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Going Small Key For OKC & Golden State?

May 9, 2013  ·  11:42AM

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – With each of the four conference semifinals tied at 1-1 (for the first time since this round went to seven games in 1968), it’s a great time to mine the lineup data provided by NBA.com/Stats for trends, anomalies, and whatever information might be useful … or at least interesting.

The eight teams remaining have only played between six and nine games, so we’re not looking at very big sample sizes here. But small sample sizes are all you have to go on in the playoffs. Decisions have to be made on how players or player combinations have played in that series and against that opponent. Even if you include numbers against the opponent in the regular season, that’s at most four additional games of data.

We’ve already seen some of these teams change lineups mid-series. And sometimes, like when the Dallas Mavericks decided to start J.J. Barea in Game 4 of the 2011 Finals, a lineup change can make a big difference.

So, as we take our first day off of the playoffs, here are some notes from 53 games worth of postseason lineup data…

The drop-off in Indiana
The most-used lineup of the playoffs should be no surprise. The Pacers’ starting lineup of George Hill, Lance Stephenson, Paul George, David West and Roy Hibbert have been getting it done on both ends of the floor and were a terrific lineup in the regular season as well. Though Indy ranked 19th defensively overall, this lineup scored at a rate that would have ranked fourth, playing the second-most minutes of any lineup in the league.

It was a plus-48 in the first round and a plus-5 in both Games 1 and 2 of the conference semifinals. The problem, of course, is that the Indiana bench stinks. In 216 minutes, all other Pacers lineups have scored 93.1 points per 100 possessions and allowed 105.8, for a NetRtg of -12.7 in the postseason.

Indy coach Frank Vogel talks often about his emphasis on defending without fouling. That’s key to not only keep the Pacers’ opponents off the line, but also to keep their starters on the floor.

Over their eight playoff games, every Pacer starter has a positive plus-minus and every sub has a negative one. So maybe the Pacers can benefit as much from three days off as the banged up Knicks can, with an ability to use their rested starters for heavy minutes in Game 3 on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ABC).

Time for OKC to go small?
Setting a minimum of 35 minutes played, the best lineup (offensively, *defensively and overall) of the postseason has been Oklahoma City’s small lineup of Reggie Jackson, Derek Fisher, Kevin Martin, Kevin Durant and Nick Collison. This unit of two point guards, two scoring wings, and a versatile big has outscored its opponents by 46.5 points per 100 possessions and had its best run in Game 6 in Houston, outscoring the Rockets 31-20 in 14 minutes. It was a plus-7 in seven minutes of Game 1 against the bigger Grizzlies, but Scott Brooks didn’t use it at all in Game 2 on Tuesday.

If you remove Nick Collison and just look at the four smalls together, they’ve been just as effective (OffRtg: 130.2, DefRtg: 80.9, NetRtg: +49.3) in a slightly larger sample of 51 minutes (43 against Houston and eight against Memphis).

With Thabo Sefolosha, the Thunder have other small-lineup options. And thus far against the Grizzlies, they’re a plus-13 in 14 minutes playing small. They’re a minus-17 in 82 minutes playing big and their starting lineup (Jackson, Sefolosha, Durant, Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins has shot a brutal 13-for-47 (28 percent) in its 28 minutes together.

That, of course, will be something to keep an eye on as the series heads to Memphis for Saturday’s Game 3 (5 p.m. ET, ESPN).

*The best defensive lineup with a minimum of 35 minutes played was actually the Thunder’s original starting lineup, which allowed the Rockets to score just 73.1 points per 100 possessions in the first two games of the first round. But Russell Westbrook‘s injury puts that lineup out of commission.

Small works in the other West series too
Both Gregg Popovich and Mark Jackson changed their starting lineups for Game 2 in San Antonio on Wednesday, moves that worked out better for the Warriors. Their (small) lineup of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut is a plus-17 in the series (plus-12 in Game 2), the second-best mark of the conference semifinals thus far.

It was a mini lineup of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard and Boris Diaw that pulled off the Spurs’ amazing comeback on Monday, racking up a plus-13 in 10 minutes over the fourth quarter and two overtimes. With Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter healthy, Popovich didn’t use that lineup at all in Game 2.

