Basketball

Well, at last, Detroit has got the #8 pick. That means they have virtually no chance of picking either McLemore, Burke, Oladipo or Porter, the only players in this draft that would start right away as Pistons. And, because of this, I have seen many comments from fans wishing Detroit would "gamble" on Shabazz Muhammad. I think this would be a mistake. Let's assume Cleveland picks Noel, Orlando picks Burke, Washington picks Porter, Charlotte picks McLemore, and Phoenix picks Oladipo. New Orleans and Sacramento come before the Pistons, and I would assume the best players on the board are: Len, Zeller, Bennett, Carter-Williams and McCollum. I am not mentioning Muhammad, Caldwell-Pope and Plumlee because I consider them one step down from this 2nd tier and 2 steps down from the 1st five mentioned. McCollum is a complicated case. He seems to have potential, but he's too much like Knight and Stuckey and Detroit does not need another combo guard (except if they don't plan on having Stuckey around, which I think they shouldn't). Carter-Williams could be paired with a veteran PG (Bynum or Calderon or any other good FA) and become our next starting PG in the future, if they see potential. I see the same case for Bennett. If they pick him, leave him as Singler's backup alongside Middleton, and the SF position would be set. He can also play PF against a small lineup. Zeller or Len would be the logical "first big man off the bench" behind Monroe and Drummond. So, either one would be useful. The problem in see in picking anybody from the next tier with a #8 pick is that Muhammad would not be an upgrade over Singler or Middleton. I just like having Daye again. Of course they're completely different players, but you cannot say for sure that any of the 4 should be starting SF anywhere in the league. Caldwell-Pope would not be an upgrade over Stuckey and English, and Plumlee wouldn't be much better than Slava. Also, if Detroit does not pick any of those 3 at #8, I imagine all 3 of them going somewhere between 13-17th. In my opinion, the problem is not picking them. It's picking them at #8. So, my point is that, considering the first 5 will be gone, and N.O. and Sacramento would pick 2 of those 5, the Pistons should pick one of whoever is left from Zen, Zeller, Bennet and Carter-Williams. If they are planning on shopping Stuckey, include McCollum on that shortlist. I also have 2 other suggestions: trade up to the top 5 (using Stuckey and/or CV), or trade down to 12-15, where they would pick Shabazz Muhammad, or gamble (yes, this time would be a gamble) on Giannis Adetokunbo or Dennis Schroeder. About the other fanpost suggestion Detroit should give the pick to Charlotte, as I read from Pistons.com, both would have to agree on that. Charlotte may believe Detroit won't be in the lottery next year, but they also know that the next class in much better than this one. I see this move as an option too, if Charlotte wants it. Well, at last, Detroit has got the #8 pick. That means they have virtually no chance of picking either McLemore, Burke, Oladipo or Porter, the only players in this draft that would start right away as Pistons. And, because of this, I have seen many comments from fans wishing Detroit would "gamble" on Shabazz Muhammad. I think this would be a mistake. Let's assume Cleveland picks Noel, Orlando picks Burke, Washington picks Porter, Charlotte picks McLemore, and Phoenix picks Oladipo. New Orleans and Sacramento come before the Pistons, and I would assume the best players on the board are: Len, Zeller, Bennett, Carter-Williams and McCollum. I am not mentioning Muhammad, Caldwell-Pope and Plumlee because I consider them one step down from this 2nd tier and 2 steps down from the 1st five mentioned. McCollum is a complicated case. He seems to have potential, but he's too much like Knight and Stuckey and Detroit does not need another combo guard (except if they don't plan on having Stuckey around

Timberwolves.com's Mark Remme caught up with Kevin Love after the NBA Draft Lottery to talk Wolves, his health, Flip Saunders and more.

Lynx guard Monica Wright wasn't surprised by Kevin Durant's generosity giving $1 million toward storm relief after OKC tornado.

Lynx guard Monica Wright wasn't surprised by Kevin Durant's generosity giving $1 million toward storm relief after OKC tornado.

With the draft order officially set last night, it's time to get more specific with our Pelicans draft board and overall mock draft in general. Draft Express has a mock updated for last night's lottery available here, with explanations of the selections available here. DX's top 6 goes thusly: 1. Cleveland - Nerlens Noel2. Orlando - Ben McLemore3. Washington - Anthony Bennett4. Charlotte - Victor Oladipo5. Phoenix - Otto Porter6. New Orleans - Alex Len Orlando, Charlotte, and Phoenix, it appears could go in any possible direction, which makes planning for the 6th pick rather difficult. As Jon Givony writes about Orlando: Trey Burke, Anthony Bennett, Otto Porter and others will get looks here as well, as its unlikely that we'll have much of a definitive inclination of what the Magic will do with this pick until much closer to draft day. Of that group, I love Burke, and I hate Bennett. But for at least a few more weeks, we won't know how the teams above us feel about them.

