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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hold that thought.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No. No. Not really.

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

That was you?

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

It's all good.

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

I have no idea.

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

I do. I do.

I should thank you guys.

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

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

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

Thank you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Run, don’t walk

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

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

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

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

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

Spacing

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

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

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

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

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

Less Evan Turner

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

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

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

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

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

Can Doug Collins adjust?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: Let me take you back to May 7, 1989, the day Chicago's Michael Jordan lifted skyward for The Shot over Cleveland's Craig Ehlo, the shot that catapulted his career into the next stratosphere. After the game, Cleveland center Brad Daugherty sat in the Cavs' funereal locker room and shook his head. All he could say was this: "We got beat by greatness." Today, it can be said again after the Miami Heat's 101-93 Game 4 victory over the Indiana Pacers, a game that tied this heated Eastern Conference semifinal series at two games apiece. They got beat by greatness. What else can you say? How else do you deconstruct a game the Miami Heat absolutely had to win, lest they spend the next few months contemplating coach Erik Spoelstra's future and the possible dissolution of the Big Three? LeBron James: 40 points, 18 rebounds (six offensive) and nine assists. Dwyane Wade: After a tepid first half, he finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Sometimes, there's not much an opponent can do.
• Greg Cote of The Miami Herald: It might have been a lesson that we saw being delivered in that third quarter Sunday, or it might have been simply a reminder. Either way, it was this: Do not doubt the resolve and power of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Just don’t. Trust it instead. Trust it because they have earned your faith. Mostly, trust it because it is all you have. This time it was enough. Astoundingly, stunningly so. James and Wade combined to put on an epic show Sunday, especially in that third quarter that changed everything — everything — and it is why all of the panic and gloom that had been enveloping the Heat went into sudden remission in the 101-93 Miami victory that leveled this second-round NBA playoff series at two games apiece. All at once the Earth has regained its axis and the Heat appears back in control, with two of the three remaining scheduled games back in Miami starting with Tuesday’s Game 5. All-is-hell turns to all-is-well, or close enough for Heat fans.
• Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: It appeared Sunday the Clippers would extend the Spurs. Blake Griffin needed stitches, and Chris Paul seemed to sew up the rest. The Spurs trailed by five with about five minutes left. Then, with Tim Duncan’s knee holding up, he made two free throws. Found Manu Ginobili on a cut. Tossed in a driving hook over Griffin. Found Tony Parker on a cut. And blocked Paul. What happened? “Perseverance,” Duncan said afterward. “We stuck with it. We kept moving the ball and believing what we were doing.” Parker acted the way Elliott did in 1999. Asked what the sweep meant, he said, “Doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t accomplish anything.” But what about the 18-game winning streak? “Don’t think about that,” he said. He’s right. The last team to sweep the first two playoff series, the Orlando Magic in 2010, didn’t win the title. Still, the Spurs needed to face some playoff tension, because there will be some in the conference finals. Duncan said that. “It was great to have a close game like this,” Duncan said. “Good for our young guys.” But it might have been better for the old guy. Duncan will get a few days off, and nothing will be more appreciative than his knee.
• Vincent Bonsignore of the the Los Angeles Daily News: The loss to the Spurs will sting, but shouldn't linger. And once they realize the gap separating themselves from the elite teams in the NBA requires some tinkering but not a complete overhaul, they will be better-positioned to make decisions that will help close that gap. First and foremost, they need to bring Del Negro back for another year. The decision rests in the hands of general manager Neil Olshey and owner Donald Sterling. The Clippers hold an option on him for next season and they should honor it. It became blasé to knock Del Negro this year. His lack of experience and his rocky two-year stint in Chicago prior to taking over the Clippers made him an easy target for critics who questioned everything from his rotation to his ability to make adjustments and develop young players. But this much we do know: His team played hard for him throughout, and that should mean something. It could have given up against Memphis after the injuries to Paul and Griffin and after losing Game 6 at home to force a long trip back to Memphis and a hostile environment in Game 7. Del Negro had his team up for that challenge, and the Clippers defied odds to beat the Grizzlies on their floor and advance to the semifinals. That stands for something, and it should get Del Negro at least one more season to coach this team under normal circumstances and with a more stable roster.