Supersubs in Chicago
Obviously, Wednesday’s blowout in Miami makes for some funky lineup numbers in that series, but the Bulls do have a lineup – Nate Robinson, Marco Belinelli, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah – that’s a plus-14 over the two games (plus-13 in 16 minutes in Game 1 and plus-1 in three minutes in Game 2). It was a plus-7 in 21 minutes in the first round and was a strong plus-20.3 points per 100 possessions in 129 minutes in the regular season. If Kirk Hinrich and/or Luol Deng return for Game 3 on Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), it will be interesting to see how much time that lineup plays together going forward.

A change of fortune in Miami
The Heat had a killer lineup – Mario Chalmers, Ray Allen, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh – that Erik Spoelstra used rather sparingly (only 112 minutes), but outscored its opponents by 30.3 points per 100 possessions in the regular season. That lineup was a plus-12 in 10 minutes in the first round against Milwaukee, but is a minus-13 in six minutes in the conference semis, having allowed the Bulls to shoot 6-for-9 (3-for-3 from 3-point range) in the closing minutes of Game 1.

Offensive struggles in New York
The best offensive lineup in the regular season (minimum 200 minutes) was the Knicks’ lineup of Raymond Felton, Jason Kidd, J.R. Smith, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler, which scored 119.3 points per 100 possessions in 269 minutes together. With Kidd, Smith and Anthony all struggling, that unit has scored just 86.6 points per 100 possessions in 18 playoff minutes, and has been even worse defensively.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls, 2013 Conference Semis: Knicks-Pacers, 2013 Conference Semis: Spurs-Warriors, 2013 Conference Semis: Thunder-Grizzlies, 2013 NBA Playoffs, NBA.com/Stats / Comments (17) /

What Thibodeau Started, Bulls’ Players Reinforce

May 7, 2013  ·  1:15AM

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MIAMI – Maybe, as one postgame wiseguy smirked after Game 1 of Heat-Bulls, the Brooklyn Nets should call P.J. Carlesimo and give him his job back.

There was no shame in losing Sunday to an undermanned, overachieving Chicago team in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference’s first round after all. Because 48 hours later, defending champion Miami lost Game 1 of the East semifinals on their home court to that same driven, unflappable bunch.

While the outside world has been busy defining Chicago by the bodies that are not there – Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich again, same as in the clincher in Brooklyn Saturday – the Bulls keep on defining themselves by the hearts of the players who are. And their habits, discipline and trust.

When something happens that isn’t supposed to happen – like beating a well-rested Heat team while missing a pair of All-Stars and a third guy who started in Rose’s spot when he wasn’t otherwise banged up – it might be written off as a fluke. Monday, it might have been a bit of rust on Miami’s game, maybe, and a nothing-to-lose, why-the-heck-not? attitude from the Bulls.

But when it happens over and over, like the Nets ouster or the victories at Miami in January or to snap the Heat’s 27-game winning streak in March, it’s less about game-plan trickery or hard-foul skullduggery.

And when multiple things happen to bring it all together – Jimmy Butler playing 48 minutes while shadowing freshly re-minted MVP LeBron James, a Little 1 (Nate Robinson) outscoring each of the Big 3, a Miami attack that ground down to 39.7 percent shooting, a Bulls team or anyone else for that matter hanging 35 on the Heat in the fourth quarter – then it is about a pattern, a culture, a way of life as ordained by coach Tom Thibodeau.

“It starts up with Thibs,” said power forward Taj Gibson, who banged with Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem, felt James breathing down his neck a few times and even chased Ray Allen through screens a few times. “Thibs is the guru, he understands the game plan. Then it’s the bigs talking to the guards, understanding what they need to do. Bigs are the second defense, guarding that rim. And it works out. We all talk to each other. Talking is big on this team and we help each other. We cover a lot of our weak points and we show our strong points, that’s the main thing we do.” (more…)

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls, 2013 NBA Playoffs, HT News / Comments (117) /

Game 6: What’s On The Line Tonight

May 3, 2013  ·  10:53AM



HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – For those who truly love the reality TV drama of the NBA playoffs, this is what we pay and hope for every year. Elimination time, 48 minutes with everything on the line plus seasons (and sometimes careers) hanging in the balance.

