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Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, who also is chairman of the NBA Board of Governors, has been watching his league’s playoffs closely.
“I don’t think there’s a clear champion, and that’s a good thing,” he said.
It also means Taylor expects his Wolves to be in the playoffs next season.
“We have the players to do it,” he said. “We were close this season.”
Taylor also said his team is “going to try” the free-agent market.
— Reported by Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press
President and chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf said Saturday the team would explore leaving their suburban practice facility for a downtown building, which sources indicated would be near the United Center. Reinsdorf said discussions on the subject have taken place recently with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who supports the project.
“We’re intrigued by the idea,” Reinsdorf said. “We’re happy at the Berto Center, but it’s something we’re going to take a look at for our players. Eliminating their commute could be a good thing.”
Reinsdorf said if the move happens, it wouldn’t be for the 2012-13 season and could take up to two seasons for planning and construction.
— Reported by K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune
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Rajon Rondo helped his aging teammates keep their season going Saturday night, finishing with 18 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds in Game 7 against the 76ers to lead Boston to an 85-75 victory and into an Eastern Conference finals matchup with the Miami Heat.
The Celtics will open the third round of the NBA playoffs in Miami on Monday night…
Bouncing back from his worst game of the playoffs – and snapping out of a 32-minute slump in which he had just two assists and five points – Rondo scored nine straight Boston points after Paul Pierce fouled out to help the Celtics turn a three-point edge into a double-digit lead…
Rondo had 11 points in the fourth quarter, including his first 3-pointer in five games, made all four of his free throws down the stretch and grabbed his 10th rebound in the final minute – chucking it over his head and into the frontcourt to help the Celtics dribble down the clock…
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Andre Iguodala scored 18 points, and Holiday and Elton Brand had 15 apiece for the 76ers, who eliminated the top-seeded Chicago Bulls in the first round but couldn’t do the same with the Celtics…
Kevin Garnett had 18 points and 13 rebounds for Boston, and Ray Allen hit a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers after missing his first five attempts…
The Celtics missed their first 14 attempts from 3-point range and made their last three.
— Reported by Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press
The Celtics led by as many as 11 points early in the second half. But the Sixers rallied and had a chance to regain the lead as Andre Iguodala missed two free throws late in the third quarter.
And the Sixers were within a point early in the fourth quarter before Garnett hit a jumper and Allen broke a 1-for-9 slump with a 3-pointer. And, though the Sixers seemed capable of rallying, as they had throughout this series, they never got closer than 3 points again.
“Defensively, it was a beautiful game for us,’’ Rivers said. “We took away the paint, the way we hadn’t before [in Game 6]. We got out to the 3-point line – they made some, but overall it was pretty good.’’
The Sixers regained hope after Pierce’s straight-on banker made it 71-65 with 4:54 remaining. Iguodala made a 3-pointer and Pierce fouled out after being was whistled for a charge against Thaddeus Young.
Then Rondo began taking over.
— Reported by Frank Dell’Apa of the Boston Globe
Ray Allen grunted and groaned his way to only 11 points, and at one point early in the fourth quarter his stats were appallingly bad — as in 1-for-9 from the floor, and 0-for-5 on 3-point attempts.
With 9:51 remaining, the outcome was, as they say, very much in doubt. The Celts were clinging to a 57-54 lead in this historic slopfest of a game, each team performing as if they’d just as soon see the other guys advance to the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.
That’s when Ray Allen, he of the bone spur in his ankle the size of the Lowell Connector, finally hit on a shot — a 3-point shot no less, increasing the Celtics’ lead to 60-54.
It’s not like that one shot put the game away. The Sixers would soon get back to within three points and were still in the fight with less than five minutes to go. But the very idea that Allen could make a shot — on that bum leg — was surely an encouraging sign.
— Reported by Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald
Whatever was planned worked better as the Sixers were able to forge ahead by 20-19 late in the quarter despite shooting 6 for 20 and committing three turnovers. They also seemed to be in a good spot as Rondo was strapped to the bench with a pair of fouls.
The Sixers, though, found no better success at the offensive end in the second quarter, missing 13 of their 18 shots and giving the ball away five more times. The turnovers gave the Celtics run-outs, and uncharacteristically the Sixers were outscored on fastbreak points by 13-2 in the first half.
The Sixers made a big comeback in the third quarter until Iguodala missed those two free throws.
Iguodala scored 18 points, while Elton Brand and Holiday each scored 15 for the Sixers.
And now the offseason, which is sure to be a busy one, begins for Philadelphia.
— Reported by Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News
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When it came to an opponent for their Eastern Conference finals series that opens Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Miami Heat knew a definitive answer would be forthcoming in Saturday night’s Boston Celtics-Philadelphia 76ers Game 7.
When it comes to the status of Chris Bosh, nothing is a given, with the All-Star power forward still listed as being out indefinitely with the lower-abdominal strain sustained in the first half of Game 1 of the Heat’s Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Indiana Pacers.
Asked for clarity regarding Bosh, coach Erik Spoelstra was practically apologetic after Saturday’s practice.
