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The Philadelphia 76ers became the fifth 8-seed to win their opening playoff series, dispatching the injury-riddled Chicago Bulls in six games Thursday night.

The fact that the Bulls were without reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose for most of the series likely matters little to Philadelphia fans celebrating their first postseason series win since beating the New Orleans Hornets in the 1st Round of the 2003 Eastern Conference playoffs.

The 76ers advanced to the Conference Semis despite shooting under 40 percent in three of their four wins against the Bulls, including a field goal percentage of 39.7 (29-73) Thursday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Philadelphia is the first team to win three games in a series despite shooting under 40 percent from the field since the Indiana Pacers did it against the New York Knicks in the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals and just the fifth such team in the Shot-Clock era.

The 76ers also struggled on the boards, and were outrebounded by 23 Thursday night (56-33). According to Basketball Reference, a team was outrebounded by 23 or more in a postseason game 24 times from 1986-2011 and only once did that team win, when the Washington Bullets beat the 76ers 95-94 in Game 1 of the 1st Round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Prior to Thursday, no team in postseason history has won a game when shooting under 40 percent and being outrebounded by 23 or more, according to Elias.

Philadelphia got a big break when C.J. Watson, who made 80.8 percent of his free throws in the regular season, dished to Omer Asik on the Bulls second-to-last possession. Asik missed both of his foul shots after he was fouled by Spencer Hawes, befitting a player who ranked last in free throw shooting (45.6 percent) among the 175 players to attempt at least 100 free throws in the regular season.

When Andre Iguodala got his turn from the line moments later, he converted both of his attempts despite entering Thursday having made a team-low 45.0 percent of his free throw attempts in crunch time (score within 5 points in the final 5 minutes).

Philadelphia’s streak of eight straight seasons without a playoff series win, tied with 1969-76 for the longest such streak in franchise history, comes to an end, as does their string of five straight losses in playoff series.

In the Conference Semis, the 76ers will attempt to become just the second 8-seed to win a pair of playoff series. The 1999 Knicks advanced the NBA Finals before falling to the Spurs in five games.

The Chicago Bulls are used to playing without guard Derrick Rose. But at least during the second half Tuesday night, they looked like a team helpless without the 2010-2011 NBA MVP.

Out for the season after tearing his ACL in Game 1, Rose could only watch from a skybox as the Bulls were trounced by the Philadelphia 76ers after halftime in a 109-92 defeat. The 17-point loss is tied for the largest in the 34 games Chicago has played without Rose since drafting him in 2008.

The Bulls, who were 18-9 in the regular season without Rose, fared well in the opening two quarters, dominating the offensive glass to take an eight-point lead into the half. However, the team must not have been too inspired by coach Tom Thibodeau’s halftime speech.

The Sixers ran the Bulls off the court in the third quarter, outscoring them 36-14, including 11-0 on fast-break points. Philly also shot 68.2 percent from the field (to the Bulls’ 25 percent) and outrebounded them 14-5. The 22-point margin is the most the 76ers have outscored an opponent by in any playoff quarter in the last 15 seasons.

Nobody took advantage of Rose’s absence more than Sixers guard Jrue Holiday. Holiday poured in a postseason career-high 26 points and shot 11-15 on field goals. During the series, Holiday has shot the ball nearly twice as well with Rose on the bench than when he was on the court (70.6 to 37.5).

In fact, the entire 76ers team was accurate from the floor Tuesday night. Their 59 percent shooting from the field was Philly’s highest mark in a playoff game since 2001. This number was bolstered by their dominance inside of five feet (20-27, 74.1 percent). It was the third-highest field goal percentage allowed by Chicago from that distance this season.

In their two seasons under Thibodeau, the Bulls have never allowed a team to shoot 59 percent. And Michael Jordan was still on the team the last time they let an opponent shoot that well in a playoff game (1998).

The Bulls now must head to Philadelphia with the series tied 1-1. In order to regain home-court advantage, they will need to find a way to replace Rose’s production. C.J. Watson, who started for Rose, and John Lucas were unable to do that in Game 2. Although the two combined for 27 points, they handed out just seven assists. Center Joakim Noah, who led the team with 21 points, had five assists himself.

