bryant. They tried to avoid switching in Game 2, in part by having wing players (Gallinari and Brewer) defend both Sessions and Bryant. Denver was better, but still inconsistent; perimeter defense and over-switching have been an issue for much of the season in Denver, and finding a workable solution to this simple play -- one that doesn’t involve defense-breaking rotations elsewhere -- is going to be hard."
• Is Lamar Odom really ready for a comeback?
• Chris Paul said this about Marc Gasol to the Clipper bench: "I'm going to knock him out." I'm sure the 2011-12 Pacific Division Sportsmanship Award winner was talking about knocking him out of the playoffs.
• A look back at some players who should have been in the All-Star Game.
• Some who hoped Oklahoma City would develop a "system" on offense have voiced frustration. But heed this, from Rob Mahoney: "The Thunder are so tremendously good at utilizing the secondary break -- a stage of semi-transition that has long been good to the Mavericks as well. The only difference: Westbrook, Durant, and Harden all put so much pressure on opposing defenses in the initial transition stage that shooters are subsequently open almost as a default."
• Vince Carter says he can still do a 360 windmill dunk. Dallas would make due with more scoring of any kind.
• One of my favorite things during the postseason: David Thorpe's postseason MVP rankings (Insider). According to Thorpe, the guy at No. 5 "may be the most dangerous offensive force in basketball today." This list always contains a few surprises, including ... Nick Young?!
• Congratulations to Ryan Anderson, the 2012 Most Improved Player. This award may represent an improved public profile more than actually improved play, because a look at the numbers shows there are some far more deserving candidates. Ryan Anderson was really good last year; he just didn't play nearly as much.
• Kevin Durant had a shooting night that was reminiscent of what Dirk Nowitzki did to the Thunder last year.
• The Pistons want Kyle Singler to come back to the Detroit. But it sounds like he's having a jolly time living and playing in Spain. Can't say I blame him.
• Tacking on a couple Kobe-related points to Henry Abbott's post on why the Lakers should give Andrew Bynum more late-game touches.

• LeBron James says he has not imagined himself as a Knick.
• A staggering percentage of the nation's young seven-foot men are in the NBA.
• A lot of how the NBA deals with misbehavior is along the lines of how schools do the same thing. Suspensions, for instance, are the main tool of both. Here's a case, from a school in Washington, suggesting suspensions don't work well at all, and a much better approach is heavy with patience and compassion.
• Kind of related: Our intelligence is not fixed, but changes, and believing that evidently makes it more so.
• Zach Lowe of SI.com: "Through two games, it’s clear Miami is reinvigorated on offense. Good news for the league: It has only been two games against an overmatched Knicks team whose best defender suffered a poorly timed case of the flu and whose second-best defender is out for the season with a torn ACL. Still, the early results are encouraging: Miami is leaning on some basic actions in which its star players work together on and off the ball, rather than having everyone stand around while James or Wade runs a high pick-and-roll."
• The video suggests Nick Collison can guard Dirk Nowitzki far better than Kendrick Perkins, but that's not how Scott Brooks sees it, evidently.
• You think the game is dangerous? Check out the timeouts.
• The last time the Knicks won a playoff game gas was $1.70 a gallon.
• Front-row Grizzlies fan vs. common decency and Marc Gasol.
• John Hollinger (Insider): "Here's an amazing stat: Derrick Favors has played 47 minutes in this series and is a plus-6. The other 49 minutes the Jazz are minus-52."
• Rajon Rondo is teasing an R&B album in which he's performing with an unnamed "female Drake."
• No Pacers have been hurt punching fire extinguishers, and that's not coincidence.
• Accepting the award for Defensive Player of the Year, Tyson Chandler thanks his teammates for making him look like a great defender. He also says that he thinks Tony Allen is the best on-ball defender in the league, with a nod to LeBron James.
• Former Sonics employee Jeremy Ripanich, on Deadspin, with an inside view of the Sonics' departure from Seattle: "Either [Clay] Bennett is an idiot who married into his fortune and lucked into the team, or he's a canny businessman who played the game shrewdly and won. I have to think he's the latter. I need only look at the organization he's put together to know he's running the club better than Schultz -- the media-ordained genius -- ever did. It was Bennett who brought in the architect of the club, Sam Presti, based on their mutual connections with the San Antonio Spurs. It was Bennett who allowed Presti to build slowly around Durant instead of demanding wins immediately. Sure, there was plenty of bad faith on Bennett's part during the sale, but at this point it's silly to expect anything else from a sports owner. Caveat emptor applies to us as much as it does to owners. They are running revenue-maximizing operations, and a fanbase is of use to them only to the extent that it makes them money. All we can hope for is that an owner cares enough about his product to give us something worth watching every year. By all evidence Clay Bennett cares about his product. Howard Schultz never did. Maybe that's the ultimate deception in the Sonics' story: A lot of us had the wrong villain all along."
• Ricky Rubio, from a chair, practicing his shooting touch.

The bloggers of the TrueHoop Network have voted:

Most Valuable Player

Player, points (first votes-second votes-third votes-fourth votes-fifth votes)

1. LeBron James, 460 (46-0-0-0-0)
2. Kevin Durant, 272 (0-23-21-2-0)
3. Chris Paul, 259 (0-23-17-4-1)
4. Kevin Love, 85 (0-0-3-18-16)
5. Tony Parker, 64 (0-0-3-12-13)

Others receiving votes: Dwight Howard, 23 (0-0-2-4-1); Kobe Bryant, 20 (0-0-0-5-5); Dwyane Wade, 5 (0-0-0-0-5); Russell Westbrook, 4 (0-0-0-0-4); Steve Nash, 3 (0-0-0-1-0); Tyson Chandler, 1 (0-0-0-0-1)

Defensive Player of the Year

1. Tyson Chandler, 182 (29-10-2)
2. LeBron James, 69 (3-15-9)
3. Kevin Garnett, 47 (5-5-7)

Others receiving votes: Andre Iguodala, 37 (3-4-10); Tony Allen, 19 (0-4-7); Dwight Howard, 15 (1-2-4); Serge Ibaka , 4 (0-1-1); Kawhi Leonard, 1 (0-0-1)

Rookie of the Year

1. Kyrie Irving, 215 (43-0-0)
2. Ricky Rubio, 72 (0-19-15)
3. Kenneth Faried, 54 (0-14-12)

Others receiving votes: Isaiah Thomas, 35 (0-9-8); Kawhi Leonard, 9 (0-1-6); Iman Shumpert, 1 (0-0-1); Chandler Parsons, 1 (0-0-1)

Sixth Man of the Year

1. James Harden, 210 (42-0-0)
2. Lou Williams, 75 (0-21-12)
3. Taj Gibson, 56 (0-13-17)

Others receiving votes: Thad Young, 12 (0-2-6); Jason Terry, 11 (0-3-2); Al Harrington, 4 (0-1-1); Mike Dunleavy, 4 (0-1-1); George Hill, 4 (0-1-1); Ramon Sessions, 1 (0-0-1); Willie Green, 1 (0-0-1)

Most Improved Player

1. Nikola Pekovic, 136 (18-13-7)
2. Ersan Ilyasova, 77 (9-8-8)
3. Jeremy Lin, 55 (4-9-8)

Others receiving votes: Ryan Anderson, 48 (7-3-4); DeMarcus Cousins, 33 (3-4-6); James Harden, 17 (1-3-3); Danny Green, 7 (0-2-1); Roy Hibbert, 5 (0-1-2); Greg Monroe, 5 (1-0-0); Goran Dragic, 2 (0-0-2); Brandan Wright, 1 (0-0-1); Randy Foye, 1 (0-0-1).

Coach of the Year

1. Gregg Popovich, 177 (30-9-0)
2. Tom Thibodeau, 105 (8-20-5)
3. Ty Corbin, 32 (1-5-12)

Others receiving votes: Frank Vogel, 23 (1-4-6); Monty Williams, 13 (0-0-13); Stan Van Gundy, 5 (0-1-2); Doc Rivers, 4 (0-1-1); Rick Adelman, 1 (0-0-1).

Executive of the Year

1. Neil Olshey, 114 (17-7-8)
2. R.C. Buford, 106 (11-15-6)
3. Larry Bird, 77 (8-9-10)

Others receiving votes: Masai Ujiri, 24 (1-4-7); Kevin O'Connor, 9 (1-1-1); David Kahn, 5 (0-1-2) Mitch Kupchak, 3 (0-0-3); Dell Demps, 1 (0-0-1)

Sportsmanship Award

1. Shane Battier, 248 (11-9-2-5-2-1)
2. Jeremy Lin, 244 (8-6-12-3-1-0)
3. Antawn Jamison, 200 (3-7-7-8-5-0)
4. Luke Ridnour, 198 (6-6-6-4-4)
5. Chris Paul, 96 (2-1-1-2-12-12)
6. Jason Kidd, 94 (0-1-2-8-6-13)

Citizenship Award

1. LeBron James, 3

Also receiving votes: Luke Ridnour; LaMarcus Aldridge; Gerald Henderson; Isaiah Thomas

All-NBA

First team

• Guard: Chris Paul, 133 (26-1-0)
• Guard: Dwyane Wade, 85 (10-9-8)
• Forward: LeBron James, 135 (27-0-0)
• Forward: Kevin Durant, 133 (26-1-0)
• Center: Dwight Howard, 111 (18-6-3)

Second team

• Guard: Russell Westbrook, 80 (6-16-2)
• Guard: Tony Parker, 74 (8-9-7)
• Forward: Kevin Love, 85 (2-25-0)
• Forward: Blake Griffin, 46 (0-13-7)
• Center: Andrew Bynum, 61 (3-13-7)

Third team

• Guard: Kobe Bryant, 66 (2-17-5)
• Guard: Steve Nash, 22 (0-3-13)
• Forward: Kevin Garnett, 21 (0-3-12)
• Forward: Carmelo Anthony, 20 (0-4-8)
• Center: Tyson Chandler, 59 (5-7-13)

Others receiving votes: James Harden, 17 (2-1-4); Dirk Nowitzki, 13 (0-2-7); Rajon Rondo, 11 (0-0-11); Paul Pierce, 7 (0-0-7); LaMarcus Aldridge, 6 (0-1-3); Josh Smith, 5 (0-1-2); Andre Iguodala, 5 (0-1-2); Derrick Rose, 5 (0-1-2); Paul Millsap, 5 (0-1-2); Pau Gasol, 4 (0-0-4); Al Jefferson, 3 (0-0-3); Deron Williams, 2 (0-0-2); Ryan Anderson, 1 (0-0-1)

