by: Martin Sumners

After a labor related splintered season, the NBA Finals is quite the perfect storm. In a battle of epic meteorological proportions, the Thunder takes on the Heat. But more importantly, this is the matchup that seems to be the one most of the basketball universe wants to see. It has the young, exciting and athletic Thunder trio led by three-time scoring champ Kevin Durant along with Russell Westbrook and James Harden. While the Heat trio led by three-time MVP LeBron James along with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, in the prime of their careers, is just as athletic and exciting.

Last year, the Heat fell in the Finals in six games to the Dallas Mavericks. But the Heat returns with Game 1 in Oklahoma City just three days after winning the East. Perhaps they will be fueled by adrenalin and confidence after coming back from a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Boston Celtics. In Game 6, James led the way with a monstrous 45 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. That forced a Game 7, which the Heat trailed by seven at the half and entered the fourth quarter tied. But with its big three dominating the final quarter by scoring all of the team’s 28 points, the Heat overwhelmed the Celtics 101-88.

However, the Thunder is a newcomer to the Finals and well rested. In contrast to the 1990s when the West was represented in the Finals by eight different teams, the Thunder won the conference by defeating in succession the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, which were the only teams that represented the conference in the Finals for the last 13 years. And it seems eons ago that it earned the trip to the Finals by beating the Spurs last Wednesday. The Thunder dispatched the defending champs Mavs in a first-round sweep, and despite a few close encounters, won the Lakers series rather comfortably 4-1. The last obstacle was the Spurs, who beat the Thunder twice in San Antonio, which extended its winning streak to 20 before the Thunder rebounded with four consecutive wins.

THREE KEYS

LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant
Perhaps the most anticipated Finals player matchup in a long, long time. James is billed as the South Beach villain with his free agent departure from Cleveland two summers ago and public relation missteps known as “The Decision” and subsequent premature celebration announcement of multiple title expectations. Durant is cast as the good Oklahoma City Kid humble as tumbleweed who hugs his mother before the final buzzer of the clinching conference title game.

James, with his combo of power and speed, is the more dynamic player who can do so many things well. Durant with the ability to score from the perimeter with sling shot accuracy or languid layups using his lengthy 6′-9″ frame and long arms has shown a more natural ability to close games. But although they may be both listed as small forward, James can guard just about any type of player. Thus, he may primarily guard power forward Serge Ibaka, who is not a great offensive threat, allowing him to roam on defense. So, the load of keeping Durant under wraps might go to defensive specialist Shane Battier.

However, it will be interesting to see if Durant can guard James, because the only other possible defender who could guard James would be 6′-7″ shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha. The problem is that he might be needed to guard Wade. The plan for Durant (or anyone guarding James) will be to alternatively give him room to shoot the jumper that can be inconsistent, or force him to drive into the teeth of the defense with the awaiting shot blocker Ibaka or the enforcer, center Kendrick Perkins.

Sixth Man Matchup
James Harden as this season’s winner of the Sixth Man Award has continued to impress in the playoffs. He almost single-handily closed out the Mavs in Game 4 and made one big shot after another in the Spurs series including the dagger three-pointer in Game 6. If it comes down to a few game ending possessions and Harden is the last man with the ball in his hands, that is not a bad thing for OKC.

The Thunder players have long known their roles, but the Heat may have found a new sixth man in Bosh. He finished the Celtics series coming off the bench after missing two weeks from suffering an abdominal strain in an earlier series against the Pacers. He provides the most consistent perimeter shooter for the Heat. The biggest shot of Game 7 against the Celtics was Bosh’s three from the corner pushing a Heat one-point lead to a four-point lead, which continued to balloon from there. Bosh’s jump shooting keeps the defense honest and allows James and Wade lanes to the basket.

Transition Defense
The key to the Thunder defense is the ability of Ibaka and Perkins to control the lane, allowing perimeter defenders to take chances on playing the passing lanes and go for steals. The Heat relies on well-rounded defenders who can easily switch and guard multiple players. To thwart this great half-court defense, both teams will want to get out on the break. Whoever stops the other’s transition offense has a great chance to win the series.

The Heat showed some vulnerability in getting back on defense in its last series, perhaps due to offensive spacing issues that resulted in poor defense on the other end as even the older and slower Celtics were able to get several easy buckets. The Thunder, always well-balanced on offense, get back on defense. Also, they have the ability with quick and young legs particularly in Durant, Westbrook, Sefolosha & Ibaka to track down would-be fastbreaks with a block or steal. The Heat, similarly with James and Wade, possess this recoverability.