We get four of them tonight, four Game 6 matchups (two in the Western Conference and two more in the East) and potentially four teams going fishing.

The posturing is over. Wear black if you want to (New York Knicks), but if you’re not careful and don’t treat Game 6 with the urgency required, the funeral you’ll be attending might be your own (if the Boston Celtics are able to force a Game 7, that will put pressure on the Knicks that could shake the very walls of Madison Square Garden).

The Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers are all facing a win-or-go-home circumstance in their respective Games 6 battles tonight. Each one of them trails 3-2 and each one of them will have some serious thinking to do in the aftermath of defeats.

That said, the Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies do not want to let this opportunity to end things slip away. A Game 7, be it at home or on the road, comes with an increased level of intensity that can make anyone crack.

So we’re going game-by-game and detailing exactly what is on the line tonight for the winner and loser of these games:

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KNICKS AT CELTICS, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

What’s on the line for the Knicks: Everything! An entire season comes down to whether or not they can survive their own foolishness. Suddenly the Knicks aren’t in a playful mood. Too bad they didn’t adopt that philosophy before Game 5, when they had a chance to end this series on their home floor. Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith have to redeem themselves for their words and actions before and during that Game 5 disaster. Carmelo Anthony, on the other hand, needs simply to return to the MVP form he showed down the stretch of the regular season and early on in this series. Just 21 assists in two games is not the sort of ball movement that led the Knicks to that 3-0 series lead. They either find a way to fix that or face the possibility of a Game 7 at home, which sounds like a good thing … until you remember that the Celtics would welcome another opportunity to silence Spike Lee and the rest of the Knicks faithful at the Garden.

What’s on the line for the Celtics: An era! The Big 3 era ended last season when Ray Allen bolted for Miami. But that was the ceremonial end. The official end comes when this team sees its season finished. No one knows what Danny Ainge has in store for this group when it’s all over. Celtics coach Doc Rivers is a master at preparing his team for big games, but the Knicks did much of the work for him this time by calling out the Celtics. That’s usually all the incentive Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett need to get their fires raging. They responded like the true (and aging) warriors that they are. And they’ll bring a Game 7 zeal to Game 6 and dare the Knicks to match their effort before a home crowd that should be in a full lather by lunch time. While the Knicks have focused their attention elsewhere, Jeff Green has gone about destroying them in the past two games. The Celtics’ supporting cast will be the difference if this series goes to a Game 7.

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PACERS AT HAWKS, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

What’s on the line for the Pacers: Legitimacy! The Pacers fancy themselves as championship contenders this season. And they are serious about it. Problem is, their performance on the road in this series suggests otherwise. If they can’t handle an inconsistent bunch like the Hawks on the road, what exactly can coach Frank Vogel‘s crew do against either the Knicks or Celtics in the conference semifinals? Paul George and David West have designs on leading the Pacers deep into the playoffs, but they better finish this series off first without having to host a Game 7 in the first round. A little help from Roy Hibbert would help. Vogel keeps talking about his team still being young and needing to learn some things along the way. Learning how to survive a mess of your own making with a Game 7 against an inferior foe can’t be what he had in mind.

What’s on the line for the Hawks: The (immediate) future! It’s no secret that the organization is pointing to this summer, and free agency, as their salvation. Any noise the Hawks made in this postseason was strictly for the men in uniform and on the sideline (most of them are playing out the final years of their respective deals). A sustained postseason run is just more advertising, sometimes good and sometimes not so good, for coach Larry Drew and stars Josh Smith, Jeff Teague, Devin Harris, Kyle Korver and others. The fitting way to end their six-year run of consecutive playoff appearances is to go out the same way they did in that first-round series against the Celtics in 2008, losing in a Game 7 in Boston. There is more respect earned going down like that than there is in going down on your home floor in Game 6. (more…)

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (39) /

Celtic Pride Lives On

May 1, 2013  ·  11:52PM

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NEW YORK – These aren’t the same ‘ol Celtics.

