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There is a lot of playoff talk in this NBA Today podcast. Predictions about who will win Saturday's Game 7 and both conference finals. There is talk of hard fouls, great coaching, elite defenders, free t-shirts and LeBron James. Luc Richard volunteers to play one-on-one during All-Star Weekend, if they'd have that event. And more.

Then there's more insight than some Suns fans might want into 2007, which is the year Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns thought they would win a title, but lost to the Spurs in a horribly controversial suspension-riddled second-round series. The Suns, as we knew them, would never be the same again.

Jalen Rose was on that Suns team, which he brought up after I asked him about Rick Carlisle, whom Rose once played for:

He made sure we ran hard at shootaround. He made sure we broke a sweat. He made sure we're prepared for the other team's sets. We knew if we were doubling the post. We knew how we were playing pick and roll. Are we hedging on this player, going under on that one. Are we double-teaming? How are we going to play those down screens certain players are coming off ...

We knew everything.

When you've played for a coach like that, it must be hard to play for a coach who doesn't have those same qualities.

I played for the Phoenix Suns. 2007. My last season. As were playing against the San Antonio Spurs. And I remember us coming to our first practice before Game 1. And we brought it in. And we were excited about our playoffs getting started. And Coach D'Antoni put in some film. It was Steve behind the back. Amare slam dunk. Shawn Marion with the block. Raja Bell with the charge. It was a highlight film of our team. They have showed me making a shot on there, and I was barely even playing.

So after that he as like all right, we're going to run and down, go through our set plays and whatnot, and we're going to get out of here.

And I looked at Kurt Thomas. I hit him with an elbow. I'm like hold on. I gotta say something.

So I did my Arnold Horshack from "Welcome Back, Kotter."

I'm like "ooh, ooh, ooh, hey coach. I gotta ask a question. Are we going to talk about how we're going to defend Tim Duncan on the post? Are we going to talk about Manu Ginobili in pick and roll? Keeping Tony Parker out of the paint?"

He looked at me in front of the entire team and coaching staff and said: "We're not worried about what they do. If we play to the best of our abilities, and do what we're supposed to do, there is no way they can beat us. We don't mind if Tim goes off. If Tim goes off, that means everybody else is quiet."

So, people gave us a pass. And we were a great team. And Robert Horry did knock my guy Steve Nash into the scoreboard. And Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw got up off the bench and I should have been paying attention and being a vet, and grabbed Amare -- maybe I'd have a ring to this day.

They walked out on the floor, they get suspended late in the series, and we did lose that game.

But we really lost the series in Game 1. When the guy that couldn't beat us by himself -- Tim Duncan -- he only had 40 and 20 in Game 1. [Ed. note: Actually 33 and 16.]

So that's really when we lost the series.

You're saying that if Rick Carlisle coached that team ...

Breeze through. I have a 'chip. I would have a 'chip.

That's gotta be a bad feeling.

It is what it is.

• Jeff Green was nearly the victim of a deadly sneaker avalanche.
• James Jones would be embarrassed if he missed a 3-pointer by as much as he missed this dunk.
• Philadunkia's Tom Sunnergren on the ageless Kevin Garnett: "The careers of professional athletes end, as a general rule, about the way Hemingway described going bankrupt: slowly, then all at once. An injury — say a knee sprain that happens in a February 2009 game in Utah — occurs, never fully heals, becomes a chronic, lingering source of discomfort, then, as the player fights through it, adjusts, maybe unconsciously to mitigate the pain, a host of other maladies spring from the adjustment: calf strains, tendonitis of various stripe, back pain. Bio-mechanical breakdown ensues. Eventually, they’re a shell of themselves. A copy of a copy; like that Michael Keaton movie, but even harder to watch. A season later they’re on a golf course. Kevin Garnett, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, is not on a golf course right now.
• Mike D'Antoni, from his interview with SI's Jack McCallum: "Could you use the word 'resign?' It hurts when I even hear the word 'quit.'"
• Lovely visuals illustrating that Kevin Durant has surpassed Kobe Bryant as a crunch time player.
• Neil Paine (Insider) points out that even if Kobe Bryant outplays Kevin Durant, Durant's supporting cast has the advantage: "Bynum and Gasol have been good in their own right during the postseason, but neither can give Bryant the kind of secondary scoring punch that Westbrook brings to Durant and the Thunder. Then there's Harden, not only the game's best sixth man, but one of its top players, period. During the regular season, he took on a similar possession load as Gasol and Bynum and was far more offensively efficient, averaging a staggering 1.254 points on possessions he was involved in ending. In the playoffs, he has ramped up his usage while still maintaining a sky-high efficiency, one of the big reasons the Thunder have the NBA's No. 1-ranked offense during the postseason. That's why the numbers are so clear-cut. Whether you're a PER proponent (Westbrook/Harden 22.1, Bynum/Gasol 21.6) a Win Shares per 48 Minutes guy (Westbrook/Harden .193, Bynum/Gasol .173) or an Adjusted Plus/Minus guy (Westbrook/Harden plus-2.6, Bynum/Gasol plus-1.8), all the advanced stats say the Westbrook/Harden combination is a better and more productive duo than Bynum and Gasol."
• Gonzaga's Robert Sacre, a legitimate 7-footer with good hands and decent athleticism, says all the right things at the Nets 2012 Draft combine.
• An inspiring bench is a beautiful thing.
• Is Andrew Bynum's best season ever tied to his revamped running form? Ethan Sherwood Strauss, writing on The Classical, investigates:" When I asked Lakers trainer Garry Vitti about the foot strike change, he explained that although this had indeed taken place, the evolution of Bynum’s movement 'was much deeper.' Vitti elaborated, 'Because of his gluteus medius weakness he had is known as a trendelenburg gait where his glute med couldn’t stabilize his pelvis … with increased strength of his glute he was able to control his pelvis better which translated to him being able to get his body over his forefoot which would allow him to propel himself more efficiently.'”
• Daily Thunder's Randy Renner with a statistical nugget that is as much a condemnation of the Lakers' passive defense as OKC's steady offense: "The Thunder has produced a turnover turnaround in the playoffs. During the regular season OKC led the league by averaging 16.3 givebacks a game. In the playoffs that number is down to 10.5 and that’s the best in the league. During this series with the Lakers the number is even better as the Thunder has averaged just 8.3 turnovers a game."
• USA Basketball releases its roster for the 2012 Select Team, which is sort of the Dream Team junior varsity.
• What was Roy Hibbert thinking?
• Brett Koremenos digs into Evan Turner's struggles for HoopSpeak. You have to wonder: If Turner wasn't a top 2 pick, would this be the case: "Currently, Turner’s 9.97 playoff PER ranks 114th amongst players who’ve seen a postseason minute. 114th. That’s out of 155 players who have seen the court in the postseason. This would be fine if he were one of the human victory cigars at the end of the bench, but Turner is playing 34.3 minutes per game in the postseason."
• It's funny what matchups end up being consequential in the playoffs. For instance, the Celtics are really having trouble with the Lavoy Allen-Thaddeus Young front court combo.
• Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol can combine to create some beautiful basketball, but this year they've drifted apart on the court.
• Without Chris Bosh, the origami paper-thin Miami Heat are proving that the "Big Three" model is dangerous, right? Not so, writes Heat Index's Tom Haberstroh: "Of course, the San Antonio Spurs offer a compelling counterargument. They actually have more of their payroll wrapped up in their trio than the Heat, but they seem to be doing just fine. Interestingly enough, the Spurs have taken the opposite approach to surrounding their Big Three: find younger diamonds in the rough and develop them in their system. While the Heat went wild for veterans on the wrong side of 30 years old, the Spurs plucked Gary Neal, Kawhi Leonard, DeJuan Blair, Tiago Splitter and Danny Green. The Spurs might not have gone the safe route with veterans, but their players have higher ceilings and a greater chance to provide more bang for the buck."

