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The Joe Johnson with which we’re most familiar starred in the Atlanta Hawks win over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.

Johnson earned the spotlight in our nightly statistical recap, scoring 30 points on 13-for-18 shooting, the second time in three games that he’s hit that points mark.
Johnson excelled in isolation. Though he entered shooting 39 percent from the field in isolation plays, Johnson made all four of his shots when he was in such a situation against Toronto, netting nine points and committing just one turnover.

Remember the start of the season when Johnson wasn’t playing up to his usual level?

He’s now scored at least 24 points in seven of his last 10 games, after not doing so in his first dozen games this season. The Hawks are 11-1 this season when Johnson scores 20 or more points.

Kobe watch
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant looked like he was on his way to one of those magical kind of games, after scoring 18 points in the first quarter of an easy win over the Charlotte Bobcats. But Bryant wound up with just 24 points, resting for much of the latter part of the Lakers blowout.
The Lakers did clear 100 points for the second straight game, the first time this season they’ve been able to do that.

Bryant's 18 first-quarter total was his most in any quarter this season and the second-most by a player this season in a single quarter (LeBron James had 22 points in the 1st quarter at the Nets on January 7).

Knicks finally exceed their norms
The New York Knicks entered Tuesday’s game with the Detroit Pistons shooting just 41.4 percent from the field this season, seconnd-worst in the NBA.

But New York turned things around in its rout, posting season highs in points in the paint (52, 16 more than their season average), field goal percentage (60 percent), and 3-point field goal percentage (50 percent, after averaging 31 percent through 20 games).

The Pistons lost their 16th game in January, the most they've had in any month since March, 1980.

Varejao’s career night
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost a tough one to the Boston Celtics, but Anderson Varaejo finished with his first career 20-point, 20-rebound game.
Varejao is only the fifth Cavalier in the last 20 seasons to have a 20-20 game, along with Brad Daugherty (1993), Michael Cage (1996), Shawn Kemp (1998), and Carlos Boozer (2004). Note that LeBron James did not have one in his Cavaliers career.

Varejao is the fifth player with a 20-20 game this season, joining Dwight Howard (who has five), LaMarcus Aldridge, Andrew Bynum, and Kevin Love.

Plus-Minus Note of the Night
Golden State Warriors reserve Brandon Rush had a season-high 20 points and was a plus-8 in a win over the Sacramento Kings.
Rush, who has finished minus-200 or worse in each of the past two seasons, is plus-17 through 19 games this season.

In his last eight games, Rush is a plus-37.

• Kyle Weidie of Truth About It offers up a multimedia presentation of how Deron Williams tied the Wizards in knots with ball screens.
• The Heat posted unsightly numbers against the Celtics' zone on Tuesday night but, as Zach Lowe of The Point Forward writes, the Heat had a coherent strategy to combat it: "A great example came with about 3:30 left in the game, when the Heat flashed a key potential zone antidote they used a lot: starting a possession with one of their wing stars (Dwyane Wade on this one) as the only person on one entire side of the floor (the left side in this case). That forced the Boston defense to tilt heavily to the right, where James handled the ball on the outside, near all his teammates except Wade. As LeBron dribbled, Chris Bosh flashed from the top of the three-point arc to below the foul line, drawing the man closest to Wade (Dooling) down into the paint, and forcing him to temporarily turn his back to Wade. At that exact moment, LeBron tossed a pass to Wade, who caught it on the move toward the middle of the floor, his momentum taking him the opposite direction as Boston’s defenders, including Dooling, now tilting madly from James’ side of the floor to Wade’s. Wade did not hestitate: With Dooling wrong-footed, Wade drove into the paint, where Dooling fouled him. Without a shot, the play almost vanishes from game logs everywhere, but it represents one key way the Heat can combat a zone; both James and Wade got layups against it out of action just like this."
• Historiographers have identified the origins of sports panic -- the phenomenon dates back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th Century. Is it time to panic in Boston?
• Tony Allen kindly asks that you set up your voicemail already.
• You should buy the full 2011-12 PDF from Basketball Prospectus, but if you want the crib notes from Kevin Pelton -- a single paragraph and projected record for each of the 30 teams -- click here.
• An interview with Clippers vice president of basketball operations Neil Olshey at Yahoo! Radio.
• Be Milwaukee!
• The Trail Blazers are 2-0 and when you take inventory of LaMarcus Aldridge's versatility as a big man and the smart pieces around them, they look primed for a pretty decent season. Tom Ziller of SB Nation: "[T]he way in which the Blazers have played, mixing the tough defense you know Gerald Wallace and Wesley Matthews will bring with the smooth scoring ability of LaMarcus Aldridge and deft shooting of Matthews and Nicolas Batum, mixed with able playmaking from Raymond Felton and Marcus Camby -- despite the caveats and despite the great misfortune of losing Brandon Roy forever and Greg Oden for a while longer, Portland looks like a real contender in the West."
• The Bucks led the Timberwolves 94-84 with under 4:00 remaining. Then Minnesota ripped off an 8-0 run to close the deficit to two points. The lineup on the floor for the Timberwolves? Ricky Rubio, Luke Ridnour, Michael Beasley, Kevin Love and Anthony Tolliver. Zach Harper describes the final play call of a frustrating night for Minnesota: "Finding themselves down three with seven seconds left, they devised a play without much action away from the ball to free up Kevin Love for the game-tying attempt. Love set a down screen for Luke which enabled Luke to catch the ball roughly 35 feet from the basket. Love then set a screen for Wes near the top of the arc and then ran to the other win. Luke took two dribbles passed it to Love and he took a contested 3-pointer with four seconds left. It was one of the most basic plays you would ever find coming out of a timeout and it resulted in Love taking a contested 26-footer to try to tie the game."
• Bret LaGree of Hoopinion on Joe Johnson: "Can still get anywhere he wants on the floor, presuming where he wants to get isn't within 15 feet of the basket."
• Want to talk Pacers-Raps after tonight's game? Visit with Jared Wade and Tim Donahue on Pacers Talk Live at Eight Points, Nine Seconds.
• Ricky Davis will start his NBA comeback as a Red Claw.
• NBA commentators put Google+ hangout to use.

