ESPN NBA

At HoopIdea, we’ve talked about the importance of continuous, live-ball action at the ends of games. Here is perhaps the best example ever.

Remember this?

With one minute remaining in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, John Stockton fed Karl Malone on the left block, circled through the key and found himself wide open on the opposite wing. Malone zipped the ball to Stockton, who nailed a huge 3 to put the Utah Jazz up 86-83 over the Chicago Bulls with 41.9 seconds to go.

The next 36 seconds of nonstop play may rank as the best in the history of the NBA.

Inbounding from half-court, Chicago quickly enters the ball to Michael Jordan and spreads the floor. With Utah’s help defenders occupied, Jordan hesitates and then blows past Bryon Russell for a layup that cuts the lead to a single point and takes only five seconds off the clock.

Pulses pounding, the Jazz jog the ball up court and again Stockton looks for Malone on the left block. This time the Jazz use a Jeff Hornacek cross-screen to free up Malone, but Hornacek’s defender, Jordan, never leaves the paint. As Malone catches the ball, Jordan instantly swoops in from the baseline side, swipes down on the ball and knocks it away from the stunned Malone.

Suddenly, instead of controlling the clock, score and ball, the Jazz are on their heels heading back on defense. Jordan dribbles up the left wing with 17 seconds on the clock while his teammates fan out along the 3-point line.

Seconds evaporate as Bryon Russell crouches on Jordan’s left hip.

Then it all happens:

Dennis Rodman cuts through to clear the middle of the floor.

Jordan dips his left shoulder, takes a hard, long dribble, gives Russell a slight shove and pulls back.

Russell slides to the floor, Jordan elevates, the ball swishes through the net.

It’s the most famous shot in NBA history.

As incredible and dynamic as Jordan was in that sequence, part of what made it so intense and iconic was that his brilliance was never interrupted. Reader Alex Bogach reminded us of this, writing “part of what makes MJ's shot so special, in my opinion, is that when Jordan steals the ball there is no timeout called. Perhaps a ‘no timeout while the ball is live’ rule could make the game more entertaining.”

Not calling timeout is different from not having a plan. On the final shot, it’s Rodman’s cut across the middle that removes the defender Russell might have expected to offer help. Because the Bulls were prepared for this scenario, the Jazz do not have time to decide how to defend Jordan on the last play. Russell is left on an island, and we are left with one of the defining moments in sports history.

With Mike Brown tabbed as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, things likely will look different in Los Angeles next season, but not as much as some would have you believe.

Out goes the famed Triangle Offense? Brown's teams in Cleveland had some similarities offensively to the Lakers of last season.

Under Mike Brown, the Cleveland Cavaliers showed a reliance on spot-up shooting -- more than 20 percent of the plays run under Brown ended up with a spot-up jump shot. The highest percentage of offensive plays run by the 2010-11 Lakers ended with spot-up jump shots at almost 18 percent.

Brown comes with the pedigree of having coached an NBA superstar in LeBron James. One of the reasons Brown may have been hired is his willingness to let his star players run isolation plays.

More than a quarter of James' plays under Brown were isolation plays, with his highest number coming in 2009-10 when it was 31.2 percent. Last season, Kobe Bryant ran 30.3 percent of his plays in isolation. Over the last three seasons that number sits at 31.3 percent.

However, LA's offense also featured a high percentage of post-up plays, something the Cavaliers did not used frequently in Brown's system. His teams ran post-up plays on less than 10 percent of all offensive sets. Brown's ability to get the Lakers interior players adequately involved will be something to focus on in his first season with the team.

While the Lakers offense will likely garner most of the attention, Brown is known first as a defensive coach, having come from the Gregg Popovich coaching tree. In each of Brown's five seasons as a head coach, his team finished in the top half in the league in defensive rating, a metric that measures points allowed per 100 possessions.

Last season, Cleveland dropped all the way to 29th in the league, after finishing seventh in defense rating during the 2009-10 season.

Brown inherits a team that has finished no worse than sixth in defensive rating in each of the last four seasons, and should be expected keep the Lakers among the best defensive teams in the NBA.

His biggest challenge defensively will be motivating a team that appeared frustrated and lackadaisical while being swept by the Dallas Mavericks. In that series, the Lakers allowed the Mavericks to shoot nearly 50 percent from the field and connect on 46.2 percent of its 3-point attempts, many of which were uncontested.

The New Orleans Hornets provided the second stunner of the day upsetting the Los Angeles Lakers to take a 1-0 series lead.

According to Elias, this is was the 16th time a team coached by Phil Jackson opened their postseason at home, but the first time the team lost.

The Hornets were able to pull off the victory thanks to point guard Chris Paul who scored 33 points while dishing out 14 assists.

Paul scored or assisted on 25 of the Hornets 34 field goals while he was on the court.

