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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Philadelphia 76ers staved off elimination with a 82-75 win over the Boston Celtics, sending the Eastern Conference Semifinals to a decisive Game 7 in Boston on Saturday.

This will be the seventh Game 7 between the 76ers and Celtics, and the first in three decades. Boston has won four of the previous six meetings, but the 76ers won the last such game exactly 30 years ago today.

Philadelphia continued its improbable run through the playoffs as the No. 8 seed with its seventh win in 12 games this postseason.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 76ers seven wins are tied for the second-most in a single postseason by an eight-seed since 1983-84 (the 16-team playoff format began in 1983-84).

The win tonight was hardly a surprise for fans in Philadelphia or Boston. The 76ers improved to 5-0 this postseason following a loss and 5-1 in home playoff games.

With the loss, the Celtics drop to 10-13 overall and 2-11 on the road in close-out games since Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo on the team in the 2007-08 season.

Keys to the Game
The 76ers dominated the Celtics around the basket, shooting 63 percent from inside five feet, their best rate so far in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. They also held the Celtics to under 40 percent shooting from inside five feet for the first time since Game 2 of the 2009-2010 NBA Finals against the Lakers.

Contributing to the Celtics woes on the interior was Kevin Garnett's reluctance to go inside. All 20 of Garnett’s field goal attempts in Game 6 were from 10 feet and out, with an average distance of 17 feet.

The 20 attempts from 10-plus feet are four more than Garnett’s previous high with the Celtics. Garnett had 126 games with the Celtics prior to Wednesday with 15 or more field goal attempts. In all of those games, Garnett had at least one shot inside of 10 feet.

Looking Ahead to Game 7
Despite the 76ers win on Wednesday night, they still face long odds to win the series:

• In NBA playoff history, teams that have won Game 5 of a best-of-seven series that was tied at 2-2 (like the Celtics did) have gone on to win the series 83 percent of the time.

• The Celtics were the 47th team to win Game 5 of a best-of-seven series that was tied 2-2 by 15-or-more points. Of the previous 46 teams to do that, 44 went on to win the series, according to Elias.

• And Elias also tells us that the 76ers have lost each of the last 13 best-of-seven series they have played in which they have trailed 3-2, which is the longest such streak in NBA history.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• It's near impossible to stop Chris Paul, but the trend around the league is to use a long, athletic swingman to smother the 6-foot point guard. That tactic has been effective for Golden State and Dallas, which used Dominic McGuire and Shawn Marion, respectively, to slow down Paul and the Clippers. But after reading this excellent post (with a great video of Paul discussing how he attacks taller players), I'm thinking that it takes more than one tall guy with quick feet to shut down CP3.
• Something new on Jeremy Lin: a stereotype scholar explains how racial stereotypes worked both for and against the Knicks point guard.
• Unexpected: John Hollinger says the Knicks are playing better defense when DPOY candidate Tyson Chandler sits. Expected: This has a lot to do with Chandler sharing the court with Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. (Insider)
• Brandon Jennings has the foot speed to be a disruptive defender, but coach Scott Skiles would like to see him be a bit more conservative: “The thing that Brandon always has to battle is going for a steal, 'cause he can steal the ball. He had [Lou Williams] all bottled up, six, five left on the shot clock and he went for a steal, Lou went to his right hand and shot a dotted line jump shot. He’s still working on it, he’s just got to battle the urge to gamble when it’s just keep my man in front of me.”
• Is Chris Bosh better than LeBron James or Dwyane Wade? No. But he may be less dispensable to the Heat's offense. Brian Windhorst reports that Chris Bosh will return to the Heat lineup tonight after missing three games (two of them losses) following the death of his grandmother.
• The Raptors are fighting hard for new coach Dwane Casey, but it's still important that they lose their fair share of games in order to nab a high lottery pick. So, according to Prospect of Raptors Republic, last night was a perfect game: "The Raptors were outmatched, undermanned, but still somehow managed to put in a scrappy effort and almost won the game, pleasing tank nation while still giving the home fans a reason to show up."
• D.J. Foster on why the Clippers should be nervous about the postseason:"The best teams in the league force you to pick your poison, but the Clippers don’t really do that — Paul just administers the poison on his own and kills you himself. Eventually though, teams will start doubling Paul as soon as he crosses half court. We’ve seen it before in New Orleans — it’s not that crazy of a thought. They’ll get the ball out of his hands, and if they fail at that, they’ll collapse on him as soon as he moves towards the rim. Defenses will make anyone other than Paul beat them. A good portion of the time Paul will still beat them, but at times it will come down to things like this: Can Blake Griffin hit a mid-range jumper? Can Caron Butler hit the open 3 from the corner? Can Randy Foye make the right decision?
• Jan Vesely wants in the dunk contest. Anyone whose nickname is "Air Wolf" gets my blessing.
• Evan Turner's first start of the season didn't go so well. Should he be starting at all?
• For GQ, Bethlehem Shoals writes that fans give Lamar Odom the benefit of the doubt because he's never been shy about showing an emotional vulnerability that is unusual for professional athletes, but pretty common in most humans.
• The Charlotte Bobcats are making a legitimate run at being the worst team of all time. Related: Boris Diaw remains hopelessly out of shape, which may mean he's consuming calories equivalent to 200 White Castle burgers a week.
• Zach Lowe takes on the impossible task of quantifying Rajon Rondo's trade value.
• Plenty of people want to see Steve Nash get traded to a contender. But moving Robin Lopez might be more beneficial to the Suns.
• Despite missing Zach Randolph all season, the Grizzlies lurk as a sleeper to once again make a run in the Western Conference playoffs. But to do so, should they make a trade before the deadline?
• A lot has already happened since the All-Star break. Here's a funny video recap of it all (and some made up stuff, too).