All-Defensive

First team

• Kevin Garnett, 60 (29-2)
• LeBron James, 60 (29-2)
• Tyson Chandler, 59 (28-3)
• Andre Iguodala, 59 (28-3)
• Tony Allen, 56 (25-6)

Second team

• Dwight Howard, 35 (6-23)
• Avery Bradley, 29 (4-21)
• Serge Ibaka, 16 (3-10)
• Luol Deng, 15 (1-13)
• Taj Gibson, 13 (0-13)

Others receiving votes: Dwyane Wade, 11 (1-9) Rajon Rondo, 11 (0-11) Chris Paul, 10 (0-10) Joakim Noah, 10 (1-8) Ronnie Brewer, 8 (0-8) Josh Smith, 7 (0-7) Thabo Sefolosha, 3 (0-3) Kawhi Leonard, 1 (0-1) Elton Brand, 1 (0-1) Grant Hill, 1 (0-1)

All-Rookie

First team

• Kyrie Irving, 56 (28-0)
• Kenneth Faried, 55 (27-1)
• Ricky Rubio, 54 (26-2)
• Kawhi Leonard, 51 (23-5)
• Isaiah Thomas, 49 (21-7)

Second team

• Iman Shumpert, 33 (7-19)
• Chandler Parsons, 32 (6-20)
• Klay Thompson, 27 (1-25)
• MarShon Brooks, 24 (0-24)
• Gustavo Ayon, 21 (1-19)

Others receiving votes: Derrick Williams, 9 (0-9); Brandon Knight, 7 (0-7); Kemba Walker, 2 (0-2).

• Linda Robertson of The Miami Herald: Miami Heat coach and healer Erik Spoelstra has his players on a late-season “maintenance” program. Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau has also been giving his guys nights off and treating the battered Derrick Rose with caution. But the R&R approach didn’t relegate Thursday’s game to a place holder on the brutally compressed schedule. When the Heat and Bulls meet, there’s always something at stake. The No. 1 seed in the East is still up for grabs. And the Heat’s ability to win at home and even the season series against Chicago at 2-2 certainly counted on the mind games scorecard. Meaningless? It didn’t look that way when James Jones was whistled for a flagrant foul on Joakim Noah, then ejected. Nor when Dwyane Wade was called for a flagrant flooring of Rip Hamilton and the two continued to jaw and shove throughout the game. Nor when LeBron James delivered a hard shoulder screen that decked John Lucas III, prompting players from both teams to assume the usual combative positions for a midcourt brawl. No fight, but the bad blood got boiling. Hard knocks and hard feelings added to the history of this rivalry, which is projected to continue in what would be the dream Eastern Conference title matchup in June.
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: Derrick Rose sat for the 26th time Thursday night. The London Olympics begin in 98 days. If Rose, as expected, makes the U.S. team, might his myriad injuries give him pause? "I really haven't thought about it," Rose said. "But I've said before if I get the opportunity to play in those, it would be a great opportunity. I would have to make the smart decision. But I don't think it would change my mind because if I'm able to play through the playoffs, I should be able to play in the Olympics. "You also have to remember I probably wouldn't play that many minutes because of the great team we would have. Representing your country is a huge honor." The Bulls have no say in whether players play for their national teams. As the face of the host country's team, Luol Deng is preparing to play for Britain with a torn ligament in his left wrist. Joakim Noah will play for France.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: Dwight Howard is expected to undergo back surgery Friday morning in Los Angeles to repair a herniated disk that will effectively end his season and essentially end any remote chance the Magic may have had of winning a championship. But you know what? This is so much better than the alternative; than the reports and rumors that began to catch fire and circulate throughout the sports world on Wednesday night and all day Thursday. It all started on an Orlando TV station and spread into a full-fledged Skip Bayless ESPN debate on Thursday afternoon: Was Dwight Howard quitting on his team? That was essentially the report aired on WKMG Channel 6 when sports director David "Ping" Pingalore — quoting anonymous sources — reported that Howard called Rich DeVos Friday night and told the 86-year-old Magic owner that he will no longer play for head coach Stan Van Gundy. The report intimated that Howard, in protest of Van Gundy, would miss the playoffs even if he is healthy enough to play. In essence, Channel 6 was saying Dwight may have had a sore back, but he was more sore about his coach. No Magic fan wanted to believe it, but in this dysfunctional Dwightmare of a season anything seemed possible. Even the unthinkable: That Dwight Howard, the captain of the Magic, would turn his back — herniated disk and all — on his teammates and fans. Thank God, it turned out to be untrue. Then again, this is journalism in the Internet age. ... In the end, though, this surgery might be the best thing that ever happened to Dwight. Now he can properly rehab his back. But, mostly, he has a chance to rehab his image.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "What a game," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "I just thought we just kept hanging in and hanging in and found a way to pull it out at the end. ... It was a gut-check game and we did everything we could to just hang in there and find a way to pull it out." The Suns (33-30) moved back into an eighth-place tie with the Utah Jazz for the final playoff spot with three games left for each team to play. Houston fell a game back of both with its sixth consecutive loss, putting the Suns in a situation to clinch a playoff spot if they can win at home Saturday against Denver and at Utah on Tuesday. If Utah wins its final three games at home against Orlando, Phoenix and Portland, it would make the playoffs. A playoff bid is going to require playoff intensity, and the Suns captured that in the third quarter with their venom aimed at Clippers forward Blake Griffin. It started with Jared Dudley getting tangled with him on a foul and not backing down in the aftermath. In the fourth quarter, Griffin was going for a breakaway "SportsCenter"-bound dunk when Suns center Robin Lopez ran him down and braced his left hand on Griffin's back and swiped across his head and throat with his right arm. Lopez was ejected for a Flagrant Foul2 on the play with 6:14 to go, but Clippers guard Mo Williams also received a technical foul for running up on Lopez.
• Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: The Clippers entered Thursday night's game against the Phoenix Suns with a five-game winning streak and having won 13 of 15 games, but when names have been mentioned for NBA coach-of-the-year candidates, Coach Vinny Del Negro's name is never among them. Del Negro was asked about his thoughts on that, on whether he even weighs something like that. He downplayed it, agreeing that San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, Boston's Doc Rivers, Indiana's Frank Vogel and Chicago's Tom Thibodeau should be the leading candidates. "Those guys deserve all that," Del Negro said. The media agreed with Del Negro, but his team has been playing really good basketball as of late.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The Indiana Pacers began the season simply wanting to move up a spot or two in the Eastern Conference standings after getting a brief taste of the playoffs last season. They've accomplished that and much more. The latest turn in the Pacers' best season in eight years happened Thursday when they secured home court in the first round of the NBA playoffs by beating the Milwaukee Bucks 118-109 in a testy game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. "It's tremendous the step that we've taken in one season," Pacers forward Danny Granger said. "How we've had a complete turnaround. Now we're one of the best teams in the NBA. It's really fun to win like this." The Pacers (41-22) will finish as the third or fifth seed. They would host Games 1 and 2 as the fifth seed because they'll finish with a better record than Boston, which is currently the fourth seed. The playoffs open the weekend of April 28.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: Everything started spinning out of control in the fourth quarter Thursday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Milwaukee Bucks forward Larry Sanders picked up two technical fouls in a 20-second span, fouled out and was ejected, nearly setting off a melee between the Bucks and Indiana Pacers. And the Pacers continued to send Bucks guard Mike Dunleavy Jr., a former Indiana player, crashing to the floor with hard fouls. This time it was Leandro Barbosa picking up a flagrant-1 foul for hitting Dunleavy on a Bucks fast break. In the midst of all the chaos, the Pacers prevailed, 118-109, to win their seventh straight game and nearly end to the Bucks' playoff hopes. Milwaukee (29-33) lost for the fifth time in its last six games to fall three games behind eighth-place Philadelphia (32-30) with four games to play in the chase for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The 76ers' magic number to clinch a berth dropped to two - any combination of Bucks losses and 76ers victories totaling two will eliminate Milwaukee. "We're on the outside looking in," Dunleavy said. "We've got to do something extraordinary right now."
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: With an expiring contract and no guarantee from the Hornets on a possible extension, forward Carl Landry may have played his final home game Thursday night at the New Orleans Arena. With two picks already assured to be among the top 14 in June’s NBA draft, it’s not certain what direction the Hornets may go with their rebuilding plans now that Tom Benson owns the franchise. But Coach Monty Williams indicated Thursday night that changes are likely ahead for their roster. “It could be some surprises, and I’ll just leave it at that,’’ Williams said. “We’ve been evaluating older guys, even when they’re not on the floor.’’ Like Landry, shooting guard Marco Belinelli’s current deal expires after this season. Center Chris Kaman, who was acquired in the December trade that sent Chris Paul going to the Clippers, is in the final year of his contract. Although the Hornets listened to trade offers for Kaman before the February trade deadline, Hornets General Manager Dell Demps didn’t trade him. Now Kaman will become an unrestricted free agent. ... Landry said he would like to return to the Hornets, but said he didn’t know if they will pursue re-signing him. “You just never know,’’ said Landry, who scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Rockets. “You hear one thing one day, and something (else) the next. You’ve just got to play every game like it’s your last. That’s all you can do, especially in a contract situation like myself. You can’t worry about if you are going to be here tomorrow.’’
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle Just as their season spiraled down the drain from the heights of a four-game road trip sweep to a late-season fold, the Rockets went from a 13-point lead to a 105-99 overtime loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday, filling the night with missed free throws, a bungled offense and a broken defense. The loss sent the losing streak to a season-long six games and all but ended the hopes for a return to the playoffs, the goal Kevin McHale had declared as a plan on the day he was introduced as Rockets coach. “It snowballed,” Rockets forward Luis Scola said. “With every game we lost, the ball was bigger and the rim was smaller. Tonight, we missed shots we never miss. I don’t find a valid excuse, and also I don’t have valid answers.” The Rockets knew only that with their season on the line, they shrunk. The latest loss did not eliminate them mathematically. It did capture where their season went so wrong so quickly.
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: The biggest smile in the Timberwolves' locker room Thursday night, April 19, belonged to Wayne Ellington. It took Ellington nearly three full seasons to experience the joy of winning an NBA game in April. Even more satisfying for Ellington was that the Wolves' 91-80 victory over Detroit at The Palace reminded him of a special flashback. "The last time I won a game in April was in 2009, when I won a national championship in Detroit with North Carolina," Ellington said after the Wolves snapped an 11-game losing streak and won their first game in April since a 105-97 victory at Golden State on April 8, 2009. "Unbelievable." The Wolves (26-38) had lost 27 consecutive games in April, a statistic that was picking up steam around the league and giving the Wolves more unflattering publicity.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: Pistons coach Lawrence Frank gets downright indignant when anyone mentions "tanking" about his team that's destined for a third straight season without a playoff appearance. But after a 91-80 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had lost 11 straight entering Thursday night, fans might be thinking, "Yeah, right." But the schedule might have had something to do with this one since the Pistons were playing their third game in three nights and sixth game in eight nights while the Timberwolves were off Wednesday night. Will Bynum, who tried to lead a comeback by scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter, confirmed that the team was tired, but added: "We ain't had no legs all season. You can't complain about that now."