No Rajon Rondo. No Ray Allen. No Perk, Posey or P.J. Brown.

They took another step backward this season, falling to seventh in the Eastern Conference. They were pretty awful on the road, their defense didn’t have quite the same bite, and their offense was pretty anemic. You never knew what you were going to get from them, maybe a win over a great team on one night and a loss to a terrible team the next.

And when they were down 0-3 to the New York Knicks in this first round series, it appeared to be time to finally count them out.

Well … uh … never mind. Maybe these are the same ‘ol Celtics.

Fueled by a defense that continues to hold it’s own against one of the most potent offensive attacks in the league, the Celtics staved off elimination for the second time on Wednesday. This time they did it in enemy territory, holding on for a 92-86 victory at Madison Square Garden that sends the series back to Boston for Game 6 on Friday.

So now, things get really interesting. No team in NBA history has ever come back from an 0-3 series deficit, but it’s starting to look like great defense can beat great offense. The Knicks have shot just 37 percent and scored just 94 points per 100 possessions over the last two games.

Coming up empty in Boston without J.R. Smith is one thing. But with Smith back and the opportunity to win a playoff series on their home floor for the first time since 1999, the Knicks laid another egg on Wednesday.

“Offensively, we were searching,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “We’ve got to find some offense somewhere. We have been struggling to find points.”

In his return from a one-game suspension, Smith missed his first 10 shots and finished 3-for-14. Carmelo Anthony wasn’t much better, shooting 8-for-24, meaning that the Knicks basically got the same production out of the pair as they did in Game 4 (when Smith didn’t play).

The one thing the Knicks still have going offensively is Raymond Felton on the pick and roll. He continued to get to the rim in Game 5, rendering Avery Bradley useless and scoring 21 points on 10-for-19 shooting.

But too often, the Knicks became stagnant offensively, resorting to more isolations and contested jumpers. They’ve lived by the three all season, but have shot a brutal 12-for-52 (23 percent) from beyond the arc in the last two games. Anthony has missed his last 15 3-point attempts.

Of course, the Celtics wouldn’t have won Games 4 and 5 if they weren’t scoring themselves. And Wednesday was easily their best offensive performance of the series. Part of it was better execution. But mostly, they just shot better.

That was the one source of optimism when they were down 0-3. They’re a bad offensive team, but they’re not a bad shooting team, and they were missing a lot of decent shots in those first three games. The Knicks have played aggressively on the ball all series, leaving shooters open. And now the Celtics are finally making them pay. Their 3-point percentage has increased in every game of the series, peaking with an 11-for-22 performance in Game 5.

“We’re not a bad 3-point shooting team,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “I kept telling our guys, ‘When you get them, take them.’ I kept telling them to let it fly. Don’t hesitate.”

Really, these are both jump-shooting teams, and games will sometimes be determined by whether or not the shots go in. But it was clear on Wednesday which team was forcing more misses. That’s the team that had its season on the line, the team that never goes down without a fight.

The Knicks wore all black to this game, thinking they were attending a funeral. Instead, they got a free trip back to Boston, thanks to a prideful team that just won’t die.

“We’re out here scrappin’,” Kevin Garnett told Comcast Sportsnet in an epic on-court interview after the game. “We know what they’re running. They know what we’re running. It’s just this is all out. Who wants this? That’s what it is. That’s all we’ve been doing these last couple of games.”

Same ‘ol Celtics, apparently. Never count ‘em out.

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (76) /

Jennings’ Funny Math No Laughing Matter

April 26, 2013  ·  9:26AM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – His demeanor has shifted. The smile is gone.

The gravity of what Brandon Jennings and his Milwaukee Bucks are facing, down 3-0 to the defending champion Miami Heat in their first-round playoff series, seems to have set in for the brash young point guard.

That funny math he used to predict the “Bucks in six” has crumbled over the past eight quarters of this series. It’s no longer a laughing matter, not when your season and potentially your career in Milwaukee is potentially coming to an end.

Jennings has vowed to play until the final buzzer in Sunday’s Game 4, hoping to stave off elimination for at least one more games. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that this series is every bit the mismatch most of us thought it would be on paper. And it’s even tougher to avoid the obvious question that will linger between now and free agency for Jennings and the Bucks. Do they stick together after four extremely productive years for Jennings, a restricted free agent at season’s end?