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: All postseason, Oklahoma City has closed out games in grand fashion. The Lakers, in Game 4, simply became the latest victim of the Thunder and its ability to storm back from a fourth-quarter deficit and secure a win. That trait, not Westbrook's explosiveness or Kevin Durant's daggers or James Harden's surgeon-like precision in the pick-and-roll, has been the most impressive thing about the Thunder's playoff run thus far. Oklahoma City is now all grown up. The final five minutes of nearly every Thunder game this postseason has proved as much. Gone are the days when the Thunder would wind up on the wrong end of a blown lead. Now, it's the Thunder that is snatching victories from the jaws of defeat. Four of the Thunder's seven playoff wins have come by three points or less. Another victory was decided by just six points. Of those five wins, the Thunder trailed by 13 points in the fourth quarter of two games, by seven in the fourth period of two others and by one with a minute remaining in the other. The Thunder was the road team in both victories in which it trailed by 13 in the fourth quarter.
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: Pau Gasol believes he's hungry for more titles. If he really was, his baseline level of focus would be higher instead of only spiking high. At a time in his career when Bryant needs more help and not less, this mix of talent has gone sour. Not toxic, mind you, but sour. It's why the Lakers frittered away Games 2 and 4 to Oklahoma City. They don't quite have that old confidence that they deserve to win and will make the key plays that demonstrate to the world how they deserve to win. Consider the recent years besides 2009 and '10, when the Lakers won it all: In 2008, they blew a 24-point lead in the NBA Finals' worst meltdown ever in Game 4, giving the Celtics a sudden 3-1 advantage. In 2011, their Game 1 implosion at home against Dallas erased a 16-point third-quarter lead and a seven-point lead in the final minutes, with Gasol faltering badly down the stretch and the last chance being a missed Bryant 3-pointer bearing an uncanny resemblance to the one Bryant missed near the end Saturday night. Championship teams find a way to win because they aren't afraid to lose. And in that regard, the sweet-hearted, good-intending Gasol is unfortunately the Lakers' No. 1 problem.
• Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Boston played a great first quarter and a good-enough second quarter to hold a 46-31 lead at halftime, and the Celtics must have thought their work for the evening was complete. That is not what teams do when they respect their opponent or anticipate that something other than ordinary effort will be necessary to finish the job. ... They were surprised, because they didn't think the Sixers had it in them to keep fighting on a night they had shot a ridiculous 23 percent from the field in the first half. That's terrible even by the Sixers' shooting standards, which are pretty low on a good day. And, of course, they were wrong to think it was over. But that is what happens to teams that have been champions before. They think the crown is still up there and lesser teams will bow to its glory, or they think there is some carryover effect to having survived these games before. The Sixers are not going to be champions this year and perhaps not any time soon, but they are a dangerous team to underestimate. Assuming they will quit on a game is usually a particular mistake. ... In the back of their minds, maybe even in the front, they figure that they'll still win the series, and that taking real control of it Friday night wasn't worth the effort the Sixers were requiring them to make. The Celts might be right. They probably will still win the series. What is less true than it was before Friday night, however, is that they still deserve to win it.
• Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: Doug Collins has put it delicately, at least compared to how he wants Kevin Garnett defended. The Philadelphia 76ers coach wants his big men to disrupt Garnett’s timing. Sometimes that has meant trapping the Celtics center, but more often that goal has been met by prodding Lavoy Allen and Spencer Hawes to push Garnett farther out, to make it uncomfortable when he gets the ball. Success has only been limited, but on Friday night in the Celtics’ Game 4 loss, when Garnett nearly had as many turnovers (seven) as points (nine) and only took 12 shots, the ploy paid a huge dividend. Asked yesterday about Allen, though, Garnett was typically unseeing. “It doesn’t matter. All of their big guys are playing physical and bumping,” Garnett said. “You go through side picks and it’s physical. I can’t tell one guy from the next. Spencer Hawes is being just as physical as the young kids. It’s all the same. They’re very aggressive.” But tonight in Game 5, the Celtics can’t afford to have the generous Garnett — the one spreading the wealth — passing nearly as often. The Celtics are 1-3 this postseason when Garnett takes 12 shots or fewer, and 5-1 when he takes 13 or more. Shots are just as important as touches, though according to coach Doc Rivers, an acceptable amount of offense is running through Garnett’s hands.