I was shocked to see Rajon Rondo at No. 17 in #NBA Rank and recently irked by his presence in the All-Star game. I am what you might call a "Rondo hater," insofar as that term means believing an athlete to be worse than consensus. Obviously, Rajon is good, obviously he can help a squad. This is simply a matter of, "Should he really have made three All-Star teams?," the way even Nash admirers question Steve's two MVPs.

This touches on a broader issue, one of what we expect from our point guards. The position has a certain cachet in the league. It means more to the average observer than say, power forward. A point guard is a team's "quarterback," its "engine," that drink-stirring straw. The point guard does not play on a squad so much as he animates it, infusing four others with his giving spirit. Or so the legend goes.

There is a platonic ideal for the point guard position, and that is to be an unselfish distributor. Rajon Rondo passes that test, no pun intended. The man is second in assists this year, and he notched a whopping 11.2 per game last year. For this reason, Rondo is considered a "pure point guard," the way other role-fitting stars might be considered "pure scorers." That he embodies an archetype might help explain how Rondo received a No. 17 #NBARank after a season in which he garnered a No. 69 PER.

But Rondo does not fit my platonic ideal for a point guard, because Boston's offense, to put it mildly, stinks. They are 23rd ranked in offensive efficiency this year, and this season is not exactly aberrational. In five-plus years with Rajon, the Celtics have only had a top 10 offense once. There are external factors to explain the anemic attack, but Rondo might be somewhat to blame despite his respectable PER.

To quote Bill Simmons on the matter: "Any smart team (like the Lakers last night) plays six feet off Rondo in tight games, daring him to shoot, paralyzing Boston's offense and leading to the dreaded "Clogged Toilet" play (Pierce ending up with the ball 25 feet from the hoop with seven seconds left trying to create something)." So he racks up assists, and certainly contributes. But Rajon's shooting woes might prevent him from running the kind of humming offense that Nash puppeteers.

Boston's defense was paramount during Rondo's reign, and the ball-hawking sprite deserves credit for his role. The issue is that point guard--as a position--might be less important defensively than those frontcourt spots. Recall how KG's arrival brought with it a renaissance of stringiness. While it is important for every man to play his defensive role, defense relies on occupying space, and the largest players are often the best space takers. This might have something to do with why Gary Payton was the last point guard to win Defensive Player of the Year, way back in 1996.

