Clips claim Chauncey Billups off waivers

The Los Angeles Clippers did manage to acquire a point guard even after the collapse of their trade for Chris Paul by unexpect
The league's 30 teams were notified shortly after 6 p.m. ET on Monday that the Clippers had lodged the winning waiver bid for Billups, who was released Friday by the New York Knicks through the amnesty clause in the NBA's new labor agreement.

One source with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.com that the Clippers' winning bid to land Billups in the waiver auction was just over $2 million, meaning that the Knicks will still have to pay out the remaining balance of nearly $12 million from Billups' $14.2 million salary this season.

Had no team claimed him, Billups would have become an unrestricted free agent, sure to attract the interest of contenders such as the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers. ESPN.com reported earlier Monday that Dwight Howard also planned to lobby Billups to come to Orlando if he decided to stay with the Magic.

But the Clippers ignored the recent threats by Billups and agent Andy Miller that the 35-year-old would retire if he was claimed by a team he didn't want to join, giving their roster a veteran boost along with the recent signing of Caron Butler to a three-year deal worth $24 million.

"Chauncey is a warrior. He's a player. This is a similar situation -- we had this in the best year we had here -- with Sam Cassell. He got traded away from a place he was really comfortable in," Clippers general manager Neil Olshey said. "All we said was, 'Come in with an open mind. Give us a chance. Look at our culture, look at who we were.' The next year Sam becomes the Messiah, got us to the second round of the playoffs, signed a two-year deal for $14 million dollars and finished his career. It's not unlike that.

"There's going to be some work to do. I think Chauncey would've liked to control the process, but unfortunately we have to do what's best for our team. I think once he gets here and sees the resources we have, meets the guys and sees what kind of team we have, hopefully we can do the same thing with him as we were able to do with Sam and Marcus Camby."

Olshey, in a sitdown with local reporters shortly before the Billups news became public, explained that L.A. intended to use its remaining salary-cap space before matching the Golden State Warriors' four-year, $43 million offer sheet to restricted free agent DeAndre Jordan.

The Clippers then went out and did exactly what Olshey hinted at, claiming Billups and then matching the offer to Jordan. NBA rules dictate that the Clippers can't trade Billups this season after claiming him, so he can only play for L.A. if he plays in the NBA season unless he is released.

"There are some sequential transactions that have to happen first," Olshey said when asked whether the team would match Jordan's offer sheet. "We've still got $3.5 million in cap room and before we give up that flexibility we have to exhaust every opportunity that we have to use the remaining cap room we have.

"But I would expect DeAndre to be here smiling and being goofy and doing skits with Blake at some point at media day (Tuesday)."
The Charlotte Bobcats and New Jersey Nets were among the teams that flirted with making bids, along with the Clippers, despite Billups' threats of retirement if he was not allowed to pass through waivers and become an unrestricted free agent.

"If I get claimed by a team I don't want to play for, I would absolutely consider retirement," Billups said Saturday to ESPNNewYork.com's Ian O'Connor. "The game's been really good to me and I don't want anyone to feel bad for me. I've made a lot of money and I've saved most of it. I don't need the money now. I want to be able to play for something, a championship, and I want to be able to have my own destiny in my hands. If I don't, then retiring might have to be a decision I make."

The Knicks released Billups on Friday through the amnesty clause, needing to shed his $14.2 million expiring salary from the books to have sufficient salary-cap space to complete the sign-and-trade acquisition of Tyson Chandler. The reality is that a failure to join his new team, once claimed, would have jeopardized Billups' ability to collect the $14.2 million, which he remains entitled to from the Knicks even after they let him go.

"This is a different vehicle to acquire a player," Olshey said. "We're the first ones to do it (winning an amnesty auction) and I think there's a little uncertainty with everybody on how the process is going to work. All I know is this is another great addition to our roster. He's a perfect complement to how we play, he's a classy guy who's a veteran and a leader. He shoots the ball, he's won championships. He's going to be a great fit with our guys."

Miller said his client raised the possibility of retirement after news broke that the Knicks were close to an agreement with Chandler. Billups also didn't want to leave Denver last February when he was shipped to New York in the Carmelo Anthony trade.

