But in lieu of a trophy, the winner gets a free banquet, paid by the low-life losers.  Beer is often involved. 

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We�re hearing that the Bobcats may take a look at Jerry Sloan to replace Paul Silas. The former Utah Jazz coach would be a tremendous, out-of-the-box choice and the first indication that Jordan is committed to turning his seven-win team around. NY Daily News

The obvious connection between Jordan and Sloan is that they both have their numbers hanging from the rafters in Chicago�s United Center. Beyond that, Jordan has great admiration for the coach he twice defeated in the Finals, at the end of his second three-peat. Sloan might be tempted to return to the sidelines, if the situation and money are right. But what about taking over a team low on talent and embarking on a long rebuilding campaign, while working for an owner who doesn�t have deep pockets, doesn�t like to spend money on players and has been looking to sell half the team for close to a year? NY Daily News

Conventional wisdom suggests point guard Ramon Sessions will terminate his contract July 1, become a free agent and sign a bigger and better deal with the Lakers. After all, he wasn't acquired March 15 to be just a rent-a-player. He would prefer to think about the present rather than the future, however, and concentrate on helping the Lakers advance past the Denver Nuggets in their Western Conference quarterfinal series. LA Daily News

Sessions, who made his playoff debut in Game 1 against the Nuggets after spending his first four seasons with non-qualifiers Milwaukee, Minnesota and Cleveland, is due to be paid $4.3 million for this season and $4.5 million in 2012-13. LA Daily News

"It's definitely something that's not in the back of my mind right now because I'm trying to focus on the playoffs," Sessions said on the eve of Game 4. "It's not even a concern. I don't know what's going to happen. I know it's coming. "It's something I'll deal with." LA Daily News

The man who began the season as a Lakers co-captain is waiting his turn to try and end the Lakers� season. Derek Fisher, cast off by the Lakers at the trade deadline to save money and make room for Ramon Sessions, helped the Oklahoma City Thunder sweep the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder will play the Nuggets-Lakers winner in the next round. Fisher was on the floor through crunchtime Saturday in the Thunder�s clincher on the Mavericks� home court, the same place Fisher�s and the Lakers� season ended via sweep in the second round last season. OC Register

Jordan Hill is essentially replacing Lamar Odom, the previous primary backup for Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. The Lakers traded to Dallas for a first-round pick before this season, but Odom was a disaster for the Mavericks. According to Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram, the Mavs voted Sunday not to share their playoff money with Odom, who was active on Twitter shortly after Dallas was eliminated Saturday. OC Register

Jason Terry has been a permanent fixture with the Dallas Mavericks for the past eight seasons. Whether he makes it to a ninth season is anybody's guess. "I think you need to ask him that," general manager Donnie Nelson said Sunday. "You talk about a guy that's given his heart and soul to this franchise, and made big plays and big shots. Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"We'd love to have Jet back. It's just at what cost?" Terry, who made $11.4 million this past season, was the starting point guard when the Mavs made their first appearance in the NBA Finals in 2006. And he was a key player off the bench and the team's second-leading scorer behind Dirk Nowitzki when the Mavs captured last year's NBA title. Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Point guard Jason Kidd started his career with the Mavs in 1994, and would love to finish it with the Mavs in two years. Fort Worth Star-Telegram

The Mavs have six players who will become free agents on July 1, and four more who will become free agents if the Mavs don't pick up the team option on their contracts. Also, coach Rick Carlisle could be patrolling the sidelines elsewhere because he, too, will become a free agent on July 1. The business of the sport will serve as the busy backdrop for a franchise that needs to get younger, needs more players who can create their own shots, needs another bona fide superstar along with Dirk Nowitzki and needs someone to protect the basket. Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Before the Mavs peruse their own -- and other teams' -- free agents, they might want to re-sign Carlisle locked up before another team tries to lure him away. In four seasons with Dallas, Carlisle is 198-114 in the regular season, and 23-18 in the playoffs, has one Southwest Division title and led the Mavs to their only NBA title last season. To hear Nelson on Sunday, it's as if the Mavs already have a handshake agreement with Carlisle. "Rick's not going anywhere," Nelson said. "This is definitely not the time or the place to get into that issue, but I don't foresee that situation changing. Rick, he likes us, we like him. Those situations generally get worked out." Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, Delonte West, Ian Mahinmi, Brian Cardinal and Yi Jianlian become unrestricted free agents on July 1. The Mavs also hold options on Brandan Wright, Vince Carter, Kelenna Azubuike and Lamar Odom. Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Thus, Shawn Marion, Brendan Haywood, Rodrigue Beaubois, Dominique Jones and Nowitzki are the only players under contract for next season. The Mavericks might use their amnesty clause on Haywood's contract, which would give them more salary cap space. Fort Worth Star-Telegram

