Basketball

Just as most of you are, I am excited about this series and confident the Pacers can move on if they play some great ball. I wanted to talk about matching up with the Heat both on the offensive and defensive end. First, if the Heat start Haslem (I believe they will), we need to switch Hibbert and West on defense. Bosh can step out as far as the 3pt line when he's on, and if we don't want him freely shooting, Hibbert will have to leave the lane. Miami would love this and the lane will be much more open, basically using Bosh as a decoy to open things up. While Haslem can still step out and hit jumpers from 10+ ft, he cannot make the D step out like Bosh can. I think it would be great to have West cover Bosh and Roy on Patches...I mean Haslem for a couple of reasons. West has already made himself comfortable far away from the rim having to guard Shump, Pablo, and others last series. He has more foot speed than Roy which helps since Bosh is quicker on his feet than Roy as well. While Roy will step have to step out a bit more than he did guarding Tyson Illegal-screen Chandler, guarding Haslem will still allow him to float around the paint like we need him to be. The trouble will be when Battier comes into the game and Roy will have take his chances against Boshasourus. Another matchup I've been thinking about is with Lance and PG on the offensive end. If you remember game 1&2 at BLF this season, Lance had a blast tearing up the slower Wade and PG had a couple solid games, outplaying Lebron. However, game 3 in South Beach I noticed they started off with LBJ on Lance and Wade on George. Miami realized Lance was having his way with Wade, and James shut him down that day. While, PG should be beating an undersized Wade, I've noticed Paul sometimes has trouble taking advantage of favorable matchups at this point in his career. PG did not take advantage of the undersized Wade and the Pacers struggled on offense. Personally, I want us to go inside and ram it down their throats with Roy and DWest but obviously we will need solid performances from PG and Lance. I believe Miami will go with that same matchup until Paul asserts himself against old Dwayne. Do you guys see these things the same way? And what other matchups do you think we need to exploit or even concern you? Just as most of you are, I am excited about this series and confident the Pacers can move on if they play some great ball. I wanted to talk about matching up with the Heat both on the offensive and defensive end. First, if the Heat start Haslem (I believe they will), we need to switch Hibbert and West on defense. Bosh can step out as far as the 3pt line when he's on, and if we don't want him freely shooting, Hibbert will have to leave the lane. Miami would love this and the lane will be much more open, basically using Bosh as a decoy to open things up. While Haslem can still step out and hit jumpers from 10+ ft, he cannot make the D step out like Bosh can. I think it would be great to have West cover Bosh and Roy on Patches...I mean Haslem for a couple of reasons. West has already made himself comfortable far away from the rim having to guard Shump, Pablo, and others last series. He has more foot speed than Roy which helps since Bosh is quicker on his feet than Roy as well. While Roy will step have to step out a bit more than he did guarding Tyson Illegal-screen Chandler, guarding Haslem will still allow him to float around the paint like we need him to be. The trouble will be when Battier comes into the game and Roy will have take his chances against Boshasourus. Another matchup I've been thinking about is with Lance and PG on the offensive end. If you remember game 1&2 at BLF this season, Lance had a blast tearing up the slower Wade and PG had a couple solid games, outplaying Lebron. However, game 3 in South Beach I noticed they started off with LBJ on Lance and Wade on George. Miami realized Lance was having his way with Wade, and James shut him down tha

Vinny Del Negro is out as coach of the Los Angeles Clippers after their first-round playoff exit.