"Chauncey's pissed off, but he's not pissed at the Knicks," Miller said. "He understands it's a business and they have to do what they have to do.

"But he's in a very frustrated state of mind because this has happened to him twice now. The way the league is structured, if you're a hot name and teams have interest in you, you have the ability to manufacture mass hysteria, and guys like Chauncey who put in years of high-level leadership, production, and service get lost."

Miller said numerous teams have expressed interest in Billups but that the five-time All-Star, as of the weekend, had not yet begun to sift through the options.

"It would be a complete waste of time right now," Miller said, "because it's been a very trying time for Chauncey.

"He enjoyed the city life in New York and had no gripes about his time there. But if he's picked up in a situation he doesn't want, maybe he retires, or he retires for one year, I don't know. If he can't choose his destiny and he's only there for 66 games, I think he'd much rather stay at home until the season is over."

Said Heat forward Chris Bosh about how much Miami wanted the 2004 NBA Finals MVP: "Yes, I would like to see Chauncey. Any player with his talent, leadership, his capability on the court. He's Mr. Big Shot. He has that name for a reason.

"I remember watching him with the Pistons back when they won it all. I think he fits here. With that said, we can't get too ahead of ourselves. We have to move on with what we have, and if that happens, that would be great. If it doesn't, we still expect to be a good team."
Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne and ESPN.com's Tom Haberstroh contributed to this report.
edly claiming Chauncey Billups off waivers.