He’s helped the Bucks to the playoffs twice, his rookie season and this one, and he’s shown his many critics that his decision to bypass college for a one-season detour in Italy did nothing to damage his NBA stock. But in a league filled with as diverse and talented a group of point guards as its potentially ever had, where exactly does a player like Jennings fit?

“Great question,” an Eastern Conference general manager said. “His rookie season I felt like he was going to join that group of elite point guards, especially after what he did to the [Atlanta] Hawks during the playoffs. He showed off playmaking skills and scored at will in the postseason, doing things you don’t normally expect from a rookie. And he’s been solid ever since. But I don’t know that he’s moved into that tip tier of point guards. He’s not there, not yet.”

Jennings has averaged an impressive 17.0 points, 5.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 291 career regular season games. Considered more of a scorer than a facilitator, Jennings has proven himself capable of handling both responsibilities for the Bucks. Still, there is some uncertainty about his desire to stick around in Milwaukee during what could be a complete rebuilding situation this summer.

His backcourt mate Monta Ellis can opt out and become an unrestricted free agent this summer. And Samuel Dalembert, Mike Dunleavy, Marquis Daniels, J.J. Redick and Joel Pryzbilla will all be unrestricted free agents this summer.

The Halloween deadline for Jennings and the Bucks to agree on an extension of his rookie contract passed without either side admitting that they were even close to getting something done.

That’s one reason why this series against the Heat is such a showcase event for Jennings. It’s his final platform before free agency to remind the league that he’s a player a franchise can build around. The upset guarantee and his 26-point effort in Game 1 was the ideal buzz and result for Jennings early on.

But he’s managed just 24 points in the two games since the opener, shooting 8-for-30 from the floor and 1-for-14 from beyond the 3-point line. The Heat have stymied the Bucks’ offense late in all three games, eliminating the pick-and-roll as an option for Jennings and Ellis when the game is one the line.

“One of the problems we have with that is our size in the backcourt,” Bucks coach Jim Boylan said. “We’re not a big team. So when they are out there trapping and staying with the ballhandler like that, they are putting a lot of pressure on you, first of all. Secondly, they have good size. It’s easy for me stand up in the huddle and say ‘we’ve got to make a quick pass, we’ve got to move that ball and take advantage of them double teaming.’ But sometimes it’s hard to do. They are flooding the strong side and cutting off passing angles and it makes it difficult to find the right man, the open man, with a pass. It’s usually a cross court pass and those are always dangerous because of their speed and activity.”

This is one of the premier defensive teams in the league we’re talking about in the Heat, who boast quality perimeter defenders in not only LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but also Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole and Ray Allen.

Chalmers and Cole have taken a particular interest in limiting Jennings, both of them no doubt smarting from the brash attitude and words Jennings has been sure to share with the world.

“They are really getting physical,” Boylan said. “It’s playoff basketball. So there is a lot more contact than in the regular season. And anytime we use any sort of pick-and-rolls, they are double-teaming him and putting pressure on him. That combination is difficult. And they are focused in on both [Jennings] and Monta. They did what they needed to do, be physical, be big and cut off those angles for finding people.”

At 23, Jennings is probably done growing. So there is nothing he can do about that size disadvantage and the fact that the Heat are executing flawlessly in wearing him down. But he has at least 48 minutes left to prove that his skill set can best whatever advantage the opposition brings to the show.

That Bucks in six stuff is obviously history.

Whether or not Jennings’ time with the Bucks is, however, … well, only time will tell.

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (45) /

Heat Stars Ready For Milwaukee Return

April 24, 2013  ·  11:17PM





MIAMI – If anyone on the Miami Heat roster knows what to expect at the Bradley Center for Games 3 and 4 against of their first round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks it’s Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen.

They’ve got intimate knowledge of the place, both of having been in the building when it’s an emotional power keg, when the hometown fans are cranked up and caught up in the atmosphere of a big game.

