May 2013 – Page 13 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

NBA draft prospect refuses to give Spurs his phone number

If the San Antonio Spurs choose Deshaun Thomas in next month’s NBA draft, they might have a hard time reaching him to tell him. That’s because when the Spurs asked the former Ohio State star for his phone number Wednesday night, he refused to give it to them.

Thomas said teams asked him plenty of difficult and interesting questions during his interview process at the combine. But the most interesting, he said, was the fact the Spurs’ first question was for his cell phone number and his e-mail address. He gave them the e-mail, but not the phone number.

“I can’t go around giving it out to everyone,” Thomas said Thursday with a laugh. “Now if they want to draft me, I’d be happy to give it to them.”

— Reported by Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson says sale of Kings is close

Mayor Kevin Johnson arrived home today and said the group led by Silicon Valley executive Vivek Ranadive was close to finalizing a deal to buy the Sacramento Kings.

“It’s going to be close to being signed in the next day or two,” the mayor said at Sacramento International Airport. “I’ll be surprised if we get past the weekend. I feel very confident about that.”

Ranadive is in talks to buy the Kings from the Maloof family after the NBA on Wednesday rejected the franchise’s proposed move to Seattle. NBA Commissioner David Stern said the league was working to close the deal by the end of the week.

Speaking by phone, Kings co-owner George Maloof said negotiations with Ranadive are “going on fine.”

— Reported by Ryan Lillis, Dale Kasler and Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee

Former NBA union head files lawsuit against Derek Fisher

Ousted NBA players’ association executive director Billy Hunter alleges in a lawsuit that president Derek Fisher had a secret deal with owners during the 2011 lockout that benefited himself, his publicist and certain players.

Hunter contends that Fisher undermined Hunter’s efforts to make an agreement and interfered with his position by secretly negotiating with select owners in violation of union bylaws.

Filed Thursday in California Superior Court, the suit seeks unspecified damages for defamation and breach of contract. It also names the National Basketball Players Association and Jamie Wior, Fisher’s publicist, and says Fisher and Wior worked after the lockout ended ”to terminate his employment without cause and in violation of his contract.”

”Wior harbored aspirations to assume a position of responsibility with the NBPA,” the suit says. ”She set out to craft a new public persona for Fisher, taking control of his media appearances and public statements and encouraging him to overreach his authority.”

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Knicks in tough spot vs Pacers

Only eight teams in NBA history have climbed out of a 3-1 hole to advance.

“I’m very disappointed to be in the position that we’re in,” [J.R.] Smith said. “We’re still not out of it. We’re still in a good position to where we can still make some noise.”

The Knicks feel good because they’re home, where they have gone 34-12 this season, playoffs included. The Knicks also believe the shots that didn’t fall in Games 3 and 4 in Indiana — they missed 102 of 158 attempts — will drop in the Garden.

But just being home won’t necessarily address their inconsistent defense and the way they have been dominated on the boards by Roy Hibbert and the bigger Pacers.

Hoping to change that, Woodson started Kenyon Martin at power forward and brought guard Pablo Prigioni off the bench in Game 4. Indiana still outrebounded the Knicks, 54-36. The Pacers’ starting frontcourt grabbed 35 alone. Woodson likely will return to his usual starting five of Prigioni, Raymond Felton, Iman Shumpert, Anthony and Tyson Chandler Thursday night.

— Reported by Al Iannazzone of New York Newsday

Tom Thibodeau is glad Bulls were cautious with Derrick Rose

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose was ruled out of the team’s 94-91 loss in Game 5 of an Eastern Conference semifinal against the Miami Heat, meaning he officially missed the entire season after undergoing ACL surgery on May 12, 2012.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said the team was right to take a cautious approach with its star this season.

“If we were going to make a mistake, we wanted to make the mistake on the side of caution,” Thibodeau said. “We feel good about where he is. He has the whole summer to build more confidence and that’s the important thing. As we said when he first had the surgery, we weren’t going to rush him back, and we held to that. I think it was the smart decision.”

Rose was given an 8-12-month prognosis for a return by the surgeon after the operation and passed the 12-month mark on Sunday.

— Reported by ESPN Chicago

Derrick Rose return never happened this season

Al Capone’s vault is no longer the biggest hoax in Chicago history.

Welcome to the top spot, Derrick Rose’s “Return.”

After the inspiring adidas “Return” documentary advertorial that started the season of our discontent, and all the time wasted, I mean spent, monitoring and predicting and debating the date of Rose’s return and then ruminating on the murky reasons why it didn’t happen, it’s mercifully over.

The Miami Heat finished off a 4-1 series victory in the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday, so it’s officially official that Rose will not return this season. I don’t need a source to verify it.

Rose is now free to shoot around in private, rather than before games, and stash the playoff suits until his next GQ cover shoot. He can continue his training at the Berto Center and in Los Angeles, and prepare for a long-awaited return to action next fall.

