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Coming off a pair of 1st-Round sweeps, the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are each on the front end of series against teams coming off a seven-game series.

The Thunder had eight days off prior to their 29-point demolition of the Los Angeles Lakers (one day of rest) on Monday. The Spurs, who will have had seven days off, open their series Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers (one day of rest).

Is it possible for a team to have too much time off between series? At what point does "rest" lend itself to "rust"? If recent history is any indication, "rust" is overrated.

Over the last 15 seasons, teams with at least seven days off are now a perfect 6-0 against teams with just a single day to recover. What's shocking might not be the perfect 6-0 record, but the fact that the games haven't even been close.

The average margin of victory in those six games is nearly 25 points per game. The only one of those six games to be decided by single digits was Game 1 of last year's Western Conference Finals in which the Dallas Mavericks beat the Thunder by nine after leading by as many as 16 in the fourth quarter.

Just how important is that extra day of rest for the team with the quick turnaround? Whereas teams with a week off are perfect when their opponents have just a single day to recover, they are just 5-7 when their opponents have two or more days of rest while averaging 23.5 fewer points per game.

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that over the last 10 years, there were six series played between one team coming off a sweep and the other off a seven-game series. Five of those six series were won by the team coming off the sweep, with the lone exception being the Orlando Magic's elimination of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals.

Clippers-Spurs Key Notes

- The team that wins Game 1 of a seven-game series goes on to win 78.2 percent of the time (337-94, including the 1st Round this year).

- This is their first-ever meeting in the postseason.

- The Spurs are 26-2 at home against the Clippers since drafting Tim Duncan. The .929 win percentage is tied for their third-best at home against any team over that span (27-0 vs Golden State Warriors; 14-0 vs Atlanta Hawks).

- To say these teams have differing levels of success in the postseason would be a drastic understatement. Despite being in the NBA for six fewer seasons, the Spurs have more NBA titles (four) than the Clippers have series wins (three). The Spurs have more than four times as many series wins (34) as the Clippers have playoff appearances (eight).

- Much of the focus will be on the matchup between Chris Paul (third in MVP voting) and Tony Parker (fifth in MVP voting). The two have faced off seven times in the postseason, with Parker winning four times. Paul has enjoyed the statistical advantage, averaging 23.7 points per game and 10.7 assists per game (19.4 PPG, 5.7 APG for Parker).

Statistical support for this story given by NBA.com.

At some point in his career, likely in the latter stages of the 16 NBA seasons he’s now amassed in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform, Kobe Bryant stopped caring about the persona we expect a star athlete to have.

Maybe the turn came in midair, on one of the many flights he took in and out of Colorado in 2003 and 2004 while being chastised by the entire country. Perhaps it was after the dust had settled on very public falling outs with the coach and star player from his first three title runs, in which he received the brunt of the blame. Or most likely, it was those status-fortifying fourth and fifth rings, the ones he won. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but somewhere lost amidst all the awards and accolades and success, Bryant has accepted and embraced that, despite his immense popularity, he may not be the most well-received player in the public eye. At the very least, he has just stopped caring.

And boy, is it refreshing.

He swears in interviews, so much so that he made it his New Year’s resolution to stop doing so (which didn’t last very long). After winning his fifth title, his immediate response to a question about what it meant to him was, “I just got one more than Shaq.” And he admitted that he went into last year’s All-Star game in L.A. looking to break the scoring record and did everything could to follow up on it (he didn’t, but he came close).

Bryant has always been brash; he took Brandy to his high school prom and wore sunglasses atop his shaved dome as he announced that he’d be skipping college and taking "his talents" to the NBA long before LeBron, as SI's Lee Jenkins reminded us this week. But with a decade-plus of exploits now under his belt and one of the league’s only no-trade clause at his disposal, Bryant has become downright brazen. In the same way your parents are willing to say and maybe wear things that embarrass the heck out of you without any remorse, Kobe’s comfort in his place in the league allows him to do what he wants, which is often to shoot from the hip.

That attitude has both cultivated and hindered his game, as carte blanche is also what affords him all those seemingly unquestioned shot opportunities. But in a league so bogged down by talk of a players’ image and what can and cannot be said, so much so that it may be altering the way some behave and make their decisions, Bryant remains one of the few willing to occasionally step outside of the public- and media-crafted conventions (regardless of whether or not it’s in an attempt to convey or bolster a carefully constructed image of superiority). His feats and maniacal quest for even greater feats may make him seem inhuman or robotic, but the openness with which he lusts after them is both rare and welcome in a sports culture that offers precious few moments of honesty.