In public, Dallas Mavericks players have been diplomatic when discussing Lamar Odom's failure to compete this season. Their truer feelings came out in a locker room vote Sunday, when they decided not to include Odom in their share of playoff money. A team source confirmed that Odom will miss out on about a $14,000 playoff share. "If the Lamar thing would have worked out and if he would have played like the year before when he was the best sixth man, I think we would have had a shot," Dirk Nowitzki said of going deeper in the playoffs. "It would have given us another playmaker, another guy that's long, that can defend and rebound. "But for whatever reason the stuff he was going through off the court was just too much. He couldn't help us the way he wanted, the way we wanted, and we had to move on without him." ESPN Dallas

Odom was placed on the inactive list and soon after returned to Los Angeles with reality TV star wife Khloe Kardashian. "I think we were hoping he would be able to come in and contribute and help us win this year, but it just didn't work out that way," Shawn Marion added. "I think it is what it is, it's (losing in the first round) not his fault and it's not nobody's, it's all our faults collectively. You can't put it on one person." ESPN Dallas

But Odom arrived in Dallas out of shape and reeling mentally from leaving Los Angeles and a difficult summer that included the death of a close cousin. ESPN Dallas

The Mavs will attempt to trade Odom. Any team that has him on its roster as of June 29 must buy him out by that date for $2.4 million or otherwise accept responsibility for the full $8.2 million that he is scheduled to make in 2012-13. ESPN Dallas

"It's disappointing, but we'll be right back here next year," West said. "This is a prideful city, a prideful team and I hope to be a part of this next year. It was a pleasure playing for this city, for this championship team. I'm grateful for this opportunity. Like I said, I hope I'll be back next year and more years to come to help contribute more and help this team get back to championship form." The odds are rather low that West, whose feisty play and quirky personality quickly made him a fan favorite, will be back. West hopes he played himself back into position to sign a multi-year deal somewhere. It's just doubtful it will be here. ESPN Dallas

"Prayerfully, man," West said when asked if he believes he's proven to be worth a multiyear contract after two seasons of one-year, minimum deals stemming from his 2009 arrest. "I haven't even thought about nothing like that, even now. But, I mean, I hope I showed this league -- I know this league already knows what I'm capable of doing -- that I removed myself far from that incident that happened [three] years ago and I'm going to the prime of my career. "I know what I can do, play multiple positions, score, shoot, shoot the long ball, defend, assists; I come with the whole package." ESPN Dallas

For the third consecutive time after a humbling playoff loss, Jazz center Al Jefferson appeared beaten. He spoke slowly and quietly. He avoided eye contact. His confidence and swagger were gone. Minutes after Utah coach Tyrone Corbin hinted at a lineup change and praised young power forward Derrick Favors for refusing to accept defeat, the Jazz�s premier player all but ruled Utah dead and done in its Western Conference first-round series against the surging San Antonio Spurs. Salt Lake Tribune

Al Jefferson said he hasn�t competed against a team comparable to San Antonio during his eight-year career. And three separate times during an interview Sunday, the Utah big man acknowledged the Spurs are stronger than and superior to the Jazz. "It gets to the point where you�re just playing a team that�s better than you; that know what it takes to win and know how to win," Jefferson said. He added: "If you lose to a team because you didn�t play your best, that�s one thing. If you�re playing your best and doing everything that you can, and you�re just playing against a team that�s better than you, that�s another one." Salt Lake Tribune

While Caron Butler was grinding through injuries for the Washington Wizards, his teammates started calling him �tuff juice.� Butler took the nickname, made it his Twitter handle (@realtuffjuice), and Saturday, he showed the Clippers why.�I�ve got to live up to it,� Butler said. Sunday after a short practice, Butler talked about the decision to try and play with a broken bone in his left hand, and how it really wasn�t much of a decision at all. �It�s not going to get any more broken,� he said. ��I�m not going to be denied.� OC Register

In his postgame remarks, 76ers coach Doug Collins referenced Bulls vice president John Paxson, who left the team briefly for a long-planned procedure to address an arrhythmia issue. �He�s like a son to me,� Collins said. �Pax is so much the guts of that organization, and I just want to send out prayers to him.� Chicago Tribune