People, economists tell us, misunderstand no phenomenon as badly as chance. Faced with random events, sheer naked happenstance, we concoct elaborate and unnecessary post-hoc explanations for what’s happened, what we’ve seen. We reject truth in favor of narrative.

We're inventors of meaning.

So, when faced with a basketball team that went 1-8 in the regular season in games decided by four points or fewer and 5-18 in those decided by under eight, let lead after lead slip away, and earned just an eight seed in the postseason despite posting the Association’s fifth best scoring differential, rather than chalk it up to bad luck, the random fluctuation of a complex system, a person is liable to conclude that the team just doesn’t know how to win.

And if the same team turned it around in the playoffs, went, say, 4-1 in games decided by seven points or fewer, won twice by a single point, and pulled off multiple double-digit comebacks, we’d grant that they’d learned. Matured somehow. Changed.

The Sixers, it turns out, are people too.

“We’re more poised at the end of games now,” offered Thaddeus Young, giving an explanation for how the same Sixers that struggled so mightily in the highest leverage moments of the regular season had just pulled off another in a series of increasingly unlikely postseason wins -- a 92-83 victory they managed despite falling behind 14-0, trailing 46-31 at the half, and missing 34 of their first 43 shots.

“[In crunch time] we’re playing with a lot of control, a lot of patience,” Young, who scored 12 points -- none bigger than a finger roll that, with 10:30 remaining, tied the game for the first time since Paul Pierce hit a jump shot 17 seconds in -- went on. “We’re letting things come to us and we’re not forcing anything.”
"We’re running [our plays] to a T, and everybody is cutting hard, and even if you’re not getting the ball you’re cutting it and taking another guy with you. We’re all making sacrifices for each other.”

Rookie Nic Vucevic, whose seen his minutes shrink in the second season, and spent the entirety of Game 4 on the bench, saw the same dynamic.

“We lost a lot of close games early in the season, but I think we’ve learned from that. Gotten more mature ... we trust ourselves,” Vucevic said.

It’s possible that a fundamental change may have passed; that some grand thing separates the Sixers who ended the regular season 15-22 from the team that sits two wins away from a berth in the Eastern Conference finals.

After all, after hitting the fewest free throws per game in NBA history in the regular season, the Sixers are averaging a Thunder-esque 25.3 attempts from the stipe in the playoffs, including 36 on Friday.

And a defense that buckled at the tail end of the first 66 games has returned to form, allowing a paltry 86.9 points per to the less-than dynamic but still game Celtics and Bulls.

Or maybe it’s that Spencer Hawes has relocated the stroke that made him the early favorite for comeback player of the year. Or the tightened rotation -- more Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen; less Vucevic and Jodie Meeks -- has given Philadelphia an added athletic dimension.

Or maybe Doug Collins’ hands-on approach -- the one that was brilliant, just the right touch, when they were winning and overbearing, much too much of a college style, when they weren’t -- has become brilliant again.

Or maybe ... not?

“I haven’t changed anything,” shrugged Andre Iguodala, who a week after hitting a pair of free throws to end the Bulls’ season, connected on two fourth quarter 3-pointers --the first for the tie, the second for an 88-83 lead -- that history may judge did the same to Boston’s.

“We know we’ve been there before and we feel we can get out of those situations, but I’m the same player I’ve always been. We’re the same team. You’ve got to get better, of course, become a better person, a better teammate, but I just try to stay who I am.”

Who the Sixers are is probably this: a good team, whose luck is starting to even out.