The San Antonio Spurs didn’t score a single point over the final 4:18 of the fourth quarter in Tuesday night’s 93-89 overtime win over Memphis, and the Grizzlies clawed their way through a 15-2 comeback run and sucked the oxygen from the AT&T Center. The visitors were stout defensively over the final eight minutes of regulation, but while Tony Allen writhed in pain and held his head with 26 seconds remaining in the final frame, it was a moment of drama that nearly flipped this game upside-down. With an 85-81 lead in the final 30 seconds, Manu Ginobili turned the ball over all the way out near mid-court and the Grizzlies broke out the other way. Allen took off in front of the pack, and as he climbed through the air and toward the rim, Ginobili reached out from the side, grabbed his left arm and pulled downward. Allen crashed to the ground, and a moment later he grasped his head in apparent agony. The incident was ruled as a flagrant foul, and two free throws and a bucket later, what was once an 18-point game late in the third had been upended and tied as the teams jumped to the extra frame. But further discussion would ensue regarding the dramatic nature of Allen’s fall and just how much agony he was actually feeling. The Defensive Player of the Year candidate actually fell as cleanly a he could have reasonably expected to, and upon further review didn’t appear to actually hit his head on the surface. Oh, the irony, as Manu stood helplessly next to Gregg Popovich trying to plead his case this time. That it was just a good old-fashioned hard foul. That there was an effort to go after the ball. But all it did was evoke memories of 2006, when Ginobili fouled Dirk Nowitzki in the waning moments during the Western Conference Semifinals in Game 7 at home. This time, the Spurs survived. Not only that, but they extended their lead in the conference finals, going ahead 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. And, ironically enough again, it was foul trouble that left the door open for the Grizzlies’ comeback. Tim Duncan picked up his second, third and fourth fouls in a period of 30 seconds with just under eight minutes remaining in the third quarter. The infractions forced Pop to put Duncan on the bench for long stretches of the second half, but it might have been a good thing. When Timmy took a seat after his fourth foul at the 7:51-mark of the third quarter, the Spurs saw their 56-40 lead dwindle to just 78-70 by the time he re-entered early in the last frame. San Antonio would build on their lead once more with their defensive anchor on the floor, pushing it out to 83-70 with 7:36 left in regulation. But Duncan would pick up another foul, his fifth, with 7:36 remaining. He’d have to take a seat, and once again Memphis went on another run. This time it was enough to cut the lead to five points in Duncan’s absence, but even after a questionable sequence regarding the Allen situation. Regardless of what happened, those four points forced overtime, most likely. But with the foul trouble, Duncan was fresh. He played only 31 minutes but went for 17 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots, and in overtime he basically saved the night. Timmy scored all three team field goals in the extra fame and gave them the boost they needed when the gas tank went dry. And it did. The Spurs were gassed, and Tony Parker seemed like he could hardly move at the end of his career-high 18-assist night. After all the big shots were falling through the first three periods, they weren’t going down in the fourth. San Antonio really needed its big man. After all, had the Spurs dropped this game on gone to Memphis tied 1-1, the tension would likely be higher than it was going to Oakland in a similar situation. We have three days off in between games and we’ve got plenty to talk about, including the wonderful team defense played in San Antonio over the first two games of this series. The fourth quarter gave this one

Jay King contacted a Washington state lawyer to discuss the Terrence Williams case. See the whole interview at the link below. Washington lawyer clarifies details of Boston Celtics guard Terrence Williams being investigated for assault | masslive.com If ultimately charged and convicted of second-degree domestic assault with a firearm, Lustick said, Williams could face close to four years in jail. A second-degree domestic assault charge, which is a Class B felony, normally carries a sentence of 6-9 months, but the same charge with a firearm can add up to an additional three years. It’s also possible for Williams to face lesser charges, or none at all.