He will be ready. We will be ready. Let the healing begin!

— Reported by Jon Greenberg of ESPN Chicago

Knicks need J.R. Smith shooting slump to end

Could Thursday night be J.R. Smith’s last game as a Knick?

Smith, the sharpshooter who has been in a prolonged slump, said Wednesday after practice that he’s not thinking about his future beyond Thursday’s Game 5 of the Knicks-Pacers series. That’s a good thing, because the game is the first out of a possible three win-or-go-home contests for the Knicks.

If the Knicks don’t find a way to come back from their 3-1 deficit, it is likely almost everyone’s future with the team will be up for discussion.

About the same time he won the Sixth Man of the Year award at the end of the season, Smith said he planned to exercise his right to opt out of his contract. Soon afterward, things started to go downhill for him. Over the last six games, dating back to Game 5 of the Knicks’ first-round series against Boston, Smith is shooting 26-for-91 (28.5 percent) from the field. After going 7-for-22 in the Game 4 loss at Indiana, Smith blamed himself for the fact the team was on the verge of elimination.

— Reported by Barbara Barker of New York Newsday

Memphis Grizzlies eliminate OKC Thunder from playoffs in five games

The Memphis Grizzlies advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 88-84 on Wednesday night.

Zach Randolph had 28 points and 14 rebounds, Mike Conley added 13 points and 11 assists for Memphis, the fifth seed.

Kevin Durant missed a 16-foot jumper from the left wing to tie it with 6 seconds left, finishing off a miserable shooting night for the three-time NBA scoring champion.

Durant ended up with 21 points on 5-for-21 shooting, the third-worst performance of his playoff career. The Thunder, who made it to the NBA Finals last season, were eliminated in five games. The top seed in the West went 2-6 after All-Star guard Russell Westbrook went out with a knee injury that required surgery.

Serge Ibaka had 17 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 1:26 to play during a desperation comeback try for the Thunder.

Oklahoma City trailed by 12 with three minutes left before going on a 16-6 rally, with Reggie Jackson’s 3-pointer cutting the deficit to 86-84 with 14.3 seconds remaining.

Randolph missed both free throws with 11.3 seconds on the clock to give the Thunder one last chance to save their season. Durant got the ball beyond the 3-point line on the left wing and navigated around Tony Allen before missing the jumper.

Allen then made two free throws to close it out.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

Miami Heat eliminate Chicago Bulls from playoffs in five games

A fast start and faster finish were enough to send the Miami Heat back to the Eastern Conference finals.

LeBron James scored 23 points, Dwyane Wade added 18 and the Heat rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to beat the Chicago Bulls 94-91 on Wednesday night and close out their second-round series in five games.

Chris Bosh scored 12 points and Udonis Haslem added 10 for Miami, which ran out to a 22-4 lead, then was outscored by a whopping 29 points over the next 27 minutes before recovering. The Heat outscored the Bulls 25-14 in the fourth.

Carlos Boozer finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls, who were without Derrick Rose for the 99th straight game. Nate Robinson and Jimmy Butler missed potential tying 3-pointers on the final possession of the season for Chicago, which dropped the last four games of the series.

Robinson scored 21 points, Butler had 19, and Richard Hamilton 15 for the Bulls.

And there was drama, all the way to the end.

Robinson’s 3-pointer with 1:43 left got the Bulls to 94-91, and Butler knocked the ball away from Chris Bosh for a turnover on the ensuing Miami possession. But Boozer missed an open 15-footer with about a minute remaining and, when Wade knocked the ball off Boozer’s leg after a Miami miss with 45 seconds left, the Heat retained possession – with a fresh shot clock to boot.

But Miami didn’t score, and the Bulls had a final chance. Robinson missed a 3, and Butler faked his way free for a good look that hit the rim, before bouncing away.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

J.R. Smith disappointed in his own play

J.R. Smith says he is letting Knicks teammates down

Carmelo Anthony spoke in a whisper. J.R. Smith took blame for this collapse. Tyson Chandler had no criticism, just praise for the Pacers. Mike Woodson seemed stunned their shotmaking has gone so wayward, so quickly.

The Knicks have sunk in a deep hole, a series deficit from which the franchise never has recovered. The Knicks offense has collapsed — along with their once-promising season. Their first second-round appearance in 13 years is turning into a nightmare.

The Pacers routed the Knicks, 93-82, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to jack their second-round series lead to 3-1. The Knicks never have rallied from a 3-1 deficit — just eight NBA teams have in history.

“I take the blame for this whole series,” Smith said. “I’ve been letting my teammates down, I’ve been letting my coaches down, and it doesn’t feel good.”

Smith, still playing with the remnants of the flu, shot 7-for-22 for 19 points to extend his miserable slump. In six games since his suspension for an elbow in the first round, he is 26-of- 91.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post