David Thorpe said from before The Decision that the Heat have three of the fastest players at their positions in the league, something they should exploit with inexpensive big men who can really run from rim to rim and athletes who can shoot 3s. You can find those guys in the D-League and Europe, and the Heat have a good environment to develop them. (Along those lines, Mario Chalmers and Joel Anthony have been very useful alongside the Heat's stars.)

But the Heat did nothing of the sort. Instead, they used one roster spot after another on guys who are old, slow or both. Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Juwan Howard. Mike Miller. Eddy Curry. James Jones. They all have redeeming qualities, but when you're shopping in the bargain bin, and err on the side of "old and proven," you get what you pay for. Mostly, you get "old."

Which hurts when youth, in this context, could be so valuable.

Now that Chris Bosh is hurt, the Heat have started Shane Battier. The negative effects of that go far beyond his missed 3s.

Consider an exchange in the second quarter.

First Battier had a lane to the hoop on the fast break. He was so unexplosive, however, that a trailing George Hill had time to catch up to him, run around him to get in position, and then jump and crush the layup right out of Battier's two-fisted grip before he could even get to rim height.

There are players in junior college right now who could have dunked that.

Meanwhile, Battier soon had an opportunity for revenge -- starting with good position as the Pacers' Paul George sailed to the rim. The best defense the Heat would offer the high-flying George came from a trailing Dwyane Wade. As you can see in this photo, if Battier did jump, he should probably tell people he didn't.

None of which is to say that Battier is to blame for the loss, because just about every Heat player had his bad moments. But that the Heat are at such an athletic deficit is striking and need never have happened. Roy Hibbert need not so dominate the paint. Dwyane Wade, pressing to find buckets, need not find so many seams closed down by longer, faster Pacers.
Indiana, meanwhile -- loaded with athletes, despite the ground-bound David West -- is well-built to expose Pat Riley's over-reliance on old guys.

Which led me to wondering: Are the Pacers the most athletic team around these days? I'm not really talking about how high a guy can jump or how fast he can run, or who'd win a draft combine. I'm talking about teams that deploy explosive athleticism -- like Hill circling Battier for the stuff -- the most. It's about how frequently in a game a team succeeds with explosive speed, jumping ability and the like.

I present my hastily assembled, entirely subjective rankings of the eight remaining teams:

1. PACERS With Wade less explosive last night, among Heat players it's possible only LeBron James could have hung with Hill, George, Danny Granger, Darren Collison and Leandro Barbosa in a footrace. Tyler Hansbrough and Louis Amundson never stop moving. Even Roy Hibbert is active for a player of his size. Other than David West, the entire team is a blur.

2. THUNDER Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka are off-the-charts. They are athletic as hell and show it almost every play. Kevin Durant, Thabo Sefolosha ... youth is handy. This team is not at the top of the list, though, because they also feature Derek Fisher.

3. SIXERS Andre Iguodala is a ridiculous athlete. Jrue Holiday, Louis Williams and Thaddeus Young are up there. A knock on Evan Turner at draft time is that he is not athletic, but he is young, strong and feisty. This team could play more athletically and top this list. But, alas, there is a price to pay for playing a brutally slow pace and starting Elton Brand.

4. HEAT When the big three are healthy, it's a different story. But now that the bench is on parade, it's compromise city.

5. SPURS I know! They start Tim Duncan and Boris Diaw, both of whom prefer to never jump. But Tony Parker uses speed play after play, and Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Gary Neal are high energy. There's a reason this is the highest-paced team of the bunch.

6. CLIPPERS Healthy, this is all different. Blake Griffin could eat this contest for breakfast. But he's not 100 percent, and neither is Chris Paul. Few centers do what DeAndre Jordan can do athletically. Kenyon Martin is still plenty active, and Eric Bledsoe can fly.

7. CELTICS Kevin Garnett doesn't look old. Rajon Rondo is a blur and has the ball constantly, which creates a lot of chances for speed to matter. Avery Bradley helps. But by and large these are players who win without too much running, jumping and winning physical challenges.

8. LAKERS If you accept David Thorpe's assertion that Metta World Peace has lost all lateral quickness, then not even the role players are helping the athleticism deficit created by building a team around skill, size and veteran moxie.

• Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News: Tony Parker made the most of his birthday with an impressive offensive and defensive effort in the Spurs’ 105-88 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Not only did he produce a game-high 22 points and dish off five assists, but his defensive effort against Chris Paul was his most impressive of the playoffs. Parker’s harrassment limited Paul to 10 points and forced him into a career-worst eight turnovers. ... The major reason was Parker’s defense. ... Parker credited his teammates as much for containing Paul as any individual effort. “I’m trying to just do my best, to contain him and make him take hard shots,” Parker said. “It’s not just me, it’s team defense and it’s everybody being focused on Chris and making sure he doesn’t get going.” The Spurs’ defense on Paul is the biggest reason the Spurs have jumped to a quick 2-0 lead. And the major cause has been their 30-year-old point guard, still looking as spry and athletic as he did when he was a teenager.
• Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News: Now the Clippers return to Los Angeles down 2-0 to a Spurs team that finished with the best regular-season record in the NBA and has now won 16 straight games - including six in the postseason. "We can't put our heads down," Clippers guard Chris Paul said. "We're not playing a bunch of scrubs. They're a good team. They've been here before." And right now they are schooling the Clippers, who return home for two games on successive days at Staples Center hoping to avoid a sweep. But knowing they face a experienced, championship-winning team well-versed in how to suffocate a staggering opponent. And yes, the Clippers are staggering right now. No one more so than Paul, who has been forced into 13 turnovers in two games - including a career-high eight in Game 2. He refuses to blame the right hip flexor and right groin injuries he's dealing with as an excuse - "I just have to make better passes," he said - but it's obvious he isn't close to 100 percent. Worse, the Clippers inability to run an effective pick-and-roll - they lack a big man who can consistently hit a 15-footer - allows the Spurs to drop back defensively and limits what Paul can do in the half-court game. "Everyone knows we're not a pick-and-pop shoot team," Paul said. "So they're just packing it in." And the Clippers have yet to figure out a way to pry the Spurs out of the paint. No, the Clippers aren't completely down, but they are clearly reeling.
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The Pacers removed any doubt that there would be a letdown in the third quarter. Paging Wade. Paging Wade. Has anybody seen Dwyane Wade? And that might have been the best crowd I’ve seen at the fieldhouse in my seven-plus years of the covering the Pacers. I know I said that last round, but the crowd continues to get better. The third quarter is the magic quarter for the Pacers. They’ve outscored Miami 54-26 in that quarter in the past two games. Wade was brutal Thursday. He finished 2-of-13 from the field and also had a nasty exchange with his coach. The Heat are starting to come apart. It’s time for the Pacers to pounce on them and not let them get up. The Pacers and the crowd have to be just as good in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon as they were in Game 3. Do that, and the Pacers will be one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2004. Something tells me coach Frank Vogel will remind his team that once they step on the court for practice Saturday afternoon.
• Greg Cote The Miami Herald: Coach Erik Spoelstra approached Dwyane Wade during a timeout, as if to place his hand on the player’s shoulder. “Get out of my [expletive] face!” Wade snapped. This is the state of the Heat today — angry, beaten and wondering what to do now — after Thursday night’s 94-75 loss that gave the Indiana Pacers a 2-1 lead in this best-of-7, second-round series. Spoelstra downplayed the outburst by Wade, like you knew he would. “That happens,” the coach said. “That really is nothing. That’s the least of our concerns.” If so, that, too, is indicative of a team reeling and seemingly at a loss for answers. Wade’s frustration was understandable after perhaps the worst night of his stellar career. Has anyone seen Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr.? Black male, 6-3. D.O.B 1-17-82. No visible tattoos but often seen wearing a No. 3 basketball jersey. Mr. Wade is missing. His shots are, anyway. And largely because of that, it now looks as if his team is in jeopardy of disappearing from these playoffs as surely as his shooting touch has. ... If LeBron James were shooting as awfully as Wade is in this series, he would be on a national rotisserie, being turned slowly by a hungrily salivating media brandishing sharp knives. Wade tends to get a pass because even he is eclipsed now by the shadow of James, the league MVP. But Wade’s shoulders are broad enough and his skin thick enough to take the truth: His poor shooting is costing Miami about as dearly right now as the injury absence of Chris Bosh.