In the first half he picked up 10 of those assists, getting his teammates involved as the Hornets took an eight-point lead to halftime.

Then after the break Paul picked up the scoring load with 22 points in the final 24 minutes.

He created more opportunities for himself getting to the free throws 12 times in the second half alone after taking no free throws in the first.

It marked the fifth time in his playoff career that Paul notched 30 points and 10 assists, tied with Kobe Bryant for the most such games since 2008.

Speaking of Bryant he scored 34 points, his 79th career 30-point game in the playoffs, but it was Paul who controlled the game.

Combining points scored and points scored off assists, Paul created 63 points for the Hornets compared to just 46 by Bryant.

Kobe took 26 shots for the Lakers -- the rest of the starting five combined to take only 32.

The Lakers fell to 9-9 this season when he shoots 25 or more times.

The matchup to watch for Bryant the rest of this series will be when he’s guarded by former Laker Trevor Ariza.

Game footage showed, through the first three quarters Bryant torched Ariza scoring 20 points when guarded by him. However Ariza won the battle in the fourth holding Bryant scoreless when matched up against him.

While his brother Marc Gasol (24 points) helped the Memphis Grizzlies pull of the first upset of the day, Pau Gasol was held to only eight points, his fewest in a playoff game since joining the Lakers.

He only attempted nine shots despite playing 37 minutes.

With David West out for the season due to injury, the Lakers entered the series with a distinct frontcourt advantage.

However the tandem of Gasol and Andrew Bynum (13 points) were matched by Carl Landry (17) and Emeka Okafor (4) with 21 points, providing the Hornets with an unlikely boost.

“Let’s talk about the playoffs, OK?” Phil Jackson said.

Only he didn’t, at least to the level of detail he usually does when the postseason rolls around and Jackson customarily becomes very x-and-o oriented. The media wasn’t that interested in hearing how the Lakers match up with the Hornets, in part because it’s a first-round series that will go beyond four games only if the Lakers display the inconsistent effort that has plagued them throughout the season. There are far too many big-picture questions to zero in on execution of the triangle offense.

The enigmatic nature of this squad was one of the topics of conversation, with Jackson admitting that the last 25 games of the season “don’t make sense in a lot of ways” in that the Lakers had a 17-1 stretch followed by a five-game losing streak, followed by back-to-back victories.

“Some of it’s about losing focus,” Jackson said.

You wonder if Jackson himself will have his customary focus as he enters what he says will be the final playoff run of his glorious coaching career. His pending retirement will be a recurring theme, in part because he’ll probably keep taking questions on it. Last year he spent a remarkable amount of time discussing whether or not he’d be returning, often right up until the final hour before playoff games. Jackson knows that simply ignoring a topic won’t make it go away.

“It’s the elephant in the living room,” he said of his retirement. “Or in the bedroom, depending on where you want to put that elephant.”

He’s been through a similar situation before, when he entered the Bulls’ three-peat quest in the 1998 playoffs with the idea that he wouldn’t be coming back.

“Retiring and leaving this team is not at all like what happened in Chicago, where a number of players were dissolving and the team knew that they were being broken up, just by virtue of the fact that there was going to be a lockout or whatever was going to happen between that season and ’98 and ’99,” Jackson said. “Of course, as you saw, there were only three or four members of that Bulls team that came back at all. This [Lakers team] is a team that will probably stay intact with most of its players. I’m the one that’s on his way to retirement. So it’s very interesting. It’s something that we have to acknowledge and go through it, but it’s not ‘Win one for the Gipper' or 'Win one for Phil.’

“I’m looking forward to going through this thing, giving every bit of energy I have right to the final part. The days off, I’m not thinking about what it’s going to be next year at this time or anything like that.”

You wonder if, intrinsically, players will feel less obligated to obey a coach they know won’t be around next year. For the Lakers these playoffs will be like the final days of an elementary school year.

Jackson admits, “They’ve treated me like a lame duck … by not letting me control their minds when they’ve gone on some errant journeys out there on the floor and some irrational behavior that I’m not appreciative of.”

Kobe Bryant went off on his own at the end of regulation in the season finale in Sacramento, firing off five missed shots before making the game-tying 3-pointer. Jackson included Bryant among the things that the Lakers will have to “corral” in the playoffs, but acknowledged that, “This is a guy who smells blood in the water and goes for it … that goes with what he’s made up of and the DNA that he has.” He also said that Bryant’s will “is as strong as anybody who’s ever played this game.”

You know full well whom else Jackson has coached. And speaking of Michael Jordan, I was curious as to why Jackson didn’t design the Bulls’ final play of the 1993 NBA Finals for Michael Jordan. Jordan gave up the ball in the backcourt to Scottie Pippen, who passed to Horace Grant, who threw the ball out to John Paxson for the winning 3-pointer. Jackson said the play was based on reading the defense, and he’d like Bryant to apply that thought as well.