The Chicago Bulls travel to Atlanta with a chance to close out the Hawks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Thursday night.

When a team leads a seven-game series 3-2, it goes on to win the series 85.5 percent of the time.

The Bulls are 12-1 in a best-of-seven series when leading 3-2, with their only loss coming in the 1975 Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

As for the Hawks, they're 3-13 when trailing 3-2 in a best-of-seven series. Their three comebacks were: 1960 Division Finals against the Minneapolis Lakers; 1961 Division Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers; and 2010 First Round against the Milwaukee Bucks. (The Hawks haven't won two series in the same postseason since moving to Atlanta in 1968.)

One of the keys to the Bulls’ postseason success has been the performance of Derrick Rose. In Game 5, Rose was able to get to the basket at will, scoring 18 points on 9-of-16 shooting inside 5 feet.

Rose has scored 96 points inside 5 feet during the postseason, and has 32 assists in the same range -- both numbers lead this year's playoffs.

While Rose has had his way in the paint, the Hawks have struggled mightily outside of it.

On field goal attempts outside of 10 feet, Joe Johnson is Atlanta's only perimeter player who has been productive (27-for-51, 52.9 percent).

Of the five other Hawks in this series who have taken at least 15 shots beyond 10 feet, none has shot better than 36.4 percent from the floor. The biggest culprit has been Josh Smith, who has missed 26 of 29 shots outside of 10 feet. Jamal Crawford hasn’t been much better, shooting 31.6 percent (12-38) from that distance.

However, within 5 feet of the basket, Smith is 21-for-35 (60.0 percent) in the series.

It must have seemed like déjà vu for the Chicago Bulls, with 69 points through three quarters and entering the fourth with a slim lead. But, after being outscored by 14 points in the fourth quarter of Game 4, Chicago bounced back to defeat the Atlanta Hawks with a strong finish in Game 5.

In the fourth quarter of Game 4, the Bulls allowed the Hawks to shoot 65 percent from the field and got sloppy, committing five turnovers. On Tuesday night, Chicago held Atlanta to 31.3 percent field goal shooting in the final frame thanks to an unlikely combination of players.

At 1:58 of the third, Carlos Boozer joined Joakim Noah on the bench, where the two would remain the rest of the game. The Bulls trotted out a five-man unit of Derrick Rose, Ronnie Brewer, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik. They played the next 12 minutes and 53 seconds together, turning a one-point lead into a 12-point lead. Prior to Game 5, that unit played just four minutes together in the playoffs.