LeBron, Heat's failure something Dirk, Mavericks know all too well

MIAMI -- One was arriving. The other was leaving. In each case, their clothes described the man.
Dirk Nowitzki had on a champagne-soaked white T-shirt and a championship cap he wore as if he were a 12-year-old in a fireman's hat. He walked down the hallway of the enemy arena with a bottle in his right hand and the Finals MVP trophy upside down in his left. He was the one who had arrived.
LeBron James was on his way, with no smell of liquor about him. He wore a blue suit and a gray tie and an unhappy expression of business. It was altogether a look that Nowitzki understood and was glad to have left behind.
"If I would have won one early in my career, maybe I would have never put all the work and the time in that I have over the last 13 years," said Nowitzki as he celebrated the championship that came with his Mavericks' 105-95 win in Game 6 of the Finals. "So this feels amazing."
What was the difference between the world's most talented player and the champion? There is nothing James cannot do on a basketball court. And yet there was nothing he could do to prevent Nowitzki's Mavericks from coming back to win Games 2 and 4 on their way to winning the final three games of the season.
The lesson for James is that there is no easy lesson to draw from Nowitzki's triumph. Five years ago he was in LeBron's shoes, wearing his glum expression, feeling the emptiness of his pain. The next year Nowitzki came back and won league MVP while earning the league's best record, and instead of winning a championship his top-seeded Mavs were upset in the first round by the Warriors. Over the four years after their '06 Finals collapse, the Mavs would win a single playoff series. Just last year they were upset in the opening round by the Spurs, who forced the ball out of Nowitzki's hands just as the Mavs were now able to do to James.
"It's a team that when you view it from afar, it doesn't look like a physically bruising type team," said coach Rick Carlisle of his Mavericks. "So a lot of people don't think we have the grit and the guts and the mental toughness. This is as mentally tough team I've been around."
In the year after Dallas surrendered a 2-0 lead to lose the next four Finals games to Dwyane Wade's Heat, Wade had heard enough of the Mavs' complaints about the officiating and the phantom calls he had exploited. Bluntly he said the Mavs had lost because Nowitzki hadn't been a strong leader.
Comments like that turned Nowitzki into a champion. Questions like this will eventually have the same impact on James.
LeBron, given your performances late in games in these Finals, what's your assessment of your ability to play well under pressure?
Does it bother you that so many people are happy to see you fail?
Do you take this as a personal failing?
Do you feel you choked in this series?
Those questions were aimed one after another at James, part of the same cruel process that made a champion out of Nowitzki. He arrived in the NBA as the "soft" European who could never win because he relied on jump shots and his team didn't defend. The years hardened and inspired him. He became one of the few big men in history to convert himself into a terrific low-post player toward the end of his career. He learned to hold his teammates accountable. He valued the arrival last summer of center Tyson Chandler, whose defensive leadership provided the final championship ingredient.
"This is one of the unique teams in NBA history," said Carlisle. "Because it wasn't about high-flying star power. Come on, how often do we have to hear about the LeBron James reality show and what he is or isn't doing? When are people going to talk about the purity of our game and what these guys accomplished? That's what's special. I played with Larry Bird, I played with Bill Walton, I played with Robert Parish, I played with Dennis Johnson, I played with the alltime greats. And Dirk is up there with that upper, upper echelon of great players.
"I kept having people come up to me the last three or four days [saying], 'Hey, there's billions of people rooting for you guys,'" said Carlisle. "And we could feel it, we could feel it. We knew it was very important that we won this series for those reasons -- because of what the game is about, and what the game should stand for. And I'm so, so proud to be a small part of that."
Billions? Probably not. But were millions of fans supporting Dallas against Miami? Definitely.
"They have made a statement that's a colossal statement," said Carlisle of his Mavs. "Not just about our team, but the game in general. Playing it a certain way. Trusting the pass. Playing collectively. Believing in each other. Our team is not about individual ability, it's about collective will, collective grit, collective guts. We're skilled and talented too, but our game is on the ground. And the guys we were playing, their game was in the air. Fortunately, as the series went on, we stayed on the ground enough to be able to win it."
Jason Kidd at 38 won the championship while transforming himself from the purest of point guards into a spot-up three-point shooter. Shawn Marion won the championship while leading the team defensive effort against James. J.J. Barea won the championship while piercing the Heat defense and eventually breaking into the paint to finish around the basket as bigger and more famous players had been unable to do throughout the playoffs against Miami. DeShawn Stevenson won the championship while making his first three threes amid his defense against Dwyane Wade (6-of-16 for 17 points). Jason Terry won the championship while going 11-for-16 for 27 points off the bench on a night when Nowitzki was going 1-for-12 in the first half.
They came into this series with so much in common. Neither James nor Nowitzki had won a championship, and each wanted desperately to win now at the expense of the other. How does a great player learn to channel that talent into desire, to turn frustration into success? James would finish Game 6 with 21 points on 15 shots and as many turnovers (six) as assists. By the third quarter his own fans were openly begging him to attack the basket, but the Mavs' mixture of man and zone defenses was not only preventing him from finishing in the lane, but dissuading him from even trying to go there.
Nowitzki's fans had felt the same frustration while watching him over the last several years. He had learned something powerful from that, and he had drawn strength from playing with the same teammates year after year. Altogether he and they built a championship team that James and his newly assembled Heat could not beat. As far as they had come in one season together, they hadn't had enough time to resolve issues that had taken the Mavericks' several years to overcome.
"I've been in this league eight years," said James at the end of his news conference. "There's no distractions that can stop me from trying to chase an NBA championship. Not you guys, not anything that goes on that's not focused on my team and my teammates and what we're out there to do what we set out to do."
He was talking faster. He was scowling, seething.
"I work hard to try to put myself in position to play at a high level," James went on, managing his emotions yet letting them be seen. "When you go out on the court, does the ball always go in? Absolutely not. But the one thing I know, I never hold my head low in saying I didn't do it the right way or I wish I would have did this. It's not about that.
"I put a lot of hard work into this season individually. We all did. So we have nothing to hang our heads low. Just use this as extra motivation to help myself become a better player for next year."
That was the last word from him, and the first step of following in the path of champions. Nowitzki was dressed to celebrate, with his bottle in one hand, his trophy in the other. For James, the work was just beginning.