• Tom Moore of phillyBurbs.com: Lost in the midst of the 76ers’ 107-91 Game 3 drubbing was a fine performance from reserve forward Thaddeus Young. Young, who had been mired in a seven-game playoff slump since a solid Game 1 against the Bulls, scored a team-high 22 points on 10-for-16 shooting in 26 minutes versus the Celtics on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. ... Young hadn’t scored more than eight points in his previous seven postseason games, averaging 5.6 points on 12-for-36 shooting (33.3 percent), after he contributed 13 points in the opener against Chicago. Young had difficulty with the athleticism of the Bulls’ Taj Gibson in the first round and wasn’t a factor in the two one-point contests against Boston after spraining his ankle in Game 1. On Wednesday, Young looked much more like the guy who averaged 12.8 points and shot 50.7 percent in the regular season. ... The task for the Sixers on Friday (8 on ESPN) is to play better than in Game 3 so another Young outing like Wednesday’s could potentially make a difference in the outcome and even the series at 2-2.
• Frank Dell’Apa of The Boston Globe: Rajon Rondo is not sure what the 76ers are going to throw at him in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Friday night. But he is prepared for the unexpected. “I’m sure they’ll make their adjustments,’’ Rondo said. “Evan Turner’s been checking me - that’s not a normal matchup. So I’m sure they’ll make a change - maybe, maybe not. Not necessarily the matchup between Evan Turner and I. But maybe the defense will shrink a lot more. “Who knows? But we’ll be ready. I’ll be ready.’’ Stopping Rondo, or at least slowing him down, is becoming a major obstacle for the Sixers. In the last two games, Rondo has produced 27 assists with two turnovers, a ratio that indicates he is approaching these games with greater focus. Before Game 2 of this series, Rondo had 76 assists and 25 turnovers in the playoffs. Sixers coach Doug Collins noted that Rondo seems able to take the ball wherever he wants on the court and that “he controlled the game’’ as the Celtics took a 107-91 victory in Game 3 Wednesday.
• John Rohde of The Oklahoman: The Thunder scored 42 more points in Game 1 (119) than in Game 2 (77), and astonishingly was victorious both times against the Los Angeles Lakers. How does OKC return to triple-digits Friday at 9:30 p.m. in Game 3 of the Western Cofnerence semifinals at Staples Center? Better shooting is an obvious place to start: The Thunder shot 53.0 percent from the field in Game 1, but 42.0 percent in Game 2. Taking care of the ball is another: OKC had just four turnovers in Game 1, but 13 in Game 2. Second-chance points add up: The Thunder had 21 second-chance points and 13 offensive rebounds in Game 1, but managed just four second-chance points and six offensive boards in Game 2. Getting to the free-throw line helps: OKC made 24 of 29 free throws in Game 1, but 13 of 16 in Game 2. The Lakers also dictate what the scoreboard reads.
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: If the Lakers wanted to leave the end of Game 2 in Oklahoma City behind them, it wasn’t made any easier by people getting nasty toward Steve Blake, who missed the team’s last shot while down by one point. Blake’s wife, Kristen, posted to her Twitter account one message that said, in part: “I hope your family gets murdered.” “It’s pretty disappointing,” Steve Blake said Thursday. “There’s a lot of hateful people out there.” Blake said he has gotten plenty of support within the team for his missed shot. For his part, he said it was “time to move on” and “make up for it.” Kobe Bryant said, “Of course!” in response to a question Thursday about whether he wanted to take that last shot. But he also agreed with a reporter, saying Metta World Peace made a “sound decision” to pass to the more open Blake. “Nobody else was open,” World Peace said. “Steve was the only one open. … I trust everybody on our team.” After watching the replay several more times, Lakers coach Mike Brown wavered from his postgame take that Bryant was “wide-open” on the far side of the court on the play. Brown said Thursday that World Peace “made the right decision” despite pointing out that perhaps Andrew Bynum could’ve been fed as he cut toward the basket in the paint, having gotten in front of Kendrick Perkins.