So in that regard his final playoff run will be similar to his initial ones in that he’ll need to get his superstar to buy into the team concept. Will Bryant and the rest of the team give Jackson his full attention? Will his mind understandably stray into the unknown of what lies ahead? These aren’t typical questions we have about a Phil Jackson team during the playoffs. Then again, this isn’t the typical Phil Jackson posteason. Even the first press conference felt different.

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).

It's looking more and more like Carmelo Anthony will remain in Denver until the Feb. 24 trade deadline, and after all this time, the New Jersey Nets remain the Nuggets' preferred trading partner.

The Nets and Nuggets have discussed various trade scenarios, and just before Christmas they nearly worked out a three-team deal involving the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to league sources.

The Nets have a standing offer of rookie Derrick Favors, two first-round draft picks and Troy Murphy on the table, but last month, sources said the Nuggets aren't interested in Murphy because they would inherit the remaining $8 million on his expiring contract. So the Nets brought in Cleveland and its $14.5 million trade exception.

Denver would have received Favors, Devin Harris and three first-round picks. Cleveland would have received Murphy and one or two first-round picks, and the Nets would have received Anthony, Al Harrington and the Cavaliers' trade exception, the sources said.

Beyond the sticking point of Anthony’s accepting or refusing to sign the long-term extension with New Jersey, the deal fell apart because both Denver and Cleveland wanted the 2012 first-round pick the Nets got from Golden State in the Marcus Williams trade. That pick is protected through the first seven slots.

While Denver never asked for the Nets' five first-round picks, New Jersey might have wound up sending those five picks to the Nuggets and the Cavs. Losing all those first-rounders makes the Nets squeamish, as does not getting back a point guard if they have to give up Harris.

Because it has Ty Lawson, Denver doesn't have much need for Harris. But the Nuggets were hoping they might be able to send Harris, whom Portland covets, to the Trail Blazers for Andre Miller and Nicolas Batum, according to sources. It was likely wishful thinking because Portland has no intention of moving Batum.

While Chauncey Billups' name has been mentioned with Anthony's in trade rumors, Billups' desire is to remain in Denver, which is his hometown.

There's some feeling throughout the league that the Nuggets' lack of interest in Murphy will subside by the trade deadline because by then, he'll be owed only about $3.5 million this season.

While the Nets remain enamored with Anthony, there are some within the organization who wonder if the club might be better off keeping Favors and its five first-round picks and building through the draft. In the end, however, if the Nets can get Anthony, they'll pull the trigger.

New York still in Melo hunt

The Knicks remain Anthony's preferred destination, but the superstar forward also wants that three-year, $64.4 million contract extension. Leon Rose, Anthony's agent, has discussed trade scenarios with the Knicks and Nets, and the Knicks have tried to use the probable lockout to their advantage.

With the owners hoping to make current contracts fit within the confines of the upcoming collective bargaining agreement, the Knicks are telling Rose that Anthony's $64.4 million extension may not be worth that much anyway, that it may get slashed once the new CBA is in place. So, of course, why not just wait and sign with the Knicks as a free agent, or so New York's argument goes.

Around the league, executives are skeptical about the Knicks' chances of trading for Anthony. Denver remains cold toward a Knicks offer, and while New York insists it can get a first-round pick (most likely for Anthony Randolph), rival executives are saying, "Why haven't they gotten the pick yet?''

Phil and Ron

People close to Ron Artest say his confrontation with coach Phil Jackson during a Lakers practice a week-and-a-half ago stemmed from Artest's sincere belief that if Jackson is going to call him out publicly, he should also call other players out publicly.

Everyone in Lakers Nation knew Jackson was holding his tongue in regards to Kobe Bryant's one-on-one play, so Artest figured Jackson should have held his tongue about him as well, at least publicly.

Artest let Jackson know as much when they met privately after the confrontation, and perhaps that's why Jackson made his Kobe "screwed up the game'' comments a few days later.

While the confrontation made huge news, neither Artest, Jackson nor the rest of the organization viewed it as being a big deal.

