Top 10 reasons why the Heat are targeting Carmelo Anthony

Designated Scapegoat

10) Feel that it would help the state if wealthy aging New Yorkers were given the idea of relocating to Florida

9) Team clearly needs a hero ball option for stagnant offensive possessions

8) He's clearly better than Michael Beasley, or even Rashard Lewis, and that might be all they need him to be

7) Fantastic scapegoat for any future failings

6) Natural fallback if LeBron James decides to quit basketball to take up baseball, get a sex change operation and join the WNBA, or evenly more unlikely, go back to Cleveland

5) It's not as if the team needs a point guard, big man with defensive skills, or three-point shooter that isn't pushing 40

4) Would finally give the team's superstars an opportunity to cash in on lucrative off-court business opportunities

3) Anthony's commitment to padding his regular season numbers would help the team's real stars get even more time off in the Leastern Conference from October through April

2) Asking all of the team's players with rings to take pay cuts so they can have enough cash to attract a moody ball hog is sure to work from a chemistry standpoint

1) Would finally make the team likable to non-Heat fans, and get the team critical media exposure

Spurs - Heat Game Three: Historically Hot

The Wear Down

For the past four NBA playoff years, there has been one constant: the Miami Heat would benefit from world-class ball pressure on defense, and make their opponents struggle to get quality shots. They might get undone by spectacular three-point shooting, or punished on the boards, or lose due to weak offense or turnovers, but the opponent would not just be able to run lay up lines and drain open jumpers. And at some point in the game, the Heat would go into lockdown mode and look like no team on the planet on defense.

Tonight, for just about every minute of the game that wasn't the third quarter, that didn't happen. Dear God in Heaven, did that not happen.

Tonight in Miami, in the first half, the Spurs were so hot from the floor, that they were at 90% from the floor halfway through the second quarter. No, seriously; a percentage you would not see in a high school game happened in the Finals. They wound up setting a Finals record for shooting percentage in the first half. They shot 70% from the arc, 75.8% from the floor, and 82.4% from the line. They only turned it over 5 times, and despite Miami doing good things themselves on offense, they put together the biggest road lead at the half in the Finals in 18 years.

How did it happen? Relentless ball movement. Kawhi Leonard playing the best game of his life. Danny Green not missing a damn thing. Tim Duncan with old-school bankery, and Tony Parker subverting his own offense to keep everything moving. No Spur shot less than 50% from the floor, and they had 15 assists on 25 makes. All against a team that is routinely spectacular at defense, and at home, on a court where they've been unbeaten in the playoffs this year.

Ten more telling points from a game that defied the diary, because while the game was fun as hell to watch, it wasn't close enough to justify every moment memorized...

> When Duncan is effective early, it's such a win for the Spurs, especially in road games. It settles the offense, opens up the arc, and just feels inevitable. And honestly, I think he could play like this for three to five more years. It's not like there's any wasted motion there.

> Since every playoff game with the Heat turns on James, I really wonder why teams don't just do everything possible to get him in foul trouble or fatigued before the close... and I'm not putting it past Spurs' head coach Gregg Popovich to have thought of this. Watching James pass out of a triple team in the first half seemed less like a defensive strategy, and more like a stress test. Note also how often the Spurs fouled him on breakaways, rather than let him have the crowd-firing dunks. Just smart all over.

> The story coming into this playoff was how the Heat's off-season acquisitions (Michael Beasley and Greg Oden) haven't worked out, and they weren't a better team than last year's champion. But the guy that is better is Rashard Lewis, useful again in this one, and better than Ray Allen for much of the game. No idea if that's going to continue, but he's been giving Miami everything they could ask for.

> Dwyane Wade has some kind of Jedi work going on the refs. Usually when a guy is fined $5K for clowning them, he gets nothing and likes it in the next game, but not in this one. His wrong-foot make in the first half also shows that the body control is still there, too.

> Late in the second, Birdman Andersen spiked a ball into the stands on a Manu Ginobili drive, and the crowd oohed and aahed... for about five seconds, or until the Spurs inbounded to Parker for a mid-range make. And that, kids, is why damn near every blocked shot that Tim Duncan gets stays in play.

> I'm honestly not prepared to live in a world where Boris Diaw is this useful. Where's the Fat Frenchie who couldn't care enough to keep getting playing time for the absolutely terrible Bobcats? Where's the guy who followed up a promising start to his career with indifferent play and conditioning problems? And how do the Spurs always find guys like this and get them to try, rather than just malinger?

> I loved everything about Leonard's game tonight, except for the halftime interview with Doris Burke. How dare you say that the team isn't going to shoot the ball as well in the second half? That betrayed actual intellect and a desire to answer the question truthfully, while conveying information! Send this guy in for Cliche Installation, please.