Sometimes being an NBA official is tough. But this time, referee Michael Smith had a gimme.

About five feet in front of him, the Celtics' Kevin Garnett delivered an offensive foul combination platter to Sixers swingman Andre Iguodala: One part moving pick, another part flying elbow.

Now that's a foul.

Replays only made things clearer. Later, even Charles Oakley -- a high priest of physical play -- would take to Twitter to chastise anyone who'd question the call.

Smith did the obvious thing: He blew his whistle.

And that surprised the hell out of everybody.

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Broadcasters could scarcely hide their astonishment. It was a matter of seconds before the Boston crowd was apoplectic, chanting in unison a word that begins "bull" and ends unprintable. Even back in the TV studio, where the mood was less partisan, there was little support for Smith's call, which was said to have been to the letter of the law, but not the spirit.

The reason? The game was on the line.

The Celtics were trailing by three with 10 seconds left. With Smith's whistle, the Celtics went from living on the prayer of a tying 3 to doomed.

It was one of the more obviously correct calls imaginable. But it befuddled so many because there's an idea out there that referees ought not decide games.

Even Iguodala was surprised. Garnett hit him so hard the Sixer said his ribcage still hurt a day later. Iguodala said on the NBA Today podcast that when he heard the whistle, in that pressure-packed moment, he assumed it had nothing to do with the blow he had suffered, saying he "actually thought the whistle was for something else."

Which is amazing, if you think about it. Iguodala knows the rules, and he knows Garnett broke them. He also knew Smith was standing right there.

But Iguodala also knows this: "In that situation, they always say you can't have a call determine the game."

The NBA would insist playcalls are the same all game long. And the NBA is a decade into going to some trouble -- inspired, sources say, by a private and public campaign by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban -- to make it that way.

But it's a stretch to say that's what's happening on the court. Players certainly believe they have more leeway late in games, and there's evidence referees swallow whistles. For instance, the 2011 book "Scorecasting" found offensive fouls are 40 percent less likely to be called in overtime, compared to the first 48 minutes -- a trend that would explain the broad surprise at Smith's call.

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In 2008, the NBA's independent investigator Lawrence Pedowitz published his report on refereeing in the wake of the Tim Donaghy scandal.

He included a section on "old" vs. "new" refereeing styles:

In an effort to improve both actual and perceived referee performance, the NBA, during the past six years, has tried to move toward a clearly articulated refereeing philosophy that adheres strictly to a literal and consistent interpretation of the rules. Previously, referees were inclined to employ an approach that allowed for more discretion. That approach -- which was also aimed at getting calls right -- varied somewhat with the circumstances of the game.

The approach has been described to us as the “art of refereeing” or “game management,” and has aspects of common sense, a desire not to interrupt the flow of the game (thereby showcasing the talent of the players), and rough justice.

Then Pedowitz listed examples gleaned from his interviews with every official, including:

Referees might avoid calling a foul on a play with significant contact at the end of a close game, consistent with the view that players rather than referees should determine a game’s outcome.

We all get what this means -- referees want to tread carefully, to have light impact. But even that is not real. When there's a hard foul late in a close game, referees don't really have an option of not deciding the game. They can essentially call it by the book and decide the game for the fouled team, or call something less and decide it for the other team. (The band Rush knows all about this: "If you choose not to decide you still have made the choice.")

For instance, referees decided for the Sixers and Celtics in getting those teams out of the first round.

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If any two teams know the power of the old way of refereeing, where referees issue only small punishments late, it's these Sixers and these Celtics. Both teams won their first-round series with some old-fashioned crunch time referee timidity.

On video, Spencer Hawes' foul of Omer Asik at the end of the Sixers' series-clinching Game 6 was inseparable from all kinds of plays that have been whistled flagrant. It took a massive amount of force to keep the massive, open and full-speed Asik from even attempting a shot. Hawes put everything he had into yanking Asik sideways from the base of his neck, throwing him to the ground with no hope of scoring.