Man, I like this guy the more I see him. I think his style fits in perfect with ours. Here is what I like about him. 1- He plays a physical game, gets to the rim well and finishes well through contact. 2- He can break. Alot. A big part of the NBA shooting guards threat should always be running and attacking on the break. Easy buckets win ball games and are freebies. Vic does this really well and would certainly help Dame is this. How many times do we see Matthews running the lane and scoring in transition? Rarely. 3- He picks his shots well. He fixed his jumpshot and it worked. I think his shooting will really prevail in the NBA solely because he know whats a good shot and what isn't. Lebron FINALLY figured this out. Vic already has this. 4- He has a nice Pull Up off the dribble. Lots of balance and lift and a LOT of accuracy. You don't see a lot of this in the NBA anymore. Jordan developed this. Westbrook has added it but most of the other guys are fading and falling. You don't shoot this well (70%??) by fluke off the dribble. 5- HE CAN SCORE EFFICIENTLY WITHOUT DOMINATING THE BALL. Every freakin SG in the NBA seems to want to be a point guard and pound the nails into the court. I hate this. Remember Reggie Miller moving off the ball? D Wade figured this out last year. Vic already has this. This is a big deal especially with a scoring point like Dame. I LOVE this part. He uses cuts to get to the rim. Our offense has a lot of this already. I see him as kind of a James Harden with less handles, more athleticism, more defense, less hair, better pull up and more game off the ball. All he needs to do is continue to improve his ball handling. That will improve his drives (which are explosive and already great), improve his ISO game and also cut way down on his turn overs. I would take this dude #1 easily in this draft for Portland. High efficiency isn't a fluke with this guy. That also says ALOT about his decision making and tells me that his work ethic could REALLY make him elite. He has the body and the game to do it. Man, I like this guy the more I see him. I think his style fits in perfect with ours. Here is what I like about him. 1- He plays a physical game, gets to the rim well and finishes well through contact. 2- He can break. Alot. A big part of the NBA shooting guards threat should always be running and attacking on the break. Easy buckets win ball games and are freebies. Vic does this really well and would certainly help Dame is this. How many times do we see Matthews running the lane and scoring in transition? Rarely. 3- He picks his shots well. He fixed his jumpshot and it worked. I think his shooting will really prevail in the NBA solely because he know whats a good shot and what isn't. Lebron FINALLY figured this out. Vic already has this. 4- He has a nice Pull Up off the dribble. Lots of balance and lift and a LOT of accuracy. You don't see a lot of this in the NBA anymore. Jordan developed this. Westbrook has added it but most of the other guys are fading and falling. You don't shoot this well (70%??) by fluke off the dribble. 5- HE CAN SCORE EFFICIENTLY WITHOUT DOMINATING THE BALL. Every freakin SG in the NBA seems to want to be a point guard and pound the nails into the court. I hate this. Remember Reggie Miller moving off the ball? D Wade figured this out last year. Vic already has this. This is a big deal especially with a scoring point like Dame. I LOVE this part. He uses cuts to get to the rim. Our offense has a lot of this already. I see him as kind of a James Harden with less handles, more athleticism, more defense, less hair, better pull up and more game off the ball. All he needs to do is continue to improve his ball handling. That will improve his drives (which are explosive and already great), improve his ISO game and also cut way down on his turn overs. I would take this dude #1 easily in this draft for Portland. High efficie

Marc Stein discusses the Raptors' decision to remove Bryan Colangelo from his role as general manager.

Tuesday, Ryen Russillo and Chris Broussard discuss the NBA playoffs, the destination for future Super Bowls and much more. Listen to the best highligh...

SEASON RECORDS Indiana 49-33 (Third seed in East) Miami 66-16 (First seed in East) PLAYOFF RECORDS Indiana 8-4 (beat Atlanta 4-2 in the first round, New York 4-2 in the second) Miami: 8-1 (swept Milwaukee in first round 4-0, beat Chicago 4-1 in the second) SEASON SERIES Indiana won the regular season series 2-1 with…

Ian Levy of Hickory-High has a cool feature where he equates each team’s lottery odds to something more relatable. Here’s his Pistons entry: Detroit Pistons – 3.9% chance of winning the #1 pick – About the same as Greg Monroe‘s odds of assisting on consecutive made baskets by the Pistons. Greg Monroe assisted on 18.6% of the Pistons made baskets when he was on the floor this season. His odds of assisting on two consecutive makes would be (0.186 x 0.186 = 3.6%). Maybe Lawrence Frank should have given Monroe more playmaking duties. Then, the Pistons would have a better chance at the No. 1 pick. That’s how this works, right?

I played about 50 time and the Jazz still ended up #14 with Shabazz Muhammad Height: 6-6 | Weight: 222 | Freshman UCLA | Small Forward Have fun! http://espn.go.com/nba/lottery2013/mockdraft Jazzaholic