They’re still in the series, but the Bulls will have to cool the 76ers’ red-hot shooting soon. Or else, the bloom will be off their outstanding 50-16 season.

All photos Getty Images

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.

The New York Knicks just want to be like Mike – Woodson that is. The Knicks improved to 5-0 under new head coach Mike Woodson, though Wednesday’s 82-79 win over the Philadelphia 76ers was quite unlike their previous four victories with Woodson at the helm:

• The 3-point margin is the smallest during the win streak; the Knicks had won their previous four games by 22.5 points per game.

• The Knicks shot 2-13 (15 percent) from beyond the arc versus Philadelphia, after making more than 40 percent of their 3-point attempts in their first four games under Woodson.

• New York also struggled on the break Wednesday, scoring just 10 points in transition, compared to an average of 23 transition points per game during the win streak prior to tonight.

Instead, New York pounded the ball inside and crashed the offensive boards to get easy points against Philadelphia. The Knicks outscored the 76ers 32-20 in the paint and 15-5 on second-chance opportunities.

This is just the second time the Knicks have won five games in row following an in-season coaching change, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. In the 1979-80 season, Red Holzman replaced Willis Reed and the Knicks won their next five games en route to a 31-51 final record.

Bulls get bench boost
The Chicago Bulls trailed 69-62 through the first three quarters of their game versus the Toronto Raptors, but used a 20-0 run to outscore the Raptors 32-15 in the final period for the 94-82 win.

The Bulls' reserves came up huge in the fourth quarter with 28 of the team’s 32 points. Kyle Korver and John Lucas combined to shoot 9-for-14 and scored 23 points after going scoreless in the first three quarters.

Three times a charm for Gordon
Ben Gordon erupted for 45 points, but missed a 21-footer with two seconds left, and the Denver Nuggets escaped with a 116-115 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Gordon converted all nine of his shots from beyond the arc, matching the most made 3-pointers without a miss in a game in NBA history. Gordon also achieved the feat in the 2005-06 season and Latrell Spreewell did it in the 2002-03 season.

Spurs, Lakers keep streaking
The San Antonio Spurs beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-100, extending their home win streak over the Timberwolves to 15 games. That is the fourth-longest current home winning streak by one team against an opponent, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Dallas Mavericks, pushing their winning streak over defending NBA champions to six. That streak dates back to a win over the Spurs in April 2008. Elias tells us that streak against defending champions is the longest of its kind in Lakers' franchise history and second longest to the Knicks who won seven straight over defending champions from 1994 to 1996.

KNICKS MAKE IT A NICKEL
The Milwaukee Bucks beat the New York Knicks who have now lost five straight games and stand at 6-9. Although Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points in the loss, the Knicks now stand at just 20-21 since trading for him last February.

A trend of leaning on Anthony in isolation continued against Milwaukee, as Anthony accounted for 15 of the Knicks’ 19 plays in isolation. On the season, the Knicks have ran a higher percentage of isolation plays than any other team, but are shooting just 29.3 percent on such plays, the worst in the NBA.

Brandon Jennings scored a season-high 36 points in the win, but did so without attempting a single free throw. He is the first player to score at least that many points without attempting a free throw since Jason Richardson in January 2008. Two of the three highest scoring games of his career have now come at Madison Square Garden, having hung 37 on March 25 of last season.

HOWARD SHOULDERS THE LOAD
Dwight Howard had 21 points and 23 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic over the Los Angeles Lakers 92-80. It was Howard’s fifth game with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds this season, more than the rest of the NBA combined. According to Elias, Howard is the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76 with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in five of his team’s first 15 games of the season.

Although Kobe Bryant scored 30 points, the Lakers offense continues to struggle as they failed to top 100 points for the 10th straight game. That is tied for the second-longest such streak by the Lakers in the shot-clock era (since 1954-55).