So this is a question of what you think a point guard's role is. Is it to get assists? Is it to run an efficient offense? Inject the question of whether defense is really 'half the game' for an offense-oriented position, and you have perhaps the NBA's hardest player to gauge.

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The Chicago Bulls have been winning with their half-court defense. The Bulls entered Friday’s game allowing 0.78 points per play in the half court, which ranked second-best in the NBA.

This time, it established itself a little earlier than usual.

In its first 12 games Chicago’s half-court defense was holding opponents to 41 percent shooting in the first half and 38 percent in the second half.

Those numbers basically flipped around in a Friday win as the Bulls set the tone by holding the Celtics to just 33 first-half points (all but two in the half court), their third-best defensive effort in a half this season. The Boston Celtics shot just 35 percent in half-court sets in the first half in dropping their third straight game.

Bulls guard Derrick Rose scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including two big three-pointers in the final 7:30 of the game, completely turning around what was a below-average performance in the first three periods.

Entering Friday’s game Rose was shooting 44 percent in the half court and was most successful as the pick-and-roll ball handler, shooting 47 percent.

Rose turned it on in the half court in the final 12 minutes, making as many shots in half-court sets (four) as he did in the first 36.

Rose was just 1-for-6 on pick-and-roll plays in the first three quarters, but made a pair-of-baskets on three attempts off pick-and-rolls in the fourth quarter.

The Celtics are floundering. They are off to their worst start since Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce in Boston in 2007-08.

Boston has struggled offensively during the three-game slide, shooting 42 percent from the field while getting just under 20 points per game off the bench.

Kobe, again
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant topped the 40-point mark for the third straight game in Friday’s win over coach Mike Brown's former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It’s the seventh time in his career that Bryant has had a streak this long, the first time since doing so for five straight games during the 2006-07 season.

Bryant’s longest streak of 40-point games was a nine-game run in which he averaged 44 points per game in the 2002-03 season.

30/10 for Williams, 30/15 for Love

Deron Williams had 35 points and 14 assists in the New Jersey Nets win over the Phoenix Suns. That is Williams' 13th 30-point, 10-assist game since the 2008-09 season. The only players with more in that span are LeBron James (17) and Dwyane Wade (15).

Kevin Love scored 34 points and pulled down 15 rebounds for the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was his 10th career game with at least 30 points and 15 rebounds, which moves him into a tie for 9th most among active players, despite only being in the league for four seasons.

Plus-Minus Note of the Night
It was a good day for the San Antonio Spurs bench in a 99-83 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
In the 30 minutes that third-year swingman Danny Green was on the floor, the Spurs outscored the Trail Blazers by 29 points.

It was the best plus-minus of Green’s career by far, surpassing a plus-15 as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Milwaukee Bucks on March 6, 2010.

Somebody finally figured out how to slow down the Miami Heat. The Atlanta Hawks opened the fourth quarter with a 15-3 run on Monday night, outscoring Miami 33-21 in final quarter to hand the Heat their first loss of the season.

The Heat had a season-low 92 points and struggled offensively because they could not get out in transition. In their first five games, the Heat were averaging 101.6 possessions per game and were one of the best transition teams in the NBA. On Monday, Miami had a season-low 92 possessions and struggled to get out on the break.

The Hawks also dominated the Heat down low with a 50-38 advantage in the paint. Entering Monday night, Miami was allowing only 32.8 points in the paint per game, the third-fewest in the NBA, and were outscoring their opponents in the paint by an average of 16.4 points per game.

Miami’s ball-hawking defense was also absent against Atlanta as the Hawks committed only 10 turnovers, the fewest by any Heat opponent this season. The Heat generated just 13 points off turnovers, also a season-low and nearly half of their season average through the first five games.

In its first five games Miami scored 35.7 percent of its transition points directly off “live-ball” turnovers. On Monday only one of the Heat’s 13 transition plays resulted from a “live-ball” turnover, and they scored just one point on that play.