But even though referees were there with a great view of everything, only a regular foul was called. The city of Chicago isn't the only place people believe that decision wasn't rooted in the rulebook -- which would support the flagrant -- but in the reality that there were seven seconds left in a game the Bulls led by one. A flagrant would have given the Bulls the lead, free throws and the ball. A flagrant would have "decided the game," or darned close.

Letting players decide the game has a dark counterpart in these situations, too: A less violent foul would not have worked. That close to the hoop, with an offensive player that open, any normal foul would have let Asik win the game by finishing at the rim, putting the Bulls up three with a free throw still to shoot. This oddity of NBA rules, and their enforcement, forced Hawes to make his attack a particularly violent one.

It's odd that breaking the rules by fouling ever helps a team win. It's nuts that there are cases like this where throwing the opponent wildly off balance is the only way to win.

Of course you know what happened. It worked beautifully. Hawes' foul was, arguably, the play of the Sixers' season. Asik couldn't get a decent shot off. He missed both free throws. The Bulls didn't get the ball back, because no flagrant was called. Iguodala got the rebound, drove hard to the hoop, was fouled by Asik and won the game for the Sixers at the line.

But the story doesn't end there.

The Sixers retreated to their locker room to savor the win and gather their belongings for a trip to the second round. On the locker room television, the Hawks and Celtics were fighting for the right to face the Sixers next.

The Celtics were up two points with 3.1 seconds left -- the Hawks were inbounding under their own hoop, praying to tie the game. In Philadelphia, Hawes was watching.

Two things happened. First Celtic Marquis Daniels held Hawk Al Horford, rather blatantly. It's to referee Bill Kennedy's credit that he called anything. But replays show the hold happened before the ball had been inbounded, and the NBA would later admit the call came late. This was a particular point of emphasis from the league to the referees a few years ago. When the foul occurs before the ball is inbounded, as this clearly did, the correct call is one free throw for the Hawks, and then the ball out of bounds again. That would have been a huge help to the Hawks' chances, in a game they really lost by one point (before an intentional foul). Instead it was ruled the foul was after the ball had been inbounded, giving the Hawks no relief at all: Once again they got the ball out of bounds.

Whether Kennedy didn't see the sequence of events, or didn't want to have too big an impact, is unknown.

But what is known is that he had a front-row seat for the next play. The bigger, stronger Horford caught the ball by the hoop, and Daniels was faced with the same no-brainer of a choice Hawes had. He was beat, with no way of winning by following the rulebook, or making a basketball play.

So Daniels grabbed Horford around the shoulders and hurled him earthbound. The Hawes foul looked more like a flagrant than this one, but it was certainly not a play on the ball. Kennedy called a regular foul. Horford missed one of two free throws and the Celtics advanced to meet the Sixers.

Credit both Daniels and Hawes with great, game-saving plays that are in the interest of their teams -- but not their league.

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There is only one alternative to referees deciding games. Iguodala: "That means anything goes."

That's what Garnett, Hawes and Daniels were all counting on.

Otherwise, why would Garnett -- one of the NBA's most respected veterans, a champion and a professional who knows all the little particulars of winning -- put his team in jeopardy with such a reckless play, right in front of a referee, in such a moment?

It's not like he tripped. He took a calculated risk even though, as he'd later admit, he had been warned in the same game about such plays.

Imagine the outrage if, say, JaVale McGee had done the same thing in the second quarter. A chorus of pundits would sing of his ignorance. But this was Garnett, and it's clear he wasn't being dumb at all. He was being brilliant. He was playing with the assumption Smith simply would not doom the Celtics with his whistle, which gave him a special way to get his teammate Paul Pierce wide open for a game-tying 3.

Garnett is not being called a fool. Instead, the referee is being questioned.

Garnett was playing very well under the old way of refereeing. But the new way is better. Way better, in fact, because it rewards the best basketball plays, as opposed to hardest fouls.