“Not trying to be coy,” Spoelstra said, “he has to heal first, rehab.”
— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Many daily newspapers have been moving away from paper for years, emphasizing digital news. Lately, some print dailies have been moving away from publishing daily, too.
To try to combat the industry’s decline — in readership, advertising and profits — a handful of newspapers are now cutting back their publishing schedules from seven days a week in print to just three.
The latest to go to three days a week: The storied New Orleans Times-Picayune, one of America’s oldest papers, which announced Thursday that it plans to limit its print schedule — beginning this fall — to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday editions. It will maintain 24/7 online reporting via its site, Nola.com.
This is a tactical trend for New York-based Advance Publications, which owns the Times-Picayune, as it pushes toward a limited print-digital model. Advance said Thursday that in addition to the Times-Picayune, it will also cut back the print frequency of its three papers in Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville, Ala., to three days.
— Reported by Paul Farhi of the Washington Post
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Green, 24, admits to pinching himself every now and again, and for different reasons. Sometimes he does it because he’s playing for Gregg Popovich and with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. (When he was growing up, Green said, he had a Duncan jersey.) Other times, it’s because his road here left Green thinking the NBA wasn’t in his future.
The Cavaliers drafted Green in the second round in 2009 and cut him before the start of the 2010-11 season. The Spurs picked him up and waived him two weeks later. He played for three D-League teams, and for Union Olimpija in Slovenia during the 2011 lockout.
“When I got cut from Cleveland, they weren’t one of the best teams in the NBA at the time, so I had some doubts,” Green said. “I didn’t think I was going to get back into the league. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen for me. When I was let go from here the first time, teams weren’t calling. I didn’t think it was going to ever happen then. I was home for two months and I didn’t know what was going on.”
Green might be the perfect embodiment of the Spurs. They’re a team that gets little publicity, is overlooked or underappreciated, and thrives through hard work, dedication and following the game plan.
— Reported by Al Iannazzone of New York Newsday
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Former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan interviewed in Utah for the Charlotte Bobcats coaching position on Friday, meeting with Michael Jordan and other front office staff members.
Asked what made him want to coach the seven-win Bobcats, Sloan dryly replied: “Work.”
He went on to say, “They’ve got a young team, and it will be interesting to see what happens.”
Sloan said he hadn’t been offered the job. “They might come back, they might not,” he said.
— Reported by Brad Rock of the Deseret News
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Bucks guard Brandon Jennings is eligible for a contract extension this summer, as he enters the fourth and final year of his rookie-scale contract.
But the team’s leading scorer reiterated Friday that he’s not worried about his contract situation.
“I will let (agent) Bill Duffy handle that,” Jennings said from Los Angeles on Friday. “That’s what he does. I will leave it up to Bill Duffy and (Bucks general manager) John Hammond. It’s really not my department.”
Jennings recently returned from southern China where he participated in a league-sponsored event in Guangzhou. He and Toronto Raptors forward DeMar DeRozan served as coaches for celebrity teams and appeared along with former NBA stars Horace Grant and Gary Payton.
“They just go all out for the game of basketball,” Jennings said of the fans in China.
— Reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Barely three weeks after surgery to repair a sports hernia and torn abductor muscles, Rockets guard Kyle Lowry returned to the Toyota Center weight rooms and went through shooting drills on the practice court.
But as he leaves town Saturday, he does not know if he’ll return to those familiar facilities or if he wants to be back.
Lowry does not believe he and Goran Dragic, his successor as the starting point guard this season, will both return to the roster next season. Lowry was even less confident he and Rockets coach Kevin McHale can successfully coexist.
“I don’t think so,” Lowry, 26, said. “I honestly think it would be tough. Things have to be addressed. The situation would have to be addressed.
“If things aren’t addressed coaching-wise, I guess I have to be moved.”
— Reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle Blog
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But honestly, the Heat will not be rooting for the Celtics on Saturday. It may have less poetry and glamour, but the Heat most likely would much rather see the 76ers pull the upset.
It is true that the 76ers are younger, more athletic, deeper and healthier than the Celtics at this point. But the Heat have dominated Philadelphia like no other team in the East over the past two seasons; the two teams have played 12 times, including the first round of last year’s playoffs. Eleven times the Heat have won, including sweeping this season’s series 4-0.
The Heat haven’t beaten Boston since the first week of the season back in late December in their home opener. The Celtics are 3-0 against Miami since, though the last meeting was in the final week of the season and neither team played its full lineup. Boston beat the Heat twice in a two-week span in April as Rajon Rondo exploited them in both games. Even with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce limping and Avery Bradley out for the season, it’s not a comfortable matchup for the Heat.
Meanwhile, Miami used the 76ers like an elixir, beating them coming off losses all four times. The Heat held what proved to be a pivotal early-season team meeting on Philly’s own practice court. The last time the teams played, also in April, the Heat gave Wade the night off to rest ahead of a big game with Oklahoma City and won anyway.
— Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com