AL HAMNIK: Miami Heat uncovered for what they are -- nice

CHICAGO | You can't hate the Miami Heat. Sorry. I tried for most of this season. I really did.
I had pictured them as spoiled little rich kids, whining and spitting out their silver spoons whenever the limo driver hit a pot hole.
Can't do it any more. It's wrong.
This is not a bunch of pampered, egotistical, South Beach wannabes whose owner is trying to buy a title. Turns out, the Miami Heat roster is loaded with good guys like Mike Miller; talented players who care deeply for each other and the less fortunate.
Most have their own foundations set up. Many teams do, but Heat players were doing this long before it became fashionable.
Chris Bosh works with corporations that help middle schools in 13 cities across the country.
Mario Chalmers established "Mario's Closet" -- a specialty shop offering free and low-cost accessories for cancer patients.
Udonis Haslem provides school uniforms and school supplies to school-age children that are homeless, victims of domestic abuse, and in foster care.
Jamaal Magloire does extensive charity work for children's hospitals in Toronto. In the summer of 2010, he paid the funeral costs of murder victim Lucria Charles, a 28-year-old single mom he did not know, and set up a fund for her 7-year-old special needs son Mataeo.
Miller and wife Jennifer recently donated $1 million to an endowment fund for Sanford Children's Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., his birthplace.
Chicago natives Dwyane Wade and Juwan Howard are known for their work with inner city children.
The Bulls said all season they're ready to "walk through the fire" together in times of adversity.
Well, the Heat didn't all meet on a blind date.
Ex-Florida teammates Haslem and Miller are particularly close. When one of Haslem's children was born with a serious breathing disorder that required additional hospital care, Miller was there for him 24-7.
And now Heat players have rallied behind Miller, whose week-old daughter Jaelyn is hospitalized in intensive care and may require surgery.
"She's doing all right," Miller said softly before Thursday's Game 5. "She's basically doing the same. We'll find out more this weekend.
"Our prayers won't stop, can't stop."
Miller's 11th year has been the most frustrating of his well-traveled NBA career. A concussion and two fractured thumbs limited the 3-point threat to two starts in 41 regular-season games.
He still wears braces on each hand.
The reserve's timely heroics in Game 4 -- nine of his 12 points coming in the fourth quarter -- sparked an overtime win many believe put the Eastern Conference Finals out of reach for the Bulls.
"Anyone who's made it this far in the playoffs has got to be a close-knit group because you go through so much adversity during the season and we've been dealing with it since the beginning," Miller said.
"You realize the only people you have are in this locker room and that helps."
As Miller dressed for the game, he laced up the pink shoelaces he purchased to celebrate the birth of his little girl.
"She's a fighter, like her dad," he said.
Teammates walked by and several gave him a good-natured pat on the back.
Hate the Heat? Can't do it. Just can't.

Chris Bosh regains his shooting touch at United Center

Chris Bosh returned to the scene of his slime Sunday night and redeemed himself by scoring a game-high 30 points on 12-for-18 shooting.

That’s a far cry from his 1-for-18 shooting the last time he and his ­Miami Heat mates played in the United Center.

“But it wasn’t enough,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the Bulls beat the Heat 103-82 before a sellout crowd of 22,874 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven-game Eastern Conference final.

“He’s important to what we do. Everybody knows that. And they were loading up their defense so much [against Dwyane Wade and LeBron James] off the dribble that he was able to be a recipient in the paint. But we need more offensively. But before we even talk about that, we need to finish our defense with all the effort and big-muscle areas and we did not do that tonight.”

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said he definitely was not expecting a repeat of Bosh’s nightmare.

“Bosh has been a very good player, a great player, in this league for a long time,” Thibodeau said. “Every great player will have a game like that once in a blue moon. So we knew the likelihood of that happening again was remote.

“But we’ve got to do a better job on him. And they put a lot of pressure on you. They execute and they spread you out. They’ve got guys that can go off the dribble and you have to have a multiple effort ­mentally. [Bosh] is a hard guy [to guard]. He’s got a quick release. He plays off his jam extremely well. He can hurt you inside on the rolls. He can face you up. So he can score in a lot of different ways.”

And the 6-11 center-forward did just that Sunday. He added nine rebounds to his night’s work. In fact, he was the Heat’s star in this game. And he played so well that he relegated Wade and James to reserve roles in the postgame interviews. He was the only Heat player brought out to the interview podium. Wade, who scored 18 points, and James, who scored 15, held court in the locker room.

But with all due respect. I don’t believe Bosh when he said that he paid little attention and had limited memory about that night when his shooting touch went totally awry.

“You have tough games and you have great games,” said Bosh, who also went 6-for-6 from the line on Sunday. “But that game never even entered my thought process, You make mistakes, you learn from them and you go on. What we have to do is look at where we fell short as a team and come back and do a better job [in Game 2 on Wednesday night].