> Here's how good of a coach Popovich is. A timeout after a 6-0 start that took less than a minute to start the third. Swapping in deep subs during the middle of the Heat run in the third, like a general holding back tanks during a retreat, saving them for the counter-attack. Nearly perfect deployment for Paddy Mills, Tiago Splitter and Marco Belinelli, who all made plays when the team was adrift, with the shock troops keeping the pieces he needed fresh and out of foul trouble. Just masterful, and moves that no other coach in the Association makes.

> Looking for hidden reasons as to why the Heat are down 2-1? Consider Mario Chalmers, the oft-scorned defensive point who has punctuated past playoffs with timely shooting. So far in this series, he's been ineffective while on the floor, and in foul trouble to keep him off it. If Wade can't close with strength in what's definitely going to be a long series, look to the early games when Mediocre Mario gave them 10/6/9 with 3 steals on 3 for 12 shooting, with 8 turnovers in 70 aggregate minutes. He's also 1 for 5 from the arc, and +0 despite spending most of his time on the floor with James. At this point, his upcoming free agent deal might be for the league minimum.

> The only real down side I've seen from three games of medicinal grade hoop: both teams are spending way too much time on the refs. From Wade's flop to James jawing and giving up open threes, to Duncan's offense on every strip, and the soccer plays dives on light contact... both teams are just making me wince far too often. It may be the right move by the percentages, but it just sullies the hoop.

Looking forward to Thursday's Game Four... Miami is, of course, deadly after a loss, and anyone who think the Spurs can shoot it like that for a half again probably has Spurs' gear in their closet. But a road win is a road win, and a 19-point one where you never got all that close opens up the possibility that the Spurs have an "A" game that's better than the Heat. We've seen what happens they get on a roll, and while it's unlikely to keep going for the next two games to end things fast...

Well, no one imagines them shooting 75% from the floor for a half either, right?

Top 12 reasons why Derek Fisher took the Knicks coaching job

Fish In A Suit

12) Really enjoyed wearing a suit and hanging out with the media back during the lockout

11) Wants those tabloids with variations on the Caught a Fish meme for his scrapbook

10) Has been around long enough with Phil Jackson so that he doesn't roll his eyes when Book Club starts

9) Retiring as a player is really not enough of a safeguard to keep Scott Brooks from playing him

8) It's actually a pay raise from his last playing contract

7) The Nets have an inexperienced coach, and they won 44 games last year, and being just as good as the Nets is the only thing that matters now to the Knicks

6) Finally breaks the prejudice against guards getting head coaching jobs

5) Becoming the eighth coach of a franchise in the last 13 years, but getting a 5-year deal, all but ensures collecting several years of salary for no work

4) Fisher's leadership skills and ability to summon Kobe Bryant / Kevin Durant level talent will really come in handy

3) As the NBA's all-time record holder in playoff games played, he'll be able to answer lots of questions about what it's like on golf courses in April

2) Fulfills the biggest requirement of any head coach for the Knicks, which is that people have heard of him before he took the job, unlike those losers Gregg Popovich or Erik Spoelstra

1) Given the performance levels of the current Knick point guards, this is what we'd call a twofer

Heat - Spurs Game 2: LeBron's Utterly Predictable Vengeance

Lack Of AC = Holy Water

Coming into tonight's game, the most predictable developments were that (a) LeBron James was going to have a monster game, and (b) there was no way on God's green earth that the arena AC was going to fail. The question was whether the Spurs could win anyway, and hold home court. Oh, and how bitter Cleveland Fan was going to be if James and the Heat tied it up beyond James' leadership, seeing how they just spent the last 72 hours enjoying the LeBron's A Cramping Cramper meme.

In the first, San Antonio came out like a house on fire, but the Heat kept contact, and when James got to attack benchers in the second quarter, he showed live legs inside and ended the early lead. If you were a Spurs fan, you had to be scared silly by the half, and not just because Tim Duncan got his b-annual technical. Dwyane Wade drew Manu Ginobili's third foul with an opera dive that should cost him $5K and enduring shame, not that NBA players seem shame-able anymore.

In the third, Duncan with more dominance, and it's a lock that he'll end this year with the most double-doubles in NBA playoff history, passing Magic Johnson. Wade draws Danny Green's third foul on a cheap pump fake and lean in that draws analyst ire, and if we had room in our minds for more than one narrative, it would be how Wade is turning into the dirtiest player in the game not named Kevin Garnett. Green cans a contested three for his first arc make of the night, and that was pure. James replies with mid-range magic, and if he's going to make those, the Spurs are going to have to score a lot to win. Rashard Lewis takes advantage of Green down low, which might be the first time he's done that in forever. James picks up two fouls in a hurry, and a technical, and that seemed sketchy; replay confirms it. On the critical Ball Don't Lie moment, Green touches every part of the backboard apparatus before God decides against James. Danny Crawford is your ref tonight, and the fact that I don't remember who it was in Game One tells you how much better that crew was...