• If the MVP debate is about individual production, the conversation is already over. That's PER, which has various relevant shortcomings: It doesn't really account for wins or defense. If it's LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant, though, James wins the defensive battle, and wins will be equal or close.
• The CEO of the Sixers is asking people on Twitter to tell him which players to keep, and which ones to trade. Point that is far too wide-ranging for bullets: No business would do that for a key executive, right? Indeed, I doubt it would be seen as acceptable for the Sixers to welcome public negative feedback of the general manager, coach or, indeed CEO. So, what makes it OK to talk that way about players? (By the way, this is right out of the Drew Carey playbook.)
• Steve Nash says he has earned the right to really dig into free agency. He made positive noises about the coach, fans and his teammates in Phoenix. (Missing from that list, possibly innocently: Front office.) But he also left the door wide open to leaving, talking about titles and the like. I'm sure everybody who was so bitter at LeBron James' decision to leave in the name of winning will react identically should Nash leave.
• Rockets are scrapping like crazy to squeak into the playoffs, and because of the the way the draft works, their most ardent fans can't even decide if they want the team to make the cut. This is messed up.
• The NBA is getting pretty serious about having logos on jerseys. There have been mock-ups of uniforms presented to owners. There is a national deal for the D-League in this year's playoffs. There is also acceptance that a lot of fans will think it's insane. What I'd say is that fans of sports that already have this seem far less bothered by it. Might be one of those things, like say, rain, that is worse in concept than in reality. For the record, to me it's just a question of price. If they can raise crazy money, by all means.
• Russell Westbrook was shooting really well this season, but recently he is back to his old percentages. Which is the real Westbrook? Super dramatic end to this bullet: A title could hang in the balance.
• Derrick Rose, who hurt his ankle against the Pistons, tells the Sun-Times he is trying not to think about injuries: "If you put things into the universe they come true. I'm just trying to stay focused, stay happy, stay positive, keeping my spirits up. Hopefully, I'll be healthy in the playoffs."
• Interesting times for those intent on bringing a team back to Seattle.
• Talk of Larry Brown coaching at SMU, where I know for a fact they have nice practice courts. Pretty sure I left my wireless card there during the NBA Finals in June. in fact. Larry, if you see it, would be great to have it back.
• Honestly, this is a delightful sports moment. Jordan Hill, on the Lakers bench, can't contain himself from clapping for Tony Parker's deadly crossover, against his own team. The best part is after a few claps he quickly realizes what happened, and tucked his hands away, all innocent. Somebody somewhere will get all bent out of shape about this, talking about And-One culture, team identity and the importance of winning. I hear all that. But if you don't appreciate a nice move, what's the point of watching hoops?
• A fine line between global domination and world peace.
• Mavericks offense is "in shambles."
• On Twitter I asked people for their thoughts about the news that a lot of athletes smoke marijuana. Check responses to @TrueHoop when you read this. By my count it's about 30 people saying, in various ways, that they don't care at all. Don't think there's one sincere response from anybody upset.
• Which West teams are most scared of other West teams? Grizzlies are scary, especially to Spurs, I'd think. Who wants the Lakers? Nobody ... Lakers would have a lot at stake, reputation-wise, if they faced the Clippers. I'm thinking the Nuggets could be very tough, too.
• Just in time for the playoffs: The Clippers can play defense.
• Wow. Kevin Love doing some crazy workout stuff.

• Al Iannazzone of Newsday: Carmelo Anthony continued his dominant play, registering his first triple-double as a Knick, but he also got the help he needed from his teammates to beat a quality playoff team Tuesday night. Anthony scored 35 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished for 10 assists in the Knicks' 118-110 win over the Celtics at the Garden. But three other Knicks scored at least 20 points, including a career-high 25 by Steve Novak , who was huge in the fourth quarter. Novak drilled back-to-back three-pointers with under three minutes left after the Celtics' trimmed a 21-point deficit to six, helping the Knicks hold off Boston and a 43-point night by Paul Pierce. The Knicks hit 19 threes, and Anthony assisted on both of Novak's big baskets that made it a 10-point game with 2:05 left. "I think Melo now is settling in," coach Mike Woodson said.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: Just a few hours after Ray Allen said he was ready to play in Tuesday night’s showdown with the Knicks, the Celtics guard was a late scratch when his troublesome right ankle swelled up again. Allen has missed the past five games and 16 overall this season with ankle issues, and the late scratch this time surprised coach Doc Rivers, who had begun formulating plays for Allen. Allen participated in shootaround Tuesday and told reporters that he was ready to return. But he returned to his hotel after the workout and felt the same discomfort that has plagued him the past few days. He said he is unsure whether he will play Wednesday night against the Magic at TD Garden. “As far as the movement and mobility . . . it wasn’t to my liking,’’ Allen said before the Celtics’ 118-110 loss to the Knicks. “I couldn’t get the pushing off that I wanted so I’ve got to let it kind of relax a little bit more before I get back out there.’’ For the most part, Allen has been durable during his time with the Celtics, so the past two weeks have been a source of frustration.
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: Tim Duncan swears he has not spent one idle moment considering his future. “That’s something I’ll think about after the season ends,” he said after a recent road game. “For now, I’m not worrying about anything except our next game. I don’t even have an agent.” Indeed, Duncan’s former representative, Lon Babby, had to divest himself of his relationship with his clients when he became general manager of the Suns. Duncan has not replaced Babby just yet, but don’t take that to mean he won’t need one this summer. ... On or about July 1, the Spurs will open talks with Duncan and/or whoever winds up representing him. ... Duncan is realist enough to know a pay cut is coming his way. But the Spurs know they can’t disrespect him as the Rockets once did Olajuwon. Duncan is worth more to the Spurs than to any team with the ability to pay him more than the veteran minimum or mid-level exception. Silver and black are part of Duncan’s basketball DNA. It should not take long to find the right deal.
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: If the Lakers look predictable on offense sometimes with Kobe Bryant, they just showed everyone how predictable they can look without him. The San Antonio Spurs overplayed every Lakers entry pass with complete trust that the Lakers would force the ball inside toward center Andrew Bynum, and the Lakers piled up the turnovers en route to a 112-91 loss Tuesday night. The 21-point margin was the largest in a Lakers loss all season — one point greater than the Lakers' loss in Phoenix in their first game without Bryant. The Spurs were far more motivated than Wednesday night in San Antonio, where they were disengaged without Bryant opposing them and MVP candidate Tony Parker shot 2 for 12 from the field in a Lakers romp. Parker shot 14 for 20 from the field and finished with29 points and 13 assists in 30 minutes in the rematch, with one more game and a possible Bryant return on tap Friday night at AT&T Center. "Not only did we have bad, unforced turnovers, but our floor balance wasn't there, which led to easy points for San Antonio," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "When we play too fast or we try to make a home-run pass ... we can be mistake-prone."
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: A close game. Multiple options from which to choose. Go inside or move the ball to get an open jump shot. The Indiana Pacers lack a superstar who everybody in the building knows will end up with the ball at the end of a close game. That's OK with them. They know opponents can't key on one player. All five Pacers starters scored in the final 3 minutes Tuesday night to hold off the struggling Philadelphia 76ers 102-97 at the Wells Fargo Center. "That's us," Pacers forward Danny Granger said. "We just execute. We play the right way. We make plays for each other. Whoever gets the shot at that particular moment takes it." Team basketball is why the Pacers (40-22) have had their most successful season since 2004. They have a roster full of players who have bought into coach Frank Vogel's system and set aside personal goals.
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: Why would Indiana Pacers President Larry Bird even think about leaving now? That's a question only Bird can answer, and right now, Bird doesn't have any answers. "Honestly, it's not even a debate around my house," he said the other day. "I'll sit down with Herbie (team owner Herb Simon) when it's all done and we'll move from there. Herbie will ask me about it every once in a while, but I don't want to be a distraction. Right now, it's the furthest thing from my mind." It doesn't make sense for Bird to leave now, but, then, it didn't make sense for Bird, as the coach, to walk away after he led the Pacers to the NBA Finals in the 2000 season. ... Here's my plea: Larry, please stay. There have been some mistakes along the way but, by and large, Bird has done a masterful, if understated job moving the Brawling Pacers into this new era. ... So the question will linger: Will he stay or will he go? Nobody seems to know at this point. Least of all Bird himself.
• Tom Moore of phillyBurbs.com: The loss, which was their third in a row, dropped the 31-30 Sixers one game behind the No. 7 Knicks. They are 1 1/2 games ahead of the No. 9 Bucks, who they visit April 25, in the race for the final spot. The Sixers finished 19-14 at home in the lockout-shortened, 66-game season. They lost 11 of their last 17 in South Philadelphia after a 13-3 home start. “It’s crunch time,” said Thaddeus Young, who had 19 points for the Sixers. “We just have to figure out a way to win games like this.” Elton Brand compared the Sixers’ late-game difficulties to a plague. The Sixers end the regular season with five games on the road, starting Wednesday in Cleveland to complete a back-to-back-to-back. The Cavaliers lost to the Pistons 116-77 after trailing by 50 Tuesday, but are expected to have rookie star Kyrie Irving back from a foot injury. Brand said the Sixers are viewing the final five games almost like they’re starting over in a second season. “We’ve got to make a push,” Brand said. “I’m highly optimistic we’ll find a way. We haven’t completed games, but we’ve played well in spurts.” Collins agreed, saying, “We have a great opportunity. If you’ve got a chance, take advantage of it.”
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: Kyrie Irving wants to come back to this? He’s rehabbing his sprained right shoulder to rejoin a depleted and dispirited club that trailed by 50 points after three quarters Tuesday night in The Palace? If the Pistons are routing the Cavaliers, 116-77, what are Spurs and Grizzlies going to do to them on Sunday and Monday? Irving should be pulling a Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack as his tee shot ricochets off the ball cleaner. “Oh, Byron, my arm, my arm,” The Cavaliers didn’t mentally check out of Tuesday’s night’s game. That would imply they had checked in. They got jumped by the Pistons in the opening minutes and never fought back. They trailed 100-50 after three quarters. Alonzo Gee is a decent player, but his absence should not have resulted in this kind of performance. The Cavs were playing their sixth game in eight days, but an opponent should not be shooting 67.9 percent after three quarters. Especially one that entered the game ranked 28th in scoring. “No excuses,” Scott said. The NBA competition committee should remove ping-pong balls for efforts this malodorous. The Pistons dunked at will. Nobody in a white jersey got knocked down or was made to pay a price.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: With that 4-20 start pretty much eliminating any possibility of postseason play, why not tinker sooner? Frank said after Tuesday's morning shoot-around that the team started playing better so he didn't want to mess with the budding chemistry. ... For example, he wants to see Jonas Jerebko at small forward, where he backed up starter Tayshaun Prince and scored 14 points Tuesday. Jerebko, who was drafted as a small forward in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft and played there some during his rookie season, might prefer the position since he is often asked to guard bigger opponents at power forward and at 6-foot-10, he has a size advantage over most small forwards. Jerebko said it was a "mutual agreement" with Frank to give the position a try. "I'm not complaining," Jerebko said. "I love being out on that floor, so it doesn't matter to me. It's just basketball. At the end of day I just want to be on that court, and I really don't care if it's the 3 or 4."
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: A week ago, Michael Beasley delivered a passionate dissertation on how much he wanted to remain with the Timberwolves and how much he "loved the fans, the city and the organization." Before the Wolves' 91-84 loss to Memphis on Tuesday night, April 17, at Target Center, the Wolves' 11th straight loss, Beasley's tone was dramatically different. The Wolves forward felt uncomfortable talking about his future with the team and expressed mild frustration over not getting a contract extension before the Jan. 25 deadline. "My future is so blurry," said Beasley, a restricted free agent after the season. "I don't have too much to say about next year. It's frustrating not knowing your situation next year. So many of my friends are certain where they're going to play next year. They got contract extensions. But that's how the ball drops."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: Marc Gasol posted on his Twitter page that Randolph is back. Hollins admitted that Randolph would have started if Gasol was unable to play. Both sentiments suggest that Randolph is getting closer to rejoining the starting lineup. “Zach gave us big minutes offensively,” Hollins said. Randolph made 8 of 15 shots and grabbed four offensive rebounds. His presence down low is unparalleled, especially given the Timberwolves’ decision to double team Randolph in the second half. “He’s a big part of our success as a team,” guard O.J. Mayo said. “We must not forget that and he must not forget that. We need him mentally and physically to be fit and ready to go.” That’s what he said

