May 2013 – Page 5 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Clifford, Sampson, Drew are finalists for Milwaukee Bucks coaching job

Three coaching candidates will return for second interviews this week with the Milwaukee Bucks, a league source confirmed Sunday.

Los Angeles Lakers assistant Steve Clifford is scheduled to interview again Tuesday, while Houston Rockets assistant Kelvin Sampson and Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew will return Wednesday as finalists for the Bucks head coaching position.

No other candidates are currently in the running, according to the source.

The Bucks also previously interviewed former Portland and Seattle coach Nate McMillan and 34-year-old Rockets assistant J.B. Bickerstaff. Bucks officials also met with former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.

Clifford has close ties to former NBA coaches Jeff Van Gundy and Stan Van Gundy and worked last season as an assistant with the Lakers.

A 1983 graduate of Maine-Farmington, Clifford worked five seasons on Stan Van Gundy’s staff in Orlando and was with the Magic when it reached the 2009 NBA Finals.

Reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers Game 3 recap

Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers Game 3 Recap

Miami put LeBron James right in the middle of the action Sunday night, and this time, the Indiana Pacers didn’t have an answer for him or his Miami Heat teammates.

By moving James to the post, the Heat won the scoring battle in the paint, kept Indiana at arm’s length and pulled away for a 114-96 victory and a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

”I made a conscious effort to get down in the post tonight, to put pressure on their defense,” James said. ”The coaching staff wanted me to be down there tonight, and my teammates allowed me to do that.”

It was a move reminiscent of when the Los Angeles Lakers played Magic Johnson in the post in place of the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the NBA Finals more than two decades ago.

And it worked just as well.

James rebounded from the two late turnovers that cost Miami in Game 2 by scoring 22 points, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out three assists. Hours after Dwyane Wade learned he would only be tagged with a flagrant foul from Game 2 and not a suspension, he finished with 18 points, eight assists and four rebounds. Chris Bosh added 15 points and three rebounds and all five Miami starters reached double figures.

The move allowed Miami to outscore Indiana 56-32 in the paint…

Miami committed a playoff franchise-low one turnover in the first half and finished with only five. James finished with none.

The Heat shot 54.5 percent against a team that finished the regular season with the NBA’s best defensive field goal percentage and also made 24 of 28 free throws. They matched the highest scoring output in a quarter during this season’s playoffs with 34, broke the franchise playoff record for points in a half (70) and fell one point short of tying the third-highest point total in a playoff game in franchise history…

David West led Indiana with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Roy Hibbert had 20 points and 17 rebounds. Paul George finished with 13 points and eight assists, not nearly enough to keep the Pacers perfect at home in the postseason…

Indiana opened the second half looking more like the team that had given Miami fits in Games 1 and 2. The Pacers hit back-to-back 3-pointers and got a three-point play from George Hill. When Lance Stephenson followed that with 1 of 2 free throws, the lead had been cut to 74-67.

It didn’t last.

Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

“We were disappointed,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Sunday of dropping Friday’s game, “and that’s where you have to embrace the competition.”

Still, few could have foreseen the number the Heat put on the scoreboard at halftime: 70.

A team that had scored 84 total points in the first halves of the series first two games simply detonated in the first half.

Like Dwyane Wade’s dunk on Roy Hibbert in the second quarter.

Like Udonis Haslem’s first six shots, each putting points on the board.

Like Chris Andersen’s first three shots, which gave him 15 consecutive playoff conversions from the field (a streak he would extend to 16 in the second half on his 4-of-4 night).

Heck even Ray Allen hit a 3-pointer to end the second quarter and give the Heat a franchise record for points in any playoff half, his first points in three visits to Indiana this season, having missed his first 11 shots of the season at the Fieldhouse.

“What we talked about in the locker room,” Spoelstra said, “was tonight was a team win.”

Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Dwyane Wade given flagrant foul for shot to Lance Stephenson

NBA officials decided Sunday that Dwyane Wade’s forearm shot to Lance Stephenson was a flagrant foul – just not enough of a shot to warrant a suspension.

The league issued its ruling shortly before the Heat were to face Indiana in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Neither Pacers coach Frank Vogel nor Heat coach Erik Spoelstra expected the league to hand down a suspension with a berth in the NBA Finals at stake. Wade explained to reporters before the game that he was not surprised by the decision.

”I wasn’t worried because it wasn’t intentional,” he said. ”All I was trying to do was get out of the way of him trying to set a screen.”

— Reported by the Associated Press

Rob Pimental, Miami Heat equipment manager

Next time you’re struggling to squeeze your carry-on suitcase into the overhead bin, imagine what it’s like to be Rob Pimental, an experienced business traveler who shows up for flights with 2,500 pounds of luggage and 65 pairs of expensive shoes.

Pimental is the Heat’s head equipment manager, and packing the defending NBA champions for a road trip is no small task. He packs for a traveling party of 48, which includes some of the league’s most high-profile and pampered athletes.

It is his job to make sure every player has not only four full sets of uniforms — two black and two red — but also customized sneakers (four or five pairs per player), undergarments and socks of choice, headbands, wristbands, elbow and knee pads, ankle braces, mouth guards, practice gear and warmup suits. He also packs 12 basketballs for practice.

His office is a Heat fan’s dream closet — floor-to-ceiling shoe boxes filled with impossible-to-buy sneakers, racks of Heat jerseys and shelves filled with Heat gear in every size.

He spent 19 years with the Sacramento Kings and joined the Heat last season, so he has learned the art of packing. The key, he says, is keeping checklists. He has many of them. Mostly on his iPad, and he checks them three and four times before every trip.

