NBA Teams – Page 1241 – NBA Blog

Heat beat Spurs in Game 2 to tie NBA Finals

Mario Chalmers marched toward midcourt with a message.

”I felt like we had them on the ropes at the time. I told him, ‘Let’s go for the kill,”’ Chalmers said. ”He said, ‘I’m with you.”’

And once LeBron James joined in, the Miami Heat were back with a blowout in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Chalmers led the charge, James broke out to finish it with a flurry and the Heat used a 33-5 run to rout the San Antonio Spurs 103-84 on Sunday night and even the series at one game apiece.

James missed 10 of 13 shots through three quarters and the Heat trailed by a point late in the period before unleashing the lethal brand of basketball that led them to a franchise-record 66 wins this season.

Chalmers finished with 19 points, and James had 17 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three blocks – the best on Tiago Splitter’s dunk attempt – while shooting only 7 of 17 from the field…

The Heat made 10 of 19 3-pointers and got 13 points from Ray Allen, and 12 points and 10 rebounds from the previously slumping Chris Bosh.

Danny Green made all six shots, including five 3-pointers, and scored 17 points for the Spurs. They host Game 3 on Tuesday night.

Tony Parker had 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting for the Spurs, who were so precise in their 92-88 victory in Game 1 but threw the ball all over the white-surrounded court Sunday, committing 17 turnovers that led to 19 Miami points…

Tim Duncan shot 3 of 13 and finished with nine points and 11 rebounds…

The Spurs had only four turnovers in Game 1, tying an NBA Finals record low. But they surpassed that total in the first quarter, Parker committing two of their five after not coughing it up once in the opener, and the Spurs looked more like the sloppy Indiana Pacers from Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals than the Spurs of Game 1.

Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Jason Kidd wants to be head coach of the Brooklyn Nets

Freshly retired NBA star Jason Kidd is pursuing the Brooklyn Nets’ head coaching job and his candidacy has been discussed within the highest levels of the organization, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Kidd has been talking with associates about the possibility of making the immediate leap from a Hall of Fame playing career to a head coaching job, and has been working to identify a staff of assistant coaches who could help him overcome the significant learning curve, sources said.

The Nets have considered Indiana Pacers associate head coach Brian Shaw as their top target for the vacancy, but are competing with the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets to secure him.

Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports

NBA Finals Game 2 is must-win for Heat, says D-Wade

“Must-win” talk is typically reserved for playoff games later in a series. But with a less than typical situation on hand for the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals’ 2-3-2 home-court format, Dwyane Wade already views Game 2 as critical against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night.

“It’s very urgent,” Wade said Saturday after the Heat’s practice. “Obviously you don’t want to go down 0 2 going to San Antonio for three straight games. Odds are not that good. They are not in our favor. We’re not a team that really says too much [like], ‘This is a must win game.’ But this is a must win game.”

Before losing the Finals opener on Thursday night, Miami was 7-2 at home in this year’s postseason. The Spurs are 6-1 in the playoffs at AT&T Center and 9-2 overall in Finals history in San Antonio.

LeBron James took a different public tone Saturday than his sidekick, saying, “Every game is important. Game 1, Game 2, 3, 4, no matter 2-3-2 format or it could be a 3-2-2 format. No matter what the format is, it’s The Finals.”

Reported by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports

Charlotte Bobcats may try to trade for Chris Bosh this summer

The Charlotte Bobcats are looking to make a splash this summer and are open to trading their first-round pick in a package for an All-Star-caliber player. There are rumors the Heat will be looking to deal Chris Bosh, and the Bobcats, who are under the salary cap and could accept Bosh’s near-maximum deal, could be a prime candidate. As much as Charlotte would love to build through the draft, team officials understand they have to start winning and need a player to be the face of the franchise. Bosh could serve that purpose.

Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe

Tony Parker having fun, happy to be back in NBA Finals

Despite the notion they’re old, the Spurs are actually overall the younger, less-experienced team in these finals. Miami has nine players in their 30s to the six on the Spurs, and their Big Three and Bonner are the only Spurs to have played in the NBA Finals.

That makes it easier for the Spurs to enjoy this trip more than when they were the team expected to be here every year.

”We definitely are having fun,” Tony Parker said. ”I think we appreciate every moment. We don’t take anything for granted, because it’s been a long time. It’s been six years. Felt like forever. After the Memphis series, there was a lot of emotion.”