LeBron James was the lone star for Miami and finished with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting. James now has 176 points on the season, his most points scored through his team’s first six games in any season of his career.

James, however, really struggled in isolation as he made just 2-of-7 shots and averaged a season-worst 0.57 points per play. He entered the game making nearly half of his shots in isolation and averaging almost a point per play.

Elsewhere Around The Association
• Kevin Love scored a team-high 24 points and pulled down 15 rebounds for his fifth double-double this season, as the Minnesota Timberwolves' snapped a 16-game losing streak vs the San Antonio Spurs.

Love has at least 20 points and 12 rebounds in each of his first five games this season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other NBA player to do that since 1976-77 was Charles Barkley in 1992-93.

• Mike Bibby played just 15 minutes in the New York Knicks' 90-85 loss to the Toronto Raptors and scored zero points as he missed all three of his shot attempts from beyond the arc.

The Raptors outscored the Knicks by 18 points while he was on the court, which was the worst plus-minus on the team despite Bibby playing fewer minutes than all but two teammates.

The Miami Heat led by as many as 20 points in the second half before letting the Boston Celtics cut it to three in the final two minutes.

But rookie Norris Cole scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, including eight of Miami's final nine points to help seal the 115-107 Heat win.

The Heat have won two straight regular-season meetings with the Celtics after losing the previous eight meetings.

The "Big Three" of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh combined for 68 points on 62.5 percent shooting Tuesday. Nearly 48 percent of their shots came inside five feet, where they made 16 of 19 field goals. Last season, the trio attempted 36 percent of their field goals inside five feet.

The Celtics drop to 0-2 for the first time since acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

The Celtics were able to close the gap in part because the Heat stopped attacking the basket in the fourth quarter, settling for jumpers from 20 feet and beyond on 10 of their 21 attempts.

With less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Doc Rivers switched to a zone defense, and the Heat struggled to adapt.

Boston played zone on just two percent of all plays last season, but had success with it Tuesday. Miami's half-court offense was effective against man-to-man, shooting better than 60 percent in the half court, but the Heat were held under 30 percent against the zone.

While their offense stalled in the half court against the zone, Miami’s not having trouble playing its desired style so far this season.

The Heat are averaging 102.5 possessions per game, well above their 2010-11 season average of 93.2 (21st in NBA).

Miami had 104 possessions against the Celtics Tuesday night, making it the Heat's fastest regulation game in the last two years.

James finished with 26 points, six rebounds and five assists. James has 63 points in his first two games, a Heat record for most points in the first two games of the season.

But James scored two points in the fourth quarter, attempting just two shots. Dating back to the NBA Finals, James has failed to score more than five points in the fourth quarter in eight straight games.

The pick-and-roll is one of the most basic and difficult plays to defend in basketball. It’s also an accurate litmus test for how well-coached and well-practiced a defense is. In the NBA, if you can consistently stymie your opponent’s pick-and-roll attack, you can win a ton of games. Case in point: The Lakers are 0-2 in part because their offense is a mess, and in part because they are having real difficulty defending the pick-and-roll.

Thus far this year Los Angeles is surrendering a generous 1.32 points per possession (PPP) to the ballhandler in the pick-and-roll. You might remember Chris Paul and J.J. Barea eviscerating the Laker big men (no thanks to Derek Fisher) in last year’s playoffs, but LA actually defended pick-and-roll ballhandlers well over the course of the 2010-11 season (.74 points per possession allowed). That was not the case Monday night, when Marcus Thornton, Jimmer Fredette and Isaiah Thomas used ball screens to routinely find open jump shots and lanes to the paint.

Defending the pick-and-roll is so tricky because it demands not only the right personnel, but a disciplined scheme. Indeed it takes better timing and orchestration to defend the pick-and-roll than it does to score out of it. Thornton has been shooting pull-up jump shots off of ball screens for a decade. Mike Brown and Pau Gasol just met.