NBA teams have been tanking for decades to improve their draft position (and for other reasons), and NBA insiders have talked about tanking for decades -- in fact, over the years the NBA itself has recognized the potential for tanking and dealt with it in various ways, including altering the draft system multiple times to try to prevent it. Meanwhile, as the discourse about tanking has gone public, there have been thousands of articles written about the problem, including by such writers as Sam Smith and Bill Simmons.

HoopIdea has carried forward this discussion as part of our effort to improve the game. As we said on Day 1 of HoopIdea: Basketball is the best game ever. Now let’s make it better.

To make the game the best it can be, we want to make sure that when fans show up or watch on TV, both teams are always trying to win. And the NBA does, too. As Joel Litvin, the NBA’s president for basketball operations, told Howard Beck of The New York Times in 2008: “If we ever found a team was intentionally losing games, we would take the strongest possible action in response.”

Given that, it’s worth noting that tanking has been confessed to dozens of times off the record and a surprising number of times on the record:

2006-07 Boston Celtics
In 2007, with Greg Oden and Kevin Durant as the big lottery prizes, several teams were openly questioned about apparent tanking, including the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies, the three teams that ended up with the best chance of drafting Oden or Durant.

In one notorious game late in the season, the Celtics, playing at home, led the woeful Bobcats 69-51 late in the third quarter -- and managed to lose the game by eight points, enhancing their draft positioning. Of course, Celtics coach Doc Rivers denied tanking charges. As Steve Bulpett reported in the Boston Herald: “Rivers insisted there was nothing sinister about leaving Paul Pierce (game-high 23 points) on the bench for the fourth quarter and letting the quintet of Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Allan Ray and Leon Powe stay on the parquet as the lead -- still at 10 with nine minutes left in the game -- disappeared.”

In the final week of the season, the Celtics and Bucks, both maneuvering for the best possible draft position, played each other and gave DNPs to high scorers Paul Pierce, Al Jefferson, Wally Szczerbiak, Michael Redd and Mo Williams.

After the game, the Associated Press reported:

Ryan Gomes had 13 through three quarters, but watched from the bench in the fourth as Boston clinched the worst record in the Eastern Conference and second worst in the league.

"I probably (would have played), but since we were in the hunt for a high draft pick, of course things are different," Gomes said. "I understand that. Hopefully things get better. Now that we clinched at least having the second-most balls in the lottery, the last three games we'll see what happens. We'll see if we can go out and finish some games."

2002-03 Cleveland Cavaliers
Did the 2002-03 Cavs tank to get LeBron James?

At the time, many assumed they did. John Lucas, who coached the team from 2001 to 2003, admitted somewhat bitterly that he went along with the apparent conspiracy: "They trade all our guys away and we go real young, and the goal was to get LeBron and also to sell the team," Lucas told AOL FanHouse in 2010. "You can't fault the Cavaliers for wanting to get LeBron. It was hard to get free agents to come there."

Lucas pointed out that before the 2002-03 season, Cavs management traded their three leading scorers and received almost nothing of value in return. Of course, Gordon Gund, the Cavs’ owner at the time, denied Lucas’ claims that the Cavs were tanking to get LeBron, the local hero.

Ricky Davis was one of the beneficiaries of the Cavs’ questionable moves -- in 2002-03, after several key teammates had been traded away, he led Cleveland by far in minutes, field goal attempts, scoring, assists and steals.

Yet he, too, told AOL Fanhouse that the Cavs were losing on purpose: "It was tough on [Lucas]. They were forcing him to lose and I know it's nothing he wanted to do. It's just the position he was forced in. But it's tough. ... It worked, whatever they did [to get James] so it's hard to knock them. They got what they wanted. But it was hard on Luke."

2005-06 Phoenix Suns
In 2006, the Phoenix Suns gave the Los Angeles Lakers an easy win late in the regular season to try to assure a matchup with the Lakers in the postseason, according to Jack McCallum in “Seven Seconds or Less.” McCallum was a Sports Illustrated writer who spent the 2005-06 season as an unofficial “assistant coach” for the Suns, and he provided this insight on how the coaching staff manipulated the standings:

The Suns believe that the Lakers' transition defense is close to nonexistent and will provide an open highway for the Nash-led fast break, so this was the matchup they wanted. [Suns coach Mike] D'Antoni couldn't precisely orchestrate it -- not in an eighty-two-game season -- but the coach had benched [Steve] Nash and Raja Bell for that late-season game, all but assuring a Laker win that would help them beat out the Sacramento Kings, who were in eighth place.

The Suns' scheme almost backfired, as the Lakers took a 3-1 lead in the series and nearly closed Phoenix out before the Suns famously rallied to take three straight and advance.

2005-06 Minnesota Timberwolves
The most spectacular tank job in recent memory occurred on April 19, 2006, in a Minnesota-Memphis game that is still a common punch line around the league.

Earlier that month, Chicago Tribune NBA writer Sam Smith had called out the Timberwolves and the league:

The NBA should take a look at this one in the interest of the game's integrity and paying customers. Minnesota needs to have one of the top 10 poorest records to keep its draft pick. Otherwise, it goes to the Clippers from the Sam Cassell-Marko Jaric deal.

In a 103-95 loss to the Jazz at home on Friday, [Kevin] Garnett sat out the fourth quarter after making all of his third-quarter shots. Garnett had 13 rebounds through three quarters, and Minnesota was outrebounded 18-6 in the fourth.

It's reminiscent of the game-throwing days before the draft lottery was started.

In the final game of the season, the Wolves sat Garnett and Ricky Davis, and then turned the game against Memphis into a joke by inserting Mark Madsen and letting him fire away. In six seasons, Madsen had made only one 3-pointer in nine attempts. But in that game he tossed up seven 3-pointers and missed them all -- they were his only 3-point attempts of the season. The Wolves lost the game in double overtime (Madsen started the second overtime with three 3-point bricks in less than a minute) and secured the draft pick.

After the game, Wolves coach Dwane Casey didn’t deny that the team was less than serious about winning the game: "The guys were having fun with it. For what we've been through this season, I thought the guys deserved it. I hope what we did didn't make a mockery of the game."

Was it a victimless crime? By securing a top-10 draft position, the Timberwolves prevented the Clippers from receiving the draft pick that became 2007 Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy (a future three-time All-Star whom the Wolves traded to Portland on draft night). And the Memphis win put the unfortunate Grizzlies (who also might have been motivated to lose the game) into a more difficult playoff bracket -- the Grizzlies started the postseason on the road and were swept by Dallas in the first round rather than having home-court advantage over a struggling Denver Nuggets team (which lost its first-round series to the Clippers).

On the flip side, the draft pick that did not go to the Clippers in 2006 eventually became the pick that allowed L.A. to acquire Chris Paul from New Orleans in 2011 -- and the Timberwolves will not get to use their own lottery pick this season, in part because of that infamous night in 2006.

1996-97 Boston Celtics
One of the most notorious years for tanking was 1997. It’s widely believed that the San Antonio Spurs tanked the season by holding out David Robinson longer than necessary to secure a higher draft pick, which became the most coveted player available, Tim Duncan. In fact, to many, this is one of the most incredibly successful tank jobs in NBA history, in part because the Spurs were already a very good team, and they have won four titles and counting with Duncan leading the way. But to our knowledge, no one involved has admitted that the Spurs were tanking.

The same year, though, the Boston Celtics did indeed tank, according to longtime Celtic M.L. Carr, who coached the team from 1995 to 1997. In 1996-97, the Celtics fell from 33 wins the previous season to 15 wins.