The latest example came on the eve of the final night of the 2011-12 regular season, as Bryant and the Lakers head to Sacramento with the year-end scoring title on the line. The 33-year-old Bryant is averaging 27.86 points per game. Kevin Durant is averaging an NBA-best 28.03 points. In order to finish ahead of Durant, Bryant will have to score 38 points or more.

With little to gain against the Kings, the Lakers have said that they will likely sit most of their starters … except, perhaps, Bryant. Kobe will make his final decision at shootaround, but the presumption, based on his declaration last week that he’s “not on vacation” and that Kobe is, well, Kobe, is that he’ll play.

The decision may not be a wise one, especially for a player who just missed seven games because of a shin injury and averages over 38 minutes a game, at age 33. But unlike most players, Kobe has made it clear that statistics and his place in league history matters. A scoring title is a relatively minor accomplishment on a resume like the one Bryant has assembled, but years from now when we’re debating his place in league, such things will be brought up and factored in, and an almost-scoring title, even if it is by a fraction of a point, won’t even register. As frivolous as they may be, those conversations matter to many, including Kobe. And despite quotes to the contrary, it’s naive to think that many, many other players don’t agree.

Kevin Durant has brushed aside any talk about the significance of a third straight scoring belt at the tender age of 23, only feeding into the humble persona that defines both him and this new generation of NBA stars. But a noted fierce competitor, it’s a little hard to believe that Durant is completely disinterested, even if it is an individual award. With his emotions often hidden better than his many tattoos, it’s hard to tell, really.

Besides, while Durant may not have made any blatant attempt to pad his scoring numbers in his final regular-season appearance, a 106-101 loss to the Nuggets in which he had 32 points, the Thunder still had home-court advantage in a potential Miami-Oklahoma City NBA Finals to play for.

The Lakers, however, have very little to gain in their 66^th and final game. Which may seem like an open invitation to shut it all down, but it’s also the perfect opportunity to give Kobe free rein for the night. The risk of injury is looming, but how is playing on this night any more dangerous than it was in the previous games this season, or the 1,000 or so before it?

Just let Kobe be Kobe.

He’s going to be either way.

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.

With a 112-108 overtime win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers moved to a season-high 17 games over .500 (39-22) and improved to 4-1 this season without the league’s leading scorer, Kobe Bryant.

Tonight, the Lakers will look to build on that momentum against the San Antonio Spurs (10:30 ET).

Instead of taking a step back lately, the Lakers have shown they can both win without their superstar and thrive offensively. In the last five games, the Lakers are averaging more points and shooting more efficiently compared to when Bryant has been in the lineup this season.

Much of the Lakers’ success without Bryant has been due to the supporting cast stepping up, most notably Andrew Bynum and Metta World Peace.

Andrew Bynum
In his first 51 games this season, Bynum averaged a double-double, posting career highs in points (18.3) and rebounds (11.8). But in the last five games without Bryant, he has really stepped up his game at both ends of the floor and has taken an increasing role in the offense. He is averaging four more points per game, five more rebounds per game and nine more shot attempts per game without Bryant.

One of the areas where Bynum has been the most aggressive is in the post. Over the last five games, he has almost doubled his field goal attempts on post-up plays per game compared to when Bryant was in the lineup and has increased his scoring in those situations.

Metta World Peace
World Peace has also found a rhythm in Bryant’s absence. In the last five games, World Peace is averaging 17 points on 52 percent shooting. Prior to this stretch, World Peace averaged just 6.5 points. No other player on the Lakers has increased his scoring more since Bryant has been out of the lineup than World Peace.

Where World Peace has improved the most is his jump shooting. In his first 55 games, World Peace shot just 29 percent from 10 feet and beyond. However, he has been on fire from the outside in the last five games, shooting over 47 percent from that distance.

LOS ANGELES -- When Ramon Sessions arrived in Los Angeles at the trade deadline, he seemed to heal a struggling Lakers team by injecting them with something you can’t find in some laboratory in Germany: fun.

In the wake of their second straight title, bodies began to age, injuries began to pile up -- particularly for their most dynamic player, Kobe Bryant, who was being held together by duct tape and gum toward the end of the season -- and the oversized frontcourt that powered them past the Celtics in the 2010 Finals was no longer just the team’s strength, it became their identity as well. Showtime became Slowtime. Even with the star like Kobe, the Lakers were pretty boring.

But ever since Sessions’ arrival here in Tinseltown, the fun factor has returned. The rather quiet 25-year-old point guard doesn’t have much of a presence in the locker room, but he commands attention on the court, his quick bursts and dishes set to a different speed than the rest of the team.