Heat veteran Shane Battier wasn’t exactly sold on the notion of this Spurs transformation into a happy-go-lucky group.

”Don’t believe them, first of all,” he said. ”They are extreme competitors and they have a level of self-deprecation I think that is part of them, but don’t buy it for one second. Those guys are killers. They’re cut-throat and they will stomp on you if need be, and we’re the same way.

”We appreciate the opportunity to play in the finals. Difficult to get here. Hardest thing you’ll do in this game is to try and win a championship, so we appreciate the opportunity and we want to make the most of it,” he said.

Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Mo Cheeks should be new Pistons coach soon

The Detroit Pistons appear poised to make Maurice Cheeks their next head coach, in the effort to end the revolving door at that spot.

Cheeks and the Pistons have been engaged in negotiations in recent days, as multiple sources expressed optimism this saga, that began with the team firing Lawrence Frank at season’s end and wound up with the Pistons going through the complicated process of interviewing multiple candidates, has reached its end.

The Pistons hope to get a deal done before the end of weekend. Frank being due to receive nearly $4 million next season — the last guaranteed year of his contract — along with a portion of his fourth year could complicate matters as far as Cheeks’ contract length and amount.

Currently an assistant with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Cheeks has helped with the development of guards Russell Westbrook, Reggie Jackson and former Thunder guard Eric Maynor, who was traded to Portland this season. It’s a background the Pistons liked, especially since they’re still figuring out what they have in 2011 first-round pick Brandon Knight and they hope Cheeks could be a good mentor for him…

Cheeks’ consistency probably outweighed his tangible resume, as his career record doesn’t jump out at anyone (284-286 in nine seasons in Portland and Philadelphia), but he’s highly regarded around the league, especially in Oklahoma City.

Reported by Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News

Jason Collins marches in Boston gay pride parade

NBA veteran Jason Collins has marched in Boston’s gay pride parade with Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III, his onetime roommate at Stanford University.

Collins wore a T-shirt that read #BeTrue when he joined thousands of marchers Saturday.

In April, Collins became the first active player in one of the four major U.S. professional sports leagues to come out as gay. He wrote in an article for Sports Illustrated that the decision to go public came when Kennedy marched in last year’s parade and Collins didn’t feel that he could join him.

Reported by the Associated Press

LeBron rethinking game plan against Spurs

Coming off a Game 1 loss when he saw his triple-double go to waste and was outdueled in the fourth quarter by Tony Parker, James knew he’d be hit from all sides about his approach for Sunday. The basic underlying tone was, why was he so content in the opener to set up misfiring teammates right until the final gun, rather than “go Cleveland’’ on the Spurs and try to win the game all by himself?

But he wasn’t about to tip his shooting hand.

“We’ll see what type of game plan I come out with,’’ he said. “It will be dumb of me to reveal it today.’’ …

He doesn’t need to reveal anything to anyone, but he does need to figure out how to solve a defense that is entirely different than the one that the Pacers presented in the Eastern Conference finals. Dwyane Wade talked about the need to “crack the code’’ in this next game to avoid a 2-0 series crater, and the one who that really falls on is James.

Reported by Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News

76ers may not pick new coach until after NBA draft

According to two sources with knowledge of the 76ers’ search for a coach, Sam Hinkie, president of basketball operations and general manager, probably won’t name a coach until after the June 27 draft.

One Houston-based source said Hinkie “will probably find a coach after the draft.” The source also said that Hinkie believes that the coach “is secondary in the process because [Hinkie] will have an idea of what type of players” the Sixers will need to select.

The Sixers have the 11th pick in the draft.

Reported by John N. Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Ricky Ledo says he can help Knicks

Ricky Ledo, one of the top recruits out of high school a year ago, spent all of last season at Providence unable to play because of eligibility issues with the NCAA. So, in order to show off his skills, Ledo has been doing somewhat of a barnstorming tour around the NBA’s practice facilities this spring, as curious teams see what the 6-foot-6 shooting guard can do.

“I just [want to] show them that I belong and that I am more than capable of playing at this level,” Ledo said yesterday after working out for the Knicks at their practice facility. “Especially with me not playing [last season], showing I can compete and hold my own against anyone.” …

Ledo said he thinks if he winds up in New York, he immediately will be able to give the Knicks help as a shooter off the bench — with a chance to develop into more than that.

Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post