According to Mark Cofman of the Boston Herald, in 2001:

Carr suggested his last season as Celtics coach in 1996-97, during which the team suffered through a franchise-worst 15-67 record, was a tank job designed to deliver the incoming coach (Rick Pitino) with strong draft position. "That was part of the orchestration," said Carr, an obvious indictment of the entire organization and its part in encouraging a losing season in an attempt to get the first overall pick (Tim Duncan). As it turned out, the Celtics lost out on Duncan and settled for the third and sixth overall picks.

Pitino’s tenure as Boston coach would be a great disappointment, and he often lamented that he had taken the job with the expectation that the Celtics would get Duncan.

1983-84 Houston Rockets
Why do we have a draft lottery? Because of what happened in 1984.

In his book “Tip-Off,” a thorough account of the pivotal 1984 NBA draft, Filip Bondy dedicates a chapter to tanking entitled “Embracing Defeat.”

The ’84 draft included Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins and Charles Barkley. Bondy recounts some of the odd behavior of the Houston Rockets, who appeared to be maneuvering for the right to draft Olajuwon, a star at the University of Houston, with Jordan as a nice Plan B. (The right to make the first choice in the draft was decided by coin flip.)

As the Rockets nosedived, everyone noticed.

"Weird things were happening. A lot of funny stuff going on, leaving a dark mark on the integrity of the game," said Pat Williams, then the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers.

According to Dr. Jack Ramsay, then coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, "There was a lot of reason for concern, for suspicion."

As reported by Bondy, it was Frank Layden, the former Utah Jazz coach, who spilled the beans on the Rocket science: "They were losing on purpose. That was told to me by one of their executives, that it was a business decision. And that’s why we went to the lottery system. It’s still going on a little bit today, anyway."

Bondy writes: "The NBA’s image suffered a severe blow that spring from all the suspicious losing. … The league was so concerned about the perceived chicanery that its board of governors instituted a lottery system weeks after the 1984 draft to assure such nonsense would never happen again."

Then again: As we’ve seen above, the lottery does not assure that tanking ended in 1984. Not even close.

Furthermore, these are hardly the only cases in recent NBA history, and HoopIdea will continue to bring tanking to light.

• Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times: Try as Thibodeau might to lower the flame on the burner, Thursday night’s game was everything a game between the best teams in the Eastern Conference is supposed to be — perhaps not aesthetically but at least emotionally. When C.J. Watson hit a three-pointer with 2.2 seconds left to help send the game to overtime, the United Center sounded like a Harley convention stuffed into a three-car garage. The Bulls went on to win 96-86. Sure. Just another game. Watson called it one of the bigger shots of his life, “if not the biggest.’’ “It was a big game on a big stage,’’ he said. “It’s a big win for us.’’ Every coach tries to sell the one-game-at-a-time philosophy, which was around when Aristotle was in the third grade, but nobody was buying Thibs’ stab at level-headedness. We might not have witnessed the greatest basketball Thursday night, but we did witness two teams that knew this was more than another game on another weeknight in the NBA. If it weren’t a big game, Derrick Rose would have been resting whatever it is that ails him. And after watching him struggle all night, that might not have been a bad thing. It wasn’t wrong to take a pass on the fiction the Bulls coach was selling. Thank goodness for that. Thank goodness for two teams taking it to each other as if it were a playoff game. Did it have meaning? It’s silly to think it didn’t.
• David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune: We already knew the Bulls had better reserves. The biggest thing the first game between both teams at full strength proved was that Rose and Rip Hamilton need more time in the same backcourt. More rest only would add another layer of rust — a fact reinforced by Rose's shaky 1 of 13 shooting. More than anything, lingering injury issues have prevented Rose and Hamilton from jelling. To think those medical problems suddenly will disappear once the NBA calendar flips into postseason borders on blind faith. If Bulls officials honestly ranked team concerns as the regular season comes to a close, health might rank ahead of defense and rebounding. Last year the sight of Rose produced chants of "M-V-P!" This year, we think MRI. Rose has yet to play in more than 11 straight. Hamilton's longest consecutive games streak is five. Can the Bulls feel comfortable knowing Rose and Hamilton both will be playing by the Eastern Conference finals? Anybody in the Bulls organization who answers yes has a rabbit's foot in his pocket and a four-leaf clover on his lapel — and is fibbing. If the Bulls are lucky they never will need Watson more than they did Thursday. Healthy, I agree the Bulls will enter the playoffs more equipped than last year to beat the Heat. They improved more. They have more motivation fueled by last year's loss and a better head coach. They likely will enjoy home-court advantage.
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, mauled Thursday by something called the Bench Mob. Here they are, with two weeks and nine games to play, virtually locked into a No. 2 seed, and left with little to accomplish until the regular season mercifully ends. Here we go, following a 96-86 overtime loss, wondering when and how they'll pull it together. And here's the thing about Thursday: it was there for them. That "signature road win" that Erik Spoelstra said Thursday the he sought. The win that eluded the Heat in Los Angeles, against the Lakers and Clippers; in Oklahoma City; in Boston; and earlier, here in Chicago. ... It is what it is. The Heat will not have home court in the Eastern Conference Finals, if its opponent is Chicago. And, yes, while Miami won here twice in the last Eastern Conference Finals, it has not passed any road tests of significance this season. "Guys fought until the end," James said. They did. And they can keep fighting for the next two weeks. But they will not pass Chicago. "It's not perfect," Wade said of their situation. "But that's sports." Thursday, sports hurt. Hurt bad.
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: The San Antonio Spurs were intent on scratching and clawing their way out of a funk. And Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay has the scars to prove it. “One of those games, man,” Gay said after the Grizzlies’ four-game winning streak ended Thursday night with a grueling 107-97 loss to the Spurs in AT&T Center. ... Lionel Hollins said he wished he could take back his decision to make substitutions when the Griz trailed 101-97 with 58.5 seconds left. At that point, Hollins inserted Gilbert Arenas for Conley, Pondexter for Mayo and Cunningham for Gasol. The Spurs had possession but the Griz didn’t need to foul. There was plenty of time on the clock to earn a stop, score and then start fouling with a two-point deficit. But Pondexter didn’t understand the circumstance and immediately fouled Ginobili, who buried two free throws to make it a six-point game. Hollins immediately went back to Mayo, Conley and Gasol as soon as Ginobili went to the foul line.
• Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News: After watching his team humiliated on the boards in a convincing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night, Duncan guaranteed the Spurs would play with more effort against Memphis the following night. Duncan has been around the team long enough to know what he needed to say. But the Spurs’ captain didn’t need to mention anything to his teammates. And with a gritty second-half comeback, they fulfilled Duncan’s promise as they claimed a 107-97 victory over Memphis. “I didn’t tell them anything. I didn’t need to tell them anything about it,” Duncan said. “We can get playing ourselves, we refocus and come back and play better. We always do. It’s just the kind of guys we have.” Duncan provided a huge inspiration with a monster game that might have been the best of the season. Despite facing Marc Gasol, Duncan matched his season-high with 28 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and added two blocked shots. It was the kind of vintage performance that Spurs Nation has seen from Duncan throughout his career. One day, it will guarantee Duncan a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame. And it showed he’s also a pretty good leader, too.
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: "I haven't seen anything like this," Adelman said of the Wolves' injury troubles. "The timing of it is the worst part. When Ricky went down, we were playing well. Then we had to go on the seven-game trip out west. During that time, we lost Pek, Michael, J.J. and Luke. I don't think people really understood how much Ricky meant to our group when we lost him. Luke stepped up for awhile. Then he got hurt." Ridnour, out since April 2 with a sprained ankle, might be in the same situation as Love. Do the Wolves really want to put them back in the lineup with the playoffs officially out of the picture? Before Thursday's game, reserve forward Anthony Tolliver injected a dose of reality when discussing the Wolves' injury problems. Tolliver, who said he exchanged texts with Love on Thursday before Love left Denver, viewed the situation as a final chance to make an impression on the coaching staff and management before the end of the season.
• Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: It was as if Mo Williams had never been out, as if he hadn't missed the last 11 games because of a sprained left big toe. Williams scored 14 points off the bench on six-for-11 shooting, two for four on three-pointers Thursday night in the 95-82 victory over Minnesota. He also had five assists. He had not played a game in three weeks, but Williams was the same player he has been for the Clippers all season. Williams said credit for that goes to Clippers trainer Jasen Powell and his staff. ... With Williams back, Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro now has a deep backcourt. It's a given that Chris Paul and Randy Foye will start. But now Williams wants playing time as the first guard off the bench. Then there is Nick Young, the biggest of all the guards at 6 feet 7, and second-year guard Eric Bledsoe, who has become the energizer and defender for the Clippers. How does Del Negro plan to rotate five guards? "They all better play well," Del Negro said. "Whoever is playing well will be out there. So they better play hard and execute. And it's about winning. We'll make it work somehow." All of the guards played Thursday night.
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: If the Mavericks had been more concerned with stats than a victory, they might have been able to get Jason Kidd his 107th triple double of his career. As it turned out, he finished a point shy, amassing 12 assists, 10 rebounds and nine points. Kidd missed a tough jumper in the final minute and also passed up a possible layup to kill more time off the clock. "At that point, I thought we needed to run clock,'' he said. He was right, of course. And Kidd wasn't upset in the slightest at coming up short of a triple double. His teammates seemed more concerned. "If we'd have known, we would have gotten him one or two more shots,'' Dirk Nowitzki said. ... The Mavericks were reminded just how much they missed Kidd when he was out for four games with a groin injury. "Never underestimate greatness,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "I don't care if that guy's 29, 39 or 49. He's going to do something to help you win.''
• Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: There's also way more than has been reported about the link between Odom and Golden State, and those details have many thinking the disgruntled forward is much more than "on the radar" or a "long shot" for the 2012-13 Warriors. Here's the key: Warriors assistant coach Jerry DeGregorio is as close as anyone to Odom. DeGregorio coached Odom in high school, college and the pros and has been like a father to him since Odom was a 16-year-old prospect from South Jamaica, Queens, N.Y. DeGregorio was the best man in Odom's September 2009 wedding to Khloe Kardashian. ... Warriors head coach Mark Jackson doesn't allow his assistants to speak publicly to print media during the season, but he talked Thursday about Odom. "He's a New York City guy who's had an outstanding career and is a champion," Jackson said. "He's going through something right now, and I don't know what it is. But I'm pulling for him, and I'm looking forward to seeing him back on the court next season." Maybe in a Warriors' uniform.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: I wonder if Corey Maggette has played his last game as a Charlotte Bobcat. Maggette will miss the last 10 games of the season with an injured right Achilles tendon. He leaves as this season’s leading scorer, at 15 points per game. And when you think about all the change likely coming this off-season, I could see Maggette being waived as the Bobcats’ amnesty provision. The Bobcats have the option to waive one player and no longer count his salary against their cap or a potential luxury-tax bill. Maggette makes about $10.9 million next season, the last on his contract. So the Bobcats could drop considerably under the cap by using the amnesty clause on Maggette. ... I’d think twice before waiving Maggette, in that he is still a dependable scorer when healthy on a team that is last in the league in scoring. He doesn’t have a good shooting percentage this season (37 percent) but he still has a knack for getting to the foul line. He’s been more productive this season than Thomas, Diop or Carroll. This could simply come down to which free agents might be willing to sign here over the summer and how much cap space it would take to get those deals done.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: Pistons coach Lawrence Frank twice faced questions about the recent lack of production from center Greg Monroe. The drop-off was highlighted in consecutive blowout losses to the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic this week during which Monroe averaged only seven shots per game. Frank emphasized at Thursday's morning shoot-around and during pregame availability before the Pistons faced the Bobcats that a lot more was going on than the Pistons not calling Monroe's number. He insisted Monroe's big games come in the normal flow of the offense with Monroe making strong cuts and attacking the offensive glass. Whatever the cause of Monroe's decline, playing the Bobcats cured all ills. Monroe recorded 25 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes as the Pistons embarrassed the Bobcats, 109-85. "Greg's effort on both ends was at a high level," Frank said. "Again, I don't ever care about individual stats."
• Dale Kasler,Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee: For the second year in a row, Mayor Kevin Johnson will parachute into New York in an 11th-hour attempt to keep the Kings in Sacramento. Johnson will meet with Kings owners and NBA officials today for what appears to be an attempt at peacemaking following weeks of rancor that threaten to kill a tentative plan for a new downtown arena. ... Johnson declined to comment about the trip. The mayor's staff, however, released an open letter from the mayor to the Maloof family late Thursday night laying out Johnson's parameters for today's meeting. In the letter, Johnson reiterated the city's stance that the Maloofs had agreed to a deal more than a month ago and said "under no circumstances will the city make material adjustments to the current terms of the deal. Put simply, we have done our part. And there should be no expectation in (today's) conversation that this deal is subject to further negotiation."
• Editorial from The Sacramento Bee: The time has come for the Maloof family to sell all or part of their ownership in the Sacramento Kings. For the good of the league – and the good of a city and region that have been devoted supporters of professional basketball ever since the Kings first arrived – NBA owners must use their leverage to make this happen. As has been increasingly clear, the Maloofs lack the means and the will – or both – to pay for their share of a new sports and entertainment complex in Sacramento, even under terms that many would judge to be extremely favorable to them. Their financial status makes it difficult for them to field a competitive team, which means a franchise owned by the Maloofs will continue to drag down and distract the NBA, regardless of whether the team is in Anaheim, Seattle or another city.