“We shot out own selves in the foot. We did not move our bodies and we did not move the ball like we should. We certainly will have to do a better job of defending and rebounding. We’ll dissect this game, look at what we did wrong and make the necessary corrections.”

Bosh scored 17 of his points in the first half. But the Heat did not flash the balance it has had in the past when Wade and James usually dominate the stats.

D'Alessandro: Chicago Bulls flex their muscle in Game 1

CHICAGO — By now, you probably have prepared yourself for the strong possibility that this playoff series will not always be an artistic triumph, despite Eric Spoelstra’s prediction (or was it his delusion?) that “at some point a basketball game will break out.”
Four quarters in, and we’re still waiting for that to happen for his Miami team. No doubt, there were long and competitive stretches Sunday night in which the Heat looked comfortable with the grunt game that the Chicago Bulls play so well. But that was a mirage.
Whether they are equipped to play this kind of game remains to be seen, but they had better learn quickly that this series will be decided by the coach who can get his team to lock in longer defensively. In this particular instance, that team was Chicago, and for 48 minutes it was a masterpiece of the art.
That was the lesson from Game 1, a 103-82 Chicago blowout, and it was a sight to behold. The Bulls were more precise, more intense, more dedicated to making certain that every last stop was brought to its conclusion, with their four main bigs snatching more rebounds than the entire Miami team.
It didn’t hurt, either, that Derrick Rose played like the MVP and that honorary Jersey guy Luol Deng — a Blair Academy product — outplayed LeBron James by a substantial margin.
Or that every last guy off Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau’s bench was a game-changer.
Or that there was a 45-33 blowout on the glass, and a 31-8 landslide in second-chance points.
Etc., etc.
Some coaches would call it beautiful, and that’s their right. But when you lose, you think otherwise, and even Chris Bosh had to admit, “We took a beating tonight.”
So while it doesn’t change our opinion that the Heaters are the better group here, let’s just say that the Bulls now have their full attention.
This is worth noting because after it was over, one of the first things out of Thibodeau’s mouth was, “There are things we have to clean up defensively.” Nothing is left to chance with this guy, and every mistake elicits coaching castigation.
Think of it this way: Chicago scored its first three times out of the gate in the second half, and even though Bosh had just blown by Joakim Noah for a lefty score, the Bulls had their largest lead (55-50) of the game.
But Dwyane Wade then found a seam for a score, and James set up a Bosh jam off a side screen/roll that was too quick for the help (Boozer) to stop this from happening.
They hadn’t even played three minutes in the second half, but what did Thibodeau do? He called timeout, probably to reinforce the no-layup rule, as the Bulls had now yielded three straight layups.
“We were spread out,” he explained later. “As ball goes away, we have to handle the weak side better. And our ball pressure wasn’t where we wanted it to be.”
What happened from there was extraordinary. The Heat took their final lead at 58-57 on James’ 20-foot turnaround fadeaway with Deng in his mug, but that’s where Thibodeau’s defense shut Miami’s water off.
The 3-pointers by Rose and Keith Bogans started the train rolling, but the real work was at the other end: Miami shot 2-for-9 the rest of the period with three turnovers, as blocks in the paint by Noah and Taj Gibson (on Wade and James, respectively), brought the house down.
And then, just to prove it was no fluke, Chicago’s second unit held Miami to 1-for-4 with a turnover to start the fourth quarter, with a 3-point fling from C.J. Watson making it an 83-66 runaway.
“They simply overwhelmed us,” Spoelstra said. “They’re an excellent defensive team. Losing a lot of those effort areas really deflated us, and we lost concentration on the offensive end, and it got away from us.”
There’s no denying it: There is enough star-based electricity in this series to generate enough power for a medium-sized city.
And this is not likely to devolve into a retrograde smackdown that only Vince McMahon would feel comfortable promoting.
But the Panhandle Series out West will be the more interesting one from an offensive standpoint. Among those remaining in the Final Four, Dallas is executing best, and if Kevin Durant has one of those can’t-touch-this weeks from the outer limits, those are games that are going to be played into the one-teens.
The Eastern encounter is not going there, judging by the first 48 minutes — and by Miami’s ability to learn on the fly.
“In the playoffs, there aren’t good performances and bad performances,” Spoelstra said. “There are wins and losses.”
But Chicago has established the style it will win with. It’s remarkably effective, and historically proven. Pat Riley, long before he put this Heat team together, called them “big muscle activities.” Thibodeau’s team might be the paradigm.