• Those of you who are sick of reading about how good LeBron James is, should definitely not read this fine Hoopspeak post. Although if it means anything to you, it's also about how Ron Artest didn't play so well on Saturday. I'm kidding, of course. Everybody should read it.
• Right now, all NBA journalism is threatening to devolve into the "did you see what Blake Griffin did yesterday?" show. On a totally different note, did you see what Blake Griffin did yesterday?
• John Wall is stunningly quick and he can do a wicked Dougie. But last night Tony Parker, like the good Spur that he is, was the one playing the extraordinarily efficient basketball. I'm sure he's also a great dancer.
• At the Heat Index, Kevin Arnovitz tells us--exactly and exhaustively--what the Heat's defense did to the Lakers on Saturday. As always, it seems, great defense comes down to trust and a "fundamental, almost religious, devotion by the entire team" to the group concept.
• I'm not what you might call a visual learner. Before I really understand a map or chart I usually have to go through a few rounds of staring, folding, unfolding, wearing it as pants. Nonetheless, the folks at Hoopism made a visual representation of every player on every team ever that is really pretty cool. As a Wolves' fan its hugely rewarding to see the names "Gundars Vetra," "Lance Blanks" and "Charles Shackleford" all in one place.
• Whenever the Timberwolves win, we at A Wolf Among Wolves have ourselves a party. That this party includes extreme expressions of exasperation at aimless defense and mind-blowing shot selection just comes with the territory. Do we care that two of the Wolves' seven wins have come against the Cavs? We do, sort of.
• Missing from my discussion of the new Suns was an assessment of the blockbuster trade that brought Marcin Gortat, Vince Carter and Mickael Pietrus into the fold. Michael Schwartz of Valley of the Suns gives us just that. Here's the short term and the long term.
• At Basketball Prospectus, Sebastian Pruiti tells us that although Derrick Rose has indeed added the three to his arsenal, his midrange shooting has actually gotten worse. Just another example of the disappointing fact that, although Rose does almost everything beautifully, he doesn't always do it effectively.
• Aggressively hedging screens is a great way to deter a dynamic ballhandler like Rose. But NBA Playbook tells us that if you do it too early, you could be cooked. Yes, I just made two separate Sebastian Pruiti links. It's because he's awfully smart.
• Brian Robb of CelticsHub talks to Celtics' radio play-by-play man Sean Grande. It will make you want to listen to Celtics' games on the radio. Most interesting, I thought, was their discussion of the effect of Rajon Rondo's absence on the C's offense.
• On the New York Times's Off the Dribble blog, Rob Mahoney describes the ebb and flow of the Thunder's fortunes as a "Spursian rhythm," which sounds awesome. He also provides a really nice chart that I had to stare at for a while. Regardless, says Mahoney, you should get ready for OKC to surge. You should also read Rob Mahoney whenever you can.
• Please watch Kurtis Blow rap about basketball. Hear him say that "basketball is my favorite sport/I like the way they dribble up and down the court." See the strange way he stares at the camera as he lip-syncs. Notice that the players in the video seem to be playing on a six-foot hoop. Then watch Master P's (slightly PG-13) "Make 'em Say Ugh." Notice that there is a gold tank on the floor and a gorilla playing for a team called "The Hustlers." Then wonder about our weird culture.
• Whenever someone tells me that Pau Gasol is "soft" I disagree, and reply that he's actually just "not strong." But now even Phil Jackson is getting in on it. What does it mean when your coach says that a player is "not shooting the ball with a base, he’s kind of just lollygagging, putting a soft kind of release on his shot."? That sounds like a bad thing.
• Apparently, LeBron James literally does not know the meaning of the word "contraction." Yet another example of why I'm really glad I'm not a famous person.
• Bethlehem Shoals gives us the final word on Kobe and LeBron (kidding again): "Not only will we never see the question of 'who's better' satisfactorily resolved," says Shoals, "what keeps it going is that, at bottom, the two represent two very different approaches to the game. It's the impossibility of one ever really surpassing the other that keeps this debate going."
• A sad looking, 33-year-old Steve Francis has been cut from his Chinese professional team. After four games. Think about that and then think about this (check the 1:50 mark).

After trailing 62-51 at halftime, the Lakers kicked it up a notch in the second half to pull out a 112-110 win over the Rockets on Tuesday.

It was the Lakers' third straight season-opening win and their eighth win in their last nine games vs Houston. The Rockets have defeated L.A. just twice since their win over the Lakers on opening night of the 2007-08 season.

The Lakers are now 41-22 all-time in season openers, and 14-4 when opening the regular season at home since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.

Tuesday's win leaves Phil Jackson one win away from joining Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Pat Riley and Jerry Sloan as the only NBA coaches with at least 1,100 wins.

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Pau Gasol had 29 points and 11 rebounds in the Lakers’ win over the Rockets. Since 1970-71 - the post-Wilt era for the Lakers - only three other players had that many points and that many rebounds on opening night: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1976), Shaquille O’Neal (three times: 1999, 2000 and 2001) and Lamar Odom (2006).

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: With their win, the Lakers are now 9-2 on opening day as defending NBA Champions since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles following the 1959-60 season. The Lakers only opening day losses as defending NBA Champs over that span came in 1982 against the Warriors and 2002 against the Spurs.