BULLS WIN WITHOUT ROSE
Despite playing without Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls won 114-75, handing the Cleveland Cavaliers their worst home loss in franchise history. According to Elias, the 39-point margin of victory is the second-largest ever by the Bulls over the Cavaliers, trailing only a 121-80 result on December 22, 1970.

Chicago held Cleveland to just 30.3 percent shooting, the fifth-lowest allowed in a game this season. It was the fifth time this season the Bulls have held their opponent to under 35 percent shooting. The Lakers are the only other team with even three such games this season.

AROUND THE ASSOCIATION
• The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Atlanta Hawks 90-76 to improve to 11-4, their best start since starting 11-4 in 2002-03.

• LaMarcus Aldrige had 33 points, 23 rebounds and five assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers over the Toronto Raptors. He is only the sixth player in the last 25 seasons to reach those threshold in a single game and the first to do it since Kevin Garnett in 2003-04.

• The Detroit Pistons scored 81 points in a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s Pistons’ 16th straight game they have failed to score 100 points, their third-longest such streak in the shot-clock era.

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.

One of the most notable storylines in the early part of this NBA season is that offenses have not been in sync.

As a result, several teams have gotten out to great starts defensively. Two of them were on display Monday Night.

The Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers set a new standard for defending their homecourt with their victories over the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers.

It’s a bit of an obscure record, but a notable mark nonetheless, one provided by the Elias Sports Bureau. In the NBA’s shot clock era (since 1954), this year’s Bulls (206) and 76ers (221) have allowed the fewest points in their first three home games.

The previous mark was set by the 2003-04 Spurs, who allowed 229 points in their first three home games.

After beating the Pistons 92-68, the Bulls have now held two of their three opponents at home to below 70 points. They held the Grizzlies to 64 points on New Year’s Day.

Also via Elias, the Bulls are now 13-0 against the Pistons over the last four calendar years, the best record for any NBA team against a particular opponent over that span.

The 76ers continue along in surprising fashion. Through eight games, they are holding opponents to just under 90 points per 100 possessions, which represents an early dramatic improvement from last season, in which they allowed 102.5 points per 100. Philadelphia’s +14.7 point differential is the best in the NBA.

Chandler getting into flow for Knicks
Tyson Chandler had his best game since joining the New York Knicks, going 7-for-8 from the field and scoring 20 points in a win over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Chandler had a pair of alley-oops among his seven baskets. He’s had four alley-oops in his last two games after netting five in his first seven games.

Plus-Minus Note of the Night
The Minnesota Timberwolves got far better production from their bench than their starters. All five Timberwolves reserves finished with a positive plus-minus, but each of their starters had a -11 plus-minus or worse in a 97-87 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Most impressive was J.J. Barea. The Timberwolves outscored the Raptors by 21 points when Barea played and they were outscored by 31 when he was off the floor.

Rookie Ricky Rubio finished a +1 in 30 minutes. He is now a +49 through the Timberwolves first nine games.

With the season set to tip-off on Christmas Day, here are four major statistical storylines to keep a close eye on:

Can the Mavericks repeat?
With the departure of Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea and DeShawn Stevenson, the Dallas Mavericks will be the first defending champion since the 1998-99 Bulls to lose three of its top seven in minutes played from the previous season’s NBA Finals.

Added to the mix are Lamar Odom and Vince Carter. In Odom, the Mavericks added an incredibly efficient half-court scorer according to our video-tracking friends at Synergy Sports. Among all qualified forwards, he ranked third in the NBA in points per play in the half court, trailing only Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki.

Carter is also a good fit. Last season, only five teams scored more points on spot-up shots. In 2010-11 Carter ranked in the Top 25 in the NBA in field goal attempts per game, field goal percentage and points per game on spot-up shots.


