ESPN NBA

Lakers vs. Spurs

• Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times: "On nights like Tuesday, when Lakers hustle and depth and balance steal the headlines, Kobe Bryant is often taken for granted. But it is nights like Tuesday when Bryant is often most effective. No, he didn't win the game in the end. He won it in the second quarter, and third quarter, and fourth quarter, again and again and again. By my count, from late in the second quarter until the final frantic clock, Bryant made eight plays that either broke a tie or stole momentum."
• Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Daily News: "Yes, truly, the Lakers are too much for the Spurs. Too quick, too athletic, too talented, too young. And sometimes, too lucky. The Lakers made everyone sweat unnecessarily Tuesday. Made things way too interesting, way too tense. They controlled the game for most of the night, but some brain-dead moments at the end left them clinging by fingernails and needing a bit of luck to escape with a 93-91 victory."
• Mark Whicker of The Orange County Register: "The career-long question for Lamar Odom is this: What are you? Scorer? Rebounder? Passer? Leader? Facilitator? Main man? On nights like this, the answer is simple: Yes. Because, in the fourth game of Western Conference finals, with a howling crowd and a frowning NBA champion threatening to slither into his head, Odom went on an eight-point flurry that raised the Lakers' lead from two to seven with :56 left, and put the Spurs into a tight corral. Which, of course, is where they showed their brand."
• Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: "If Brent Barry had sold it, he would have forced Crawford to make the call. If Barry had done a Ginobili, flailing his arms, coming up through Fisher, then Barry would have shot three free throws. A career 82 percent shooter, he likely would have made them. Having already scored a season-high 23 points, he would have become Sean Elliott in 1999, Steve Kerr in 2003 and Horry in 2005. The unexpected hero of a postseason. But Barry says he didn't see Fisher, and he released his desperation shot only after Fisher had fallen to the side. No one blamed Barry. As Popovich said, 'We wouldn't have had a chance to win if it wasn't for Brent tonight.' Popovich and Barry didn't blame Crawford, either. Both said it was the proper no-call."

Celtics vs. Pistons 

• Chris McCosky of The Detroit News: "Anybody who says they have a good feel for what might happen tonight in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals is lying. With the way this series has gone -- each team giving up serve at home and also scoring a resounding victory in its building -- even the players and coaches don't have a strong feeling one way or another. And that's the beauty of this series between the Celtics and Pistons."
• Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press: "Every year the Pistons say they are going to play their bench. And every year the bench just sits there. And when their season ends, the Pistons slap themselves in the forehead and say, 'Duh! We were supposed to play the PLAYERS on the bench.' Well, you can't complain about this anymore. The Pistons' backups have contributed more than in any postseason since 2004. Without rookie Rodney Stuckey, the Pistons would have needed six or seven games to beat Orlando. Without Jason Maxiell, they probably would have lost Game 4 to Boston."
• A. Sherrod Blakely of Booth Newspapers: "Leading Detroit's band of non-title holders is Antonio McDyess, who arrived in Detroit just months after the team's 2004 title. He came to the Pistons with one goal, and that's to win an NBA title. And when the Pistons came so close in 2005, losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals in seven games, McDyess was devastated. Since then, Detroit has failed to get back to the NBA Finals and used just about every explanation short of 'My dog ate the homework' to justify its struggles. McDyess has heard them all, and he's tired of it."
• Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa of the Boston Herald: "Memo to Tom Brady: If you decide to take in Game 5 at the Garden tonight, puh-leeeze leave the girlfriend at home! It has not escaped Celtics fans' notice that when Gisele Bundchen was in da house last week, the Green Team's perfect home playoff record suddenly came to a screeching halt. Talk about deja-vu-all-over-again! Because the last time Gi was front-and-center at a big time sporting event, Tommy and the Patriots were busy losing their bid for perfection at Super Bowl XLII! You may recall that angry, bitter Pats fans dubbed Gi 'Jinxele' after she decided to trash her flying-under-the-radar game plan and come out of hiding for the Super Bowl."
• Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: "P.J. Brown has become an invaluable playoff player in that typically sound way of his. When the Celtics and Pistons lock up in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight at the Garden, Brown will get the first call off the bench when Rivers needs a big man to body up against Detroit's big front line. The medium-range jumper he has hit with the consistency of, oh, Antonio McDyess, filled in some important gaps for the Celtics. And after lingering near the end of the bench for the longest time, Brown has become indispensable, the perfect veteran role player."
• Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe: "Kevin Garnett is paid like a superstar. He finished third in the MVP voting and is internationally acclaimed as one of the best players of all time. But he hasn't been a champion, and this is his time to step up and take over in the big moments of the biggest games. Statistically, he's had a good playoff run. He leads the Celtics with 20.7 points per game in this series. But he needs to do more."
• Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe: "With everything on the stat sheets just about even, the Eastern Conference finals have come down to Jedi mind tricks. Sam Cassell had the sweaty bal
  d head to prove it. He was one of a few players to notice that the visitors' locker room in The Palace of Auburn Hills felt like a sauna before Game 4 Monday. The temperature didn't drop much after the Celtics lost, either, which got Cassell to start pointing fingers, particularly at Pistons president Joe Dumars, a Bad Boys-era Piston. 'I told Joe after the game, 'You can put the air conditioning back on now,' Cassell said."
• William C. Rhoden of The New York Times: "Shortly before the Eastern Conference finals began, a reporter wanted to make a comparison between Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president for basketball operations and Danny Ainge, the Celtics' executive director for basketball operations. Dumars, ever the diplomat, was polite and spoke in general terms about his approach to building the Pistons into a successful franchise. But there really is no comparison. Since taking over in June 2000, Dumars transformed a franchise that won 32 games in the 2000-1 season into one that has made six consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference finals. Detroit, much like San Antonio, is a tortoise in the N.B.A. With wise draft picks and timely acquisitions of free agents, the Pistons and the Spurs have built strong structures, brick by brick."