The competitiveness of the team never dipped much, but in the five games Sessions has played at Staples Center since the March 15 trade that sent Luke Walton and Jason Kapono to Cleveland, the crowd seems to have an extra shot of adrenaline, the stadium a little extra electricity. And Sessions, playing for a team located outside of middle America for the first time in his career, enjoyed all that came with it.

But in perhaps the Lakers’ biggest game since they acquired him, the team now housing the veteran leader they shipped out to clear space for the former Cavaliers 1 played the role of killjoy. Derek Fisher certainly had his moments, but more with his presence than his points (seven) off the Thunder bench. It was Russell Westbrook, the lone point guard between the two teams who hasn't experienced significant change since the post-deadline Fisher fallout, who was in charge of the No Fun Police. The hard-charging fourth-year player finished with 36 points on 13-for-27 shooting, six assists and only one turnover in Oklahoma City’s 102-93 win, one in which even the joy of free taco coupons was taken away from the crowd.

“I’m glad I played my career when I played because I couldn’t stop players like Russell,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

The Lakers held Westbrook in check in the first half, holding him to just nine points on 3-for-10 shooting. But the Thunder point guard seemed to get whatever he wanted in the third quarter, scoring 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting while L.A. could muster only 19 as a team (none of which coming from Bryant, who was 0-for-6 in the game-swinging section).

“In the third quarter he just came out, put his head down and went one-on-four and either scored or got fouled every time he came down the floor,” Lakers coach Mike Brown said.

With three fouls, Paul Gasol played only 2:22 in the third, leaving a 7-foot hole in the paint. But Westbrook surprisingly did most of his damage from midrange, using the threat of his powerful drives to burn the Lakers for continually going under screens -- a usually sound strategy against the attack-focused guard, but one that's losing its effectiveness as Westbrook continues to improve his range.

After laying it in on a fast-break layup early in the third, Westbrook’s next five buckets that quarter came from 13 feet and out, including a buzzer-beating shot from three feet outside the 3-point arc in which the point guard celebrated by letting out a loud scream and holstering his hot hands, each holding up three fingers.

“Kevin (Durant) and I started a little slow and the game kind of got out of whack,” said Westbrook, who has been the game-high scorer in each of the Thunder's three wins against the Lakers over the past two seasons. “My job was to pick us up and do whatever we need to do to win.”

With the Thunder’s lead snowballing in the fourth, Bryant tired his hand at guarding Westbrook. But after keeping close outside the 3-point arc for the first few seconds of the shot clock in their first faceoff, Durant used a Nick Collison screen at the top of the key and found Westbrook all alone on a backcut for an easy bucket.

“I didn't really get much of a crack at him tonight. But, I'm looking forward to it,” Bryant said. “He's one of my favorites. He's developed his outside shot a great deal and tonight he went to the post a little bit as well. So, he's ... he's a problem."

Sessions' new problem isn't the good kind to have. After reaching double-digits in five of his first six games, the point guard scored seven points for the second consecutive game, this time on 3-for-6 shooting to go along with as many assists as turnovers (five). The Lakers seemed on the verge of turning a corner into West elite territory when he arrived, winning three of their first five with him in the lineup as showing signs of that lost spark, but they have since lost two of three, with the lone win an ugly one in Oakland against the Warriors on Tuesday.

Even though he finally found a place to live in L.A. and his dog “Sesh” has arrived safe and sound, Sessions admitted that he’s still trying to get comfortable in his new surroundings.

“[I’m] playing off the ball a little bit more than usual, a little less pick-and-rolls,” he said. “You just have to continue to get familiar with the guys. It’s only been about six or seven games for me. Just learning to get comfortable each night and playing off the ball more.”

After watching Westbrook have his way with the defense, Sessions certainly has some homework ahead of him before the playoffs. And that’s certainly no fun.

Justin Verrier is an NBA editor for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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.

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.

Even if the Los Angeles Lakers end their losing streak against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night, history suggests the damage to their championship aspirations may be irreparable.

The Lakers’ current losing streak sits at five, which is bad news considering that none of the 11 teams Phil Jackson coached to an NBA title ever suffered a losing streak of more than three games during the regular season.

Only two teams since the merger have had a longer losing streak than the Lakers current five-game skid at any point of the season before winning the title. The 2003-04 Detroit Pistons (who defeated the Lakers in that season’s NBA Finals) and the 1978-79 Seattle SuperSonics each had six-game losing streaks during their championship seasons.