They’ll be on the other side this time, though, wearing the wrong colored jerseys for Game 3 Thursday night (7 ET, TNT). But that doesn’t change the fact that these games serve as a homecoming of sorts for these Heat stars whose careers took off in “Brew City.”

Wade came to town as an unheralded Marquette recruit and left a lottery pick, beloved by the locals as the star who helped restore a once proud program to national prominence. His college jersey hangs in the rafters of the arena, one of the retired numbers of the greats to have called the city home at some point.

Allen’s future Hall of Fame career started in Milwaukee, he played the first six and a half seasons of his career with the Bucks, helped them to the Eastern Conference finals in 2001 and earned three trips to the All-Star game as a Buck before being traded to Seattle in February of 2003.

“I went to Milwaukee with not a lot of expectations and I came out of Milwaukee the fifth pick of the Draft,” Wade said. “Milwaukee has been special to me. It has helped me get to this point. Going back there in the playoffs is a cool thing. It’s very humbling (having his jersey retired). Every time I look up there, I think about how far I have come. It’s special to be able to play in an arena where your jersey hangs.” (more…)

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (22) /

Heat Burst Burns Bucks Again

April 23, 2013  ·  11:58PM



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MIAMI – You know it’s coming, no matter what you do. Even if your brace yourself for the blow, there isn’t much you can do to stop it.

The Miami Heat will come at you at some point during a game with a vicious run that either knocks you off balance or knocks you out cold. It doesn’t matter if they are up 20 or down 20, that run is coming. It’s not a matter of if but when for the Heat, who have made a habit of smashing teams this season with quick and wicked runs that decide games.

Even in a close game against a playoff opponent, they can go from zero to 60 faster than the opposition. And when they hit that speed, the way they did in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Milwaukee Bucks had to know Game 2 of this first-round playoff series was gone.

The Heat went from clinging to a 3-point lead at the end of the third quarter to an insurmountable 15-point cushion in the time it takes most teams to stretch out for the mayhem that comes with a tight fourth quarter against the Heat. When the dust cleared from the Heat’s 98-86 win, it was obvious that Chris “Birdman” Andersen‘s energy had spilled over for the second straight game during a critical stretch for the Heat, who battled the Bucks every inch of the way through those first three quarters.

Andersen kicked off the run with a rebound and putback for a 70-65 lead and Norris Cole finished it off with a deep 3-pointer off a feed from LeBron James for the 80-65 lead with 9:58 to play. The 95 seconds of choreographed mayhem between those buckets has become a Heat staple. You better be buckled up for the ride or you could get run over. And chances are, you’re going to get run over anyway.

“At that point, when it got to still a 3-point game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “we were more of the mindset that, ‘hey, we’re going after this big.’ We hadn’t been in a great rhythm. We certainly were not playing a great basketball game. You have to give them credit, they were doing some things that had us spinning around a little bit defensively and got us on our heels. Offensively, we never got into a rhythm, so we figured we’re just going to have to have to find a way to grind in the fourth quarter. We figured it was going to be a close game. It was just a quick skirmish and explosion. Obviously, that second unit with Bird and Norris came in with a great deal of energy.” (more…)

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (17) /

LeBron’s Not Sweating The Drama

April 22, 2013  ·  5:31PM



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MIAMI – Rarely has one designer sweater caused as much discussion as the one LeBron James wore in his postgame session with the assembled media Sunday night.

Only in his world could his wardrobe choice garner just as much attention, if not more, than his near triple double in the Heat’s 110-87 Game 1 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

But it’s like those T-shirts on every seat at AmericanAirlines Arena said, “Witness Miami.” And this city is bearing witness to the twisted fishbowl that becomes of anything associated with James.

You can debate it all you want … the color of the sweater, whether or not it was appropriate in South Florida this time of year and if James made should have gone with a vest instead of one with sleeves. Just don’t ask James to give it a second thought, because he’s done sweating the drama that used to consume him this time of year (LeBron’s elbow ring a bell?).

Dwyane Wade gave the sweater “two thumbs up” and praised James for having a fashion sense that older teammates like Ray Allen and Shane Battier, who had some fun joking about the sweater, should envy.

“I liked the whole combination,” Wade said. “Bravo. Bravo. I give him two thumps up on his outfit last night.”