The Lakers are integrating a number of new rotation players and a coach charged with replacing an icon. Growing pains on both sides of the ball are to be expected, especially with a shortened preseason and training camp. But L.A. should take heart knowing that the return of Andrew Bynum should make solving these long-term challenges much simpler.

Players who can protect the rim and also possess the foot speed to show and recover on pick-and-rolls are an incredibly rare and valuable commodity. Kevin Garnett is the master at this maneuver. His fundamentals are flawless: he barks out orders when a screener approaches then shows great lateral quickness to cut off the ballhandler before retreating like a mad man into the paint with his hands high in order to obscure passing angles to secondary options.

The Celtics’ famous defense is built around their big men’s ability to contain the ball on the pick-and-roll, but it takes a special athlete and smart game planning to do that.

The Lakers big men lack that elite quickness, but historically they’ve more than made up for a deficit in speed with a surplus of size. Though departed 6-10 forward Lamar Odom had the requisite quick feet, the real catalyst of the Lakers pick-and-roll defense has been the pairing of Gasol and Bynum. The specific luxury of clogging the lane with an active 7-footer while the other shows on the screen and roll is why the Lakers were an elite defense last season.

The presence of that big man, whether it’s Bynum or Gasol, sinking back into the paint to pick up the roll man allowed the Lakers' other big men to be more aggressive on ball screens. Odom’s absence hurts, but Josh McRoberts is a similar combination of quick feet and long arms. Bynum, on the other hand, is irreplaceable.

Of course it’s not all up to the man defending the screener. That on-ball defender must also help by forcing the offensive player a certain direction and then slithering around the screen to recover to the ballhandler. Fisher is in his 16th NBA season and spends his evenings defending players who hadn’t yet learned what a pick-and-roll was when Fisher entered the league. Though backup point guard Steve Blake is no Tony Allen, he is more suited to harassing opposing point guards than Fisher. Neither is a strong defender, but both are heady and active enough to be adequate when paired with a smart and coherent system.

But the Lakers' defensive system is still very much a work in progress. While the Clippers ran successful Blake Griffin and Chris Paul pick-and-rolls while the other three Clips stood around aimlessly, defending the pick-and-roll always demands the awareness and discipline of five players. And that means it takes practice and conditioning to do it wel l-- two things that are in short supply this early in the season. But Brown is up to the task. In Cleveland he coached a top defensive team that gave up only .81 PPP to pick-and-roll ballhandlers despite Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas -- two of the league’s least reliable away-from-the-basket defenders -- lurching about on defense like enormous zombies for long stretches every game.

Brown needs a chance to ingrain his system, that will take time -- perhaps time the Lakers don’t have given this season's abbreviated practice schedule. But more than anything, L.A. needs Andrew Bynum back. That will happen starting Saturday against the Denver Nuggets. Until the Lakers have control of Brown’s system, they can at least control the paint with sheer size.

Like so many celebrated sports legends, Bill Russell (perhaps the greatest champion in the history of professional team sports) is going to get his own statue commemorating his career and what he's meant to the Boston community and sports scene. But often we take for granted the placement of these statues. They're usually out in the areas around the new sporting arenas that were helped built through decades of legacy and winning from the individual's career.

Paul Flannery of WEEI.com helped champion the effort to bring a Bill Russell statue to the city of Boston. However, with Russell the statue takes on far more meaning than just celebrating the 11 championship rings he contributed in bringing to Boston in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, Flannery explains the extent of not only what Russell means to Boston but also where the placement of his statue is and the significance of its location:

Just before my deadline I took a trip to San Francisco. I walked over to the USF campus where the legend of Russell as a basketball player first began to take shape, but more importantly where the portrait of the young man took on even greater complexity and definition. I imagined the young Bill Russell putting his theories about the world to the test and setting the course for the rest of his exceptional life.

For the first time I felt an overwhelming sense of calm about my assignment and the piece I produced for the magazine flowed out of me like so much blood from an open wound. It took hours, not days, to work up an initial draft and when the piece ran in December there was an initial rush of positive reaction that proved ultimately fleeting. There it sat until President Obama made the case himself when he awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February.

