Pau Gasol wonders if he's played his last game for Lakers; trade could await
(Wed, 23 May 2012 20:28:56 PDT)
After another disappointing second-round exit, the Lakers could again try to trade forward Pau Gasol.

Parker says Westbrook hasn't faced PG like him yet (The Associated Press)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 16:22:04 PDT)
SAN ANTONIO (AP) It's the main event of the Western Conference finals: Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook, All-Star point guards having their best seasons yet. One going for a fourth NBA championship, the other still chasing his first.

NBA roundup: Pacers president Larry Bird calls his team soft (The SportsXchange)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 15:40:15 PDT)
The worst playoff loss in Indiana Pacers franchise history had team president Larry Bird calling out his players, according to an Indianapolis Star report.

Heat's LeBron James leads NBA all-defensive team (The Associated Press)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 15:04:39 PDT)
NEW YORK (AP) NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James was the leading vote-getter for the league's all-defensive squad Wednesday, while Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler didn't even crack the first team.

Tyson Chandler Left Off NBA All-defensive First Team, Exposing a Flaw in the System (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 14:58:00 PDT)
Depending on who you ask, Tyson Chandler was either the best defensive player in the NBA this season, or he was the second best at his position.

Heat's James leads all-defensive team (The SportsXchange)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 13:31:38 PDT)
NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James is the leading vote-getter for the league's all-defensive team.

Dexter Pittman abides by Pat Riley's Heat code by cracking Lance Stephenson
(Wed, 23 May 2012 13:30:34 PDT)
Dexter Pittman's flagrant foul on Lance Stephenson shows the Heat are willing to back for LeBron James.

Jrue Holiday needs to shoot more for Sixers to win, according to Doug Collins (Ball Don't Lie)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 13:15:38 PDT)
The second round hasn't been especially kind to Jrue Holiday. After averaging a sterling 18.2 points per game in the Philadelphia 76ers' first-round win over the Chicago Bulls, he's had a rougher go of it in Round 2, averaging just 12.4 points a night on 43.4 percent shooting against the Boston Celtics. He's far from the only Sixer to struggle — his teammates are shooting a combined 41.7 percent from the floor in the series, which Boston leads 3-2 and can close out in Philly in a pivotal Game 6 on Wednesday night — but what's made Holiday's play particularly noteworthy of late is its passivity. After hitting three of the first four shots he took during Monday's Game 5 and helping Philadelphia jump out to a 27-23 lead after the first quarter, Holiday seemed to recede from view, attempting just two shots in the rest of the game and finishing with a quiet 10 points in Boston's 101-85 win . That Holiday, the team's leading postseason scorer at 15.5 points per game, pulled back when he seemed to have it going gave Doug Collins cause for concern; as the Sixers' head coach told John N. Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer , the team needs more offensive aggression from its lead guard and leading scorer. "He's our leading scorer," Collins said after a team film session Tuesday at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "[...] I've got to have him in the mode of looking to shoot the ball." In a perfect world for the Sixers, Holiday plays Wednesday night the way he did in Game 2 of the Chicago series, when he finished with 26 points and six assists in a 109-92 rout. "I have to be more aggressive looking for my shot," Holiday said. Perhaps too often, Holiday exhibits a reluctance to take over games. He has a pure point guard's mind-set in that he would rather set up his teammates — something Boston guard Rajon Rondo, his counterpart, could very well be the best in the league at doing. It's true that Holiday can look tentative at times, and that hesitance can spell problems for a Philadelphia team not blessed with very many players who excel at creating good looks, whether for themselves or others. But it's worth noting that it's not exactly as if the Sixers become a high-flying, explosive winning machine when Holiday starts looking for his own offense.

LeBron tops NBA All-Defensive squad
(Wed, 23 May 2012 11:21:10 PDT)
NBA 2012 Most Valuable Player LeBron James, the Miami Heat playmaker still seeking his first NBA title, was the top vote-getter among those named on Wednesday to the NBA 2012 All-Defensive Team.

Metta World Peace calls Mike Brown fat (Ball Don't Lie)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 16:52:27 PDT)
We have had plenty of Lakers postmortems in the wake of their Game 5 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Most concern whether or not they'll try to make a big trade involving Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum or both. It's a period of great flux for the franchise, and all we can be sure of is that Kobe Bryant will continue to play a huge role in whatever happens. Whether or not Metta World Peace will be part of that future is anyone's guess. After signing with the Lakers as Ron Artest in 2009, he was an integral part of the Lakers' championship that season. Over the past two seasons, however, they've seen diminishing returns on their investment, with MWP becoming less dependable, more reckless ( the elbow to the head of James Harden will always make that point), and a little pudgier around his midsection. He has one more year on his contract, plus a player option season that he'd be a fool not to take, but the Lakers might consider using their amnesty clause on him to save some cash. [Related: Lakers' future uncertain after playoff KO by Thunder | Photos ] World Peace, to his credit, took some blame for his struggles this season while at Lakers HQ on Tuesday for his season-ending interview. However, in doing so, he also called his coach fat. From Mark Medina for the Los Angeles Times on Twitter (via PBT ):

Thunder face West's best in climb toward top (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 16:03:44 PDT)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) The Oklahoma City Thunder haven't found any shortcuts as they try to climb to the top of the Western Conference.