• Isn't it time for James Harden to get his own shoe? And should it be modeled on this?
• Video of the 9-0 run that sealed Game 2 for the Thunder.
• John Hollinger argues that R.C. Buford should have been Executive of the Year (Insider). The trade Buford made with Larry Bird (who won the award) that sent George Hill to Indy for Kawhi Leonard is just one example of Buford's unappreciated brilliance: "That's a solid move for Indy, and for the chunk of the league's GMs that just throw stuff at the wall and hope something sticks, that's about as deeply as they saw it. But for San Antonio, I don't think people realize what a spectacularly good trade this was. Not just because it gave the Spurs a defender at the 3 who proved better than people expected, but because of the cap ramifications. Leonard is on a rookie contract and will make $1.8 million, $1.9 million and $2.9 million in the coming three seasons; Hill, meanwhile, will re-sign a somewhere between $5 and $7 million a pop as a restricted free agent. Over the next three seasons the Spurs will save about $12 million as a result of making this trade, without losing anything on the court."
• Meanwhile, ClipperBlog's Charlie Widdoes doesn't understand why Clippers GM Neil Olshey didn't win EOY: "The Clippers made a bigger improvement this year than the Pacers, and no one can question that they did so because they got Chris Paul. When you get a player of that caliber and the move works as planned, history says you get rewarded with the Executive of the Year award. It doesn’t matter how it happened, when LeBron James signed with the Heat, Pat Riley won the Executive of the Year award. In my mind, when you get Chris Paul, every other executive has to top that."
• Even after Duncan retires, the Spurs will be good for as long as Gregg Popovich and his system are in place.
• The Celtics clamped down on their pick-and-roll defense in Game 3.
• Chris Bosh's absence puts a strain on LeBron James, and reveals just how terrible the Heat's top role players have been.
• Do fans in Indiana have the swag to pull this off?

• Mike Meister, founder and head coach at the Thunder Sports Institute, e-mails a question some stat geek may be able to address: "Looking at how the Thunder made their comeback reinforces what I teach my teams: Players love to practice halfcourt shots or running 3s, but mine get chewed out for it all the time. My experience with almost 70 teams and my own playing experience is that you win more games with layups and free throws than you will with jumpers, especially 3s. I don't have access to Synergy or Elias, but I scanned through articles and tend to find more instances of this trend. My question, which maybe will be something you would look into anyway, is: Are more NBA games won on free throws and layups than on jumpers? Especially deeper mid-range and 3s. I know overall for the game, yes, but just looking at crunch time scoring and maybe especially the last two minutes."
• What can the Clippers do to slow down the Spurs offense? Perhaps they'll try to make Boris Diaw a scorer.
• So Bill Laimbeer and Isiah Thomas walk into a diner ...
• We noted on Wednesday that the Lakers and Thunder don't draw a lot of charges. (TrueHoop reader Michael's great point: Teams with quality rim protectors, like these two, don't have to resort to charges to stop layups and dunks.) Charges are not the same as flops. But they are prime opportunities to flop. And sure enough, there won't be a Flop of the Night today, for the simple reason that after a night of Sixers, Celtics, Lakers and Thunder, we can't find clear video of an obvious flop. Now, if history is any precedent, tonight's action, which includes the Heat, Clippers and Spurs, will feature plenty.
• The Brooklyn Nets logo has roots in old New York City subway signs.
• Has Sebastian Telfair found a home in Phoenix?
• Grantland's Michael Kruse digs deep into why we don't have ads on jerseys: "Tradition is an incomplete explanation. That $370 million sits fat like a hanging curve. It takes a special kind of credulity to think owners of teams in major American sports who are so resolute in all manners of revenue extraction simply shrug their shoulders here because of some particular reverence for convention. Ads on jerseys will unsettle the fans? They will not. It'll be like new Facebook or something, when everybody bellyaches for about 10 minutes and then it's just Facebook. We'll get used to ads on jerseys, and fast, and the owners know this. Because we always do. Because we get used to things like the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl and extra points getting kicked into not just a net but an Allstate ad. That's a Coors Light Cold Hard Fact. So what's really the reason for this country's faux-prudish reluctance to put ads on jerseys?"
• How one man learned to love the Spurs.
• Chris Paul and Eric Bledsoe have been a tremendous combination in the playoffs, and were in the regular season too ... so why don't they play together more?
• Rashard Lewis made $23,336 per minute of basketball played this year.
• SI's Zach Lowe on James Harden's role in Oklahoma City's end-of-game offense: "Oklahoma City players attempted 120 shots in the regular season during games in which the scoring margin was three points or fewer in the last three minutes of regulation and overtime. Durant and Westbrook took 103 of those shots, per NBA.com. Harden took five. He made one. James Harden, Sixth Man of the Year and likely All-Star next season, made one basket the entire season in the last three minutes of a close game. He has already taken five such shots in six postseason games, compared to six attempts for Durant. This is a sea change happening instantly, a strategic switch so dramatic you almost wonder if Scott Brooks has been waiting all season to unleash Harden on unsuspecting defenses.
• Thunder fans react positively to their Game 2 win. (Via @Okastro)
• Wait, left-handed Greg Monroe is actually right-handed?

• Trust me, you want to see Kyrylo Fesenko's "SPACE MOUNTAIN IS TERRIFYING" face.
• Speaking with SLAM's Tzvi Twersky, Allen Iverson recalls his first game with Michael Jordan: "Like, you’re just out there with him, and he’s your idol. You look up to him; he’s the reason you play basketball. And, then, you’re just standing beside him, waiting for the jump ball. I just remember I couldn’t stop looking at him, like, the way he had his uniform on, I’m looking at his socks -- he didn’t have the NBA socks on, which we’d get fined for not wearing them (laughs). He didn’t have the NBA socks on, and I’m just looking at him. He didn’t even look real."
• Here's how the Heat-Pacers regular season series went: Heat win in a blowout. Heat win by a little less. Heat win in overtime. Pacers win in a blowout.
• John Hollinger (Insider) expects a competitive series between Miami and Indiana, at least when Roy Hibbert is on the court: "To see how much of a factor Hibbert might be, check out this stat: When LeBron James was on the court against Hibbert in the four regular-season games, Miami was plus-17 in 128 minutes -- not good for the Pacers, obviously, but manageable. When LeBron played and Hibbert didn't? The Heat were plus-30 in 31 minutes."
• ESPN's Israel Guttierez brings you a series prediction from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra: "This next series I'm sure will feel like it's played in a cage rather than a basketball court. It will be extremely physical."
• Chris Paul channels his inner John McEnroe.
• At the end of playoff games, the Grizzlies are suffering from bad-shot fever. The only prescription is more Marc Gasol, writes Rob Mahoney on Court Vision.
• Remember when JaVale McGee threw the game ball into the stands after Denver took down the Lakers in Game 4? He was throwing it to his Mom.
• PopcornMachine gives us a look at what the Heat did to the Knicks at the end of the first three quarters of Game 5.
• Arron Afflalo hasn't found his shooting stroke in the playoffs, but he's still making smart moves off the ball, writes Brett Koremenos.
• Having won a title in the last five years is a surprisingly powerful predictor of winning another, as Stat Geek Smackdown champion Benjamin Morris has explained. On Skeptical Sports, he digs into why that might be, and suggests it could be the result of the playoff format conveying big advantages to the best teams, whereas the regular season is more random: "In stark contrast to other team sports, the NBA Playoffs are extremely deterministic. The best team usually wins (and, conversely, the winner is usually the best team). ... This is pretty much a function of design: A moderately better team becomes a huge favorite in a seven-game series. So even if the best team is only moderately better than the 2nd best team, they can be in a dominant position. ... On the other side of the equation, regular season standings and leaderboards—whether of wins or its most stable proxies—are highly variable. Note that a 95 percent confidence interval on an 82-game sample (aka, the “margin of error”) is +/- roughly 10 games. If you think of the NBA regular season as a lengthy 30-team competition for the number one seed, its structure is much, much less favorable to the best teams than the playoffs are."
• Wizards blog Truth About It isn't feeling any regrets about letting JaVale McGee go
• Scary times for Clippers fans. When Blake Griffin went down clutching his knee, lots of people didn't know how to react. After all, he has that habit of making fouls look worse than they are. Which is too bad, because Griffin has spent this series repairing his on-court image, in minds of many. He's attacked the rim fearlessly, shelved that herky-jerky jumper and accepted the thankless duty trying to push the Grizzly big men, all of whom are bigger than Blake, away from their comfort zones. And he's done it all with solemn intensity rather than theatrical scowling. Here's hoping he comes back strong in Game 6.
• SI's Lee Jenkins on HoopSpeak Live, talking about the Lakers and Nuggets and how much George Karl enjoys not coaching Carmelo Anthony.
• Michael Schwartz's thorough postmortem on the Phoenix Suns contains this gem: "The Suns were also significantly better offensively with Frye on the floor, scoring 107.7 per 100 with him but just 98.8 without him. If Channing were a team, he would have ranked second in offensive efficiency this season. Phoenix also shoots better from every distance and floor area with Frye in the game, pretty crazy considering Frye himself shot just 41.6 percent from the floor. One would not think that would be the case for a streaky shooter who was so bad to start the season, yet his spacing ability really is that important to the Suns’ offense, and it has been the last three seasons." (Via Valley of the Suns)
• It's nowhere near Los Angeles, but Stephon Marbury has a statue before Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
• Ryan Hollins joins McGee as an oft-ridiculed 7-footer making a difference in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Kevin Garnett is still the player who makes the Celtics great.
• Like Star Wars? The commenters of Daily Dime Live (which starts tonight at 7 p.m.) will make you smile.
• Anthony Davis, King of the Fry-o-lator.