PREDICTION

Although James seems to have no equal as an all-around player, the Thunder posses too many weapons including the ability to limit Wade with its bevy of perimeter defenders including Sefolosha, Westbrook and a reserve, but well experienced five-time champion in Derek Fisher. The Key for the Heat will be if Bosh can play significantly more minutes than the last series and be similarly productive with his perimeter shooting. If not, the burden on James may be too heavy. The luxury of the trio of Durant, Westbrook and Harden is that they can share the load with any one being able to carry the team and the ability to attack a defense from the perimeter or drives to the basket. If Ibaka can match production he gave in the Spurs series, the Thunder have a clear advantage. THUNDER in 7.

Martin Sumners is an NBA columnist for IamaGM.com. Find out more about Martin at sumsoul.com and follow him on Twitter @sumsoul.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma is a football power and its rival Oklahoma State often dominates wrestling, but now the state has something every sports fan can cheer: an NBA finals debutante.

Blue-and-orange Oklahoma City Thunder flags flutter vehicles around the city and the state, a tribute to a team that four years ago was among the league’s worst. An Oklahoma City skyscraper has a “Let’s Go Thunder” banner strung across it, and a local shop has a giant fake beard at its entrance to mimic Thunder guard James Harden’s hirsute style.

Before the Thunder arrived in 2008 — an Oklahoma City businessman moved the team after Seattle balked at building the SuperSonics a new arena — Oklahomans’ sports loyalties were split between OU and OSU.

“This is the biggest thing we’ve had here. This is it,” said Tony Wright, a Thunder fan pumping gasoline into an SUV adorned with “OKC” banners.

Oklahoma City has home-court advantage in the best-of-7 series against the love-to-hate-’em Miami Heat and superstars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. But life hasn’t always been this sweet.

The first Thunder team won only three of its first 32 games and finished 23-59, the third-worst record in the league. Finding tickets was easy.

“They were giving them away,” said Matthew Brown, a recent University of Oklahoma graduate who just moved to Little Rock, Ark.

Now, the games draw so many to Chesapeake Energy Arena that, for a time, they were projected on screens outside. During the Thunder’s Western Conference semifinals with the Los Angeles Lakers, up to 7,000 unticketed fans showed up at the 17,000-seat arena, which is just west of Bricktown.

But two weeks ago, a late-night shooting that injured 8 near the arena after a Thunder win put a stop to the big screens. City officials said the shooting was not game-related.

“The crowd’s been huge for the pregame, then they’re going somewhere else to watch the game, either to a bar or to someone’s home,” Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said “This ever-escalating crowd, who knows how large it would get? And what would happen next?”

Thunder coach Scott Brooks said players and coaches are energized by the fans.

“They feel a part of this and they should. They’ve done a good job of making us feel that we’re a part of this community,” he said. “Our players, they love playing here. They know every night that we’re going to have the best crowd in the game and they’re going to come out and they’re going to cheer you on.”

Guard Kevin Durant, one of two players who moved from Seattle and who led the Thunder to the conference finals last year, said he’s been trying to focus on the task at hand.

“You know there’s family calling and friends calling, wanting to come down,” Durant said. “But everybody’s been doing a good job of giving me my space and just letting me focus on what we need to do.”

But many Oklahoma City residents still embrace the team as family.

Helen Jones said she has a photo of herself, Durant and guard Russell Westbrook as a screensaver on her cellphone. And Harden occasionally drops in for Wednesday night bible study at the Fifth Street Missionary Baptist Church that she attends

“They are so down to earth, clean, well-spoken and when I look at them, I try to get a picture of what they’re really, really like,” said Jones, a season-ticket holder.

At a Thunder youth basketball camp Friday, Cindy Melton watched her 8-year-old daughter, Caity, and dozens of other children run drills.

“We tried to get her to bed early this week, with the camp going, so she could get some rest,” said Melton, of Choctaw. “But with the games going on, we let her sleep on the couch, but she didn’t go to sleep.”

When point guard Eric Maynor showed up for a visit, camp coaches blew their whistles and the children yelled in unison “Go Thunder!”

Bud Carter, 93, has come to know the players well. He works for Huntleigh USA, which provides security screening for NBA players flying through Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport.

“Those guys are really my boys. I screen them all the time,” Carter said. “They’re a great bunch of young men.”

Thunder pride is felt statewide, said Tulsa resident Sarah Neal, 34.