Gibson scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, while Asik grabbed three rebounds and added a blocked shot. They led a bench that contributed 13 fourth-quarter points in Game 5 after scoring just four points in the last quarter of Game 4.

Rose (33 points) continued his strong postseason play, notching his third consecutive 30-point performance. He really turned it on to begin the fourth, scoring or assisting on eight of the Bulls' first nine baskets. He finished with 11 points and three assists in the fourth.

For the Hawks, their struggles shooting from distance hurt them in Game 5, particularly the duo of Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford.

In order for Atlanta to have success against Chicago, the Hawks need Crawford and Johnson to make jump shots. The two were just 3-for-14 from 15-plus feet on Tuesday.

In the Hawks two wins this series, the pair have shot over 53 percent from 15 feet and beyond. In the three losses, they have shot only 30 percent from that range, scoring less than 10 points per game from that distance.

The Hawks struggled from deep, going just 1-for-12 from 3-point range, with Johnson and Crawford combining to go 1-for-9. Atlanta is just 10-for-40 from 3-point range in its three losses during the series, while 11-for-24 in its two wins.

The Atlanta Hawks never led the Chicago Bulls by more than four points in their three regular season meetings and had just one win to show for it. Monday night, the Hawks jumped out to a 10-point first-quarter lead and won their first Conference Semifinal game since 1997.

After that strong start, they closed the game well, taking control of the first and fourth quarters. Atlanta shot 59 percent from the field, outrebounded the Bulls and outscored them in the paint.

Atlanta had lost 15 straight games in the Conference Semifinals, dating to Game 2 in 1997 when they beat Chicago. That 15-game losing streak was the longest by any team in any round of the playoffs since the league switched to a conference format in 1970-71.

Joe Johnson scored 34 points, one shy of his playoff career high, and is the only Hawks player with a 30-point playoff game since Steve Smith in 1998.

He’s one of just three players in the past 20 postseasons to score 30 points and go 5-for-5 from three-point range. It’s the first time in his career that Johnson was perfect from three-point land in a playoff game.

Johnson’s five three-pointers are three more than he made in three regular season games against the Bulls. All five threes came in the half-court set. For the game, Johnson hit nine half-court jump shots for 23 points. Against Chicago in the regular season, Johnson hit a total of eight half-court jump shots totaling just 18 points.

The Bulls got a different Derrick Rose in this game, as the MVP failed to attempt a single free throw. Entering Game 1 he was averaging 12 free-throw attempts per game in the postseason, trailing only Dwight Howard.

Throughout this season there’s been a direct correlation between Rose’s aggressiveness and the Bulls’ winning percentage.

Chicago’s only loss in the first round came when Rose attempted just four free throws, his only game in the series with fewer than seven.

Perhaps it was Kirk Hinrich being out that changed things for Rose. With Hinrich injured, Jeff Teague drew the primary defensive assignment on Rose. Teague, who played a combined nine minutes against the Magic in the first round, played 45 minutes Monday and limited Derrick Rose to 2-for-9 shooting while defending him.

In the fourth quarter, Rose got nine touches with Teague defending and didn’t attempt a single field goal.

On Thursday the phrase “win or go home” truly meant something for the Orlando Magic, New Orleans Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers. All three faced elimination, and after Thursday’s action, all three are going home.

Atlanta Hawks 84, Orlando Magic 81 (Hawks win series 4-2)
For the first time in franchise history, the Hawks beat the Magic in a playoff series. Atlanta has not lost a home playoff game in which it had a chance to clinch the series in the last 15 years. The last team to beat the Hawks in such a situation was the 1995-96 Indiana Pacers led by Rik Smits and ESPN analyst Mark Jackson. The Hawks will look to win two playoff series in the same postseason for the first time since moving to Atlanta in 1968.

The stars of the game were Jamal Crawford, who once again outscored the entire Magic bench 19-17, and Joe Johnson, who grabbed a playoff career-high 10 rebounds en route to his first career 20-10 playoff game.

The Magic finished 0-5 this season in Atlanta, regular season and playoffs combined. Their 3-point shooting was a huge issue as the Magic shot 26.3 percent in this game and 26.2 percent in the series. That's more than 10 percentage points below their regular-season average (36.6 percent).

Dwight Howard averaged 27 points and 15.5 rebounds per game, while making 63 percent of his field-goal attempts. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that over the last 30 years, only one other player had a playoff series in which he averaged 27 points and 15 rebounds per game, while making at least 60 percent of his field-goal attempts. That was Shaquille O'Neal (38.0 points, 16.7 rebounds, 61.1 percent) for the Lakers against the Pacers in the 2000 Finals. In earlier playoffs, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reached those levels in four series, and Wilt Chamberlain and Bob Lanier each did it once.