The minds behind Ball Don’t Lie are going to preview each of the parings in the third round, with Kelly Dwyer going against character for a more genial take, Dan Devine bringing his inimitable mixture of both order and bedlam, along with Eric Freeman’s legendary look inside the reputations of some of the series’ key fixtures.We continue with the Miami Heat, and Indiana Pacers.Kelly Dwyer’s Guide VocalThis isn’t Indiana’s prime-time introduction. The team enjoyed that moment last year, squaring off with the eventual champion Miami Heat in the second round, and took in some increased Q ratings this year while matched with the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Pacers have boasted All-Stars in consecutive years, they’ve been battling on a national stage since giving the Chicago Bulls a bit of a fright in the first round of the 2011 playoffs, and the team entered 2012-13 expecting to take the division crown.[Related: Larry Bird is proud of Pacers, even if nation is indifferent]This is no time for upstarts. The Indiana Pacers are expected to compete on the Miami Heat’s level, and they cannot blame Danny Granger’s absence nor its lack of recognition for anything that goes pear-shaped between now and the end of the series. “Us against the world” won’t work, here. Savoring underdog status and moral victories won’t get this team anywhere. The Pacers cannot be content to “get it down below 10” just before the half. Behind their all-world defense, the Pacers are a Finals-level team that needs to play as such.Too bad they have to play the Heat now.They’ve played them before, these Pacers, and played them well. Indiana famously took a 2-1 series lead in last year’s second round against Miami. The Pacers have grabbed two of three from the Heat during the regular season, and I rank March’s home Heat win over Indiana as perhaps the most impressive of the Heat’s 27-game regular season winning streak. Indiana’s ability to pack the lane and defend the wings should give Miami fits, just as long as the typical Heat frustrations decline to show up.If you’re a fan of any other team but the Miami Heat, you know those frustrations. You’ve gritted your teeth when LeBron James draws another foul on the frontcourt – that’s the first brow-furrower. Then, a few plays later, you’ve felt your stomach drop any time the ball swings around a few times, and then you remember that, yes, Chris Bosh still plays for the Miami Heat.Oh, crap. Bosh, too.This is why Bosh’s presence will be of paramount importance. The Heat big man has enjoyed a light and breezy postseason, averaging13.2 points and 8.3 boards (with two blocks) per game in nine playoff contests, but he’ll be asked to act as the counter to a Pacers attack that seems specially-made to shut down high-usage wing types like LeBron and Dwyane Wade. Bosh doesn’t even have to keep up his 46.7 three-point shooting in the series, all he has to do is finish broken plays and improvised passes with accurate shooting on long, two-point shots and the occasional home rum. He has to stay on the court, and screen well for corner three-point shooters. He has to remind us that he still plays for the Miami Heat until the surprise goes away.[Related: Is LeBron James-Frank Vogel controversy overblown?]That, and LeBron James’ continued brilliance (and he will continue to play brilliantly even against Paul George … right?), will be enough to top the Pacers. Indiana’s attack is more refined and superior to the one that downed Miami twice in the regular season earlier this year, one has to account for in-season growth from this young crew, but the squad’s scoring issues remain a frightful proposition. It’s going to be tough enough for Indiana to hold Miami to the 90 points necessary to have a chance. It’s going to be even tougher for the Pacers to score 91 points and pull off a win.Miami has been challenged in this postseason. The Milwaukee Bucks may have come off as lame ducks and the Chicago Bulls presented

As probably all of you know today is the day in which the NBA unveils the draft order for the teams selecting in the lottery. They make it a fun little halftime event in which representatives from each team sit at a desk marked with their team's logo and hold some lucky item while someone from the NBA (Stern or Silver I think) opens envelopes for the order of the picks. Commercial breaks are strategically inserted throughout, most notably immediately before and after the 3rd pick is disclosed. What could a curmudgeonly Blazer fan like myself dislike about this? Well, for starters there's the other half of this in which the picks are actually decided. From what I have read it takes place in a sterile room with some representatives from the NBA along with a potential figure from each lottery team who elects to be present. The 'lottery' takes place much as its name would indicate, as a lotto style ping pong ball machine with balls numbered 1-14 is setup and run by a 3rd party NBA contractor who handles the logistics and prevents tampering. This creates 1001 possible combinations as four balls are selected with the order of selection being relevant (i.e. 11-12-13-14 is not the same as 14-13-12-11) but only 1000 combos are assigned to teams as winners (in the event the 1001st combo is drawn its just a do over). Every team is given a certain number of winning combinations ranging from 250 to 5 (25% chance at winning down to 0.5%) based on reverse winning percentage and any tie breakers that were previously held. The 3rd party then runs the machine and gets the combo for the first pick, reloads and repeats for the 2nd and does the same again for the 3rd. In the event that a combo belonging to a team that has already won a top 3 pick is drawn, the selection is just re-run (just like if the 1001st combo is picked). I get that the NBA wants to have this semi-pompous thing where a non-playoff team gets to be a winner for the day with everyone starting out full of hope. Everything ends with the top 2 picks being announced in a moment filled with tense drama for both fan bases (especially the year they drew for the LeBron pick as Memphis got #2 in the drawing on a pick they owed to Detroit with only #1 protection. They went from LeBron to nothing with the opening of an envelope). That said, this procedure has unnecessarily left room for conspiracy theories to run rampant as the average fan doesn't understand how this all takes place. Opening things up to the public view would do a lot of damage to the 'lottery is rigged' talk (I understand most of it on this site is tongue in cheek at least), but it could also serve to create just as dramatic moments. First, by tweaking whatever algorithm/process assigns the combos to disallow a single team to hold all fourteen combos that contain the same first three numbers along with 1-14 as the fourth and you create a situation in which the team getting the pick hangs on that final ping pong ball for every selection! It gives the people commentating something more to discuss than "oh the Bucks are picking right as expected" as they can now show and commentate updated odds on every team's chances right up until the 4th ball is selected (after returning from commercials of course). This can happen with all 3 picks, and the reps from all the selected teams can still have their moment to shine with a brief interview while the machine is being reloaded and whatnot. Finally at the end they can show the final draft order before going back to the game being played. Of course there is one serious drawback to this, which is the possibility that the selection keeps pulling numbers that need to be re-run (i.e. 1001st combo or one owned by a team already picked). This is extremely unlikely for the 1st pick, but with the 2nd and 3rd it becomes variably more likely depending on which team's have been selected. So it is impossible to guarantee that the entire event will fit neatly in a h