Lewis and Leonard trade long makes and we're in lead change mode. Ginoboli enters, steals, makes. Like night and day, he is, especially compared to the guy who was in his jersey last year. Lewis misses, and the Spurs look ready to make a run, but Leonard turns it with his third foul as the Spurs overpass. Ray Allen makes in traffic. Parker eats Lewis for his second foul. Leonard makes at the end of the clock with a three, and the lead is four. Erik Spoelstra takes a timeout with 6:34 left in the third, and I'm grinning at everything, as this is just medicinal grade hoop, the first we've had since that blessed first round back in April. After the commerce, James with an 8-0 run where the jumper is all cotton, and Miami takes back the lead. When LeBron's Vengeance is all makes from distance, you have no chance, really.

Leonard picks up his fourth on a switch, and that could be very big. Paddy Mills misses at the end of Spur Tac Toe, and James does not; one more after a Manu miss and he's emitting smoke trails now. Diaw with the curious case of how the shooter with forever to make a three never will. James finally misses, and Duncan breaks the run with a deep catch and make. You'd never know that jumping is an important part of basketball, watching Duncan. Allen makes to push it back to five, and Spur Fan is getting nervous, but Mills makes another corner attempt, and it's 2 again. Mills is the kind of guy who always thinks he's hot, which makes him a liability on every team but San Antonio, where Gregg Popovich just rotates guys like this with abandon, while somehow never losing the locker room.

Cole and Bosh combine to turn it on ball pressure from Mills; dumb play by Cole, and the Heat PGs are not helping much yet. Tiago Splitter with the great dish, and we're tied again. Just gorgeous hoop right now. Chris Bosh gets to the line and makes two, but Mills ends that with another high arcing three, and the Spurs lead. Like heavyweights just landing  bombs. Wade with a quality make, 10 points on 4 shots, and like him or loathe him, he's giving his team exactly what they need tonight.

Mills keeps firing to start the fourth, to no avail. Splitter makes over Wade, who finally doesn't get the refs to bite on a flop. Lewis with another three, and he's got 14 and a hell of a make to give the Heat the lead back, with James on the bench. It's amazing that Lewis has been in the league for 16 years, and DNP-CD'd 22 times; he's like a boxer who did time, in that his calendar age has no relation to his real one. Heat up by 3 with 9 minutes left, right where they want to be, right where you'd expect them to be, had you paid attention to the rest of the Big 3 Era. They are just deadly after a loss.

Spurs with a turnover as Duncan gets whistled; just their first turnover of the half, and they aren't winning. Let that sink in; it's awfully telling. James can't make over Leonard, stagnant hero ball. Ginobili with a crazy long delayed make to cut it to one. Wade's shot rolls off on iso, Green makes a three, and the God Of Move The Damn Ball is pleased. James makes at the end of the clock, crazy difficult hero ball, tied again. Spurs just scoring more easily now. James fouls Ginobili, then falls down as the feet get a little tangled. Spurs already in the bonus, and Manu makes both. Parker down hard on an offensive turnover, flagrant call on Mario Chalmers, who throws an elbow in the mid-section. Clearly a cheap shot, and yes, John Stockton is throwing things at his TV right now, in that he made that move thousands of times without a whistle. Parker misses both and is removed, so advantage, Heat.

Duncan drives, misses, goes to the line and misses those, too. Ouch. Spurs with a zero point trip on 4 FTs; hard to do, and certain to be commented on at length later. James with a crazy make from three, and the Heat have the lead again, halfway through the fourth. Mills misses, ill-advised, and so much for my lionizing Popovich for getting guys like this off the floor before they hurt him. Allen turns after James gets shut down on a drive. I'm pretty convinced he'd have 50 if Leonard weren't guarding him, or if James was as selfish as his detractors claim. Two more makes after drawing a foul, but Diaw's corner three ties it again. Such good ball, this. Such.

James at the end of the clock, a wild lob to Chris Anderson, who can't get it on the board before the clock expires. 90-90 with 4:14 left. Spurs run the weave, Green misses a circus to try to keep it over Anderson. James misses an odd angle, trying to dominate Parker. Ginobili misses a 27-footer as Miami is starting to clamp down on defense. James to Allen to Anderson to lay-up, and that was Spurs-esque. Parker makes a three for yet another lead change and monster make, and with 145 seconds left, it's the Spurs by one.