This was the earliest the Magic were bounced from the playoffs in the Stan Van Gundy era. In each of his previous three seasons, they won at least one series.

The Hawks move on to face the top-seeded Chicago Bulls. Chicago took two of the three meetings this season, with the lone Hawks win coming in Atlanta after the Bulls blew a 17-point halftime lead.

Los Angeles Lakers 98, New Orleans Hornets 80 (Lakers win series, 4-2)
The Lakers led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter and won their first-round series for the fourth straight year. Phil Jackson improves to 56-21 (.727 win percent) in potential series-clinching games, which is the second-best mark in NBA history to Gregg Popovich (minimum 15 games). Kobe Bryant finished with 24 points including 22 in the first three quarters. Bryant had a string of eight straight 30-plus point games in road potential series-clinchers snapped. The Lakers, however, are 8-1 in their last nine potential road clinchers with Bryant averaging 38.7 points per game. Overall he is 32-14 in potential series-clinching games.

The Hornets fall to 0-5 in playoff series that go six games or more. Chris Paul finished two rebounds shy of a triple-double, which would have been his second of the series.
Paul was less aggressive on the offensive end in Game 6 compared to the earlier games in the series. In the four losses to the Lakers, Paul averaged 18 points and 10 assists, which is very respectable. Unfortunately for the Hornets, they couldn't win without their point guard playing nearly flawless basketball. In the two wins, Paul averaged 30 points and including assists, was responsible for more than 60 points per game.

So who will the Lakers take on in the Western Conference semifinals?

Dallas Mavericks 103, Portland Trail Blazers 96 (Mavericks win series 4-2)
The Mavericks advance past the first round for just the second time in the last five postseasons. Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 33 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the series. Nowitzki improves to 10-7 in potential series-clinching games, averaging 26.2 points per game in those games. It's the second-highest scoring average in potential series clinchers among active players.

Gerald Wallace led the Blazers with a playoff career-high 32 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Brandon Roy added nine points off the bench. In Portland's two wins he averaged 20.0 points per game, while he averaged 4.0 points per game in the four losses.

The Mavericks will now face the Lakers in their first playoff meeting since 1988, which means Bryant and Nowitzki will be playing their first-ever playoff series against each other. The last time the Mavericks and Lakers met in the playoffs it was a Mark Aguirre-led Mavericks team against a Byron-Worthy-Magic-Kareem-led Lakers team. The Lakers won the Conference Finals in seven games and went on to win the NBA Finals.

Dwight Howard tied the Orlando Magic playoff record for points with 46 while also grabbing 19 rebounds, but it still wasn’t enough as the Atlanta Hawks pulled out the road win.

The Hawks got some early redemption after getting swept by the Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals last year. In Game 1 of last year’s series, the Hawks lost by 43 to the Magic while being held to just 71 points.

On Saturday, the Hawks put up 103 points in the 10-point win, while shooting 51.4 percent from the floor. Despite the win, the Hawks were overshadowed again by Howard’s monster performance.

He joined Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal as the only players in the last 20 seasons with 45 points and 15 rebounds in a playoff game.

You have to go all the way back to Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1987 playoffs for the last time a player had 45 points and 15 rebounds in a game that his team lost.

In fact it’s happened only six times in NBA history, with three such games in losses by Wilt Chamberlain.

31 of Howard's 46 points came in the first half, the most by any player in a postseason game in franchise history.

He fell eight points shy of the NBA record for most points in a half of a playoff game. That was 39, done by Sleepy Floyd in May of 1987 against the Lakers.

The box score may look rough for Atlanta, but this may actually be part of the team’s strategy to defeat Orlando.

Including the regular season, the Magic are now just 10-13 in games in which Howard takes at least 16 shots from the field (took 23 against Atlanta).

When he attempts 10 or fewer field goals, the Magic are 17-3.

While Howard went off, only one other Magic player scored in double-figures, and that was Jameer Nelson with 27.

The rest of the team combined for just 20 points, while making only 8-of-34 field goal attempts.

The Hawks had a much more balanced attack with five different players reaching double-figures, led by Joe Johnson with 25 points.