How does Chris Paul improve the Clippers?
As a pick-and-roll ball handler last season, Chris Paul ranked sixth in the NBA in points per play among the 103 players with at least 100 pick-and-roll plays. As a team the Los Angeles Clippers ranked 17th in pick-and-roll efficiency while Paul’s old team in New Orleans ranked seventh.
Look for Paul to help improve the Clippers jump-shooting woes as well. Last season the Clippers shot just 35.1 pct on jump shots which ranked dead last in the NBA. Paul ranked 20th in jump shot FG attempts, but did so with great efficiency, connecting on 44 percent. Of the 19 players which took more jumpers, only Dirk Nowitzki, Stephen Curry and Ray Allen shot a better percentage.

While the loss of Eric Gordon hurts, consider this: accounting for three-pointers, Gordon had a 48.5 adjusted FG pct on jump shots... worse than both Paul (49.8) and Chauncey Billups (52.7).


Will youth be served in Oklahoma City?
While James Harden and Serge Ibaka continue to improve, the main focus is on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

Durant is looking to become the first player since Michael Jordan in 1997-98 to lead the league in scoring three straight seasons. Westbrook meanwhile is coming off a 2010-11 season in which he emerged as one of the league’s best finishers at the rim, ranking sixth in points scored within three feet.

Perhaps the biggest concern with the Thunder is the potential for an alpha-dog dispute. Durant was the unquestioned go-to guy down the stretch during the regular season, an assumption which was then challenged by Westbrook during the postseason (see chart).

Regardless of who takes the big shots, an improvement on their combined 3-26 effort would surely bring OKC closer to a title.

Bigger impact on the East: Richard Hamilton or Tyson Chandler?
While many presume we won’t know anything new about the Miami Heat until the playoffs, the same can’t be said for the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks who added major pieces in Richard Hamilton and Tyson Chandler.

The Bulls brought in Hamilton to take the place of Keith Bogans, who despite starting all 82 games, averaged just 4.4 PPG which was the fewest among all players with at least 50 starts. With Derrick Rose having the second-highest usage rate in the NBA last season, scoring without the ball is an essential skill for all other Bulls players. Among guards, Hamilton has the fifth-most assisted FG on shots beyond 15 feet over the last three seasons.

Chandler’s most significant responsibility will be to improve a Knicks interior defense which allowed opponents to shoot 45.3 percent on post ups last season (21st in the NBA). On post up plays in which he played single coverage, Chandler held opponents to 41.4 pct shooting. That is at least 5 points better than any of the players who saw minutes at center for the Knicks last season.

When players come back from injuries, the idea of rehabbing and working out all the time not being able to equate to “in-game” shape is always confusing.

It makes sense for the most part. When you’re lifting weights, running on the treadmill, taking a spin class or even fighting for that last piece of bacon, you’re using a lot different muscles and using them in different intervals than when you’re on the basketball court. And being able to do that on back-to-back nights or four games in five nights at the NBA level has to take even longer to retrain your body how to recover.

Still it seems weird that the best athletes in the world would essentially be out of shape despite the copious amounts of training they do to get themselves back to being able to play.

If taking extended time off from playing NBA basketball is such a difficult task, are players like Deron Williams and Joakim Noah priming themselves for a big return if the NBA does indeed have another lockout-shortened regular season?

When the NBA returned from its brief absence in 1998, a lot of the players were, for lack of a better term, hefty. There are rumors that Vin Baker came back roughly 60 pounds heavier than before, and Shawn Kemp had certainly seen slimmer days (even though he actually had a very productive 1999 season compared to the previous year). Sure, there were a lot of players that stayed in shape and got themselves ready to go for the brutal grind of cramming 50 games into three months, but a lot of guys also left themselves susceptible to injury by not returning in top physical form.

But with Williams reportedly heading to Turkey as the heir apparent to Allen Iverson and Noah playing for Team France in the European Championships in Lithuania, should more players be taking their cues from these two players and try to stay active in organized basketball?

As of right now, the NBA is full of bored players who are lying down on the ground, taking pictures of themselves “planking” and then tweeting it out to their followers. Since it’s still just July and they have no promise of playing an NBA season this fall, it’s not really a big deal. Guys right now would usually be checking out the Summer League action in Las Vegas or going for a summer vacation to get away from everything.