Thunder tie NBA playoffs with triple overtime win

Oklahoma City regained the home-court advantage that the Grizzlies had snatched and now host game five on Wednesday.
"This game is something people are going to be talking about for a while," Durant said. "I'm glad I'm a part of it."
"We've got to keep fighting though," Durant added. "It's tied up right now. We're taking it back to our house. So we'll see how we handle it."
Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with 40 points. James Harden added 19, and Daequan Cook chipped in 10.
The Grizzlies, playing to a packed house despite the floods that have swelled the Mississippi River and forced evacuations in some Memphis areas, looked weary in the third over-time, making just one of their nine shots from the floor.
Zach Randolph led the Grizzlies with 34 points and 16 rebounds and Marc Gasol added 26 points and 21 rebounds in the losing effort. O.J. Mayo had 18 and Mike Conley 16 before both fouled out. Greivis Vasquez had 14.
The winner of this series will play the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals for a chance to face a team from the East for the NBA crown.
The Mavericks have a chance to rest up after ousting the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in the minimum four games.
The Memphis-Oklahoma City series, in contrast, is a dog-fight. Monday's nail-biter came just two days after the Grizzlies edged the Thunder in over-time.
Conley forced the first over-time with his only three-pointer of the game. Vasquez, the rookie who came in after Conley and Mayo fouled out late in the first extra period, hit a three-pointer to set up the second over-time. Gasol's tip-in set up the third over-time.
"We thought it was destined for us to win, but ain't nothing given to you in the NBA," Randolph said. "You've got to go out and take it."
The Thunder had chances to win at the end of regulation and the first two extra periods.
Durant, the NBA scoring champion, saw a three-pointer miss at the end of the first over-time and Westbrook's leaning long-range jump shot brushed the rim at the buzzer to end the second over-time.
Oklahoma City took charge in the third extra period, when Westbrook's basket with 3:38 remaining put them ahead for good.
Durant added a pair of free throws and his running lay-up gave the Thunder a 129-123 lead with less than a minute to play.
Durant stole the ball from Randolph on the other end and made a shot over Shane Battier with 29.3 seconds left.
The Grizzlies can look back and regret letting an early 18-point lead slip.
Oklahoma City could have put it away sooner, too, surrendering a 10-point fourth-quarter lead.
Memphis coach Lionel Hollins was impressed with the fight shown by each team.
"Both teams kept coming back and fighting and fighting and fighting. It became a matter of just not having enough bullets as the game wore on," Hollins said.
"I commend both teams for the effort that they gave and the way they stuck with it and just fought. Nobody wanted to go home. Nobody wanted to lose."