The basketball in Miami
The concentration of talent in Miami has created a dramatic storyline the NBA hasn't seen in years. In late October, the narrative will finally give way to live basketball, as the offseason machinations fade into the background. Fans and observers can debate whether a team of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami is healthy for the NBA, and the Heat's first final-possession scenario will likely launch silly arguments about who rightfully deserves to be called "the man" in Miami. Lost in the cacophony of hysteria is the single most fascinating question headed into the 2010-11 season: What will the Miami Heat's 94 or so possessions look like on a nightly basis? How will James play off Wade and vice versa? How do you defend a Wade-James pick-and-roll? Will we see a lineup of Eddie House, Wade, Miller, James and Bosh (talk about the end of positional orthodoxy!)? Will Bosh benefit from the disproportionate attention opposing defenses will have to devote to the perimeter? And how will Bosh handle the more workaday duties of being the big man down low? However you feel about what's transpired since the beginning of July, the experiment being assembled in Miami is a basketball lover's dream. If you find Miami's personnel unlikable, then root like hell for the opposing defense. Either way, you won't be disappointed.

The blueprint in Oklahoma City
The Thunder emerged last season as the most promising young outfit in the NBA. They finished with 50 wins and gave the Lakers their toughest Western Conference playoff series. Then, this offseason, they extended a max contract to Kevin Durant and fortified their bright young core by adding Morris Peterson, Daequan Cook and first-round draft pick Cole Aldrich. In some sense, general manager Sam Presti's decision to essentially stand pat might have been one of the the boldest move of the offseason. Many executives with a talented core and some money to spend would've committed to a high-dollar addition, but Presti stayed the course. He's banking that the maturation of Durant, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green, James Harden and Serge Ibaka will continue and vault the Thunder over of the scrum in the Western Conference. Is he being realistic? Can the Thunder ride a frontcourt of Green, Nenad Krstic, Ibaka, Nick Collison and Aldrich into the ranks of the NBA elite? Can a team that sustained no major injuries last season decline to add a single major pieces and still pick up 5-10 wins? The answer to these questions will give us an idea of how much "upward trajectory" is worth in the NBA.


The power of Nash
Amare Stoudemire provides us with one of the best controlled experiments in recent years.
Watching him run the pick-and-roll with Steve Nash in Phoenix for eight years, we grew to regard Stoudemire as one of the most prolific power forwards of his generation. In New York, Stoudemire will benefit from the presence of coach Mike D'Antoni, who conceived many of the schemes that enabled him to flourish, but will be without Nash for the first time since 2004. How will swapping out Raymond Felton for Nash affect Stoudemire's game? Back in Phoenix, a 36-year-old Nash will have to replicate what he did during his 2005-06 MVP season when Stoudemire missed virtually 79 games -- cobble together an offense with imperfect parts. How Stoudemire performs without Nash as his dance partner and how Phoenix fares with an offense that will be more reminiscent of their 2005-06 season -- when Nash maximized the versatility of Shawn Marion, Boris Diaw and Raja Bell -- will tell us a lot about Nash's enormous impact on the game he plays as beautifully as anyone.

The defense in Chicago
The Boston Celtics' return to the NBA's upper echelon was predicated first and foremost on their defense. They unleashed a pressurized force field designed and implemented by Tom Thibodeau, and ultimately adopted by other teams around the league, including the Los Angeles Lakers. This June, the Bulls tapped Thibodeau to fill their head coaching vacancy. He joins a Bulls team that put together a strong defensive season last season, finishing 10th in efficiency. Skeptics might look at Derrick Rose -- whose defensive instincts are a far cry from Rajon Rondo -- and Carlos Boozer and conclude that Thibodeau doesn't have the personnel to succeed the way he did in Boston. Yet in 2007, Thibodeau took a quintet that featured Ray Allen (who had a horrendous defensive reputation coming from Seattle), an undisciplined big man in Kendrick Perkins, a second-year point guard in Rajon Rondo who'd started only 25 games and made them one of the best defensive units in basketball. With Joakim Noah anchoring the interior, the lanky tandem of Luol Deng and Ronnie Brewer on the wings, Boozer's sharp basketball IQ and Rose's gifts, Thibodeau should have the tools to sculpt a top-5 defense. If the Bulls buy in, we'll have a better understanding whether Thibodeau's kind of tactical expertise is transferable -- and an inkling of just how dangerous the Bulls could be.

The reign in Los Angeles
A calm has set in over Los Angeles, where the Lakers went about their offseason business with all the fanfare of a routine annual checkup. While the rest of the basketball universe was focused in on LeBron James and south Florida, the Lakers quietly added veterans Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff and re-upped head coach Phil Jackson. Even when the Lakers were stringing together three consecutive titles at the beginning of the millennium, there was always a swirl of intrigue surrounding the club. That's no longer true, as the Lakers have assumed a posture of professional incumbency the league hasn't seen in quite some time. Will the Lakers ride the precision of their system, the collective experience and poise of their core and the natural attributes of their defense to a fourth straight Finals appearance? Barring serious injury, is there anything that can disrupt the Lakers' rhythm? Is a successful formula ever in danger of becoming predictable?