• Tyson Chandler is your 2012 Defensive Player of the Year. Check out the rest of the results. For my money, Joakim Noah, who anchors the second-best defense in the NBA, is a way better defender than Serge Ibaka and too far down on this list.
• John Hollinger takes aim (Insider) at the assumption that a compressed regular season schedule is responsible for all these playoff injuries: "We say this every year in the first round of the playoffs, how we've never seen anything like all these injuries. Um, anyone remember a year ago? New York lost Chauncey Billups after Game 1 and had a skeleton crew by the end of Game 2. The Lakers' Steve Blake missed Game 1 with the chicken pox. Atlanta lost Kirk Hinrich for the playoffs in Game 6. Miami lost Mike Miller for the first round after Game 2; he played a total of six minutes in that series. The Hornets lost Aaron Gray to an ankle sprain in Game 1, although he managed to gimp through. These players weren't as famous as the ones hurt this week, perhaps, but injuries make no distinction based on Q-rating."
• Valley of the Suns blogger Michael Schwartz with a smart, sympathetic look at everything that's happened to Amare Stoudemire, and the Suns, since he left the desert.
• What is the Bulls offense without Derrick Rose? A lot of pin-down screens and snappy ball movement. In the regular season, that was reasonably effective. But the 76ers absolutely demolished these sets in the second half of last night's blowout victory. Zach Lowe has the video evidence.
• R.R. Magellan of Forum Blue and Gold was pleased with Jordan Hill's effort and output last night. Hill's brightest moments as a pro are coming just as things are taking a turn for the complicated off the court.
• Watch Kyle Weidie's brief movie about JaVale McGee titled, "Can't Say I Do"
• Along with everyone else on the Bulls, Derrick Rose looked like he was having a terrible time last night. In a related story, Jrue Holiday went nuts.
• HoopSpeak's Brett Koremenos with some praise for Big Baby Davis in his keys to tonight's games: "Hibbert, who relies on deep positioning for much of his success, has found himself unable to get that prime real estate near the paint when Davis defends him. It has seemed as if moving Davis is like moving a tree stump, if that tree stump also was chained to four sedan-sized boulders. Without getting to a more favorable operating area, Hibbert has shot just 31.3 percent from the field so far this series, a far cry from his 49.7 percent during the regular season."
• The Spurs have been running this play, called "Weak," for about a decade. It still gets them easy buckets.
• Before the Magic face the Pacers tonight, they need to find an answer to a simple question.
• Keith Smart is taking suggestions on how to become a better coach.
• Milwaukee plans to re-sign coach Scott Skiles. To Jeremy Schmidt, that's a sign that the Bucks won't be looking to rebuild any time soon.
• The NBA: where large feet happen.
• Jeremy Lin has inspired myriad puns and nicknames. The Communicated Stereotype takes a look at a few that reference his ethnicity, and analyzes whether they are endearing, or "problematic."
• Lots of good points in this post, but this is what Zach Harper has to say about Andre Miller's posterior: "It’s a big man’s rear-end on a point guard’s frame. It allows him to no longer have to worry about being slow. He can move mountains to the side by shifting from hip to hip. Sometimes it looks like he has one of those flatbed carts at Home Depot and he’s going up and down the aisles with piles of 2x4s and concrete slabs on it. And the weight is just too much to handle on the turns. It’s veering right when he’s trying to stay to the left, like an out of control semi-truck. He’s bumping into shopping carts and coming close to sideswiping people in the doorbell aisle. Take your eyes off him for a second and you’ll find yourself going from hearing melodious chimes at the push of a button to shin bruises a plenty."
• An invitation to Avery Bradley's Block Party. (Side note: Bradley and Jeff Teague both made a number of thrillingly athletic plays last night, which made it a perfect game for Kevin Calabro, the voice of the Payton-Kemp era Seattle Sonics, to call on NBA TV. For the uninitiated, here's three minutes of Calabro's classic calls from the Sonics' 1996 run to the NBA Finals.)
• Down 0-2, Mavericks' coach Rick Carlisle is voicing his displeasure with the officiating. Daily Thunder's Royce Young just calls it whining.

• A few thoughts about the future of televised basketball. High quality cameras are getting tiny, and people are already wearing them while playing hoops. Wouldn't mind seeing the Kevin Durant-view of some of the playoffs' best plays. Also ... I'm willing to bet there will be cameras on remote control helicopters in NBA arenas before too long. They already fly blimps around in arenas, and they already fly little helicopters with cameras over and around snowboarders and the like. This will happen.
• Boris Diaw will once again start, in the playoffs, for one of the best teams in the game. About six weeks ago that same Diaw was let go by the Bobcats, the worst team in the history of the game. Either the Spurs are doomed, or somewhere in there is a lesson about the value of corporate culture.
• Rob Mahoney, on The Two Man Game, with props for Shawn Marion. "Marion has led the Mavericks in rebounding in both games thus far, scored 32 total points on just 23 shots, and also happens to be providing a master class on how to defend Kevin Durant."
• John Hollinger's not a doctor, but he has some smart thoughts about Ray Allen's health (Insider): "Allen is listed as day-to-day, but those bone spurs aren't going to magically go away until he gets surgery to remove them. I'm not a doctor, but I don't know what's going to change by Friday or Sunday or next week, or next month, to make his condition any different. I suspect there's a decent chance he's already played his last game this year."
• On HoopSpeak, Brett Koremenos accuses the Nuggets of stage fright in Game 1: "Kenneth Faried and JaVale McGee are experiencing the NBA’s second season for the first time while Danilo Gallinari and Corey Brewer are only on their second go-rounds. Even Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo, while not new to the atmosphere, are experiencing it in new and bigger roles." The Nuggets can score in the paint. Also, a memo to Ty Lawson from Roundball Mining Company's Kalen: "The minute Lawson resigns as an active threat, the Lakers have won."
• The Celtics are in a pickle. On the road, missing Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen, after having been outrebounded and outplayed. There seems to be something keeping Kevin Garnett from playing anything like his best. Is this the end of an era we're sniffing? At CelticsHub, they certainly aren't sounding the alarm yet. They're still upbeat, talking about how Paul Pierce will get to the line more without Rondo. That means something.
• David West shall lead them. What a great signing that has been for Indiana.
• If Amare Stoudemire left the arena wearing a sling ... is it really a cut we're worried about? And, it wasn't that long ago Stoudemire was joking on Twitter about punching stuff.
• Chandler Parsons. Not sure what he's doing exactly. But he's doing it hard.
• LeBron's teeth know the score.
• Some very colorful new-breed boxscores show James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Tim Duncan, Reggie Evans and Nick Young have all been even more spectacular than you thought. Also, with Caron Butler injured, Young will need to keep it up.
• Are people still saying Rajon Rondo did nothing but trip? Show them this.
• Where's this HoopIdea thing headed? Hopefully not here.
• Suns fans, how optimistic are you this offseason will restore the glory, or anything like it?
• European buzzer beaters.
• A legal mind weighs in on those Jordan Hill charges.
• Some players are looking younger and fitter, now that the playoffs are here.

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).

• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: If you want to write off Michael Jordan as the guy who shouldn’t be wearing a hockey jersey in Chicago when his NBA team is withering back in Charlotte, more power to you. If you want to conclude Rod Higgins is a paper-pusher whose job security hinges on being a Friend-of-Mike, I won’t waste breath debating you (though I think that defines over-simplification). Here’s what trumps all that: Larry Brown turned Jordan and Higgins into victims on national radio Wednesday. It was shabby and silly and petty. Somebody – I guess it’s my job by default -- needs to explain what really happened. LB says Jordan’s people didn’t have a “clue’’ and made him “sick’’ and were “spies.’’ Here’s what I saw: Rod Higgins (who I’ve had more than a few battles with) put up graciously with hundreds of hours of all the garbage that comes with being Larry’s personnel guy. Ask Billy King. Ask Donnie Walsh. You think I haven’t? Larry is a magnificent maniac. He has a savant quality when it comes to basketball, but he’s loopy; overreacts to whatever he last saw. Like a crab in the sand, searching for the next feed. I think there are a lot of legitimate reasons to scrutinize the Bobcats. I’ve written that regularly over the duration of their existence: Rudy Gay vs. Adam Morrison? Come on. Not trading up for draft rights to CP3 or Deron Williams? Yadda, yadda, yadda. But what Brown did on radio and what Sam Vincent did in the Washington Post is so self-serving, so childish, that it reflects far more on them than Jordan or anyone who works for the Bobcats. Rip them for what they deserve. Don’t exploit bad times to settle old grudges. It’s tacky.
• Brian Schmitz, of the Orlando Sentinel: Stan knows that it does him no good at this point to scorch any more Earth. Attempting to paint a pretty picture of the 2011-12 Magic with Dwight and without Dwight would take a lot of imagination or flat-out lying, and Stan isn't built for either duty. I'm sick of it, too. "These kind of seasons happen," Van Gundy said. No they don't. These kind of things don't even happen on reality shows. Van Gundy wants to return for more and fulfill his contract next season, but Vegas won't even take bets. Publicly disclosing that management told him Howard wanted him fired will likely do him in — no matter whether Dwight stays or strays. Van Gundy can either sit on his stack of money for a year in Lake Mary or coach if he so desires. Unless Phil Jackson leaves his fly-fishing hole in Wyoming, Stan would be the best free-agent coach on the market. (Question: With Van Gundy under contract for another year, could the Magic possibly trade him and receive a draft pick from his new team? If you remember, the Heat got a second-round pick from the Magic in exchange for Stan because Van Gundy was under contract as a consultant.) Van Gundy might have some opportunities to work from some other team's bench.
• Al Iannazzone of Newsday: Mike Woodson could be the next member of the Knicks ' basketball department to get a promotion. The Knicks ' newly minted executive vice president and general manager, Glen Grunwald, gave Woodson a ringing endorsement Wednesday. Grunwald, who is Woodson's good friend and former teammate at Indiana University , said it will be an organizational decision on who coaches the Knicks next season and that he will give his recommendations. He stopped just short of saying he would recommend Woodson. "Woody's done a fantastic job," Grunwald said. "I can't give him enough credit for the job he's done. Normally, coaching changes don't result in such a dramatic improvement in the team performance, so I think that speaks very well of him. I've known Woody a long time. We've had our separations, different jobs and stuff like that. It's amazing to see how he's grown as a person and as a coach in particular. To see him firsthand working as a head coach is very impressive."
• Dan Woike of The Orange County Register: The Clippers needed a win in New York on Wednesday night to be assured of home-court advantage, but the Clippers decided they needed Chris Paul healthy more. With Paul sitting out because of mild groin strain, the Clippers staged a late-game comeback but fell to the Knicks, 99-93. The Clippers now must wait to see if Orlando beats the Grizzlies in Memphis on Thursday night, which would secure home-court advantage for Blake Griffin, Paul and the rest of the team. The Clippers trailed, 90-72, with less than 7:30 to play, but the Clippers stormed back into the game with New York’s starters watching from the bench. The Clippers closed to within one in the last minute, but J.R. Smith scored four consecutive points to ice the win for the Knicks. “We competed,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “The guys battled back. …We gave ourselves a chance.” The Clippers finished the regular season losing three out of four games with all three losses coming on the road.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: The "We want Steve" chant broke out and grew in volume until the crowd was standing. A timeout stopped it and Nash did not return but the chant did. After sitting Nash out so long, Suns coach Alvin Gentry did not plan on playing him any longer but substituted him for a curtain call of 27 seconds, just long enough for him to dribble upcourt with a smile, make a turnover and leave with an index finger raised in acknowledgment to a thunderous ovation like the one that started the night when his turn came up during starting introductions. If that was Nash's last introduction as a Suns player in 10 seasons over two stints, it was met appropriately in front of a crowd of 17,172 that turned out despite the team's elimination on the previous night. Out of the race, the game still had meaning just in the potential of it being Nash's farewell, although he has said he will include Phoenix in the options he weighs as a free agent in July. "It was obviously amazing to get that type of reception and support," Nash said. "It's very special because it's not something I asked for or imagined. To get that kind of reaction means it's authentic, the relationship I thought we had. It really feels special. The fans have been phenomenal and it's meant a lot to me to play in a city like this as long as I have and to feel important to the fans and community. I just feel like a very lucky guy." Nash said he has "no clue" about his future and remains flexible on contract length even though he wants to play three more years. To stay, he would want to see the Suns improve their roster.
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: With a 106-101 victory at Oklahoma City on Wednesday, the Denver Nuggets did the Spurs a favor and clarified the playoff picture. Now, the top-seeded Spurs are hoping for a similar solid from the NBA office. The doings in Oklahoma locked Utah in as the Western Conference’s eighth seed, at last giving the Spurs a first-round opponent for which to game plan. Game 1 will be either Saturday or Sunday, after the Spurs fly back from their season-closer at Golden State tonight. That’s where the league office comes in. Spurs officials are hopeful the league will take into account the team’s brutal season-ending itinerary — which included eight games in 11 days and requires a four-hour flight home across two time zones after the finale — when setting the playoff schedule. But they aren’t holding their breath. “You can’t politic for that sort of thing,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “When they tell you to play, you go play.”
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: With his Thunder trailing the Nuggets by three points late in the game Wednesday night, veteran guard Derek Fisher launched a 3-pointer that had the follow-through seen after so many of his clutch shots. But the shot missed, and Denver's Danilo Gallinari grabbed the vital rebound. With seven seconds left, it was over. After free throws, the Nuggets escaped with a 106-101 victory that enables them to control their destiny. If the Nuggets (37-28) win tonight's regular-season finale at Minnesota, they will be the Western Conference's No. 6 seed in the NBA playoffs — and will play the third-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, arguably a more enticing opponent than the second-seeded Thunder. If the Nuggets lose tonight, they still have a shot at the No. 6 seed. Dallas plays at Atlanta. If Dallas loses, Denver is the sixth seed. But if Denver loses and Dallas wins, the Mavericks are sixth, and the Nuggets are seventh.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Speaking of JaVale McGee. He inexplicably tossed his headband into the crowd — as he checked in for the first time! Something is truly wrong with that cat.
• John Rohde of of The Oklahoman: When Thunder center Kendrick Perkins started flirting with the NBA limit for technical fouls several weeks ago, he vowed to never reach No. 13, which would have drawn a one-game suspension. “I told you I wouldn't. You didn't believe me?” Perkins said with a smile before Wednesday's regular-season finale against Denver. Perkins was in the clear when he survived Tuesday night's 118-110 victory over Sacramento without getting slapped with unlucky No. 13. Even had Perkins been hit with a technical on Wednesday, he would not have been suspended for the first playoff game because the slate is wiped cleaned for the postseason. Perkins said the key to his survival is knowing when to back off. “It's kind of like a child knowing how much he can push his parents,” said Perkins, who has two young sons. “It's like, ‘Daddy done got mad. I'm gonna chill out right now.'” Perkins said he has reached the limit for technical fouls three times in his nine-year career, but has yet to receive a one-game suspension. He paid $36,000 in fines for his 12 technical fouls this season – pending future fines in the postseason, of course.
• Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times: Ask C.J. Watson what owning the NBA’s best record for two straight years would say about these Bulls and he first mentions coach Tom Thibodeau. “It shows how Coach Thibs came in and changed the face of the franchise and the team,’’ the backup point guard said. ‘‘It’s good to have the best record in the East and maybe in the whole league, but we want more than that.’’ Players were thrilled when they received the text message that Thibodeau had cancelled Wednesday morning’s shootaround at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Several said they went back to bed — the best way for them to celebrate their accomplishment during this truncated season. ‘‘It doesn’t guarantee anything, but it also gives you your best chance,’’ Thibodeau said. The degree of difficulty was greater than last year, considering the Bulls lost 98 games to injury or illness compared to 61 a year ago. ‘‘It’s very impressive,’’ Watson said. ‘‘A lot of guys stepped up this year. It’s just the makeup of our team.”
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: The Pacers are taking a business approach into their first-round match up against the Dwight-less Magic this weekend. That means no bulletin board material Orlando players could use for extra motivation. Should the Pacers win the series? Without a doubt. I’m saying they’ll win it in five games during the playoff breakdown in The Star this weekend. You won’t hear any of the players saying that. The Pacers know the Magic are a 3-point barrage away from stealing one of the first two games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. That’s why Pacers coach Frank Vogel probably went home after their loss to Chicago and started breaking down more film of the Magic. “I probably won’t sleep a wink tonight,” Vogel said. “I’m so excited. I’ve been peeking a little at Orlando, but I’m so excited to really bury myself in the film footage and dial into their tendencies and exactly what we need to do to beat that basketball team. I’m very much looking forward to it.”
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: Game 65 of 66, with a playoff spot already secured and an opponent playing for nothing, had about as much intensity as a day at the beach. Still, the game had to be played and the Sixers JV was better than that of the Milwaukee Bucks, pulling out a 90-85 win. It was the fourth-straight win for the Sixers and improved them to 35-30. Though no one in the 76ers organization will say so, playing the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs is much more preferred than having to face the Miami Heat for the second-straight year. The win by the Sixers and by New York Wednesday means the two are still tied for the seventh spot in the East, though the Knicks own the tiebreaker. Should the Sixers and Knicks both win or lose Thursday, the Sixers will get the Bulls. If the Sixers win in Detroit and the Knicks lose in Charlotte, then the Sixers will play the Heat.
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: Bucks second-year forward Larry Sanders returned Wednesday from a two-game unpaid suspension, the result of his emotional meltdown in the team's loss at Indiana last week. Sanders picked up two technical fouls and was ejected in the fourth quarter, and he nearly set off a melee between the teams before being dragged away by teammate Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Sanders pointed at Pacers forward David West before being pulled aside. It was the second time this month Sanders had been ejected from a game. In a recent interview, Sanders vowed to reform his behavior on the court. "I think the punishment was fair and everything," Sanders said. "My actions were out of line. I just have to control my emotions in situations like that. "Sanders said he wanted to apologize to Bucks fans for his actions.
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: The Washington Wizards woke up Wednesday knowing they would finish the season with the second-worst record in the NBA. But they were far from discouraged or disappointed because as the season is winding down, the fun is just starting to begin. Following a 96-85 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Wizards left Quicken Loans Arena as the hottest team in the Eastern Conference. They have won five games in a row for the first time in more than more four years. After the game, the locker room was filled with jokes, laughter and fashion advice, as John Wall chided rookie Shelvin Mack: “What kind of jeans you wearing, Wrangler? You got those Brett Favres on.” Wall later claimed that he would continue to give Mack a hard time for his clothing choices on Twitter. “It’s just the fact that you’re winning. It feels good to win,” Wall said after finishing with game-highs of 21 points and 13 assists to go with seven rebounds and seven steals. “You can tell, the whole group is having more fun.”
• Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer: The Cavaliers will finish with their worst home attendance since the season before they drafted LeBron James in 2003. But the arrival of the team's latest rookie sensation, Kyrie Irving, is increasing expectations and season-ticket renewals. The Cavs' season-ticket renewal rate already stands at 75 percent and is ahead of initial projections, a team spokesman confirmed. It's welcome news for a franchise that averaged 15,927 fans in the lockout-shortened season -- a 4,185 decline from last season, when they finished third in the NBA in attendance. The home finale against Washington drew 18,086 on Wednesday night. The decrease was completely expected after James' departure in July 2010 and a 19-63 record last season. The Cavs will finish 19th in a 30-team league, but they still outdrew three playoff teams: Memphis, Atlanta and Indiana. Heading into Wednesday's action, the Chicago Bulls (22,148) led the league, while the New Jersey Nets (13,961) were last. Cavaliers coach Byron Scott appreciates the support his team received, especially after perusing half-empty arena bowls in some NBA cities

• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: Even with Steve Nash at the helm, the Suns have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1988, as they were eliminated with a 100-88 loss Tuesday night at Utah. The Jazz (35-30) clinched the Western Conference's eighth and final playoff seed by snapping a seven-game losing streak to Phoenix and holding the Suns to 40.5 percent shooting with 15 turnovers. The Suns will miss the playoffs for the third time in the past four years and are left to play out the schedule Wednesday night against San Antonio, the West's top seed that likely will use stars lightly or not at all tonight. "You can't afford to not play well in a game like this," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "They did a good job overall on screen and rolls. They took (center) Marcin (Gortat) out of the game. We have to shoot the ball better from the perimeter. "They outplayed us." The Suns (33-32) had to fight from behind nearly all game because of a sloppy first half. They already were missing Channing Frye, who was present but out because of an injured shoulder, and then Grant Hill's comeback was cut short after a brief first-quarter appearance.
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: With the win, the Jazz (35-30) earned their 25th playoff appearance in franchise history. The victory cemented an unexpected resurgence by a small-market Utah franchise that went 39-43 during the 2010-11 season, failed to make the postseason, and lost coach Jerry Sloan and All-Star guard Deron Williams. ... The Jazz could finish as high as No. 7 when the regular season ends Thursday. Utah would then take on Oklahoma City in the first round, which starts Saturday. The Jazz are guaranteed at least the eighth seed, and would face No. 1 San Antonio. ... Al Jefferson scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting during the fourth quarter, finishing with 18 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. During shootaround Tuesday morning, he called the matchup the biggest contest of his career, since he hadn’t been to the playoffs since his rookie season in 2004-05 with Boston. Against the Suns, Big Al formed a Big Three with Millsap and Favors, and they pounded in a combined 57 points and 42 rebounds. "Seven long years since I been in the playoffs. It’s a blessing," Jefferson said. "It’s a great opportunity to get here. A lot of people counted us out. Nobody thought this team would be in a position to get in the playoffs and we made it. It’s a great group of guys and everyone on our team deserves it."
• Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: The NBA finally ruled on Metta World Chaos. Seven-game suspension for an elbow assault that gave James Harden a brain bruise and the state of Oklahoma a new Public Enemy No. 1. ... In the Hollywood Hills, they yell foul for too harsh a penalty. In Nichols Hills, they yell not harsh enough. Nothing short of a lifetime banishment would appease the Big Blue mob. Best to go to the man who always talks straight. “I think it's fair for what he done,” said the Thunder's Kendrick Perkins, no choir boy himself but also no brain bruiser, so far as I know. “A play that was uncalled for. Could have seriously injured someone.” Make no mistake. A seven-game suspension is stout. The Laker cuckoo bird will miss the regular-season finale at Sacramento on Thursday, then Los Angeles' first six playoff games, provided the Lakers last that long. Don't laugh. Without Chaos, the Lakers' task against Denver or Dallas just got a lot tougher. The Nuggets' Danilo Gallinari is a happy man today, knowing Chaos won't be in his grill should Denver draw LA. And if it's the Mavs, what do the Lakers do when Dallas goes small? Chaos won't be there to guard Dirk Nowitzki. ... If Harden's OK, then seven games seems a solid sentence. If Harden's not OK, the Thunder season soon will end, and Metta World Chaos becomes an even bigger villain in Boomtown.
• Jason Jones of the The Sacramento Bee: The Kings' coaching staff will look very familiar next season. Coach Keith Smart plans to bring back assistants Jim Eyen, Alex English and Bobby Jackson. Only English was hired after Smart replaced Paul Westphal, who was fired Jan. 5. "This group has been good," Smart said. "They've managed to blend with each other and work with each other and have an understanding of how each other functions." Smart said there also will be a role for special assistant Clifford Ray, who has been assisting with coaching the big men since last month. Smart said the schedule would dictate how much Ray would be with the team. "That guy will always be around me no matter where I'm coaching," Smart said. "Even if I'm coaching my kids, he's going to be around."
• Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee: Mayor Kevin Johnson and Kings co-owner George Maloof spoke again Tuesday morning and have decided to meet in person within the next few days in what will likely be a make-or-break session. The mayor told reporters Tuesday that the next meeting will probably determine whether the city's collapsed arena deal is back on, or if "we don't have the makings of a deal." Asked how confident he was that a deal would be resurrected between the city and its NBA team, Johnson said he was "hopeful rather than confident." A Maloof spokesman told The Bee's Tony Bizjak that the meeting would take place Thursday morning in Sacramento. But aides to the mayor said they had not confirmed their schedule. Maloof told The Bee's Dale Kasler that he'll probably be joined at the meeting by his brother Gavin, plus minority partner John Kehriotis and John Rinehart, the team's senior vice president for business operations.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: For those seeking the intensity of a Heat-Celtics matchup, the best advice was to dig up a tape from the April 10 game in Miami or perhaps the April 1 game at TD Garden, because neither team was recognizable in Tuesday night’s game. Celtics coach Doc Rivers trumped Miami coach Erik Spoelstra’s decision to rest the Heat’s Big Three by sitting Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Mickael Pietrus, and Greg Stiemsma to nurse nagging injuries. Ray Allen had been scratched after Monday’s practice. Rivers said most of those players will return for Thursday’s season finale against the Bucks. Garnett’s absence was the biggest surprise. He told Rivers that a hip flexor injury that caused him to miss a Feb. 15 loss to the Pistons had flared up. Garnett also was held out of Friday’s 97-92 loss to the Hawks to get some rest. “Kevin never comes in, and when he comes in to say, ‘I think I need two more days,’ it speaks volumes,’’ said Rivers. Paul Pierce asked to play Tuesday after being held out of Friday’s game.
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: One more regular-season game remains, but the Heat is already in playoff mode. The team conducted an intense, playoff-style practice before Tuesday’s game against the Celtics, and LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh did not play against Boston. With the Heat’s playoff position secure, James, Wade and Bosh are saving their energy for the first round of the playoffs, which will begin either Saturday or Sunday in Miami. The Heat’s Big 3 likely will sit out Thursday’s season finale at Washington, as well. Mario Chalmers and Udonis Haslem started alongside Shane Battier, Mike Miller and Dexter Pittman on Tuesday in Boston. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra began resting his starters after the Heat’s victory against the New Jersey Nets on April 16. ... Haslem played in his 593rd game with the Heat on Tuesday, tying Alonzo Mourning for second on the Heat’s all-time list. “It’s huge,” Haslem said. “Just to think back to when I first came and being undrafted and having to work so hard and the blood, sweat and tears just to be a part of the organization and be a part of the team, and I never would have thought nine years later this is the situation I would be in.” Haslem trails Wade by three games on the games-played list.
• Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Hawks defeated the Clippers 109-102 in a game with major postseason seeding implications for both teams in a playoff atmosphere at Philips Arena. Joe Johnson’s 3-pointer with 1:28 remaining brought the home crowd to its collective feet. His desperation 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining, with the shot clock expiring, was the final dagger. The Hawks (39-26) moved a game away from clinching home-court advantage in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Celtics. They need only a win in Thursday’s regular-season finale against the Mavericks or a Celtics loss against the Heat on Tuesday night or the Bucks on Thursday. The Hawks, winners of eight of their past 11, avenged a March loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles. They have now won three straight against the Clippers at Philips Arena. The Clippers (40-25) failed in an attempt to tie the Lakers for the Pacific Division lead and the third seed in the Western Conference playoff race. They lost for only the second time in the past eight games and are 14-4 since March 24.
• Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro wasn't happy with his team, going off on players after a lackluster effort against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night. "They outworked us. They outrebounded us," Del Negro said. "They got loose balls. We didn't really give ourselves a chance.… I didn't think our starters were very good. I didn't think our bench was very good and that's what you get." ... With so much at stake, Del Negro was asked why the effort was lacking. The Clippers knew they needed just one more victory to get the home-court advantage over Memphis in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Now the Clippers have to beat New York on Wednesday night to start the best-of-seven series at Staples Center this weekend. "Inexperience, young. You can make a bunch of excuses about it," Del Negro said. "The bottom line is you've got to go out and perform and I thought we got outworked tonight. Their (Hawks) backs were against the wall too and ours were. I thought they outworked us. Maybe we've got to take some more vitamins, some more energy drinks, whatever we've got to do. But I didn't like the start of the game."
• Marcus Thompson II of The Oakland Tribune: That the Warriors replaced general manager Larry Riley with protege Bob Myers comes as no shock. The big surprise is the timing. Why now? According to multiple team sources, a few factors came into play. The coming draft, and all the ensuing prep work. The pending free agent season, which kicks off July 1, and the Warriors’ need to woo someone though armed with nothing more than a mid-level. But perhaps the biggest factor, per the sources, was Myers’ as assistant general manager. It was part of the plan for Myers to succeed Riley when they lured Myers from the player agent side of the business a year ago this month. But at the time, co-owner Joe Lacob said Myers was in line for the job after Riley retired “in a few years.” It’s been 12 months. In that time, Myers, according to sources, has proved to Lacob he is ready now. Lacob is impressed with Myers’ connections around the league, his negotiation skills and the relationships he’s built in the organization. With the draft coming up, followed by an offseason where the Warriors need to add some key pieces, the decision was made to make the move now.