That’s especially encouraging since Johnson was held to only 12.8 points per game in the teams sweep at the hands of the Magic last season.

Josh is smooth in Hawks win

Although there were only seven games in the NBA Tuesday night, there was no shortage of great notes.

Take Josh Smith, for example, who scored a season-high 34 points in the Atlanta Hawks' 116-101 victory over the New Jersey Nets.

Smith shot 14-16 from the floor, and over the last four seasons, only three other players have scored at least 34 points on at least 14-16 shooting: Amar'e Stoudemire (this season), Chris Bosh (2007-08) and Kevin Martin (2007-08).

The Hawks shot 60.3 percent from the floor in the win, just the fourth team in the NBA to do so this season.

Atlanta also continues to get it done despite the absence of Joe Johnson, improving to 4-1 without their star. Both Smith and Jamal Crawford had season highs in scoring.

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Smith became the first Hawks player with a game of that many points (34) and that high a FG pct (87.5 pct) in more than 55 years, since Hall-of-Famer Bob Pettit scored 34 points while making 12 of 13 shots (92.3 percent) on March 14, 1955.

Pettit’s performance came in a 99-84 win over the Philadelphia Warriors, in a neutral-site game played in Albany, New York. What made the game especially noteworthy is that it was the final game played by the Hawks while representing Milwaukee.

Less than 2 months later, it was announced that the team would move from Milwaukee to St. Louis for the 1955-56 season; it then moved to Atlanta in 1968.

Texas Ten-Step

Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks' 105-100 win over the Golden State Warriors gave them 10 straight wins.

It’s the eighth time dating back to the 2001-02 season that the Mavericks have had a 10-game win streak, tied with the San Antonio Spurs for the most in the NBA over that span.

That 10-game win streak was enough to move the Mavericks from fifth to second place in the Western Conference.

Miller time ends

Finally, Andre Miller was suspended for the Portland Trail Blazers’ 106-99 win over the Phoenix Suns after his hit on Blake Griffin in Portland’s last game.

That’s important because it snapped Miller’s streak of 632 consecutive games played, which was the longest active streak in the NBA.

Derek Fisher is now the NBA’s new iron man, having played in his 434th consecutive game in Tuesday night’s Los Angeles Lakers' win. The New Orleans Hornets' Jarrett Jack moves to second, with 309 straight games played.

The stat geeks have always said not to pay Joe Johnson like a superstar, and now that the Hawks are poised to do just that, John Hollinger (Insider) does some more explaining as to why that's a bad idea:

Virtually every shred of evidence indicates that Johnson's next six years will be dramatically worse than the previous six. He's 28 years old and already has more than 25,000 minutes on his odometer. Trolling through my similarity database, I find that the 10 most comparable players are Michael Finley, Richard Hamilton, Jalen Rose, Vince Carter, Jamal Mashburn, Steve Smith, Glen Rice, Jerry Stackhouse, Allan Houston and Glenn Robinson.

None of them made an All-Star team after age 30. Johnson will be paid like an All-Star -- check that, a superstar -- until he's 33.

A few days ago, Kevin Pelton picked this contract as a strong candidate to become the worst in the NBA in a couple of years. If this contract proves to have been a mistake, the stat geeks will have to be credited with seeing something the NBA market does not. And if not ... well, at least they're giving Johnson some good bulletin board material.

Joe Johnson can score the basketball. He hits big shots in crunch time. He has been the man when the Hawks have been at their best. NBA teams pay well for those things.

However, increasingly they do so over the howls of statistical experts. There's not a stat geek out there who thinks he's anything close to a max player, and the reason is because it's very hard to find players like him -- older wings who don't get to the line all that much -- who age well.

On Basketball Prospectus, Kevin Pelton writes about his systematic comparison of Johnson to others like him in NBA history:

Johnson is expected to heavily decline by the 2012-13 season, when he'll be 30. That will put him only halfway through the six-year contract Atlanta reportedly offered him yesterday. No matter the metric you use, second-tier wings have aged very poorly, and a long-term contract for Johnson could be a disaster for the Hawks.

It's not unreasonable to suggest that within a couple of seasons we will see Johnson's contract as the single worst in the entire NBA because of its cost and its length.

Now that he has been offered a reported $119 million over six years, he'll sign it immediately, right? That's the word, but if you're wondering why he'd hesitate at all, here's one guess: There has been talk that the Knicks would sign Johnson to a big deal as part of their attempts to lure LeBron James. Contracts can't be signed until July 8. It may be worth Johnson's time to hang around a little longer just in case he can get a huge basketball-crazy market and James as a teammate in addition to silly amounts of money.