Reported by Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald

NBA Playoffs: Miami Heat a team out of focus

This has been billed as the deepest, most talented Heat team in its 25-year history, a roster with so many capable and gifted pieces that MVP LeBron James would not need to be routinely overburdened.

Now would be a good time for those pieces to again validate that notion.

Face it: Excluding James and Chris Andersen, nobody on the Heat has been anything special in this 1-1 Eastern Conference finals against Indiana, which resumes with Game 3 on Sunday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

“LeBron may be a little tired — it’s hard carrying four people up and down the court,” TNT’s Charles Barkley cracked after the Pacers’ 97-93 win Friday night.

James leads the Heat in this series in points (33 per game), rebounds (9.0) and assists (6.5) and is tied for the lead in steals and blocks. Pacers forward David West conceded the Pacers’ focus has been “on those other guys. We knew LeBron was going to do what he does.”

Clearly, more is needed elsewhere, not only from the ensemble around the Big 3, but from two-thirds of the Big 3.

Reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald

Spurs vs Grizzlies Game 3 recap

Tim Duncan scored the first five points of overtime, and the San Antonio Spurs rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 104-93 Saturday night and move a win away from the NBA Finals.

The Spurs grabbed a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals and now have won five straight this postseason. With the memory of blowing a 2-0 lead a year ago in the West finals to Oklahoma City, when they lost the next four, the Spurs shook off their sloppy play early and pushed the young Grizzlies to the edge of elimination in the first West final played in Memphis.

San Antonio, which didn’t lead this game until the opening minute of the fourth quarter, can wrap up the series Monday in Memphis and get back to the finals for the first time since their last title in 2007.

The Spurs hit eight of their 10 shots in overtime, with Duncan scoring seven of his 24 points. Tony Parker had five of his 26 in overtime, and even Tiago Splitter playing with four fouls, scored six in the extra five minutes to finish with 11.

Mike Conley led Memphis with 20 points. Marc Gasol had 16 points and 14 rebounds, Zach Randolph added 14 and 15, and Quincy Pondexter had 15 points. But the Grizzlies, who thrived at the free throw line in knocking off No. 1 seed Oklahoma City in the semifinals, got there only 18 times and made only 10.

The Grizzlies last led 85-84 with 1:04 left in regulation on a 15-footer by Gasol. After that, they managed only to tie it up twice, the last on a layup by Randolph with 4:28 left in overtime. Duncan scored and knocked down the free throw with 4:10 remaining to put the Spurs ahead to stay.

Reported by Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press

Supporting cast must step up for Miami Heat

The supporting cast has always raised issues for this team the past three seasons, but now Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade have entered the equation. Bosh and Wade have done little to assist James through two games, at least not the way they have in the past.

James has scored 66 points in the series, nearly equaling Bosh and Wade combined (67).

“We’re just doing what we can with our opportunities,” said Wade, who has taken 15 fewer shots than James in the two games. “We don’t have the ball every possession. We’re doing what we can with our opportunities. Hopefully, we get more.”

Wade meant that he and the others have to play more aggressively instead of leaving all the responsibility on the league’s most valuable player. Even though he had two costly turnovers in the final minute, James finished with 36 points, eight rebounds and three assists in the losing effort. In Game 1, he recorded a triple-double with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, including the winning basket as time expired.

“You always want more [shots], but we can’t say nothing against LeBron,” Wade said. “He had a hell of a game [Friday]. If he’s not shooting, then other guys with opportunities better be making shots. Because if you make them, you can’t say nothing about anything.”

Reported by Shandel Richardson of the South Florida Sun Sentinel

Roy Hibbert grows into true centerpiece for Pacers

With his massive size and even more massive contract, Roy Hibbert almost feels a responsibility to serve as bouncer for the Indiana Pacers.

If that requires him to interrupt an interview with a throng of reporters to make sure that his locker room neighbor D.J. Augustin can get dressed, to cover for Paul George to block New York star Carmelo Anthony’s dunk attempt or even if he has to absorb a knee to the groin from the Miami Heat’s Shane Battier while contesting a layup, the 7-foot-2 Hibbert wants be there for his teammates.

“I always tell guys, if they get beat, don’t foul them, I’ll be there to clean it up,” said Hibbert, the former Georgetown standout said. “It’s just that I feel I’m important. I want to be on the court. That’s why they brought me back. That’s why they gave me all this money.”

Last summer Hibbert signed a four-year contract for $58 million, the maximum he could receive under the collective bargaining agreement, but at no time has he appeared more valuable to the Pacers than right now. He has proven to be the difference maker thus far in the Eastern Conference finals against the defending champion Heat, which shift here to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for Sunday night’s Game 3 tied at one game apiece.

Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post

Video: Dwyane Wade hits Lance Stephenson with flying elbow

In Game 2 of the Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers Eastern Conference Finals playoff series, Dwyane Wade ran down the court, jumped, and elbowed Lance Stephenson in the head. It’s hard to say exactly what D-Wade was doing that caused him to jump at that exact moment, or what his elbow was doing and why it needed to connect with Stephenson in that manner.

Watch for yourself:

Read NBA fan reaction and share your opinion in this basketball forum topic.

Tim Duncan and wife are getting divorced

San Antonio Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan is getting divorced.

Amy Duncan apparently filed for divorce in March according to court documents obtained by the San Antonio Express-News. Spurs spokesman Tom James confirmed Saturday that Duncan and his wife are divorcing.

Duncan did not speak to reporters after Saturday morning’s shootaround, but James says the center will not be discussing his family situation.

Reported by the Associated Press