I still have trouble piecing together the events of a night from 11 years ago.

From what I’ve been told and the little I remember, my rec league basketball team was up by about five or six points with under a minute to go. We had the ball and were playing Keep Away from the other team. I caught the ball somewhere before halfcourt, evaded a defender trying to foul me and began advancing the ball.

After I turned to dribble, I have no idea what happened next. The next moment I can recall is lying on the floor with a few teammates and a referee standing above me. I don’t remember getting up. I vaguely remember standing at the free throw line and have a faint recollection of how the basket looked to me as I was trying to focus in on my free throws. Nothing was in focus and I had a tunnel vision type of view as I looked toward the hoop. Miraculously, I made both free throws (or maybe my friends just told me I did to make me feel better). I honestly couldn’t tell you.

The game ended and we had our customary game recap session at a nearby Taco Bell. I don’t remember going there but I know I was there. For some reason, I drove home after this. When I pulled up to my house, an overwhelming sense of disorientation and fear came over me. I couldn’t remember how I got home, even as I was sitting in my car. I tried to figure out if I had driven myself, confused as to why I’d be in the car if I hadn’t been the one driving. I wondered if I ran any red lights or veered into occupied lanes in my 14-mile drive home.

I had a concussion. My trip to the doctor the next day confirmed this. For the next three weeks, I avoided driving because it didn’t feel safe. I couldn’t concentrate long enough to obey basic traffic laws. For a few months after the oncourt collision, I’d get splitting headaches that just randomly popped up. Before that, I’d rarely get them. It took me roughly five or six months to ever completely feel normal again, and even to this day, my short-term memory is unreliable.

Seeing Kevin Love going down in a dazed heap after JaVale McGee’s elbow accidentally implanted itself into Love’s temple was a scary sight. Whenever you see a guy on the ground, looking up at his teammates and trainer without a hint of being present, it’s an alarming and uneasy feeling. It’s also an injury the NBA is taking extremely serious.

So far this season, we’ve had a few high profile players suffer concussions. Kobe Bryant, Kyrie Irving and Mickael Pietrus have all been diagnosed with concussions to varying degrees/grades. Bryant suffered one in the All-Star Game and never missed any action after clearing the mandatory exertion tests to show he was symptom free. Irving missed three games after being accidentally kneed in the head by Dwyane Wade.

Pietrus had the most severe of these brain injuries, suffering a Grade 3 concussion when he slammed into the hardwood in Philadelphia. He missed 10 games, just coming back last night to help the Celtics in their win over Atlanta.

While Love’s concussion may not be as severe as Pietrus’, it begs the question of whether or not he should even finish the season. He was kept for precautionary measures in Denver overnight with Wolves assistant athletic trainer Andrew Tai, per Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune.

Minnesota, like many other teams in the league, has been banged up throughout this season. They lost Ricky Rubio due to an ACL tear, Nikola Pekovic for numerous games because of an ankle injury, JJ Barea with various ailments, and currently Luke Ridnour with a sprained ankle. Since the Rubio injury, they’ve gone 4-14 and helped extend their April losing streak to 23 straight games (their last April win came against the Warriors on April 8, 2009). They’ve fallen out of the playoff race and don’t even have a draft pick to tank for.

Ultimately, it’s up to Kevin Love and the medical staff involved in assessing concussion recovery to figure out if he should get back on the court before the 2012-13 season begins. Other than pride and wanting to get back to your teammates, there really isn’t a reason that shows the Wolves should risk putting him back in the lineup if there are any lingering symptoms past today.

Nearly a month ago, LeBron James claimed he was “too tough” to get a concussion after a collision with Grant Hill in Miami. Even if we pretend that is medically and biologically possible for James, the idea for a public figure/role model to claim toughness has precedent in preventing a head injury seems reckless at best, as Tom Haberstroh wrote about here.

There is nothing wrong with taking things slowly with this Love concussion situation and being overly cautious in when you let him get back on the court. If it means he misses the final seven games for Minnesota this season then so be it. These head injuries can be a scary byproduct of this game at any level and the consequences can stick around for a long time.

I would never pretend to have been too tough for my concussion. Pietrus wouldn’t let his ego get in the way of admitting to one and LeBron shouldn’t have scoffed at the idea. Hopefully Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves will take it as seriously as each head injury potentially is.

Turn your attention to Mar. 23 of this year.

Kevin Love has just dropped 51 points on the Oklahoma City Thunder, scoring from just about every spot on the floor, hitting seven of his 11 3-point attempts and dueling with Kevin Durant through four quarters and two overtimes. Two days later he torches the Nuggets for 30 points (on 19 shots) and 21 rebounds. Three days after that he puts 40 and 19 on the Bobcats. He is now fourth in the League in scoring, averaging 26.5 per game. There have been 20 30-and-15 games in the NBA this year; Love has 10 of them; no other player has more than two.

Now remember the Kevin Love of just one year ago and realize how strange this all seems. Remember last season’s most improved player, the somewhat pudgy, no-jumping white dude who somehow managed to outrebound legions of taller, more athletic opponents? He got his points, but he was no one’s idea of an elite scorer. He was a rebounding supernova and an efficient bucket-getter hiding out somewhere in that second tier of NBA stars. We wondered if he was a franchise player worthy of a max contract or simply, despite the eye-popping numbers, a glorified role player, something like Kris Humphries with a sweeter J.

Back then, Love’s conspicuously below-average one-on-one skills prevented him from being considered a legitimate go-to scorer. He was awkward with his back to the basket. A post-up often ended with him throwing up an off-balance hook as he sailed through the lane, and his face-up game wasn’t much prettier. There’s no way a truly great player, many of us thought, could possibly look like that.

Still, there was an undeniable glory to Love’s early performances. We know full well that elite-level rebounding is a sign of unusual athleticism and finely honed skill -- in Love’s case, an immensely strong and well-balanced lower body; precise footwork; quick, powerful hands; and a preternatural anticipation of the ball’s path. And yet seeing Love sow such chaos on the offensive glass with nothing but these understated gifts, repeatedly creating something out of what looked for all the world like nothing, always came as a sweet shock.

This year, though, Love has become something a bit less idiosyncratic: a genuine premier scorer. And he has done this despite, or perhaps because of, that deeply unorthodox offensive game. Strength, effort and craft on the offensive glass have always been among his fundamental assets. But he has turned the basic act of challenging for rebounding position into a volume-scoring weapon, forcing teams to repeatedly foul him rather than surrender easy putbacks. And for a player so lacking in the conventional offensive tools, he has become remarkably savvy at drawing contact as he makes his move toward the basket. He has overwhelmed team after team simply through the grinding process of getting to the line all night long. (See: Dec. 27 in Milwaukee in which Love shot 24 free throws, scoring 32 points on only six made baskets, or Feb. 10 in Dallas in which he went 14-for-14 from the line, scoring 32 on 9-for-18 shooting.)

Let’s also not forget the particular vexations posed by an undersized big man who happens to be an excellent 3-point shooter. In that ridiculously entertaining double-overtime loss to the Thunder, Love -- playing center because of an injury to Nikola Pekovic -- shredded Oklahoma City’s defense with pick-and-pop 3s. Because Kendrick Perkins was terminally unable to challenge Love outside, Oklahoma City was forced to go small, surrendering its size advantage on the inside. From then on, the game was played on the undermanned Wolves’ terms; Love’s outside shot literally changed the complexion of the game.