Blake Griffin has received his share of hard fouls this season. After Robin Lopez earned a Flagrant 2 and an ejection for collaring Griffin on Thursday, Griffin's teammate DeAndre Jordan vowed to protect his buddy. ESPN LA's Arash Markazi reported Jordan’s statement in practice the next day, when Jordan essentially said he would put the hurt on anyone or any team that went after Griffin.

"If Blake gets fouled, I can't go punch someone in the nose," Jordan said. “We can't do that but throughout the course of a game, other fouls happen to other players on the opposite team and if they happen to be hard fouls, they happen to be hard fouls. We're going to protect our teammates; it doesn't matter who it is."

Jordan was threatening to be the Clippers’ enforcer, a time-honored role in the NBA. Fortunately, this kind of threat has been on the decline since the league has taken steps to curb the violence in the game -- particularly fighting and fouls that endanger players.

But violence hasn't disappeared in the NBA, and the matter is complicated by the relative value of the players involved.

Consider that Robin Lopez has little value compared to Blake Griffin, so if Lopez had taken Griffin out of the game, it would have been a much more damaging blow to the Clippers, even as it was a Suns player committing the infraction. Or how about Sunday, when Metta World Peace was ejected for brutally elbowing star Thunder guard James Harden in the head -- though it wasn’t a part of the L.A. game plan, the exit of World Peace and Harden was a net gain for the Lakers, who eventually came back and won the game.

Clippers VP of basketball operations Neil Olshey has a HoopIdea that could lessen the incentive for NBA violence. He told ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz that rather than simply ejecting the offending player, the team that is flagrantly fouled should have the ability to choose which player sits.

After the ejection of Lopez on Thursday night, the Suns still had all their top players on the court and eventually came back to beat the Clippers. In Olshey’s world, they would have had to do it without a star player: "I want Steve Nash to sit, not Robin Lopez."

In other words, Olshey thinks the stars should pay for the sins of the goon.

A player like Lopez or Jordan might be willing to sacrifice his ability to play to make a statement to an opposing star and team -- that's part of the job description. But would he be as willing to do so if it meant his own star teammate would have to sit?

On Sunday, Olshey's HoopIdea could have forced the Lakers to attempt their second-half comeback without the services of Kobe Bryant. If the league really wants to keep goons from running amok, punishing stars, and thereby their teams, for their goons' rough play is a good place to start.

• 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."