We've got more than a month to go before the NBA Draft but now that the Lottery has established who will pick where, the NBA "experts" are rolling out their updated mock drafts. Here's a few picks from some of the better mock drafts out there. Ford's Mock 3.0: Schroeder the pick - Boston Celtics Blog - ESPN Boston With the draft lottery completed, Chad Ford's Mock 3.0 was unveiled on Tuesday evening. His latest pick for the Boston Celtics at No. 16 is Germany's Dennis Schroeder: The Celtics missed Rajon Rondo so much during the 2012-13 season, why not get a clone? (In his prior 2 mocks Ford had the Celtics picking Michael Carter-Williams and Kelly Olynyk. Interestingly Ford has Carter Williams jumping up to the 7 spot in his latest mock and Olynk falling right out of the first round.) 2013 NBA Draft - CBSSports.com Basketball (Jeff Goodman) Rudy Gobert, C, France: Danny Ainge loves length and needs a rim-protector. Gobert is extremely raw on the offensive end, but he's ultra-long and can be a factor on the defensive end in time. (Previous: 11) Draft Express has the Celtics picking Steven Adams DraftExpress NBA Draft Prospect Profile: Steven Adams, Stats, Comparisons, and Outlook All in all, Adams is clearly a long-term project who a team will need to invest a few years of solid coaching in order to be able to expect to reap benefits from down the road. He may never develop into anything more than an average player offensively, but has excellent potential defensively thanks to his terrific physical tools, which could convince a NBA team to invest a pick on him somewhere late in the first round. NBADraft.net interestingly has Shabazz Muhammad falling all the way to the Celtics at 16 despite having this note in his profile. Shabazz Muhammad | NBADraft.net Despite a decline in his draft stock from his early season standing as a top 3 pick, Shabazz is still a desirable prospect and should be taken in the top 10 in a weak draft class. If he falls much further than 10, teams could ultimately regret it . Let me know which ones I've missed and I'll add the best ones to this list over time. Also, I may have to put the top 25 names on an actual dart board and start throwing actual darts at it to see if I can come up with a better mock draft. Of course I don't own a dart board, so... problem there.

For the first 36 minutes, game two of the San Antonio-Memphis series looked like an instant replay of game one: the Spurs led 51-37 at halftime of game one and extended that margin to 73-57 by the end of the third quarter; they led 46-31 at halftime of game two and still led 76-64 entering the fourth quarter. In game one, the Spurs pulled away in the fourth quarter to post a 105-83 rout but in game two San Antonio's offense completely fell apart in the fourth quarter, while Memphis Coach Lionel Hollins made a shrewd--and very necessary--lineup switch to give just enough of a boost to his team's anemic offense; those two factors--plus a very questionable flagrant foul call that contributed four points to the Memphis cause--enabled the Grizzlies to grind their way to 85 points and force overtime but that just delayed the inevitable: the Grizzlies only scored four points in the extra session and the Spurs took a 2-0 series lead with a 93-89 victory. Tony Allen deserves an Oscar--and a flopping fine from the NBA--for his acting job after Manu Ginobili fouled him to prevent a layup in the final minute of regulation; Allen rolled around on the floor cradling his head in both of his arms as if Ginobili had caved in his skull with a brick even though replays showed that Ginobili never even touched Allen's head and that Allen did not hit his head on the floor, either. Allen made both free throws and then Mike Conley took advantage of the extra possession by scoring on a tough floater to tie the score with just :18 remaining in regulation. The game's biggest story, though, is not that sequence but rather the fine coaching job Lionel Hollins did as he attempted to strategically overcome the big mistake his front office made by trading away Rudy Gay, Memphis' leading scorer. Less than two weeks ago, I wrote, "Maybe the Grizzlies will find good use for the money that they saved by getting rid of Gay's contract, maybe Davis and/or Daye will develop into rotation players--but does anyone in his right mind believe that if Memphis Coach Lionel Hollins were given a lie detector test he would say that this trade improved Memphis' chances to win a championship this season?" After watching game two, we do not need a lie detector to figure out Hollins' answer to that question; Ed Davis and Austin Daye were the only two Memphis players who did not play at all, while Hollins benched Gay's replacement Tayshaun Prince--who finished with two points on 1-5 field goal shooting in 16 minutes, compiling a -11 plus/minus rating--and Tony Allen for key second half stretches in favor of Jerryd Bayless and Quincy Pondexter. Bayless tied Conley for game-high scoring honors with 18 points and even though Bayless shot just 7-18 from the field (.389) that subpar field goal percentage was somewhat better than Memphis' overall field goal percentage (.340) and much better than either Prince's or Allen's (2-11). Bayless played 34 minutes after averaging 22.1 mpg in the regular season and 20.4 mpg in the playoffs. Pondexter added seven points on 3-6 field goal shooting and he grabbed nine rebounds in 37 minutes after averaging 21.1 mpg in the regular season and 22.7 mpg in the playoffs. It is foolish to suggest that trading an 18 ppg scorer for spare parts did not hurt Memphis' chances to win an NBA championship but many people stubbornly insist on believing foolish things. Hollins is obviously no fool, because during Memphis' biggest game of this season he rejected the spare parts his team's management foisted on him and instead hoped that Bayless and Pondexter could save the day. ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy did a great job during the telecast of both pointing out how San Antonio's defense completely disregarded Prince and Allen when they were on the court--thus clogging the lane and making matters difficult for Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol--and also noting out that San Antonio defenders were reluctant to leave Bayless and Pondexter unattended, which is why Randolph fin

Game One is Wednesday night in Miami; the Pacers won two of the three meetings this season