Hawks fans had to be concerned.

As efficient as the Hawks have been offensively this season, they sometimes contract the sniffles in the fourth quarter. The ball stagnates as all eyes turn to Joe Johnson.

Against Orlando Wednesday night, the Hawks put together a steady third quarter during which they build a double-digit lead. After Mike Bibby drains a 3-pointer on the left wing with 10:22 remaining the fourth quarter, the Hawks lead by nine -- but then fall into a slumber.

They don't hit another field goal until the 1:38 mark, as that 9-point lead is whittled down to three.

Just over a minute later, Vince Carter deadens the crowd when he nails an off-balanced, contested bomb from beyond the arc.

Game tied.

The Hawks must race the ball up the length of the court with no timeouts and 9.9 seconds left on the clock:



Watch the play again. How does Josh Smith get free for the follow?

Ask Rashard Lewis.

The Lakers made their strongest adjustment of the series Wednesday night. The Magic's simple adjustment in the conference finals? Draining open looks. And Tyrus Thomas should adjust his game by launching fewer two-point jumpers. 

Kurt Helin of Forum Blue & Gold: " One thing the Lakers did much better was handle the aggressive double teams and traps of Denver. Especially when it happened to Pau Gasol, he had been kicking it out for a three, which the Laker guards had been mostly missing. Tonight it was Kobe [Bryant] trapped in the corner passing to Gasol single-covered in the post. Or, if Gasol was doubled in the post he could hand off to the cutter going right by him. The Lakers moved without the ball when there was a double, and that led to layups. And, that is something that can happen in Denver. That was not about friendly home rims, it was about effort and willingness to take the punishment to be the aggressor."

M. Haubs of The Painted Area: "Make shots. For all the analysis, sometimes basketball just boils down to something so simple: Can you make your open shots? Simply making or missing open threes has been a key factor not only in the Magic-Cavs series, but in the entire Orlando postseason ... In the First Round, Orlando struggled to outlast an inferior Philly team in part because they only hit .346 for the series, while the Sixers -- who were the worst 3pt-shooting team in the regular season at .318 -- outshot them from distance for the series at .368. In the Conference Semis, both the Magic and the Celtics (who were 1st in the NBA in 3pt% at .397) suffered colossal shooting slumps until Orlando broke through with a 13-21 performance on threes which keyed the Game 7 blowout in Boston. To that point, Orlando had been just 43-141 (.305) for the series (the C's were just .289 for the entire series). Now, mercifully for Magic fans, the tide has finally turned, as they have connected on an average of 10.5-24.5 (.429) 3's in Conference Finals, including 17-38 in Game 4, and they've done it against a Cleveland team that ranked 1st in 3pt FG% defense at .333."

Bret LaGree of Hoopinion: "Al Horford's season is fairly straightforward to recap: He's a delight to watch on both ends of the floor, he's not a big enough part of the offense, and that fact combined with the time he missed due to injury might have obscured the encouraging and, one hopes, significant improvements he made in his second year in the league ... Horford didn't improve his numbers because his team made better or more frequent use of him. Al Horford improved because he improved his skills and decision-making. I'm worried about the long-term production of Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and (if they return) Mike Bibby and Flip Murray, but I'm confident that Al Horford gives the Hawks a fairly untapped offensive resource which could build upon his solid rebounding and defensive play to create an excellent NBA player. He's the closest thing to an untouchable player on the roster and the most likely member of the current roster to be on a Hawks team that reaches the Eastern Conference finals should that accomplishment ever come to pass."

THE FINAL WORD
Orlando Magic Daily: ORL is bottling up the Cavs' supporting cast.
By the Horns: Tyrus Thomas -- off the mark.
Celtics Hub: Probing Kevin Garnett's knee.

(Photos by Kevork Djansezian, Nathaniel S. Butler, Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)

What did we take away from Game 1 of the Western Conference finals? Is Joe Johnson really a first option? Who will draw the LeBron assignment for Orlando? And if you're in need of a point guard, maybe the 2009 NBA Draft isn't such a dog? 