The Los Angeles Clippers, and Los Angeles Lakers? Gone till November (Ball Don't Lie)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 13:30:09 PDT)
The thought, as soon as the Los Angeles Clippers pulled off a deal for All-Star point guard Chris Paul last December, was that the Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers would no doubt meet in the playoffs at some point. That the two teams, with the Dallas Mavericks fading and the Oklahoma City Thunder not having made a major offseason move, would duke it out for the Pacific Division title, and possibly play in the Western Conference finals for the rights to represent the city in the NBA Finals. And why not? Even after trading Lamar Odom for mere payroll relief, the Lakers still looked stout as ever. Kobe Bryant's knee was as good as it had been in years thanks to his experimental knee rehabilitation in Germany and the extended six-month layoff due to the Lakers' relatively early 2010-11 exit and the NBA's lockout. The Clippers would be returning superstar Blake Griffin, they matched Golden State's offer for center DeAndre Jordan, and Paul was supposed to be the guy to find easy buckets when everyone's footwork went awry. Instead, though, both teams petered out in the second round, with just one win between the teams to show for their efforts. The Clippers looked both thin and brittle, overly reliant on Paul to save them from the offensive dregs, with CP3 once again ending his season with a pronounced limp. The Lakers looked disturbingly uneven from night to night, a top-heavy team whose top parts didn't play well with each other. Both went out far earlier than intended by them, or predicted by some, and both have major issues to face as they head into their offseasons a month earlier than they had hoped for way back in December.

Lakers will debate overhaul after playoff exit (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 09:54:57 PDT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol spent the final minutes of the Los Angeles Lakers' final game arguing in Oklahoma City, disagreeing on the best way to run a pick-and-roll play.

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers face uncertain future after early playoff exit
(Tue, 22 May 2012 03:11:03 PDT)
The Lakers will likely need to make some changes after losing to the Thunder in the second round.

Spurs flirting with history on 18-game streak (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 23:19:06 PDT)
SAN ANTONIO (AP) Eighteen wins in a row, and eight more victories to go.

Clippers learn in 1st winning season in 6 years (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 16:50:49 PDT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Clippers were swept out of the playoffs, ending a season to remember and build on for the much-maligned franchise.

Company pulls anti-Seattle, Oklahoma City Thunder T-shirts after receiving death threats (Ball Don't Lie)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 08:00:53 PDT)
The New York Times' Howard Beck, on his way from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City to cover Monday's Game 5 between the Lakers and Thunder, uncovered this rather shady T-shirt design on Sunday . The Thunder aren't exactly giving these rags out at the door, but that didn't stop our initial post on the T-shirts on Monday morning from inspiring a world of outrage on Twitter, and apparent death threats sent the way of Warpaint Clothing, the company that humorlessly put the duds together -- utilizing the former Seattle SuperSonics logo along the way. Rightfully, just one Thunder fan deciding to purchase this and pull it over their head is enough for us to break out the Patented BDL Tsk-Tsk Geiger Counter -- and as a result Warpaint has decided to stop selling the shirts because of death threats sent its way in reaction. To reiterate, Oklahoma City didn't wrest its current team out of Seattle because 37 selected fans and civic leaders won a free-throw shooting contest. It didn't "win" the team by being the quickest to press buttons in some trivia contest at a local chicken wing joint ( "PRESS 'B!' It's 'Romancing the Stone!' Hurry!" ), and the presiding genius of GM Sam Presti is no reflection on either level of fandom emanating from either Oklahoma City or Seattle. No, the current Oklahoma City Thunder are not the former Seattle SuperSonics mainly because former owner (and current Guy That Bilks You Out of Money Every Day For Your Starbucks Fix, You Silly Twit) Howard Schultz didn't think twice before selling a basketball team needing a new stadium to an ownership group from a city that had already proven it could be a fantastic host for an NBA team, with a new stadium at its disposal. [Related: Kobe, Metta World Peace technicals bury Lakers in Game 5 ]

Spurs close out Clippers to sweep series 4-0 (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 01:01:09 PDT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) The San Antonio Spurs are on to the Western Conference finals, along with their 18-game winning streak and 8-0 mark in the playoffs.

Spurs sweep Clippers to extend NBA win streak
(Mon, 21 May 2012 00:31:19 PDT)
San Antonio continue to run roughshod across the NBA, completing their second-straight four-game series sweep in the postseason by beating the Los Angeles Clippers 102-99 in game four.

Spurs finish off Clippers with 102-99 victory (The SportsXchange)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 00:10:16 PDT)
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers said before Sunday's Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs that they'd need to play desperately in order to pull off the upset and extend the series to a fifth game in San Antonio.

Paul can't rescue Clippers in final minute (The SportsXchange)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 00:10:16 PDT)
Perhaps no words signaled the change in expectations for the Los Angeles Clippers this season better than Chris Paul's statement after the San Antonio Spurs swept the Clippers out of the playoffs Sunday night at Staples Center.

Spurs rally to beat Clippers, win series (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:13 PDT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) The San Antonio Spurs mowed down another opponent, using their guile under pressure to close out another perfect playoff series.