• Geoff Calkins of The Commercial-Appeal: The Memphis Grizzlies clinched a second-straight trip to the playoffs Wednesday night by defeating the New Orleans Hornets, 103-91. And if it wasn’t exactly a surprising development for Rudy Gay and company, it was satisfying, just the same. “No question,” said Gay. “This is why you play. We know where we’re going to be in two weeks. We don’t take that for granted at all.” Gay, of course, would be the last person to take it for granted. He missed last year’s playoff run after shoulder surgery. While Z-Bo and the Grizzlies upset the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs, Gay tried his best to pretend he was thrilled. Inside, he was aching. Of course he was. “I might as well have bought a ticket last year,” he said. “That’s the honest truth.” So this time around, he’s become the ticket. NBA Playoffs, admit one.
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: LeBron James heard the chants Monday in Newark. Now, yes, he would like the award. James told reporters this morning that it would be meaningful to be named the NBA’s MVP for the third time. This, after all, seemed like more of a long shot when he teamed up with Dwyane Wade. But this season, James leads the Heat in every meaningful category, while guarding five positions. I have a vote. And, unlike last year, he will get my first place slot. Kevin Durant will be second on my ballot. I’m still sorting out the rest of the top 5 from a flawed list of options — though Chris Paul, Kevin Love, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith and Russell Westbrook will figure in there somewhere, depending in part on how the seedings play out. Dwight Howard will not be on my ballot, and neither will any Bull, Knick or Pacer.
• Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe: In addition to being nearly traded, Ray Allen was relegated to the bench by the emergence of Avery Bradley, a move that has made the Celtics more athletic and more effective defensively. Bradley’s offensive development has been one of the more surprising storylines of the NBA season. It appears that Allen would appreciate better communication from team management. Yahoo! Sports reported that Rivers called Allen just hours before the March 15 trade deadline and informed him of the trade to Memphis and then called back 20 minutes later to tell him the deal had been foiled. ... It seems while the Celtics have undergone a resurgence - primarily because trades for Allen and Pierce never materialized - there has been a breakdown in communication and perhaps regard between management and those veteran players. The wedge may be too late to close. Allen wants to finish this season with a championship, but the likelihood of his return next season has diminished. Perhaps those are the prickly issues that arise when eras conclude, but this one should have been massaged and managed better to make the road to the next Celtics’ phase smoother.
• Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times: Point guard Derrick Rose can’t explain why he has suffered so many injuries, but he said Wednesday that sitting out the last four regular-season games to ensure he’s healthy when the playoffs begin is not an option he’s considering. “I want to play as soon as possible,” Rose said. “I just want to get out there, man. I miss the game.” Rose missed his 25th game with his fifth different injury when he was ruled out against the Charlotte Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena. Forward Luol Deng also missed his second consecutive game with sore ribs. They suffered their injuries in the game Sunday against the Detroit Pistons, and the status for both Thursday against the Miami Heat will be game-time decisions.
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: Dwight Howard did not join the Orlando Magic on their road trip for Wednesday night's game against the Boston Celtics, but Magic General Manager Otis Smith said Howard isn't sitting idle. Howard, who has a herniated disk in his lower back, is doing rehabilitation work at Jewett Orthopaedic Clinic's location at RDV Sportsplex. ... Howard's camp is adamant that the All-NBA center wants to return for the postseason. He will be re-evaluated on or around the end of the regular season. Depending how he responds to treatment, he could play in the playoffs. Meanwhile, injured small forward Hedo Turkoglu, is about ready to resume conditioning work, Smith said. Turkoglu fractured his cheekbone April 5 and underwent surgery April 7.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Before we get James Harden’s career-high 40 points, to me there was an even bigger event during Wednesday night’s game. With 2:13 left and the final score already posted at 109-97 because neither team would score again, Thunder starting point guard Russell Westbrook threw a lazy in-bound pass to Harden that was nearly intercepted. An infuriated Scott Brooks immediately motioned Derek Fisher off the bench to replace Westbrook, who did not make eye contact with Brooks as he walked back to the bench. Brooks was sending a message to Westbrook. Whether Westbrook actually received that message is debatable since he didn’t seem to care in the least – which is precisely the entire point of the sequence. A big (+1) to Brooks. ... As for Harden’s performance: If you’re going to go off for a career night, no better place to do it than your hometown or where you played collegiately. The former ArizonaStatestandout had the crowd “oohing” and “ahhing” all night.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: The Suns fell back out of the playoff picture, dropping to ninth place in the Western Conference with a 109-97 loss to Oklahoma City at US Airways Center. The loss allowed Utah to move into eighth place, a half-game ahead of Phoenix and Houston, and the Thunder completed a three-game season sweep of the Suns (32-30). The Suns can move back into an eighth-place tie with Utah if they win at home against the Clippers tonight, when Grant Hill is expected to return after missing two games because of a sore right knee. With a week remaining in the season, Houston also could be in that tie with a win tonight at New Orleans, but the Suns hold the tiebreaker in either a two-way or three-way tie. Get through to the playoffs, and the Suns could wind up facing Oklahoma City (45-17), which is a half-game behind West leader San Antonio. "We've just got to go for broke now," Suns point guard Steve Nash said.
• Al Iannazzone of Newsday: Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler are looking forward to Amar'e Stoudemire's return. "Amar'e is an incredible player, and he's been looking great," Chandler said. "It's just a matter of him getting his timing back. But we obviously know we're a way better team with him than without him." Stoudemire remains on schedule to play Friday night in Cleveland. He went through a pregame workout Wednesday night and if there are no issues with his back, he will start against the Cavaliers. ... Anthony has flourished being the Knicks' main scoring threat the 13 games Stoudemire has missed with a bulging disc in his back. There will be an adjustment for everyone involved, but Anthony believes it's been blown out proportion. "I don't think there's anything about a transition or adjustment or anything like that," he said. "I'm pretty sure he'll fit right in. Our biggest thing and his biggest thing is to get him healthy. We're going to need him down the stretch, especially going into the playoffs."
• Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: It looks as if Kobe Bryant will return Friday in San Antonio. Will it be enough to keep the Lakers ahead of the Clippers for third place in the Western Conference? The Lakers (40-23) are half a game ahead of the unyielding Clippers, who won for the 13th time in 15 games by beating Denver on Wednesday, 104-98. The Clippers have won five consecutive games but finish with three of their last four on the road: at Phoenix, home against New Orleans, at New York and at Atlanta. The Lakers, after visiting San Antonio, play host to Oklahoma City and finish at Sacramento. The Lakers own the tiebreaker against the Clippers (39-23) after winning two of their three regular-season meetings. Beyond whatever local bragging rights (albeit brief) accompany the team that finishes higher in the standings, the Lakers and Clippers want to finish third to avoid a first-round series against a young, well-rounded Memphis team.
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: Before Wednesday’s game against the Kings at Power Balance Pavilion, Popovich reflected on the time he’s spent with Parker, as what he calls the point guard’s best NBA season hits the home stretch. Parker is averaging 18.6 points and a career-best 7.7 assists. Beyond the numbers, Parker — who turns 30 next month — has blossomed into the type of floor general modeling the Spurs’ first championship-winning point guard, Avery Johnson. “I’ll call something, and he’ll call it off if he sees something different,” Popovich said. “I’ll let him go with it. He’s earned that.” Parker’s command of the Spurs, keeping them in front of the Western Conference in a season in which Manu Ginobili has missed 30 games and Tim Duncan is flirting with a career low in minutes, has elevated the Frenchman to at least the outskirts of the league MVP discussion. “It was something we talked about, and we wanted and we gave him as a challenge,” Popovich said. “He fulfilled the challenge and the expectations. This has been his best year.”
• Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: Of course. Kenyon Martin, he of the snarling, chip-on-his-shoulder defense, was the guy who changed the game. In an air-tight final minute Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center, with playoff positions hanging in the balance, Martin made a tough tip-in and then blocked a shot for the Clippers, who escaped Denver with a 104-98 win over the Nuggets that was closer than the score suggests. The former Denver power forward, who wasn't offered a contract extension and ultimately signed with the Clippers, tipped in a missed jumper with 27.1 seconds left, giving L.A. a 98-96 lead. Then, on the other end, he swatted Ty Lawson's layup into the hands of a Clippers teammate with 19.9 seconds left. Everybody made their free throws and the Clips ped out of town with a W in their luggage. "It's about winning basketball. Never quit playing no matter what the situation is," Martin said. "And that was my only rebound tonight, so it was perfect timing."
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: The Mavericks have learned some hard lessons through the years, none better than the plain fact that to achieve greatness, you've got to have drive. It took awhile to put it on display, but they finally found it in every sense of the word Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets. Vince Carter, Jason Terry and even Dirk Nowitzki used an assortment of spins and drives to the basket to snap the Mavericks out of a somewhat sluggish first three quarters. The result was a remarkable fourth quarter in which Nowitzki had 21 of his 35 points, and the Mavericks put themselves on the lip of the playoff cup with a 117-110 victory over the Rockets at American Airlines Center.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: For the Rockets, the path to the playoffs is clear. Clarity does come when you have your longest losing streak of the season down the stretch to fall from sixth to 10th. “It’s tough now,” Chandler Parsons said. “We basically have to win out. We do have to win out.” Unless they somehow go from a five-game losing streak to a four-game winning streak, they will have turned into the Boston Red Sox without the fried chicken and beer. If they do somehow pull off such a spectacular turnaround, they still might not get in. It is, however, easier to see them getting the help they need than the four wins. With the Suns and Jazz holding the tie-breakers against the Rockets, the Rockets’ only way in to the playoffs is to get past both in the standings. The Rockets have to win in New Orleans tonight, take care of the freefalling Warriors and somehow win in Miami, where the Heat have the league’s best home record and the Rockets will be playing their sixth game in eight days.
• Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times: There could be more than an NBA Eastern Conference playoff spot on the line for the Milwaukee Bucks in their remaining five regular-season games. There could also be John Hammond’s and Scott Skiles’ jobs. Hammond, the Bucks general manager, and Skiles, their head coach, are nearing the completion of their fourth year with the organization. If the Bucks fail to advance to the playoffs, it would mark the third time in four seasons under their regime that they missed out on postseason play. What’s more, there aren’t any concrete indicators pointing toward a more promising future. In fact, since their blockbuster trade last month that sent Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to Golden State for Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown, the Bucks have posted an anemic 1-7 record against teams with a winning record. Of course, that will be easily forgotten if the Bucks reach the playoffs, which has always been Kohl’s primary goal for his GMs and head coaches. By making the playoffs, Kohl would also save himself an exorbitant amount of money. Skiles and Hammond each have one more season left on their contracts: Skiles for around $5 million and Hammond for around $2 million. At the same time, nobody should be startled if Kohl swallows one or even both of those contracts.
• Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: No letdown, only a smackdown. The Hawks erased any concern they would fall to an inferior opponent minutes into a 116-84 utter dismantling of the Pistons at Philips Arena on Wednesday night. They set season-highs for points in a quarter (39) and points in a half (72) in building an early lead the Pistons had no hope of overcoming. Consider: The Hawks led 39-20 after the first quarter as nine different players scored. They led 72-42 at the half as all 12 available players entered the scoring column. The .622 shooting percentage was the best of the first half all season. The Hawks led by as many as 37 points in the second quarter. The lead eventually reached 41 in the fourth quarter. oe Johnson logged the most first-half minutes of any starter with just 12. Many starters jumped to their feet and waved towels as the reserves continued to pour it on. The Pistons made only 15 of 44 shots (.341) in the first half. The Pistons ended the first half with 42 points, a total the Hawks had reached with 11:28 remaining in the second quarter. The Philips Arena crowd even attempted the wave in the third quarter.
• Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune: The Jazz destroyed the Portland Trail Blazers 112-91 during a Northwest Division matchup Wednesday at the Rose Garden. Utah (33-30) will make the playoffs if it wins its final three games. All are at home, where the Jazz are 22-8 this season. Two are against teams — Portland, Orlando — missing big-name All-Stars. And a contest against Phoenix next Thursday is shaping up as the make-or-break matchup for the Jazz’s season. Minutes after downing the Blazers (28-35), Utah’s locker room was as proud and strong as it’s been all year. Al Jefferson sang. Paul Millsap laughed and teased. Gordon Hayward smiled and slapped a low-five. All the while, Harris quietly but confidently talked about his game. He discussed his mid-career resurgence. The improved 3-point shot he worked on throughout the lockout. A team that’s believed in itself since December, weathered injuries and losing streaks, and emerged to finally be within sight of the postseason.
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: Any coach in any sport at any level must possess a large amount of patience if he is going to be successful. Doug Collins must have a reserve tank of it. How else could he still have his sanity after getting practically no production from starting shooting guard Jodie Meeks the past couple of weeks? But Collins keeps putting Meeks out there, night after night, with the hope that the streakiness that makes up the Kentucky product’s shooting will take a major turn upward. ... Streaky shooters will be just that and sometimes hit the type of droughts Meeks is stuck in. But it is worse than that. Meeks, who started the first 38 games of the season and 46 overall, looks unsure of himself on his jump shots, even airballing an important wide-open trey against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday. Meeks has maintained the same attitude this season, claiming that he never loses confidence in his shooting and that if he goes through streaks like this, he truly feels his next shot will go in. With the Sixers in a somewhat free fall and struggling to maintain the final NBA playoff spot, the team can ill afford for Meeks not to perform.