The 89-82 deficit on the scoreboard hurt the Bulls badly enough. The 31-14 discrepancy in free-throw attempts felt like piling on. "Listen, we're not going to blame the referees for our loss," Carlos Boozer said. "It was our fault we let up 25 points in the fourth quarter. But the discrepancy was huge and I thought we were being pretty aggressive." Chicago Tribune

Several critical plays down the stretch rankled the Bulls. Trailing 82-80, Boozer drove hard and appeared to draw contact from Elton Brand, who blocked his shot. "It was a great pocket pass by C.J. (Watson)," Boozer said. "I was trying to go to the hole strong. Obviously, I wanted a layup or dunk. I thought I had some contact. I thought I got fouled to be frank. The fouls they were calling on the other side, I thought that call could've been made. But they didn't call it. We just kept playing on." Chicago Tribune

On the ensuing possession, veteran official Dick Bavetta called Watson for a bump on Jrue Holiday as the Bulls' bench exploded in anger. "It was a key sequence," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "It kind of went against us." Chicago Tribune

A woman had to be escorted out of the Pepsi Center Sunday night after she tried to walk onto the court during the first half of the playoff game between the Nuggets and the Lakers. Sonny Jackson, a spokesman for Denver Police Department said the woman, Savannah McMillan-Christmas, 20, was arrested and cited for trespassing. She is not being detained, but will appear in court on Monday, Jackson said. She walked onto the court toward Ty Lawson just over the mid-court line near the end of the first half. She was immediately escorted out of the arena. Denver Post

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ATLANTA — Celtics [team stats] coach Doc Rivers has expressed concern over the availability of three players for tonight’s Game 5 against the Hawks due to health reasons — Avery Bradley (shoulder), Mickael Pietrus (hamstring) and Paul Pierce [stats] (knee).

Pierce, who suffered the knee injury during Sunday morning’s pregame shootaround but still went on to score 24 points in 17 minutes during the Celtics’ Game 4 win, expressed his intention late Sunday night via Twitter: “I think the knee is going to be fine glad I didn’t have to play a lot of minutes tonight to rest it good win tonight fellas.”

With Pierce’s history of coming back from injury, that sounds about right.

The captain was on the floor shooting at the Celtics’ practice facility in Waltham before the team departed for the airport yesterday.

Team before country

It’s an Olympic year, and Mickael Pietrus is hoping to fulfill one of his dreams by representing France in London this summer.

But that’s clearly not where the Celtics swingman’s thoughts are.

Asked recently whether he’s talked to officials from the French national team, Pietrus started talking about the Celtics.

“Have I talked to the team? Not yet. But hopefully I will be (with the Celtics) for another five years,” Pietrus said in typically animated fashion.

And, oh yeah, about the Olympics.

“I haven’t talked to the French national team yet because I’m focusing on my C’s,” he said. “But after the season we’ll have to talk soon.”

Pietrus was a member of the French team that won a bronze medal in Eurobasket 2005, but he has never played in Olympic competition. He only briefly played with his brother Florent, a power forward in the Spanish league and also a past national team member.

“My brother will play. We played together 10 years ago, but not since I’ve been in the NBA,” he said. “We matched up once against each other once, in the summer league. It was only for one minute. That is something I want to do before my career is over — to play one or two years with him. The Olympics is a goal, because our guys in the NBA will be there. We should have a good team, with nine NBA players.” . . .

Any discussion of surgery on Bradley’s sore left shoulder is grossly premature, according to team president Danny Ainge.

“He hasn’t even had tests on it or anything like that,” Ainge said. “There hasn’t been an MRI or anything like that. So we really don’t know.”

Bradley played 19 minutes with the injury in Game 4.

Acing boards

Granted, the Celtics should expect to hold their own on the glass against a team missing Al Horford up until Game 4, has Josh Smith playing on a bum knee, and is without Zaza Pachulia.

But any sign of defensive rebounding progress is a good one for a Celtics team that finished the season last in the league in the department.

The Celtics hold a slight 152-138 edge in defensive boards in the series.

“I think part of it is we’re stopping a lot of dribble penetration,” Rivers said. “And the more we stop dribble penetration, the more our bigs can stay at home; the more our bigs can stay at home the better they can rebound. . . . When our bigs are rotating defensively all night, they’re not going to be in the right spot and we’re going to get crushed on the glass. So it’s been a focal point for us, and they’ve been doing a terrific job.”

I am in Dwight Howard country for the week, but caught the game on Sunday. 
I haven't enjoyed a team this much in years.
I am so damned proud of these guys.