Jeff Staple, the founder of Staple Design, loved seeing James “wearing him” on such a big stage. And took to Twitter to thank the Heat’s resident fashion hound for the free advertising.

James said he had no idea of the frenzy his attire caused until he was informed of it at the end of Monday’s practice, when his sweater generated more buzz than his game.

“What’s the big story about it?” he said when asked what led him to that particular choice. “I don’t know, it was just how I was feeling. It’s just fashion. Nothing more, nothing less.”

It’s never that simple for an athlete whose every move, on and off the floor, inspires non-stop discussion. He took just 11 shots in that Game 1 win over the Bucks, a career playoff low, but still managed game highs in points (27), rebounds (10) and assists (eight). Two years ago, when the Heat failed to win a championship, a performance like that might have caused an uproar.

But now that he’s won a championship and the narrative has changed, purists praise James for being the embodiment of efficiency. It’s a drama shift James said he refuses to entertain these days.

“I don’t know, I don’t really … the difference between the past and now is that I really don’t pay too much attention to it,” James said. “I really don’t hear it. I’m so far removed from what’s being said. It’s like this thing about the sweater, until now, I don’t know about what people are saying. I don’t really get involved. I just play my game and do the things I do on the court. It doesn’t amuse me, it doesn’t do anything because I really don’t hear it until I see you guys.”

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Posted in 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (19) /

LeBron As Efficient As Ever In Opener

April 22, 2013  ·  1:44AM




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MIAMI – For a guy who claims not to have slept much Saturday night, LeBron James looked remarkable Sunday night, refreshed even, for the start of the Miami Heat’s defense of their NBA title.

And no, it had nothing to do with the designer red sweater he wore to the postgame media gathering after James and the Heat demolished the Milwaukee Bucks 110-87 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

A restless LeBron looks a lot like the same uber-efficient LeBron we’ve seen all season, and particularly in his past 10 games. James is shooting a staggering 70 percent from the floor and 57 percent from behind the 3-point line. While everyone else plays at game speed, James continues to play at his own speed. It’s not breaking news that he flirted with a triple-double Sunday night … he does that on the regular. It’s the way he does it, making it look easy, that makes you pause.

He needed just 11 shots, making nine of them, to pile up his game-high 27 points. The 10 rebounds and eight assists, nearly each and every one of them a momentum-shifter in one way or another, completed his performance.

“He really just let the game come to him,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He facilitated quite a bit for us. He was creating triggers a lot of times by setting screens and generated a lot of offense just by doing that. It was a very mature, high IQ game. Yeah, that’s about as an efficient as you can get. He made that look easier than it was.”

James has a knack for doing exactly that, making it look easier than it was. Sunday marked the 13th time in his career that he has finished a playoff game with those numbers, the most of any player in NBA history.

“When [James] has a game like that, what can you do?” Bucks coach Jim Boylan said. “I thought Luc Mbah a Moute and Marquis Daniels battled him well. The guy is the best player in the world right now, so what can you do?”

A calm and composed James can nitpick his own work, highlighting his five turnovers and the Heat’s 19 that resulted in 22 points for the Bucks, who will get another dose of this in Game 2 Tuesday night.

“That is the disappointing thing for us,” James said, “The 19 turnovers and 22 points. A lot of those 19 turnovers were careless, including myself, I had five. You know how I am about turning the ball over. I had five of them and three or fourth of them were careless and unforced. We can’t allow that to happen.”

Actually, you can. When you have a bench, powered by Ray Allen‘s 20 points and Chris “Birdman” Andersen‘s 10, capable of producing 43 points, to the Bucks’ 25, you can get away with a little sloppiness in your playoff opener. You can get away with it when superstars like Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh can play complementary roles to the most efficient and dynamic player in basketball.

“He’s in playoff mode,” Wade said of James. “We love him in that mode. Now he is focused on his goal. His goal is to dominate every game and help take this team to a championship.”

Having done it once before, you might assume that this playoff journey would stand out to James above others. But that’s not his way, not his frame of mind for this postseason. He said before the game that he couldn’t remember how he felt before Game 1 last year, so he couldn’t compare then and now. Truth be told, he has no desire to compare what was with what is or even what could be. Competing against his own ghost holds no appeal to James.