The patience in Portland
Before the Oklahoma City Thunder became next year's model, the Portland Trail Blazers were on the brink of creating something special. The sketch of a winner was stenciled on the Rose Garden floor -- an all-powerful wing primed to take big shots, a talented power forward oozing with finesse, a defensive and rebounding force in the middle and smart supporting players who embraced their roles. Injuries and disruption turned the 2009-10 campaign into a holding pattern, but the pieces are still in place for the Trail Blazers to achieve. Health remains a concern, as Greg Oden will try to return from a fractured left patella. But if the big man can log 2,000 minutes, Portland should be able to complement their Top-1o offense with the kind of dogged rebounding and efficient defense that made them a popular No. 2 pick headed into last season. The question those with an affection for Portland don't want to ask is, how bright is the team's future if he can't?

The possibility of youth
The appeal of the league's top-rated rookies runs much deeper than individual performance. Their presence can ripple beyond whatever spot on the floor they happen to occupy. Blake Griffin not only has the power to explode to the rim every time he touches the ball, but he also has the potential to transform Baron Davis into the joyful point guard the world fell in love with in the spring of 2007. John Wall's well-honed instincts won't just fill up the box score, but also could revive a fan base in Washington that was teased with meaningful basketball a few years ago, only to watch their franchise return to the wilderness. DeMarcus Cousins could become the Kings' more formidable presence in the frontcourt since Chris Webber left, but more important, he and Tyreke Evans have a chance to redefine what big-small combos can do in the rapidly changing pro game. "Upside" is a word thrown around a lot in June, but watching that potential unfold produces unique findings. And that's why we watch.

• Lang Whitaker will be live-blogging the draft Thursday with Brandon Jennings at SLAMonline: "No player had a crazier Draft night last year than Brandon — remember him showing up late to shake David Stern’s hand? — and only one or two rookies had better first seasons than Brandon. Few of the Draft 'experts' you’ll hear from on Thursday night (including myself) actually played in the NBA. But none of them averaged 15.5 ppg and 5.7 apg and led their team to the Playoffs last season."
• The Mies van der Rohe Award for roster minimalism goes to ... the Miami Heat. After dealing away Daequan Cook to Oklahoma City on Wednesday, Miami has only two players under contract for the 2010-11 season -- Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley. They also have a boatload of cap space to re-sign Dwyane Wade and add possibly two additional marquee names.
• Chalmers will be doing some important work in Lawrence, Kansas today: "The Mario V. Chalmers Foundation is donating $25,000 to LMH Endowment Association to establish the first 'Mario’s Closet.' Mario’s Closet will be a specialty shop for a variety of free or low cost accessories for cancer patients. Lawrence Memorial Hospital will operate Mario’s Closet and is anticipated to open in Winter 2010."
• Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus says the deal makes a lot of sense for the Thunder: "Cook is hardly a typical contract dump. His salary for next season ($2.2 million, per Sham Sports) is perfectly reasonable, and Cook brings to Oklahoma City a skill (perimeter shooting) that is still in relatively short supply there. The Thunder has a chance to look at Cook next season and see if he can return to usefulness as a reserve; if not, Oklahoma City can cut bait at the end of the year with no further obligation."
• Peter Keating revisits the D.R.A.F.T. Initiative developed by Jordan Brenner and Tom Haberstroh. Keating adds: "[K]eep an eye on Al-Farouq Aminu. He's from Wake Forest, the school whose players have most surpassed draft-day expectations. He's a sophomore, the best-producing class among early picks. And he's one of the top small forwards in a draft top-heavy guards and big men, so a team that grabs him around No. 7 or 8 could get great value."
• If you watched enough ACC basketball last winter, then you know big, savvy guard Greivis Vasquez is a prime candidate for 2010 draft sleeper. John Hollinger's Draft Rater projects Vasquez as the 10th best pro on the board. Vasquez worked out for the Magic on Monday. Ben Q. Rock of Orlando Pinstriped Post broke down Vasquez's game, and enumerates why he'd be a particularly good fit in Orlando if he's still available.
• Lest we forget how well Evan Turner performed at Ohio State in 2009-10, Ed Weiland of Hoops Analyst spells it out nicely: "[T]his was almost a historic season by Evan Turner in how truly impressive it was. I can’t imagine how overboard the hype would have been if this season had been accomplished by a player from Duke or North Carolina. Turner scored like the best SGs, rebounded like a PF and passed like a PG. There wasn’t anything here not to like."
• Ted Leonsis, Homer, LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers and Gilbert Arenas all in one place.
• The salary cap and on-court implications of Corey Maggette's arrival in Milwaukee.
• Kansas Jayhawks Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry are making the most of their time in New York City, which included a visit to Sean John: "So swanky was the experience that at one point, when Aldrich and his girlfriend, KU student Britt Claflin, were in the back picking out the suit’s particulars, a woman emerged from the suite and said, 'Mr. Aldrich would like a cranberry juice.' Within seconds, a bartender chipped the ice, popped the top and served up a refreshing beverage."
• Evan Turner in pleated khakis, Al-Farouq Aminu in Urkel eyewear and Luke Babbitt in Naomi Wolf-inspired earth tones.
• Roland Lazenby on the prospect of Phil Jackson's retirement: "All across the NBA you can hear coaches breathing a sigh of relief. If Jackson retires, there'll be no pressure to meditate and read books."
• If you see an impatient J.R. Smith or DeAndre Jordan in line at the Apple Store, today is your lucky day.
• NBA Elite 11 will have some new features that will improve upon NBA Live: "'That's why when we started this year, we addressed the two biggest problems people have with basketball games. Number one: losing control of your player. If you played the basketball games the past few years, you know that there are times when you get locked into these animations and you have no control over your player as these long animations play out.' With 'NBA Elite 11,' Littman and crew think they've solved that problem by separating the upper body from the lower body with the use of the two analog sticks."