But with no end in sight to the lockout and threats of owners sacrificing an entire season just to get their way, you have to wonder at what point these players will become motivated to stay in shape.

For a good chunk of August and September, Noah will be practicing with Team France and trying to help them qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London. If the lockout ends in time for training camp in September, he’ll be in better playing shape than most other peers around the NBA.

If the lockout extends beyond September and begins to consume preseason and regular season games, Williams will more than likely head to Turkey and play for Besiktas. Once again, he’ll be practicing with his stepteam and playing in real games. If the lockout ends and brings him back to the NBA for the rest of whatever is left of the 2011-12 season, he’s likely to have the upper hand with conditioning and play at the beginning of the season.

Granted, there are injury risks for going off to play outside of the NBA, just like there are for players coming back to a shortened season while out of shape. Unless you’re Carlos Boozer, it’s pretty hard to get injured just walking around your house, looking for the next hilarious place to plank from. But being rusty in the NBA isn’t just a potential detriment to your team; it’s also a risk to your health with injury.

Williams and Noah aren’t the only guys exploring their options. Andrei Kirilenko is reportedly offering his services to European teams for the low asking price of $5.8 million this winter. A few teams were courting Amar’e Stoudemire before he decided to stay loyal to the Knicks.

It’s one thing to consider going to play organized, professional basketball away from the NBA and another thing to actually commit to it.

Maybe Williams and Noah will get injured during this venture away from the NBA during the lockout. Maybe they are risking all of their guaranteed money waiting for them when the NBA opens its doors back up and invites us all in again.

But it’s a risk that will most likely keep these two ahead of the pack if we end up with another shortened season.

After a week in which they were mentioned in the same sentence with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and compared to some of the greatest duos in NBA history, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James weren’t even the most productive pair of teammates in the United Center Sunday. That honor goes to Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, who combined for 49 points to lead to the Chicago Bulls to a 1-0 lead over the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Wade and James totaled 33 points and eight turnovers while shooting just 12-32 from the field as the Heat suffered their third-largest loss of the season. As a team, the Heat attempted just 68 shots – matching their fewest since late March – as the Bulls dominated the boards and forced 16 Miami turnovers.

Chicago outrebounded Miami 45-33, including a 19-6 edge in offensive rebounds. Joakim Noah pulled down more offensive boards (8) than the entire Heat team. It was Noah’s third game with at least eight offensive rebounds this postseason, the most in the NBA. Chicago’s 19 offensive rebounds and 31 second-chance points were the most allowed by the Heat in any game this season.

As expected, reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose had his way when matched up against the Heat’s point guard tandem of Mike Bibby and Mario Chalmers. Rose scored 21 of his 28 points on the 18 plays he was guarded by a fellow point guard. On the 11 plays when he was defended by another Heat player, most often Dwyane Wade, he managed just seven points and made two of his seven shots from the field.

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Chicago, where the Heat will likely need more than 33 points from their two biggest stars if they are going to even the series. Chris Bosh did well to fill the scoring void Sunday, recording a game-high 30 points, but Miami is at its best when Bosh is in a supporting role. After their Game 1 loss, the Heat are now 5-3 this season when Bosh leads the team in scoring. When James is their leading scorer, the Heat are 28-14 and Miami is even better when Wade leads the team in scoring at 30-9.

It’s often said an NBA playoff series doesn’t really start until the home team loses, but a loss on Wednesday would put the Heat in a hole few teams have been able to climb out of. Teams trailing 2-0 in a best-of-seven series have gone on to lose that series more than 94 percent of the time in NBA history.

The Orlando Magic avoided elimination Tuesday with their 101-76 win against the Atlanta Hawks. Orlando has forced the series back to Atlanta, where the Magic have yet to win this season (0-4 during regular season and postseason combined).

After shooting playoff record-low 8.7 percent (2-for-23) from three-point range in Game 4, Orlando rebounded to shoot 42.3 percent (11-for-26) from long distance in Game 5.