“I try to stay in the moment, to live in the moment,” he said.

And why wouldn’t he?

His next game always provides an opportunity to set a new standard or at least chase one that someone else set. He’s scored 25 or more points in 16 straight playoff games, and he kept that streak alive Sunday night with the fewest shot attempts in his playoff career. Shooting 82 percent from the floor, of course, makes these sorts of things possible in LeBron’s world.

The Bucks found that out the hard way. They stayed close early thanks to Brandon Jennings (26 points on not-nearly-as-efficient 8-for-20 shooting) and kept fighting long enough for Monta Ellis (22 points on solid 10-for-19 shooting, though he was just 1-for-6 from deep) to get going, too.

And the Heat still won going away, with all of their turnovers tossed in for good measure, thanks to James.

It’s like Boylan said, when a guy has a game like that (and game like that), what do you do?

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Birdman, Allen Help Heat Bench Soar

April 21, 2013  ·  11:57PM



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MIAMI – Chris “Birdman” Andersen and Ray Allen watched the Miami Heat roll to a championship last season from afar, Birdman from the basketball abyss and Allen technically still a member of the Boston Celtics, the team the Heat vanquished in the Eastern Conference finals.

Neither one of them had a clue at that time of the role they’d play in the Heat’s initial step at repeating that feat. And yet there they were Sunday night in the midst of all of the madness at AmericanAirlines Arena as the Heat kicked off the encore tour with a 110-87 blowout win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of their first round series.

Birdman provided the energy and effort, as he has routinely since the Heat signed him off the street in January to a 10-day contract that turned into the remainder of the season once they realized what they were getting in the 34-year-old big man with the energy of a guy half his age. Allen provided the constant threat against his former team, he was a Milwaukee Buck before he played in Seattle or Boston, that he always provides. There is no court Ray Allen plays on in the NBA where the opposition doesn’t view him as a threat.

They combined for 30 of the 43 bench points the Heat used as fuel to beat down the Bucks; their reserves outscored their Bucks counterparts by 18 points in a game where the starters’ offensive production was basically a wash (67-62 in the Heat’s favor).

Anderson finished with 10 points (on 4-for-4 shooting with three dunks) and seven rebounds in 16 supercharged minutes, while Allen finished with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists. And he didn’t even shoot the ball particularly well from deep (2-for-8), not that it mattered for the Heat’s new super subs.

“They are impact players,” said Heat star LeBron James, who was spectacular and efficient in his first playoff game since the Heat’s title-clinching Game 5 win over Oklahoma City in The Finals last year. “Ray is a threat out on the floor at all times, no matter if he is making shots or not, you have to account for him. Bird raises energy every single night rebounding, setting screens, put-back dunks and blocking shots. He brings that effort.”

The Heat needed to get it from somewhere. They knew exactly what they were getting from Allen, arguably the greatest pure shooter the league has ever seen — I said arguably — and still plenty dangerous some 17 years into what is sure to be a Hall of Fame career.

Andersen was a wild card, though, a gamble the Heat made to help shore up an inside game that served as the long-glaring weakness for the defending champs.

“You don’t normally see an opportunity to pick up an impact player in the playoffs on a championship-level team,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team is 40-3 in the games Andersen has played in since joining the Heat. “To come right into your rotation in March, you don’t see that very often unless it’s a trade. He’s had a great impact on our team on both ends … and he does it in short bursts.”

His work Sunday night serves as a 16-minute infomercial for “Energy by Birdman,” complete with Heat fans and teammates clad in white flapping their wings.

That’s a pretty good playoff start for a guy who admitted to being a bit skittish in his return to the playoff spotlight.

“At first I started off a little bit nervous,” Andersen said, “But once I got that out of my system I came back in the second half and pushed myself a little bit harder to go after offensive boards, play a little bit harder on defense. We made a couple of changes on [Brandon] Jennings and [Monta] Ellis and that paid off.”

Just like that gamble the Heat made on a couple of new faces, one early and one late, to solidify their reserves.

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