D'Alessandro: Dwyane Wade's treatment of Rajon Rondo gives Celtics a cause

 
At least now The Series has a theme: hatred.
For this, we can all thank Dwyane Wade, who is not so much a basketball player as an Artist of Conflict, a fellow who can win wars and all the little battles in between, without much concern for the rules of engagement.
In this case, the Miami superhero managed to nearly eliminate one rival with an interesting maneuver — perhaps not dirty, but not entirely in accord with the prescribed rules of sportsmanship — and it resulted in a dislocated elbow for Rajon Rondo and a cause celebre for a Celtics team that used it as a knockout punch.
Maybe you didn’t think the Celtics had a game in them like the 97-81 body slam they applied to Miami on Saturday night at a delirious TD Garden — it wasn’t something you could have gleaned from their performances in Game 1 and 2 in Florida.
But this was the old Boston. Kevin Garnett had a party in the paint, with 28 points and 18 rebounds. Paul Pierce started strong and finished even stronger. Shaquille O’Neal was no more than just a jiggly novelty act, but inspiring nonetheless. And the defense held the Heat’s Big Three to 15-for-41 shooting, and the entire Miami team to seven assists in the entire second half.
Yet for as long as this series lasts — for however many highlights from this duel fill our memories — the turning point or finishing blow will be when Wade and Rondo hit the floor in the third period of a game still up for grabs.
It wasn’t in question much longer after that, because these are the Celtics, and they know how to turn a spark into an inferno, especially in this gym.
“Clearly, it got everyone excited,” said Doc Rivers. “When the whole thing happened, I just said, ‘Composure — don’t change the way you’re playing. Don’t let this stuff distract you.’ I was most proud of that.”
The crash resulted from a great defensive player guarding a great offensive player, just as the Celtics — in the midst of a good defensive run — were turning a two-point halftime deficit into a 60-50 lead five minutes into the second half.
Rondo poked Wade’s dribble away, and Wade — trying to ward off his defender — reached behind his back and grabbed Rondo with his off-hand, then used some leverage to drive him down on his side as his lost dribble went out of bounds for a turnover.
Rondo reached out to break his fall with his left arm, and crashed hard under his own weight, and that of Wade himself.
The Garden people made the very wise decision not to replay the sequence on the video screen — partly because it was gruesome, with Rondo’s arm twisted into an ugly angle, and partly because Wade would have been the target of something worse than the chorus of boos that followed him the rest of the night.
“I’m not a dirty player,” Wade said. “It’s physical. Everyone falls to the ground. Everyone gets hurt. People get up.”
The crowd was incensed, even without benefit of a replay. Whether the team it cheered so unremittingly felt the same way wasn’t immediately apparent.
The best was yet to come. Rondo went to the locker room, his dislocated left elbow was popped back in by Dr. Brian McKeon, and returned to the game. The Celtics didn’t miss a beat.
So now the only issue was whether the Heat would ever relocate their dislocated offense. The short answer: Nah. Garnett, who moved like a fellow who enjoyed having three days off, scored on consecutive postups against Joel Anthony, the lead was 72-58 just before the quarter ended, and Miami was crumbling.
Rondo made a few plays, but he didn’t really have to.
“There’s going to be pain, but what makes it feel better was the win,” the pocket rocket said. “Regardless of what happened, we got another game in two days.”
Whether he’ll actually be ready for that one is a good question, but as Garnett put it, “Shorty’s a tough dude. I’m not going to go through a list of injuries he’s had that you’re not aware of, but I’ve seen him play through some horrific injuries. We’d look at each other and say ‘What’s he doing out here?’”
So this time, Rondo didn’t have to excel, he only had to show his heart. Just like every one of his teammates did last night.
“The first report was, ‘dislocated, out, basically for good,’” Rivers said. “Then 30 seconds later I’m in the huddle and I see Rondo walk by me.”

Sat, May 7. TV best bets:

11 a.m., SPIKE TV: Search and Restore — In this new series, a team of vehicle restorers travels the country to answer viewers’ requests for help bringing their beloved old vehicles back to mint condition. In the premiere, a 1967 Chevy Nova II gets the full treatment. Tim Strange hosts.
4 p.m., NBC: 137th Kentucky Derby — The chase for thoroughbred racing’s elusive Triple Crown gets going today at Churchill Downs in Louisville with the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby. NBC also airs the other two Triple Crown races, the Preakness (May 21) and the Belmont Stakes (June 11).
7 p.m., HBO: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World — A series of graphic novels comes to life as title hero Scott (Michael Cera) endures a lot for love in this purposely fantastical comedy-adventure. He has a new romantic interest (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but to win her heart, he literally must battle all of her former loves ... and the actors who play them include a couple of former screen superheroes, Chris Evans ("Fantastic Four") and Brandon Routh ("Superman Returns").
8 p.m., HGTV: Sarah’s Summer House — This new series follows Canadian designer Sarah Richardson as she transforms the island cottage her husband bought 17 years ago from rustic shack to charming getaway space.
8 p.m., OWN: Extraordinary Moms — From executive producer Julia Roberts and her Red Om Films comes this inspiring documentary featuring conversations with famous moms, including Rosie O’Donnell and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and everyday moms, all of whom have translated their love for their own kids into an uncompromising desire to improve the future for all children via their careers, their charity work and their own parental wisdom.
9 p.m., HBO: Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden — Not to be confused with the movie "Monster’s Ball," this new special is all Gaga, all the time. Backed by a 10-piece band and 10 dancers, the flamboyant singer performs before a sold-out New York audience. The music is framed by a fanciful story about Lady Gaga’s efforts to get to a Monster Ball across town.