The Lakers’ most recent loss, Sunday to the Oklahoma City Thunder, only worsened their odds to win it all. Sunday was their 11th home loss this season. No Phil Jackson team has lost more than 10 home games in a season and gone on to win the NBA title.

One of the major weaknesses of the Lakers during their current skid has been their play down the final stretch of games. The issues have been primarily on the defensive end, where the Lakers have not been able to get stops in "crunch time.”

Opponents are shooting more than 70 percent from the field in "crunch time," which is defined as a five-point game with five minutes remaining or less. Adding insult to injury, in three of five games during the losing streak, the Lakers held leads inside of five minutes remaining in the game (held one-point leads against the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz and Thunder).

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.

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).

LeBron James and his fancy passing helped the Miami Heat end their season-long five-game losing streak and beat one of the best teams in the NBA.

James had nine of Miami's 17 assists, and the Heat improved to 16-4 this season when James has at least nine dimes. Miami wins two-thirds of its games when James has five to eight assists and is only 6-4 when James has four assists or fewer.

James and Miami were at their best when Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were on the bench. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only permutation of the James-Bosh-Wade trio that had a positive plus-minus was when James played, and the other two were on the bench. In those four minutes and 40 seconds, the Heat outscored the Lakers by eight points.

That's not to say that Bosh or Wade were useless. With 24 points, Bosh led Miami in scoring for the fifth time this season. With Kobe Bryant defending him in the final five minutes, Wade hit three of four shots, after making only two of ten attempts against Bryant in the game's first 43 minutes.

A number of streaks ended on Thursday. Miami snapped its season-long five-game losing streak and its four-game home losing streak. Most noteworthy, Miami ended a five-game slide against teams above .500. Miami is now 2-0 versus the Lakers this season and 0-7 against the other four teams with a win percentage over .650.

On the other side, the Lakers eight-game win streak and five-game road win streak are over, as Los Angeles allowed more than 90 points for the first time in six games.

Beating the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday snapped yet another somewhat historic streak for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers snapped their NBA-record 26-game losing streak on Friday, but needed overtime to beat the Los Angeles Clippers.

Cleveland’s 104-99 win over the Lakers snapped a record 39-game streak without a win in regulation. Wednesday was the Cavaliers' first regulation win since beating the Memphis Grizzlies 92-86, on November 27. They had two wins in between, but both came in overtime -- over the New York Knicks and the Clippers.

One of the low points during the Cavaliers’ record losing streak was a 112-57 loss to the Lakers last month. By beating the Lakers on Wednesday, Cleveland became just the fourth team in the last 40 seasons to lose to an opponent by at least 55 points and then beat that opponent in their next meeting that season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

In that 55-point loss to the Lakers, Ramon Sessions scored 10 of the Cavaliers’ 57 points. On Wednesday, Sessions scored a season-high 32 points off the bench, the second-highest total of his career. That’s also the fourth-most points by a bench player this season, and the most this season against the Lakers.

In the loss, Pau Gasol scored 30 points and had 20 rebounds. He joins Kevin Love as the only players with a 30-20 game this season, and is the first Laker to go 30-20 since Shaquille O'Neal scored 36 points and grabbed 26 boards on March 21, 2004 against the Milwaukee Bucks. Gasol also went 14-14 from the free throw line, the first Laker other than Kobe Bryant to do that since Magic Johnson went 15-15 against the Miami Heat during the 1995-96 season.

Elsewhere in the NBA

• Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard was 12-for-15 from the floor against the Washington Wizards, the second time in as many games he’s shot at least 80 percent from the floor. On Sunday he was 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) against the Los Angeles Lakers.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only two other players in the last 21 seasons have shot at least 80 percent from the floor in back-to-back games (minimum 15 FGA each game): David Robinson in 1997-98, and Mitch Richmond in 1990-91.

• Dwyane Wade continued his inside dominance against the Toronto Raptors. Eight of his 10 field goals Wednesday were within five feet of the basket.

In two games against Toronto, Wade has 17 field goals within five feet, significantly higher than his production in that area against other teams.

• Kevin Love’s double-double streak is at 42 straight games, two shy of the second-longest single-season streak since the merger (1976-77). Wednesday, Love had 18 points and 18 rebounds against the Clippers, the third time during the streak that he’s had matching point and rebound totals.

Also in that game, Blake Griffin did not have a double-double (29 points, 8 rebounds). In 13 of Griffin’s last 16 games he’s had a double-double, but two of the three games he did not were against the Timberwolves.