Monday Morning Sketches: Where the Celtics Are Sured Up in the Middle.

In Sketches, we'll be taking you on a quick trip through the NBA blogosphere to get our finger on the pulse of all of the key happenings and storylines in the L today.

CELTICSBLOG: Jermaine O'Neal Was An Absolute Bargain...A 6.5 MILLION DOLLAR BARGAIN!: I don't care about the regular season. Jermaine O'Neal was the biggest difference maker on the defensive end for the Celtics in this Knicks series. Sure, Amar'e went off Game 1 (and was injured in Game 3), but Jermaine O'Neal we just absolutely a menace to any Knick in the paint, and when he wasn't blocking shots he wasn't scared to foul hard. O'Neal even showed us some offensive skills, proving that he can still hit a 7ft jumper (and shooting 62% from the field doing it).

 

KNICKERBLOGGER: Hobbled, harried and humbled, the Knicks’ last stand wasn’t lost on the Garden crowd, who thanked their heroes with a classy chorus of cheers as the final buzzer sounded. In a series where almost everything seemed to go wrong for the orange and blue, it was a welcome showing of perspective and appreciation — one that will do more than any press clipping or blog post in proving to our two new stars that they indeed chose the right place to bring their talents.

 

LIBERTY BALLERS: Regardless of what happens in game five, today's game made the whole season worth it for me. Not just because the Sixers won a playoff game in dramatic fashion, but because of the way they did it. The heart they showed down the stretch, while being down three games to none against a far superior opponent was unbelievable. Also the fact that Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner both played fairly well, were both on the floor during crunch-time, and both hit clutch shots was amazing to watch, and gave every Sixers fan a taste of what the future may look like. These guys have a combined age of 42. Both have risen to the occasion and taken their games to another level in these playoffs. Not only are they getting it done offensively, but they've each held their own defensively against Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Think about that for a second. The fact that they figure to man the Sixers backcourt together for the next decade makes me schoolgirl-giddy.

 

HEAT INDEX: The loss was disturbing for the Heat, not because of the loss or because LeBron James missed another late-game shot to win or tie -- this one came with 3.8 seconds left when Elton Brand blocked his tentative lob attempt -- but because the Heat thought they had put these moments behind them.  The last-second shot stuff is only a fraction of the issue. Let’s get this part out of the way from the start. James (1-of-6) and Dwyane Wade (0-of-5) are now 1-of-11 this season on shots in the final five seconds to win or tie games.

 

PEACHTREE HOOPS: That the Hawks have to concurrently love and hate Josh Smith as they must have in this game is the reason the team has to see what they might get for him in the offseason (read: point guard/center). As Duff Man said in the comments from the last game: (paraphrasing) Expecting Josh Smith to suddenly want to become fundamentally sound is foolish---you just have to hope he has a good game. In this game, he gambled not once, but twice on the go-by-me-poke-it-from-behind steal attempt, both of which led to baskets for the Magic. He threw wild shots at the hoop, he missed his threes and free throws. That he added a fourth quarter offensive rebound and a couple of nice finishes along the way helped, but when you can't count on one of your "core" players, you need to shuffle that part of the deck.

 

TRUEHOOP: The Magic were just 2-for-23 from three-point range in Sunday's Game 4. According to Elias, the 8.7 percent made from three-point range was the worst in a playoff game in NBA history, minimum 20 attempts. For the series, Orlando is shooting just 21.9 percent from deep. The Magic shot 36.6 percent during the regular season. While this would be crushing to any team, it's even more so to the Magic who relied on the three-point shot more than any team in the NBA this season. During the 2010-11 campaign Orlando scored 28.4 percent of its points off three point field goals and averaged over nine made three's per game.

 

INDY CORNROWS: Nope, the first playoff win in five years wasn't going to come easy for the Pacers and if they couldn't put things away at the offensive end, the Pacers would have to come up with the stops to do it. With 14 seconds left, the Bulls went into their final possession needing three points to tie the game. Rose, Kyle Korver and Luol Deng were all denied their look at the game-tying bucket leaving Carlos Boozer in the corner to hoist up a prayer (and that was contested too).  Boozer's shot hit short allowing Danny Granger to craddle the rebound and put away the win at the free throw line.

 

ESPN CHICAGO: As the series has worn along though, it seems as if the Bulls can't find the open man because they've already been jolted by a Pacers' defender who has knocked them off course. The Bulls have said they will correct their mistakes and get back to playing the way they have all season, but that hasn't been the case. Indiana has dictated the pace most of the way, as evidenced once again, by the fact that the Bulls did not have a single fastbreak point Saturday.

 

BLAZER’S EDGE: I was heartened to see the Blazers show some (literal) fighting spirit in the second quarter.  Normally it's not smart to have your #1 guy (Aldridge) tangling with their semi-thug (Chandler).  In fact that's the outcome they want.  But in this case, I'll take it.  It was the first real "do anything" moment that we've seen in this series and it set the stage for the events later in the game.  Next time it needs to be one of our players against Nowitzki, but if necessary I hope the Blazers will bring a next time.  The TNT sideline reporter quoted Nate McMillan as saying he didn't like the chippy play, that he wanted his team to stay calm and poised.  Calm and poised is Dallas' game.  Against the Lakers I'd buy that.  But the Blazers need to get less calm and more force-of-nature, knock-your-block-off emotional in this series to take it.

 

3 SHADES OF BLUE: Starting Monday the teams will play all remaining games in the series with one night's rest between games. The effect on both teams has yet to be determined but it would appear that the Grizzlies will be gaining another bonus in their attempt to upset the Spurs in the first round. San Antonio is one of the oldest teams in the playoffs with an average age of their starting five being well in excess of 30. In fact Tony Parker is the only starter not over 30 and he's 28.

 

WELCOME TO LOUD CITY: A huge part of the victory was Serge Ibaka, who emerged as our third scorer tonight and then some. What impressed me about his game tonight is that he showed Thunder fans aspects of his game that we haven't seen before. He got offensive rebounds and kept trying at his shot, when he usually just makes open layups or dunks. He also showed the he knows how to get fouled and sent to the line. In fact, his ten attempts tonight were a career high for him, and would have accounted for 5.4% of his attempts all season.  That's nothing to sneeze at. All in all, as Coach Brooks lets Ibaka do more things on the floor, he only looks more and more brilliant.

 

AT THE HIVE: The defining moment, the clear demarcation between settling for a solid 20/10 and gunning for something more memorable came at the minute mark of the second quarter. Paul unleashed a stirring left to right crossover to blow by Kobe Bryant for an uncontested layup. Even more telling was the buildup to the play - Paul aborted his first move to unassertively back-pass to New Orleans' man of the half, Ariza. But immediately, he demanded the ball back, ready to go at Bryant once more. And it was the first indication we got that Chris Paul would not bend to the will of Phil Jackson, at least not on this night.

 

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