Washburn is an idiot!! 

That and their recent play *might* make them tradeable but if DA doesn't resign them, it's not solely because they have expiring contracts.  It's tough enough to win in the NBA without habdicapping your team with three old men as the centerpiece.  Let's see how far they go in the playoffs before we start gushing about "the fountain of youth"!!

the real issue is whether the C's can find anyone better. If not and Ainge can get them to sign one year deals, they can always be traded >next year at the deadline.

I agree but let's face it,while "next year" may work at this time, it can't work forever.  DA better start looking around for someone better.  At minimum he needs a 2 and a 5 - that is if Green can go at the 3.  Can he draft two guys that will be ready to start in a year? Or should he look around for a FA or two?  I like that better than a sign/trade if DA can work it, maybe by overpaying some.  Imho, he should go hard for Kamen or somebody better if such can be found.  Hold on to what he's got and sign a decent 5.  I dunno what he can do but he better start earning his $$ or the Cs'll drop out of sight.  

Photo by Matthew West

{Video Link: http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=90017&sitesection=bostonherald&VID=23621483}

You need only go back two nights to find one.

But he actually came within a breath of single-handedly winning Game 5 at Philips Arena. In the final seconds, however, Rondo wasn’t able to pull the Celtics [team stats]’ keister from the fire one last time, and the lasting image of this one will be of the point guard coming up empty.

The Hawks inbounded the ball with an 87-86 lead and just 10.9 seconds on the clock, and Rondo intercepted Josh Smith’s pass for Joe Johnson at 9.9. But with no timeouts left, he couldn’t find another moment of magic, or even another shot for the Celtics.

Rondo dribbled up the left sideline, guarded by his friend Smith. Kevin Garnett set a pick, and the 6-foot-10 Al Horford switched onto him. Rondo was caught in the corner, and the clock ran out as he tried to get the ball back out to Garnett.

Too nothing, too late.

“I felt awful that the game ended the way it ended, because I thought Rondo willed us back into the game,” said Doc Rivers, whose team will try again to close out the Hawks in Game 6 tomorrow night at the Garden. “He really did at the end of the third quarter in that little stretch. It kind of gave us life again.”

Had the Celtics been able to come up with a final bucket — or had they made one fewer silly mistake earlier — the focus today would have been on Rondo’s nine-second barrage late in the third quarter, nine seconds that nearly clinched the series.

Having trailed by as many as 12, the C’s still were down 10 points with a little more than a minute left in the period and drifting toward a depressing loss in a game the Hawks seemed more than willing to surrender. But Rondo converted the rebound of a Ray Allen missed 3-pointer. Four seconds later, he jumped in front of a Smith pass. Five seconds after that, he stuck a 21-footer.

Suddenly the Celts were back within six points. He scored again before the quarter ended, dragging his club within two.

“The guys on the bench just kept saying, ‘Energy, energy,’ and I was trying to pick up my energy level starting with defense,” Rondo said.

“He was tremendous,” Paul Pierce [stats] said. “I mean, he took over the game there at the end of the third where it looked like the game could have just really got out of hand. They were up 11, and we fought back.”

Said Allen, “He played great. Down the stretch, his energy was always moving forward. He was always trying to figure out what we needed to do to win.

“At the end it was just unfortunate. If we’d have had one more timeout, it would have been a different scenario.”

But the Celts had no timeouts and, for a moment, no clue. The Hawks took possession after a Pierce airball with 18.6 on the clock, but the C’s waited until 10.9 to foul even though they had one to waste before Atlanta got into the penalty.

“We signaled to foul, and our guys decided to try to go for a steal first,” Rivers said. “But what they didn’t understand was that we had a foul to give.

“You think about it, that’s seven extra seconds Rondo would have had at the end of the (game). That doesn’t mean we make a shot. You never know. But we would have had the extra time, and we didn’t have it.”

And Rondo was out of tricks.

“I tried to make a play, and I think I cornered myself on the baseline,” he said. “Give Al credit. I just didn’t come up with the shot.”

There wasn’t much Rivers could say.

“I wish he’d have went down the middle of the floor,” he said. “I think you should always go down the middle, especially when you have a big on you. But, listen, it was a turnover, it was a fast break. We were just trying to go.

“I like him being aggressive the way he was tonight, and that’s how we have to be. Really I didn’t think as a whole the team . . . I just thought we played in spurts, and that’s why we lost the game.”

Ultimately, the Celtics got what they deserved for their lack of cohesion and, at times, effort. Rondo couldn’t forgive all their sins.