In a timeout with 1:39 left in Game 5, and his team down eight, Phil Jackson inspired his Laker team by telling them that the Celtics have led the league in giving up fourth quarter leads.

"This team has lost more games in the fourth quarter than anybody in the NBA," Jackson said, in comments that made the ABC broadcast. "They know how to lose in the fourth quarter, all right? They're just showing us that right now."

David Thorpe heard that and said: Not in the playoffs. He just didn't remember seeing the Celtics losing late leads since the regular season.

If we know one thing about Boston, it's that the regular season has not worked well as a way to predict how they'll act in the postseason. If they were playing in the playoffs like they had all year, the Celtics never would have kicked the NBA's two best regular season teams, the Cavaliers and Magic, from the postseason.

I just went through the records. As he made his inspiring team, Jackson was counting on the Celtics to hand back eight points in under two minutes. Since drinking whatever magic tonic has turned them from a regular season also-ran into playoff superstars, Boston has never done anything like that. The 2010 Celtics have had fourth-quarter leads in just three playoff games that they went on to lose, and they were all tiny:

• The biggest of those was four points, but it came with a ton of time left: 11:22. And it was way back on April 25 against the Heat. Then Dwyane Wade went crazy, and the Heat won 101-92.
• Glen Davis made a layup to put Boston ahead 81-79 with 11:11 left on May 1 against Cleveland -- a game the Celtics lost 101-93.
• With 5:33 left on May 24, the Celtics led the Magic 76-74, in a game they lost by four in overtime.

That's the sum total of the leads the Celtics have given up in the fourth quarters of these playoffs.

22 games into the playoffs, any Celtics lead in the final five minutes has led to a victory. Likewise, a lead of five points or bigger has at any time in the fourth has been enough to guarantee victory.

That's not to say the Lakers can't buck the trend. But if you're playing the Celtics expecting them to hand back a lead, and you lack a time machine to go back to the regular season, you could be in for a surprise. In the playoffs, Boston holds leads with the best of them.

Phil Jackson is coaching a team that has won the first game of a playoff series.

This has happened 47 times before, and his team has never once gone on to lose the series. This is a favorite NBA fact, that is oft-repeated, and rightly so, as it's remarkable.

However ... let's be clear: If the Lakers beat the Celtics and win this championship, it will be because of the play of players like Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, the skillful building of the Lakers roster and the long, intelligent hours put in by the coaching staff. It will be because of made shots and tough defense. It will be because of teamwork and hard work, and all the little things that lead to victories in basketball at any level of the game.

It will not be because of some magic that tumbled out of a spreadsheet.

Jackson is a great coach who has coached great players. He has won an amazing 70 percent of the 317 playoff games he has coached -- 222-95 is one hell of a record.

And the way statistics work, it's impossible to win 222 out of 317 playoff game without happening to trip on some crazy records. If you were to sift through every one of those games, who knows what kinds of anomalies you would find. Maybe he's undefeated in games against teams with red jerseys, or games on Tuesdays after 8 p.m., or whatever else.

It just happens that this remarkable number -- this 47-0 oddity -- presents itself. It has happened that way in the past. That is not the same as being an ironclad rule going forward. Which is no comment on Jackson and the Lakers. It's a comment on historical records.

The point is, his teams do well because they are stocked with really good players performing at high levels. Spot them the first game, and they have never given up the series.