From there the details did take care of themselves. The Celtics got together with the city and various civic leaders and lo and behold it got done in a matter of months. This, frankly, is as it should be because while Russell was the driving force behind the Celtics dynasty he belonged to the city as much as the basketball team. The championship banners provide an unassailable testament to his greatness as an athlete, but the impact he left on Boston has reverberated for generations.

Click this link to check out the rest of the post and what its placement in City Hall Plaza signifies.

Beckley Mason is the founder of HoopSpeak, a TrueHoop Network blog, and filling in for Henry Abbott today. You can follow him on Twitter at @BeckleyMason.

Over on "Heat Index," John Krolik makes the point that Dwyane Wade gets the benefit of the doubt where his mega-star partner, one LeBron James, does not. Case in point, the muted reaction to consecutive questionable plays by Wade in the final moments of Miami’s close-out win over the Philadelphia 76ers:

In a one-possession game, Wade cost his team a point for arguing that he should be shooting free throws instead of his teammate, who happens to be a better free throw shooter.

Later in the game, with the final seconds ticking off the clock and the 76ers declining to foul, Wade punctuated the series with an uncontested dunk that Spencer Hawes would later call "bush league." It was the kind of behavior that becomes an instant controversy with LeBron, but it was a non-issue with Wade, just like the technical foul.

Imagine, just for a second, what the reaction would have been if James had been whistled for the technical, then thrown in that salt-in-the-wound dunk to end the series. While the power of winning as the ultimate deodorant should never be underestimated, I can't imagine that those things would have been complete non-issues if James had done them.

If Wade is getting a pass on some sketchy play in the opening round, he’s also been almost invisible in the hype for the Heat’s drool-inducing grudge match with the Boston Celtics.

LeBron left Cleveland in order to overcome the Celtics, but don't forget that in recent years Wade hasn't fared much better against Boston, or anyone else, in the playoffs. Until a few days ago, Wade hadn’t won a first-round series since 2006.

And against Boston, expect Wade’s play to be the deciding factor.

As Tom Haberstroh and Chris Forsberg have separately noted in pieces fueled by possession-by-possession research from Dean Oliver and Peter Newmann of ESPN Stats & Info, the LeBron James-Paul Pierce matchup has had been relatively predictable. Pierce uses his underrated lateral quickness and impressive upper body strength to prevent James from dominating, but LeBron still produces strong numbers. Perhaps sapped by his defensive responsibilities, Pierce rarely shoots a high percentage against LeBron. In essence, Pierce does just enough on both ends to allow his teammates to outplay those of James.

Meanwhile, Wade has struggled against the Celtics this year, failing four times to shoot better than 35 percent or score even half of the 32.3 points he averaged against Boston in last year’s playoffs. That’s offensive output won't cut it in the conference semifinals.

He’ll also be spending plenty of time chasing around Ray Allen over the next two weeks. Allen has killed the Heat this year, drilling 57 percent of his 3-point attemps against Miami and averaging more points (20.3) against the Heat than against every team but three.

This may be a side effect of Wade’s wide-ranging defensive responsibilities. Along with his lockdown isolation defense, Wade has a unique ability to make defensive plays around the rim, flying out of nowhere to block seven-footers. But against Boston, he’ll need to curb his playmaking instincts on that end. When Wade gambles, Allen cashes out.

And while Allen isn’t much of a defender against the likes of Wade, Boston’s team defense matches up with Wade as well as any. The two-stepping guard has been all left feet in the season series, allowing himself to be pushed into baseline jumpers and ill-advised jump passes.

Will Wade turn it around in time to rewrite LeBron's, and his own, history of failure against Boston?

Almost no matter how well he plays, if the Heat lose, James will receive a heaping helping of the blame. The story is all about LeBron, but this series is Wade's to win.

For months now it’s been a foregone conclusion that the San Antonio Spurs would earn the 1-seed in the Western Conference playoffs. The Spurs have held at least a share of the top spot in the West every day since November 16 and built a seemingly insurmountable lead over the rest of the Western Conference during January and February.