Orlando won despite a quiet game from Dwight Howard, who tied a playoff career-low by attempting just four shots. He finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds after recording a 20-15 game in each of the first four games of this series. He sat out all but one minute of the fourth quarter.

The Magic overcame the slow night from Howard due in large part to the strong performance from their bench. After totaling 69 points in the first four games of the series, the Magic bench combined for 49 points in Game 5.

Meanwhile, the Hawks did not get a typical performance from their star bench player, Jamal Crawford (8 points). Crawford had scored at least 20 points off the bench in each of the first four games of the series.

Odds against the Magic still remain long, however. In NBA playoff history, just eight teams have come back from a 3-1 series deficit to win. The Magic franchise has never done it and the Hawks franchise has never allowed it.

In other Eastern Conference action on Tuesday, the Chicago Bulls enjoyed their first playoff series win since 2007 by closing out the Indiana Pacers. It’s just Chicago’s second playoff series win since the 1998 NBA Finals.

Derrick Rose's sprained left ankle didn't seem to hamper him. After shooting 6-for-22 from the field in the Bulls' Game 4 loss, he found his stroke in Game 5, scoring 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting.

In the first four games of the series, Rose shot just 29.7 percent from the field when being guarded by Paul George, but shot 66.7 percent from the field against him in Game 5. During the Bulls' decisive 21-8 run over the last 5:52 of the third quarter Tuesday, nine of Rose's 10 points came against George, all from three-point range.

Rose wasn't the only one feeling it from downtown. The Bulls set a franchise playoff record by making 14 three-pointers (previous high: 13), 11 of which came in the second half. The Bulls led at halftime for the first time in the series and never trailed, though at one point the Pacers closed within four points.

In an odd occurrence, noted three-point specialist Kyle Korver dunked in the game. A pretty rare sight -- he had one dunk the entire regular season.

The Pacers have not won a playoff series since 2005.

After a pair of mundane games opened the truncated Tuesday night schedule, the third game was more than charming for the Los Angeles Lakers, who beat the Phoenix Suns 139-137 in triple overtime to accomplish something they hadn't done in nearly half a century.

The Lakers last won a game of at least three overtimes on December 8, 1961, when they defeated the Philadelphia Warriors 151-147 in triple overtime. Tuesday marked the first time that Los Angeles ever won a triple-overtime game at home. The only time that the Lakers had even played such a home game was a 122-117 loss to the San Francisco Warriors in 1969.

The Suns have lost four straight triple-overtime games since 1997, and all four games have been on the road.

Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 42 points and finished an assist shy of a triple-double. He has 107 career 40-point games, more than twice as many as the next active player, Shaquille O'Neal with 49.

Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom all topped the 20-point plateau against Phoenix. Since Gasol joined the team in 2008, Los Angeles is now 10-1 when all three score 20 points.

With a 13-1 record, the Lakers remain the only team in the league with a single loss since the All-Star Break.

The Chicago Bulls have the NBA's second-best record since the All-Star Break, improving to 13-3 in that timespan by trouncing the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. Chicago led by 47 points en route to a 114-81 victory.

Derrick Rose made a career-high six three-pointers and led Chicago with 30 points and 10 assists, his fourth 30-10 game of the season. The only player with more such games this season is Russell Westbrook, with six.

The Bulls snapped a six-game losing streak in Atlanta, and Rose won there for the first time in five career games. The only current arenas in which Rose has not won are Denver's Pepsi Center and Portland's Rose Garden (0-3 at each).

The one area that had not been a positive for Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer entering Friday's game against the Nets was his play in the pick-and-roll.

Many expected that when partnered with point guard Derrick Rose, Boozer would be a force rolling to the basket. But entering Friday, Boozer was shooting just 45.9 percent from the field as the roll man in the pick-and-roll (according to video tracking by Synergy Sports Technology). That was bad enough for his second-worst shooting percentage in any play type this season (he rated worse in isolation plays).

Friday in a 90-81 win over the Nets, Boozer enjoyed one of his most successful games in the pick-and-roll. In four plays as the roll man, Boozer contributed three field goals and six of his 20 total points. That included a baseline dunk over Travis Outlaw in the third quarter.