The Celtics' predicament is real -- they're trailing a great team, that is playing very well. But they're not extra far behind in this series because of this curio in Phil Jackson's record. He has no wizards' spell he casts only when his team is up 1-0.

The team that will win this series is the team that plays the best more of the time. Period. That may well prove to be the Lakers. But it won't be because of this record, and by all means it's worth playing out the rest of this series, because nowhere is it written in stone that things that start out 47-0 never end up 47-1.

• Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus notes that Nate Robinson provided a nice jolt for the Celtics during his stints off the bench in Game 1: "While Robinson was not a major factor statistically (he was scoreless and missed all three of his shot attempts, though he did hand out four assists), the Celtics were +10 with him on the floor. He was at the helm for Boston's run to start the fourth quarter and also successfully teamed with Rondo in a small backcourt during the first half."
• Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub takes a peek through the kaleidoscope of troubling stats that came out of Game 1 for the Celtics. A sampling: "... the C’s have played 304 games since KG and Ray Allen arrived in Boston. In a totally unscientific data dive, I decided to see how often in those 304 games a Boston opponent has hit at least 48 percent from the floor and collected 10 or more offensive rebounds. Here’s what I found: It has happened 17 times in the regular season, according to Basketball-Reference.Boston’s record: 5-12. And it has happened seven times in the playoffs. Boston’s record: 1-6." Lowe also looked at Kevin Garnett's miserable night. How can the C's get Garnett on track? "... look for Boston to work KG into more screen/rolls in Game 2. It may represent his best chance to be an offensive threat in this series."
• Due to foul trouble, Ray Allen logged only 27 minutes in Game 1. Neil Paine of Basketball Reference discovers that there isn't a player in the NBA who benefits more from exceeding 30 minutes in a game than Allen.
• Should we really be surprised by Pau Gasol's outing in Game 1? Kelly Dwyer writes that the days of marveling at Gasol's individual performances are long over: "Pau is just this good, now. On most nights, he's just as good as Kobe, and on quite a few nights, he's clearly better. This is the best power forward in the NBA, you must remember. Be glad his teammates, every so often, do."
• M. Haubs of The Painted Area measures the carnage on the defensive glass for the Celtics.
• Ben Polk of A Wolf Among Wolves follows up on Phil Jackson's comments about the pleasure of immersion: "This idea of 'immersion' really grabs me. We’ve probably all experienced this at some point: we lose ourselves in the task at hand; time evaporates; the world pleasantly falls away. And we’ve also, in the past twenty years of watching Phil Jackson-coached teams, gotten pretty used to seeing this phenomenon at play on the basketball court. We know what it looks like. The ball flows freely. The players’ faces take on a cool intensity. Their movements become both calmer and more dynamic and the game suddenly looks easy. As far as I’m concerned, these things–engagement, immersion, focus, joy–come pretty close to defining the best sense of both 'work' and 'play,' which, as anybody whose ever seriously practiced art or sports or music can tell you, aren’t all that far apart."
• This John Krolik post has a lot of great stuff in it about the absurdities of certain discussions surrounding LeBron James -- but nothing better than an embed of the courtroom scene from Woody Allen's "Bananas."
• ESPN.com's Chad Ford reports that a second potential Top 10 European prospect has dropped out of the 2010 NBA Draft: "The withdrawl of [Donatas] Motiejunas comes roughly a month after the top international prospect in the draft, Jan Vesely decided to not enter. Vesely was projected as a top 10 pick by some NBA general managers."
• Huge ups for Jason Bateman and Dustin Hoffman for turning the Kiss Cam on its head.
• Baylor big man Ekpe Udoh: Tim Duncan on the left block ... John Koncak on the right block.
• Rudy Gay is headed to Haiti to help out with relief efforts.
• Philly stalwart Rasual Butler is homehunting in the west San Fernando Valley. A winter in Southern California can do that to an east coaster.

Phil Jackson was asked something along those lines today. It's an interesting question. For us weekend warriors, it's a blast. But for people who do it for a living, playing banged up with reputations and millions on the line?

I found Jackson's answer (as transcribed by the NBA) insightful:

I think joy is in the competition, and if you are a player that relishes competition, I think this is what you consider to be fun, even though it may not be ha ha fun, it’s engagement. It’s immersion. It’s focus. All those things that draw the best out of your attention and your capabilities energy wise.

And so I think that is fun.

I’m reticent a little bit to use this analysis, but you talk to guys that come back from the war and they miss being in the war, and they go back and reenlist because they miss that total immersion of life that they have at that particular time. That’s some of what an athlete gets, that adrenaline, that immersion of total use of their facilities and all their faculties that make it hard to leave the game.

He also said, by the way, that Kobe Bryant may spend some time guarding Rajon Rondo.