But San Antonio’s unprecedented five-game losing streak, combined with the Los Angeles Lakers' 16-1 record since the All-Star break, has turned the race for the top seed in the West into a photo finish.

If you can’t remember the last time the Spurs lost five games in a row, you’re forgiven. Prior to Thursday, it was 1996-97, when San Antonio dropped its final six games of the season.

The team’s leading scorer was Dominique Wilkins, current NBA head coaches Avery Johnson and Vinny Del Negro started opposite each other in the backcourt and Tim Duncan was a senior at Wake Forest.

The Spurs are allowing 101.6 points per game after the All-Star Game, a sharp increase from before the All-Star break when they ranked 10th in the league with 96.3 points per game allowed. San Antonio has allowed at least 95 points in its past eight home games, its longest single-season streak since 1994-95.

The Boston Celtics scored 107 points in San Antonio on Thursday behind a team-high 22 points from Rajon Rondo, the first time he’s led the team in scoring since February 6. Rondo also added 14 assists and did not commit a turnover, joining Antoine Walker as the only Celtics players to have 22 points, 14 assists and no turnovers in a game over the last 25 years (Walker did it against the Denver Nuggets on February 12, 2002).

In Thursday’s other game, the Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 110-82 to improve to a league-best 16-1 since the All-Star break. Since the first All-Star Game in 1951, the Lakers are the fifth team to win 16 of its first 17 games coming out of the All-Star break, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Each of the previous four -- the 1999-00 Lakers, 1997-98 Jazz, 1990-91 Bulls, 1989-90 Pistons -- reached the NBA Finals, with the Lakers, Bulls and Pistons winning it all.

Los Angeles is now two-and-a-half games behind San Antonio in the West. The Lakers have four home games and four away games remaining, with four of the eight games against teams currently in playoff position. The Spurs will be on the road for four of their final seven games but will play only two teams currently in line for a playoff spot in that span. The top seed out West could be decided April 12 in Los Angeles when the Lakers host the Spurs.

Blake Griffin posted his first career triple-double in the Los Angeles Clippers 127-119 double-overtime win over the Washington Wizards. He had a career-high 10 assists, was one shy of a career high with 17 rebounds, and his 33 points were the fourth-most of his career. He also fouled out, making him the first player to foul out with a triple-double since Lamar Odom in April 2007.

With the Clippers winning at home in double overtime a day after the Los Angeles Lakers won at the Staples Center in triple overtime, the Elias Sports Bureau reports that the last time there were back-to-back multi-overtime games in the same arena was March 1984, at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. The San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks in two overtimes on March 13 and then beat the Hawks in three overtimes seven days later.

Overshadowed in defeat, John Wall set a career high with 32 points, topping his previous best of 29, against the Philadelphia 76ers in November.

In other triple-double news, Chuck Hayes and Kyle Lowry are evoking memories of Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but Hayes' triple-double on Wednesday (13 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists) makes him the second Rocket with a triple-double in as many games, joining Lowry, who did it Sunday against Utah. The last time Houston had multiple players with a triple-double in the same season was 1996-97, by Drexler (2), Barkley and Olajuwon.

Perhaps more impressively, Elias says that the last team to have triple-doubles from different players in consecutive games was the New Jersey Nets in March 1996, by the vastly dissimilar Shawn Bradley and Chris Childs.

Speaking of New Jersey, Kris Humphries had 18 points and 23 rebounds in the Nets overtime win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. The last Nets player with at least 23 rebounds was Michigan State alum Jamie Feick, who had 25 boards on Jan. 20, 2000 vs Detroit.

Although the Boston Celtics lost to the Memphis Grizzlies at home, Kevin Garnett made a bit of history. With his 10 points, Garnett passed Adrian Dantley for 20th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Next on the list is former Celtic great Robert Parish. At his current pace of 15.0 points per game this season, and assuming he plays every game, Garnett would pass Parish in the season's penultimate game, against Washington on April 11.