Boozer is one of the more efficient post scorers in the halfcourt. Of all players with at least 50 shot attempts, he ranks fifth in the NBA in points-per-shot in the post.

But as Friday’s performance in the pick-and-roll shows, Boozer is still growing with his new teammates.

Even as he's growing, the Bulls are 12-2 since a loss to the Boston Celtics, posting the third-best record in the NBA during that time. Only the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs have been better. Boozer has regained his All-Star form and been one of the more dominating players in the NBA. In those 14 games, Boozer is averaging 22.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and is shooting 56 percent from the field. He has nine double-doubles, including seven games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.

The other statistically-interesting story from the NBA's early New Year's Eve games was DeMar DeRozan's monstrous second half in a 114-105 loss to the Houston Rockets. DeRozan had 29 points in the last two quarters, tied for the fourth-most by any player in any half this season. Kevin Martin's 32-point first half against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 11 tops the list.

DeRozan finished with 37 points, but the Raptors were outscored by 14 points when he was on the floor. The more valuable effort came from Houston's Chase Budinger, who scored 22 points, and was plus-27 in 24 minutes off the bench.

Budinger has had two straight strong efforts, this one surpassing the last one against the Heat, when he registered 11 points in 16 minutes, and a plus-12.

No team has a better time with Western Conference opponents than the Chicago Bulls. No team has had a better time on the road recently than the New York Knicks. No team is winning with greater frequency than the San Antonio Spurs. And a notable coach reached a notable winning number on a busy NBA Friday.

The Bulls improved to 10-4 against the Western Conference, beating the Lakers, 88-84. Their 10 wins over Western Conference teams are twice as many as that of any other Eastern Conference team. In fact, they're one of only two Eastern teams (along with the Celtics) to have a winning record against the West.

The Bulls have now beaten the Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder this season, winning all four games by single digits. Close games have been a specialty of late for Chicago, which has won four straight overall, also all by single digits.

Derrick Rose led the way with 29 points, including three 3-pointers. That gave him 32 3-pointers, matching the total number of trifectas he made in his first two seasons combined.

The Bulls forced 19 turnovers Friday and outscored the Lakers 18-9 in fast-break points. That's a significant key to the home success for the Bulls, who entered the day ranked eighth in the NBA in fast-break points at home.

The win actually overshadowed some NBA history. Kobe Bryant scored 23 points for the Lakers, giving him 26,398 for his career. He surpassed John Havlicek's record for most points for players who spent their entire careers with one franchise.

Meanwhile, the Knicks continued to win, beating the Wizards 101-95 in Washington for their eighth straight road triumph (the second-longest streak in club history). Amare Stoudemire tied the club record for consecutive 30-point games with his seventh but did so in extremely unusual fashion. According to Elias, which has been tracking turnovers since the 1977-78 season, Stoudemire's 11 turnovers tied Micheal Ray Richardson's club record (set during the 1981-82 season) and marked the fourth 30/10/5 game (30 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) since 1990, the first since one by Bryant for the Lakers in 2007-08.

The Spurs didn't have any sloppiness issues, save for Manu Ginobili, in a 108-92 win over the Hawks. The usually reliable Ginobili tied for the team high in points with 18 but had no assists and six turnovers. The Hawks outscored the Spurs by four points with Ginobili on the floor. It was a sharp turn in performance for Ginobili, who had 34 assists and seven turnovers and was plus-101 when on the floor in his previous six games. (The Spurs were minus-24 with him off the court in that span.) It was not an issue for San Antonio, whose 19-3 mark is the best 22-game start in team history.

Last but far from least, George Karl earned his 1,000th win as an NBA coach as the Denver Nuggets beat the Toronto Raptors 123-116. Karl is the seventh coach to win 1,000 games, the third to do so without winning an NBA title, along with Don Nelson and Jerry Sloan. It's more impressive considering that in his first two coaching stops (Cleveland and Golden State), Karl was 119-176.