Kurt Helin of Forum Blue & Gold: "You had to like that win. It was a gutty win when the Lakers were outplayed most of the night. When they were out shot. You had to love that after a night where they struggled Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher made the plays at the end. You have to love Kobe Bryant. The Lakers were tough - as they have been for a while but still don't get credit for. Sure, there were a lot of things I didn't like. I didn't like that when the Nuggets were aggressive with cutting off easy post entry passes the Lakers didn't counter (late moves across the lane, cross picks). I didn't like that early when Gasol and Bynum did run the floor and get early position they were not rewarded with the ball. I did not like Spike Lee cheering on the Lakers. I did not like how much the Lakers ran the pick and roll instead of their standard offensive sets. But it's a win ... It will be interesting to see how this Denver team responds. Some teams will lost a game they feel they should have won and just pack it in the next game until they get back home. Others will think this validates they can win, just with some smarter plays. I know how Billups will respond, but will his teammates follow? Because the Lakers certainly can play better."

Jeremy Wagner of Roundball Mining Company: "Either Denver proved that they can hang with the Lakers and good things are ahead or the Nuggets proved that even when Carmelo [Anthony] plays what may have been the best game of his career and Denver outplays the Lakers for a vast majority of the game they still cannot win in Los Angeles. There is some pretty good evidence to support both sides of the argument. In the Nuggets' favor if there was any question that Denver was going to be a match for Los Angeles, the debate is over.  Denver is playing at a much higher level than they did at any time during the regular season.  There were a couple of points in the game where the regular season version of the Nuggets would have fallen apart and been knocked out early. On the other hand, this game set up perfectly for Denver.  They got out to a quick lead to build their confidence. Andrew Bynum was in foul trouble for most of the night.  Carmelo played an absolutely incredible game and they had a lead late in the proceedings.  It is difficult to imagine Denver having as good of a chance to win in Los Angeles as they did tonight."

Bret LaGree of Hoopinion: "Contrary to popular belief, Joe Johnson didn't come to Atlanta for the money. The Phoenix Suns would have paid handsomely to retain his services. Joe Johnson came to Atlanta for the shots and he has no interest in giving those shots up to the younger players who will need to take on greater responsibility if the Hawks are going to make any progress toward contending for the Eastern Conference title ... Over the course of his four seasons in Atlanta, Johnson has increased his reliance on shooting the three-pointer as his ability to make two-point baskets has slipped significantly. Considering Johnson's inability to get to the free throw line (Despite making 82.6% of his foul shots last season his free throw rate was 10% below the league average.) the numbers confirm the eye's suspicion: Johnson ... is not a viable first option for an NBA team with ambition."

THE FINAL WORD
Orlando Magic Daily: Defending LeBron.
Hornets247: Sizing up the big men in New Orleans. 
Raptors Republic: Some pretty solid point guards will be around at #9.

(Photos by Andrew D. Bernstein, Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz

It's getting increasingly difficult to put LeBron James' postseason heroics into historical perspective. His production has made an extremely good offensive team (109.7 points/100 possessions in the regular season), even more ruthless in the postseason (up that to 111.9/100).

The Cavs Defense: Where average defenders become good defenders, and good defenders become great defenders. (Andy Lyons/NBAE via Getty Images)

That's an impressive gain, but only a fraction of the improvement the already sturdy Cavs defense has shown in the playoffs. Cleveland has whittled its 99.4 points/100 possessions defensive rating (3rd best out of 30), down to a minuscule 90.8/100 in its two postseason series. Granted, Atlanta and Detroit weren't exactly offensive juggernauts, but their respective offensive ratings in the regular season of 106.6 and 104.5 suggest that the Cavs are tightening their defensive vise with brutal efficiency.

The Cleveland roster isn't composed of guys you'd immediately classify as defensive stoppers. With a defensive rating in the 104 range (number of points allowed per 100 possessions as an individual defender), Delonte West has been rightfully praised for his defense. West's defensive ratings in the four seasons prior to this one? 107, 107, 108, 108. As a Milwaukee Buck, Mo Williams had a reputation as a horrendous defender (and the numbers to prove it), but for Cleveland this season, he's been downright gritty, and his defensive rating dropped from 114 to 106. Did Williams just miraculously grow defensive fangs? Even Wally Szczerbiak, Ukrainian for "has lost some lateral quickness," is posting career-best numbers in various advanced defensive metrics. Nothing eye-popping, but more than passable.  