• 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.

Basketball geekery has delved into crunch time in various ways.

• First there was individual field goal percentage. That's where we learned that the players we thought owned crunch time (for instance Kobe Bryant and Chauncey Billups) actually miss a lot.
• A year ago, we added something new, looking at team offenses. That's a more important measure, assuming you value wins more than highlights. Who cares who gets the bucket, so long as they're on your team? That's where we learned that most teams were about the same, with some exceptions, including Chris Paul's Hornets, which were amazing.

But all that is only part of the picture. Because as much as we love clutch buckets, clutch wins also have a ton to do with defense. If you're going to point to any team as elite in the clutch, that must be included, and now it is.

As John Hollinger has explained, a lot of what teams do in crunch time is likely random. Looking at tiny parts of games creates some wacky results without a lot of predictive value ... anyone who says they know a team will do well in crunch time is likely fibbing. All teams do both well and poorly at different times. But defense may be a bit of an exception. Teams do seem to play defense with a certain consistency late in games.

Using NBA.com data from the last five years (current as of today), from games within five points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime, Trevor Ebaugh of ESPN Stats & Info. dug in and created this pretty Tableau table:



Some of what we noticed:

• The Cavaliers of LeBron James and Mike Brown were unreal in crunch time, leading the league by a hefty margin for three straight years, with the best performances of any teams in the record. It's easy to see that LeBron James matters here -- once he left for Miami the Cavaliers’ plus/minus plummeted. The Cavs averaged plus-113 with James during those three seasons, and plus one in the two seasons since. Meanwhile, before James, the Heat weren't good in crunch time, but have since become very solid.
• Mike Brown emerges as an interesting character in crunch time. With James in Cleveland three straight years, and now in Los Angeles after a year off, his teams led the league by this metric every year he has coached in the last half-decade. In this period, neither team has been as good with other coaches, either.
• The Lakers have by far the best crunch time plus/minus this season (plus-79, the Pacers are second at plus-65). Pau Gasol (plus-78) has been their biggest individual star, followed closely by Andrew Bynum (plus-74). Kobe Bryant ranks third at plus-58. The Lakers achieved this number with the NBA's second-best clutch offense (behind the Magic) and the eighth-best defense.
• Three teams have shone for five straight years: The Lakers, Celtics and Magic. The Nuggets are flirting with joining that club, too.
• Superstars matter. Or, at least some do. LeBron James, Derrick Rose, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul almost always end the season positive in this regard -- the only exceptions are Paul and Nowitzki this year, which could still change. Other big names, like Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade have had more mixed results.
• Good teams in general do well in crunch time. The top six teams in crunch time plus/minus this season have already locked up playoff spots, for instance (Lakers, Pacers, Hawks, Magic, Spurs and Bulls). But it's hardly a perfect correlation. In fact, surely a lot of what we're seeing in this chart appears to be simple randomness. The Pacers, terrible for a long time, are suddenly leaders. The Kings are excellent crunch time defenders this season. The Hawks are a solid team that is way better than solid late in games. And plenty of good teams -- the Sixers, the Knicks -- are pretty bad with the game on the line.
• Over the past half-decade, just two teams, the Knicks and Timberwolves, haven't had a single season in positive territory.
• The top ten late-game offensive teams this season are the Magic, Lakers, Grizzlies, Bulls, Hawks, Pacers, Rockets, Thunder, Spurs and Knicks.
• The Pacers are by far this season's best defensive team late in close games. They are followed by the Hawks, Kings (!), Spurs, Heat, Magic, Bulls, Lakers, Thunder and Clippers.
• The Dallas Mavericks have been very good for the last five years, but also have had the biggest drop-off in crunch time performance, from a league-leading plus-117 last season to an anemic minus-16 this season.
• The Hawks have been good in crunch time for four straight years.
• The Spurs and Thunder have been up and down.
• The Houston Rockets (plus-31) and Memphis Grizzlies (plus-28) are the best crunch time teams this season that have yet to lock up a playoff spot. The Los Angeles Clippers (minus-9) are the only playoff team with a negative clutch plus/minus.

Mostly, this feels like it's the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot more to learn about all this, and one of the big questions on the horizon is something Bill James has wrestled with in baseball for quite some time: Is there such a thing as clutch time performers? Are there really players or teams who do better with the game on the line?

That's still not something we know. What we do know is that a lot of what we thought we knew was wrong.