Love’s game is a strange patchwork, an unprecedented hybrid of modern Euro big man skill and old-school glue-guy hustle. He is equal parts stretch-4 and banger. He is a dominant scorer whose lack of explosiveness routinely results in blown layups and blocked shots. He is a slow-footed, 3-point shooting, 6-foot-8 center who can singlehandedly foul your best big man out of the game or put your team deep into the penalty. Most great scorers are blessed with some obvious, almost supernatural physical gift -- Durant’s length and economy of movement; LeBron’s size and speed -- but Love is just his average-looking self, exploiting the game’s margins on his way to superstardom.

Still, Love’s transformation has been jarring, and not simply in terms of the sheer quantity of points he’s put on the board. He has assumed the attitude of a scorer, the willingness to see every moment of offensive basketball as an opportunity both to attack the D and to explore new possibilities in his game. This season, we’ve seen Love nail step-back jumpers. We’ve seen him coolly drain Tim Duncan-esque, 15-foot, shallow-angle bank shots. We’ve seen up-and-unders, escape dribbles, dynamic sweep-throughs and balanced jump-hooks. It would have been pretty hard to imagine any of this even one year ago. Thanks to a number of factors -- those improved skills, the Wolves’ changed offensive philosophy, an injury epidemic that has sidelined five of the team’s top six players for significant stretches this season -- Love has become Minnesota’s scorer of first and last resort.

This approach has unquestionably yielded some spectacular results. And this is, in many ways, what the undermanned Wolves require. But it’s hard to fight the feeling that something has been lost along the way. Central to Love’s game has always been an incredible, relentless energy, a willingness to pursue every stray ball and to wrestle all comers for position. This tenacity, coupled with his remarkable offensive efficiency -- putbacks, free throws and 3s were his meat and potatoes -- was at the heart not only of his incredible production in 2010-11, but also of the sheer thrill of watching him play.

Love certainly remains a great rebounder. He’s still averaging 13.8 boards per game, after all, and there are still many moments in which we see him maneuver himself between two bigger, springier defenders and battle to pull down an impossible one-handed board. But that kind of vibrant effort is no longer a constant. He is no longer quite so feverishly disruptive of opponents’ defensive rebounding schemes.

What’s more, his efficiency numbers -- rebounding rate, true shooting percentage, 3-point percentage, all essential to what made him great -- are down from last season. A great portion of this drop-off is explained by the simple fact that Love’s job is extraordinarily exhausting. None of the league’s top scorers are asked to rebound as heavily as Love; none of the top rebounders carry as great a share of their team’s offensive burden. Love can no longer afford to expend such radiant energy every time a shot goes up. He is forced to ration his effort judiciously across the many minutes he is asked to play and the many responsibilities he is asked to shoulder.

But much of Love’s declining efficiency stems from the kinds of shots that he’s now taking. He has accepted the venerable prerogatives of the No. 1 option: the right to demand the ball in isolation; the right to shoot contested, off-the-dribble midrange jumpers; the right to stare down his defender, vision tunneling as seconds tick off the clock and teammates stand and watch. These things can be magnificent and valuable, but they’re a far cry from the Kevin Love we once knew.

We’re all enchanted by the mythology of the high-volume scorer. We love to see players enter that altered state of consciousness in which the game is reduced to the simplicity of an attacker, his defender and the dance the two of them perform together. But Kevin Love -- the superstar role player, the sweet-shooting banger -- complicates this mythology. A great portion of his charm and effectiveness lies in the contradictions and dissonances in his game, the strange, unprecedented way he plays. Do we really want him to accede to the conventions of superstardom? Do we lose something essential when a measure of that offbeat magic is drained away?

Ever since point guard Ricky Rubio was lost for the season with a torn ACL on March 9, the Minnesota Timberwolves have struggled. They were 21-20 when he got hurt and are 4-11 since then, and much of the Timberwolves’ struggles are on the defensive end.

Rubio is not the quickest player, but his length and size helped cover a lot of ground. Without Rubio -- who ranks third in the league in steals per game (2.22) -- the Timberwolves have had to rely more on smaller guards like J.J. Barea (6-0) and Luke Ridnour (6-2), both of whom rank in the bottom 40 percent in points per play allowed.

The Timberwolves are fine offensively without Rubio. In fact, they've scored two more points per 100 possessions with Rubio off the floor. Defensively they've allowed seven more points per 100 possessions without him and are allowing 11 more points per game.

Minnesota’s opponents have scored 100 or more points in nine of the last 15 games after scoring at least 100 in 17 of 41 games that Rubio played.

But how are opponents scoring so much more lately?

Without Rubio on the court this season, Minnesota’s opponents are scoring 22 percent more fast-break points, 11 percent more second-chance points and 4 percent more points in the paint.

However, with Rubio not on the court at all anymore, those numbers have been amplified even more over the last 15 games. Minnesota’s opponents are scoring 30 percent more fast-break points, 14 percent more second-chance points and 14 percent more points in the paint.

Some of those increased easy baskets -- fast breaks, second-chance points, points in the paint -- can be attributed to Nikola Pekovic missing eight of the last 15 games with an ankle injury. But more of it can be attributed to Rubio's injury; the Timberwolves have had trouble stopping opposing guards from penetrating and dishing.

Over the last 15 games, opposing guards have an assist-to-turnover ratio better than three-to-one. In the 15 games before Rubio’s injury, that ratio was less than two-to-one.

On March 12, the Phoenix Suns guards combined for 74 points, 16 assists and two turnovers. On April 2 against the Sacramento Kings, Isaiah Thomas had 17 points, five assists and no turnovers.

In Wednesday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors, guard Charles Jenkins had 19 points, seven assists and two turnovers as Golden State erased a 20-point deficit with 58 second-half points.

Not having Rubio also impacts the Timberwolves on the boards. He averaged 4.2 rebounds per game, which ranks 10th among guards.

The Timberwolves were strong playoff contenders before Rubio’s injury. Now, they're in last place in the Northwest Division, five games out of the playoffs with 10 games left to play.

• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: A public feud between Jazz CEO Greg Miller and Hall of Fame forward Karl Malone is finally over. Miller and Malone exchanged smiles and warmly embraced Wednesday night in an EnergySolutions tunnel, minutes before the Jazz tipped off against the Phoenix Suns. "Karl and I have got it worked out and everything’s good," Miller said. The official reconciliation was announced during the same night NBA Commissioner David Stern visited ESA.
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: You wanted this? You got it. You wanted LeBron James to grab a meaningful game by the throat, and not let go? Consider that done. You wanted the Heat forward to face down Kevin Durant, the only peer at his position - his only legitimate MVP competition - and rise above? He's rarely soared higher with the Heat. "Without even being biased, I think he's the best two-way player in this league," said his coach, Erik Spoelstra. And this was the best at his best, in arguably the best NBA game of the season, Wednesday's 98-93 victory against the West-leading Thunder, one that extended the Heat's home streak to 17 and served as a delectable appetizer to what could come in June. This was an entirely different team than had been sleepwalking since the All-Star break. This was an entirely different athlete from the one who appeared - and disappeared - in a blowout loss in Oklahoma City just 10 days earlier. This was James showing all the strength his skeptics have sought, not just physically but mentally.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: LeBron James just got my MVP vote. Kevin Durant is second. It’s not just about tonight, although it certainly played a part. But the guy has been phenomenal. He hit a rough stretch recently but so does everybody. What he did tonight — after rolling his ankle early in the first quarter, mind you — is what MVPs do. He put his team on his back, did everything he had to do, when he had to do it, and turned his mediocre performance ten days earlier in Oklahoma City into a distant memory. ... Not to mention James’ defense on Durant. Sure, KD had a team-high 30 on a pretty efficient 11-of-21 shooting, but it was the most difficult and uncomfortable 30-point performance I’ve ever seen Durant have. There were times when Durant couldn’t get open, couldn’t post-up, couldn’t seal for an entry pass and couldn’t even put the ball on the floor and go into a move because James was so airtight. Largely because of James, Durant finished with a career-high nine turnovers and never really got into a rhythm as crazy as that sounds after a 30-point night. ... The mood in the Thunder locker room after the game was sullen. It was clear that this was a big game and that everyone wanted it pretty badly. Most of the players said all the right things, but you could see in their body language that this one hurt.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: Asked if he would consider extending the contracts of Stan Van Gundy or Otis Smith before the season ends, Alex Martins responded, "We're all evaluated at the end of the season. It's consistent. It's happened every year that we've been here. "I'm evaluated at the end of the season. Our general manager is evaluated at the end of the season. Our coaches are evaluated at the end of the season. And we don't deal with that during the course of a season, and we make our decisions about the future of everyone — and, in particular, the DeVoses make the decisions about the future of everyone — after the season's over." ... Now that Howard has waived his early-termination option, ensuring he remains under contract with the Magic for the 2012-13 season, the media speculation is centering around the futures of Van Gundy and Smith. Specifically, will Howard use his uncertain long-term future as leverage to exert influence on the DeVos family's decision-making process? Both Van Gundy and Smith are under contract through 2012-13. Martins insists that he did not make any specific promises to Howard to convince Howard to waive his early-termination option.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: Suns forward Grant Hill already became the first active player to be on the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Board of Governors, and he seems destined for enshrinement there someday for his basketball career. But for Hill, those basketball honors can't compare with what the Hall of Fame did this week, recognizing him more as a person with the Mannie Jackson Basketball's Human Spirit Award. Hill was the professional representative, as Chauncey Billups and Samuel Dalembert had been the previous two years. Jim Calhoun was the amateur-category recipient, and the grassroots winner was Dr. Richard Lapchick, the founder and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. "It's a tremendous honor because of the award and what it stands for," Hill said
• Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News: With the playoffs looming in three weeks the last thing the Lakers need is their All-Star center carrying around some beef with Brown, his teammates or the organization - or all of the above - and derailing their hopes of a long playoff run. The question is, why now? More important, can Bynum put whatever is bothering him aside long enough to help the Lakers in the playoffs? And at the very least, not be one of the reasons they crash and burn? Getting to the bottom of it is proving to be a difficult task.Maybe it's something as little and understandable as Bynum is growing up right before our eyes and like the teenager transitioning to adulthood he is testing his limits. Maybe with the increased role he's feeling an amplified sense of entitlement. Both are reasonable possibilities, and even somewhat predictable for a young player emerging as one of the brightest young stars in the NBA. It's the timing that makes it so bad. At his best, Bynum can be the difference between the Lakers winning another championship. At his worst, Bynum can be the difference in an early postseason exit.
• Dan Woike of The Orange County Register: When he first arrived at Staples Center on Wednesday, Del Negro knew it was a special day. The hallway series at Staples Center always is. “This game is different,” Del Negro said. “Maybe it’s just me, but the energy in the building, walking into the building, the number of media here, and the feeling in the locker room, it’s just different. But is it a rivalry game? “I think people talk about the rivalry, and I think we have to perform at a high level to create the rivalry,” Del Negro said. “… We’re trying to make it a rivalry. I don’t think it is now. We have to play well consistently and have to win ballgames to make it a rivalry.”
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: For 15 seasons, Spurs captain Tim Duncan and Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett, two of the greatest power forwards in NBA history, have done battle against one another in the paint. With both players in the final seasons of their contracts, could Wednesday’s game at TD Garden have been the last time the two All-Stars would face one another? Neither player has given any indication of his intent to retire, but Duncan will turn 36 later this month, and Garnett will turn 36 in May. Duncan said he won’t begin thinking about his future with the Spurs until the season ends, but he didn’t hesitate to reflect on all his battles with Garnett. “It’s been difficult,” Duncan said after the Spurs emerged with an 87-86 victory that extended the team’s win streak to nine. “We’ve always had some great battles. It always seems to turn into a war at some point in the game, but it’s a lot of fun. We bring a lot out of each other.”
• Scott Souza of MetroWest Daily News: Paul Pierce said he liked everything about the final shot except one thing. It didn’t go in. Down a point with 7.9 seconds left in last night’s game against the Spurs at TD Garden, the Celtics got the ball in the hands of the captain and he decided — as usual — to put the outcome on his shoulders. Pierce dribbled down the clock, got the defensive switch with Tim Duncan, then drove to the free-throw line before taking his patented step-back jump shot. Only Pierce’s shot rimmed out at the buzzer as the Celtics’ five-game win streak ended with an 87-86 loss. “I’m not going to second guess my decision,” Pierce said. “I thought I got a great shot, created some space right there at the free throw line. It’s just some days they fall, some days they don’t.” Celtics coach Doc Rivers didn’t second guess the shot either, only qualifying that he'd wanted Pierce to shoot it earlier in hopes of either drawing a shooting foul or allowing for a put-back at the buzzer.
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial-Appeal: The Grizzlies handled the most abrasive portion of their regular-season schedule so far relatively well until Wednesday night. They just couldn’t leave American Airlines Center unscathed. The Dallas Mavericks drew blood and then dominated the last five minutes in handing the Grizzlies a 95-85 loss before a crowd of 20,233. This time, there was no fourth-quarter magic for the Grizzlies despite starting their last game of a back-to-back-to-back set with great energy. Memphis led by five points with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. But Dallas delivered a knockout blow in the form of a 21-4 run. “We gave it what we had,” Griz coach Lionel Hollins said. “I thought we battled. It’s one thing to just play three in a row. But we just played five (games) in six (days). It was a tough stretch, but we did good and I’m proud of our team and how they kept battling.”
• Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News: Will Roddy B ever make the jump to being a very good player? Sherrington: Great question. He's certainly not a point guard, or not the kind of point guard the Mavs need. He reminds me of Devin Harris. A one-man fast break. Dirk didn't play well with Harris, and he struggles with Roddy. It was very telling this year when Dirk said he had to basically ask for the ball. Not good. Roddy's shot is also unbelievably inconsistent. He can be a great 3-point shooter. And he can throw up an air ball on wide-open 6-footers. I just don't see it.
• Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press: Kevin Love is exhausted. You can tell by looking at him. Right now he's 23 going on 43. His face is drawn and his shoulders slumped. A league-high 40 minutes a game can do that. But it's not just all the time on the court, because Love is a young man. With injuries to key players - Ricky Rubio, Michael Beasley, Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea and Nikola Pekovic among them - he has had to carry more and more of the Timberwolves' load. Against the Golden State Warriors, he played 42 minutes, 30 seconds, scored 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Good-looking numbers to be sure. But there was virtually no defense in his game. And with the outcome in the balance, he missed the key shot in the final seconds. The net result was what coach Rick Adelman called the worst loss of the season as a huge first-half lead was frittered away by lack of defense. The Wolves recently have slipped out of playoff contention. I wondered if there was some sort of letdown after that. "A letdown is when you lose three or four of your best players and have to play undermanned," Love said. "That was a letdown for me. Tonight I missed that shot. It's tough to try and play Superman every night."
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: For a team that was starting to wonder if it had lost its defensive swagger, the night could not have gone any better. For a half it looked like those defensive concerns might be completely warranted. Both the Sixers and the Raptors were scoring with abandon. It was almost like defence had been outlawed or the first 40 minutes of any all-star game ever played. But a 15-point third quarter by the Sixers followed by a seven-point fourth has the Raptors talking proudly once again about their defence. It added up to a 99-78 win, their third in a row which is rarefied air for this franchise. They haven’t won three in a row since Nov. 17-24, 2010, which was actually the beginning of a four-game winning streak that coincidentally enough started right here in the City of Brotherly Love. The good feeling though came from once again proving to themselves and everyone else that they still have the ability to lock a team down.
• Tom Moore of phillyBurbs.com: A pair of Iguodala quotes in this week’s Sports Illustrated opened a few eyes Wednesday. In Lee Jenkins’ story on the Sixers featuring Iguodala, Iguodala said, “In Philly, it’s not about who you are — it’s about what you do for us. You could be the worst person in the world, but if you score a lot of points or win a championship, you can murder somebody.” After the game, Iguodala said, “It’s just a figure of speech. People are going to take it either way.” Iguodala also said, “It makes no sense to me why so many good scorers can’t defend. Like (teammate) Lou Williams — he’s one of the toughest guys to guard in the league, but he can’t guard anybody. I don’t get that.” Iguodala said Wednesday night that he “would rather use my teammate than somebody else. Using Lou — I’m just using our best scorer. I told him personally he can be a great defender. I don’t think he’s a bad defender — I’m just using him as an example.” Williams was unavailable for comment beforehand and had left the locker room by the time the media was allowed to enter. Collins downplayed Iguodala’s comments, saying, “The ‘Dre I know has been ultra-respectful toward me. He’s just not going to say a lot of warm and fuzzy things.”
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: Arron Afflalo wears the losses on his face, a lather of anguish, a gloss of gloom upon his weary eyes. As he dressed in the losing locker room Wednesday night, the Nuggets guard looked up and said softly, "Unbelievable." It really was. The Nuggets, jockeying for a playoff spot in the airtight Western Conference, lost at lowly New Orleans 94-92. Told that he takes all the losses hard, Afflalo said: "This feels worse. For one, we've had opportunities all season long to build momentum against teams we felt we could beat if we competed hard. It's another lost opportunity."
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: In a pregame media session Wednesday night at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, NBA Commissioner David Stern acknowledged for the first time the league is negotiating with three groups interested in purchasing the Hornets. Stern told the Salt Lake Tribune the league might be on the verge of getting the sale finalized by next week’s Board of Governors meeting in New York. “It remains my hope to tell the owners next week that we’re very close or at the verge of, or maybe just have made a deal, for New Orleans that will keep the team in New Orleans,’’ Stern told the Tribune. “That will have a very favorable lease, important capital improvements, intense tax benefits and a new TV deal to boot, that allows the team to be neither a revenue-sharing recipient, nor a revenue-sharing payer. That’s our goal.’’ A league source confirmed Wednesday night that there’s a third ownership group amongst the finalist to secure the team. During his annual state of the league address during All-Star weekend in February, Stern declined to confirm or identify if the group led by Los Angeles area businessman Raj Bhathal had emerged as the top candidate to purchase the Hornets.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: It was a game the Milwaukee Bucks had to win, but they just couldn't put away the depleted Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. At least not until Monta Ellis decided to take over. The Bucks' newly acquired guard hit all eight of his shots in the final 4 minutes, 32 seconds and scored his team's last 16 points, lifting Milwaukee to a 107-98 victory over the Cavaliers at the Bradley Center. The victory moved the Bucks (26-28) within one game of the New York Knicks (27-27) for eighth place and the final playoff position in the Eastern Conference and within three games of Philadelphia (29-25) for seventh place. "The shots just were going down," Ellis said.
• Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer: The Cavs are the first team in NBA history to lose consecutive home games by 35 points or more. They lost to San Antonio on Tuesday, 125-90, after a 121-84 loss to Milwaukee on Friday. The 37-point loss to the Bucks was the second worst of the season, after a 114-75 Chicago victory on Jan. 20.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: With the end of the regular season just weeks away and a lot of jostling still going on, some of the Indiana Pacers have made it almost a daily habit to look at the Eastern Conference playoff standings. "Every day I look at them," Pacers forward Danny Granger said. "I like to look at which teams we're competing against, who they're playing, how their schedule looks compared to ours." The Pacers hold the third seed. A losing streak, though, could cause them to fall quickly because the Pacers have only a four-game lead on seventh-seeded Philadelphia. "It's a constant battle with every game -- win or lose -- meaning something," Granger said. "It's kind of interesting to keep track of the teams we're competing with."
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: John Wall tried the move again in the second half of the Wizards’ 109-96 loss to the Pacers on Wednesday night at Verizon Center. Driving baseline, he spun to avoid contact but his off-balance shot soared about two feet over the other side of the basket. Wall has been slumping and his struggles have been magnified as he attempts to lead his depleted team through a grinding, unforgiving schedule. His teammates have advised Wall to play through it. His coach has told him not to make the situation more complicated than it needs to be. “I think he needs to take a step back and simplify things. He’s trying to maybe do too much, too fast right now to fight through how he’s played the last couple of games,” Coach Randy Wittman said after the Wizards (12-42) lost their third in a row. “Sometimes it’s easier to take a step back and slow down. It’s not an easy thing to do. He’s a competitive kid who wants to play well and wants to play the right way and sometimes, you just get going the opposite way when you struggle a little bit.”
• Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Sure, it was just the Bobcats, whose minimal chances to win evaporated when Corey Maggette didn’t suit up and D.J. Augustin left the game after just 11 minutes. Then again, the Hawks beat them down with none of their starters playing more than 30 minutes, Joe Johnson scoring 16 points on 13 shots and a so-so effort on the boards. Aside from another lax defensive effort in the first quarter, there wasn’t much not to like. The Hawks attacked the basket, shared the ball (and took care of it), played with pace and got to the free-throw line while opening up the big lead in the first half. They even avoided a typical sluggish start to the third quarter and then the starters got to watch the reserves finish things off.

David Thorpe on which college player inflated his draft stock by playing well in the Final Four, which NBA player has the best shooting mechanics Thorpe has ever seen, and why it might be OK that, for a little stretch here, Kevin Love is a magnificent ballhog.