A few hundred video clips of Cleveland defensive sets -- both from the postseason and from post-All-Star Game matchups against playoff contenders -- begin to tell the story. Mike Brown, a disciple of Gregg Popovich, insists that his defenders play straight-up position defense. The Cavs don't gamble a lot (in team steals, you'll find them in the middle of the pack), don't trap off the screen/roll very often, and though they doubled Joe Johnson quite a bit in the Atlanta series, they prefer man-to-man defense most nights. If a Cleveland defender gets beat on a screen or off the dribble, there's an instant rotation, more often than not by Anderson Varejao. For a guy who gives off a lot of hyperkinetic energy, Varejao moves around the court with great purpose. He's my choice for ROY -- Rotator of the Year.

Since Mo Williams isn't a great individual defender, and does get beat on a regular basis, this part of Cleveland's defensive scheme is all the more impressive. When Williams gets taken out of the play by a hard screen, the rotator will immediately pick up the loose end, by moving to either the ball man or the screener. Williams, meanwhile, recovers quickly and intently. He'll immediately dart over to the guy who the rotator/helper has left open (also known as Roger Mason), preventing a kick out or, at the very least, an open look. 

It's here, on the back half of a defensive possession, where Cleveland's defense forces bad shot after bad shot. Mo Williams, like most point guards, is going to get nailed by his share of screens from 250-pound centers. That's a given. Good team defenses compensate a couple of ways: [a] How quickly does the rotator pick up Williams' man (or the big man, if a switch is in order)? [b] How effectively does Williams recover and run out on the open man? Bad defenses get beaten by a failure of [a], but even some decent defensive teams can get burned in the closing seconds of a possession by breaking down on [b].

Not Cleveland. You can go through nearly twenty clips of defensive possessions before witnessing a single blown rotation. Every Cavalier closes out on every shooter, and contests every shot. The Cavs move around the court mindful of every open space, chasing guys off their spots, and walling off anyone with the temerity to drive or cut to the basket. 

LeBron's explosiveness is undoubtedly the story of the Cavs' scorched earth playoff run, but their stifling defense is the silent killer. If you shaved off a third of James' offensive output, the Cavs' team defense would still make them the favorite in any series going forward. 

The fallout from L'Affaire Rondo continues. Has Joe Johnson officially emerged from his slump? Are we ready to classify Denver as a "defensive juggernaut"? Is Carlos Boozer a good fit in Detroit?

Matt McHale of By the Horns: "The ruling is a rather predictable cop out, considering that the league hates to admit when officials make huge, game-changing mistakes, especially in high-profile playoff games. David Stern would sooner confess to being the Batman than acknowledge that his referees sometimes err, or that those errors might actually swing the results of important games ... Look, I'm not calling for a fine, or a suspension, or for a redo of the final two seconds of Game 5, or even an admission that, had the correct call been made, the game might have ended differently. I just want consistency. I simply want a league that has spent the last few years trying to outlaw blows to the head that can injure or endanger its players to stand by their supposed mission statement and say, 'Oops, we goofed. Won't let it happen again.' That's it. Is that really too much to ask? According to Stu Jackson: Yes. However, you can probably expect closer officiating scrutiny in Game 6. Game 5 was edging close to 'let 'em play' status. I doubt you'll see that tonight."

Bret LaGree of Hoopinion: "After [Joe] Johnson's 1-6 start from the field to open Game 5, his eFG% was down to 37.5% for the series. From that point forward, Johnson made five of nine shots (one three-pointer included) and went to the line 15 times. He'd attempted 17 free throws through four games of this series. Johnson didn't go to the line 15 times in a game all season. Or last season. Or the season before that. Or ever in his NBA career. So maybe we should hold off on declaring Joe Johnson back until he makes at least half of his shots in a game rather than scoring his points in a thoroughly atypical and likely unrepeatable fashion."

Jeremy Wagner of Roundball Mining Company: "We have seen Denver play pressure defense from time to time during the regular season, but never for entire games and never for multiple games in a row. This team has come alive in the playoffs and they are playing defense that I feel confident saying has never been seen in Denver. Maybe someone from the ABA days can correct me, but the exceptional teams of the mid 1980's never locked down like this team has ... So there you have it Nuggets fans.  Denver dominated this series and won easier than even the most optimistic fan thought possible. The Nuggets averaged 24.2 more points per game that the Hornets and I believe have proven themselves a team to be taken seriously for as long as they remain active in the playoffs."

THE FINAL WORD
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(Photos by Elsa, Scott Cunningham, Doug Pensinger/NBAE via Getty Images)