Bosh misses the corner three, a good look, but not a great one, reminiscent of the Pacer loss a couple of weeks ago. James strips Parker on the drive at the end of the clock, and after an interminable replay review, the Spurs have 0.8 to shoot. James being able to shut down any player on the floor is probably his biggest gift. Ginobili misses from the arc, and Miami boards. James to Bosh, who has all day, and actually makes it from the arc; 2 point game for the road team, and that's immense. Ginobili gets no sale on contact and turns it, second of the half. One minute left. James trucks it to the hoop and gets tripped, Leonard's sixth. That foul should be on Ginobili. James with one make, one miss, which leaves the poor open, but Manu misses, Diaw can't get the board, and it's 28.3 left with Miami holding a three point lead. James brings it up on Green. Bosh drives, feeds Wade, lay up, and we're in Bosh Mode on the celebration. That's a very scary Mode, in that it resembles an ostrich having an orgasm, but with 9.4 seconds left when you make a kill shot dish, you get to make that face. Diaw takes too long, misses, then tips it  to Ginobili for a meaningless three at the buzzer. The Heat win 98-96, and it's tied up at one.

James finishes with 35-10-3, with 2 steals, on 14 of 22 from the floor; predictably fantastic. The Spurs are going to look at this and cite the missed FTs, but shooting 43.9% from the floor isn't going to get it done, even when you make 46% from the arc. If they can't get Leonard going, that might be the difference. ESPN wanted to make this all about Chalmers' dirty play, but the plain and simple of the Spurs is that they absolutely have to move the ball well, or their offense is entirely three or miss, and while Parker is critical to that, he's not the be-all and end-all of their ball movement. They shoot it well enough to stay in that kind of game at home. On the road, it could get ugly.

Game Three is Tuesday in Miami, and thank heavens, it's a 2-2-1-1-1 format now, instead of that terrible 2-3-2 crap. Popovich has got his hands full, but that's not a new experience. I'm just hoping it's 2-2 after 4, so we get as many games of this as possible. The off-season is long, and ball this good doesn't come around often.

Today In Idiot Says What? Flip Saunders On Kevin Love

Other than stop being T-Wolf fans

So the lead story on the World Wide Lemur today is remarks from new Minnesota Timberwolf coach Flip Saunders. Flip's also the president and part-owner of this mess, and he feels that star power forward and potentially league-changing trade piece Kevin Love has "no right to be frustrated" over the team's lack of, well, playoff appearances. Or meaningful success of any kind.

No, seriously.

You see, a guy who overcomes a severe injury to come back and post a 26/12 year, a guy who has one of the highest PER scores in the Association, a Team USA stalwart with a 19/12 career mark, the prototype stretch 4 with 3-point range who has never been to the playoffs in six years since being drafted... and who has the ability to walk without compensation next year...

Has no right to be frustrated.

Um, Flip? Kevin Love doesn't owe you anything. And if he wants to feel frustrated, he's allowed, you colossal waste of space. He just finished a year in which his second-best teammate was a part-time center (Nikola Pekovic), where his point guard shot 38% from the floor, and where the best shot-blocker on the team was a guy (Ronny Turiaf) who most NBA fans are shocked is still in the league. Allen Iverson thinks Love has no teammates. And I can honestly not think of a better player with less to show for his efforts, unless you factor out the cash that he'd be making from any other franchise.

Oh, but wait, there's more to the dumbness. Want to know who Saunders thinks Love should emulate as he's drinking a long tall glass of shut up? None other than Kevin Garnett, also known as the other star power forward that wasted most of his early career trying to get the Wolves off the goat trail to nowhere.

"I tell a story about -- we were in the locker room when KG was in like his third year in the league, and Sam Mitchell was sitting in the locker room," Saunders said. "KG was in there, and we had lost a couple games, and we were all sitting there talking.KG started going, 'Hey, you've got to start doing more.' And he's talking to some of the bench guys. 'You've got to start doing more.' And Sam said, 'Hey, hold it, hold it. Let me tell you something. You're making all the money. Hey, it's your responsibility. You make the money, you've got to live up to that.' So, that was the mentality, and from that time, KG never ever from that point, he always took responsibility."

No, seriously. Saunders wants Love to be more like the guy who only got a ring once he got the hell out of a town, after a disastrous trade. (How disastrous? The Wolves got Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 1st round draft pick (Wayne Ellington was later selected) and a 2009 1st round draft pick (Jonny Flynn was later selected). Jefferson got hurt and was later shipped to Utah for Kosta Koufos, a 2011 1st round draft pick (Donatas Motiejunas was later selected) and a 2012 1st round draft pick (Terrence Jones was later selected).

So the best defensive power forward of his generation, and a likely Hall of Famer, went for, um, nothing. And the new coach, who was unable to find a big name coach to take a job where the either manage a lame-duck Love or the pennies on the dollar that they'll receive for him in trade... wants to trash talk the guy before they even make the move.

Way to get the most out of your asset, Flip. Way to reassure the 14 remaining T-Wolf fans that this Love situation isn't going to be KG 2, Electric Boogaloo.

Oh, and Wolf fans?

Probably not a good idea to tell Flip that you might be frustrated with how this whole situation is going down, either...