“There’s really a great kind of community feel. Go to any sports bar showing the game. You’re sitting with strangers and you’re high-fiving each other, buying each other drinks. It’s a great time for our state,” she said.

At Bedlam Sports in Tulsa, co-owner Steve McCormick has had to make room for all the Thunder gear.

“People feel like they’re on the team, and ‘I’ve got to get in there and get the stuff,’” he said.

Oklahoma City resident Roberto Velez, 24, is one of those fans. Clad in a blue T-shirt that said “We’re One,” Velez waited for a flight at the Phoenix airport and explained why — even though he’s originally from Miami — he easily changed allegiances.

“It’s been these young players prove they could beat the legends from championship teams like the Lakers, the Spurs and the Mavericks,” Velez said. “Such a brand-new team deserves at least one ring.”

Cornett and other city officials began laying the foundation to attract a NBA franchise after Hurricane Katrina, playing host to the New Orleans Hornets for two years. It was enough for some Oklahoma sports fans to begin pushing the Sooners’ seven national football championships and Oklahoma State’s 34 national wrestling titles to the back of their minds.

“It just started out with the Hornets, and then getting a team of our own has been a dream come true,” said Eric Loftis, a season-ticket holder who lives in Norman. “We just forgot about football and everything else. It’s just our team, the only team we’ve ever had.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - LeBron James versus Kevin Durant. It is the story of these NBA finals.

Except to the guys who share the top billing.

One of them will emerge with his first championship and probably the title of best player in the game.

It could be James, the three-time MVP. Or it might be Durant, the league’s scoring champion the last three years.

All they know is whoever it is won’t have done it alone.

“Everybody is going to make the most out of the matchup of me versus LeBron, but it’s the Thunder versus the Heat,” Durant said Monday. “One guy versus another guy, it’s not going to be a 1-on-1 matchup to win the series, it’s going to be all about the team.”

Maybe, but it’s easy to get caught up in their individual brilliance.

It’s the first time the MVP and scoring champ have met in the finals since 1997, when Michael Jordan’s Bulls knocked off MVP Karl Malone and Utah.

They are friends and workout partners, play the same small forward position and are blessed with unlimited basketball talent. After years of waiting on a James-Kobe Bryant finals matchup that never materialized, the league gets one starting Tuesday that’s perhaps even better, if not quite as sexy, to wrap up a successful season after the lockout.

“It’s great for the NBA,” Miami’s Shane Battier said. “I anticipate record ratings, which is great, so maybe we can get some of the escrow check back from the owners. First and foremost, that’s why I’m excited to see Kevin Durant versus LeBron James. But selfish reasons aside, it’s just a great matchup.

“There’s so many young, great players in this league and established players and All-Stars. If you’re a basketball fan, you’re missing out if you’re not watching this series.”

Both have sworn off Twitter, at least for the time being, James posted his last message on April 27 and Durant on May 1.

For now, KingJames and KDTrey5 will stick to making their statements on the court.

“Kevin is locked in on what he needs to do to help the team win,” Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook said. “It’s going to be a great series for both teams and hopefully we can come out with the win.”

James is back for a third crack at his first championship, his Cleveland Cavaliers swept aside by San Antonio in 2007 just a couple of weeks before Durant was drafted by the then-Seattle SuperSonics with the No. 2 pick in the draft.

James fell short again last year in his first season with Miami, then carried the Heat to another chance with victories in the final two games of the Eastern Conference finals against the Celtics, starting with a sensational, 45-point, 15-rebound Game 6 performance in Boston.

“You know, third time in the finals in nine years, there’s a lot of guys who don’t get there once,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. “Of course, that right there in itself is an honor. But you want to win one. You want to get there and win one. Obviously, LeBron wants to win a championship. I can’t say that he wants to win more than the next man, than anybody on OKC. I can’t say that. But obviously he wants to win and get another opportunity. I’m sure he will try to seize it a little bit better than he did the first two times.”

A disappointment last year in the Heat’s six-game loss to Dallas, James has said he’s been in a better frame of mind this season and is looking forward making up for his previous failure.

“I didn’t play well. I didn’t make enough game-changing plays that I know I’m capable of making and I felt like I let my teammates down,” he said.

“I’m happy and I’m humbled that I can actually be back in this position less than 12 months later to do a better job of making more plays, more game-changing plays out on the floor on a bigger stage. So we’ll see what happens.”

Though their core of Durant, Westbrook, sixth man of the year James Harden and Serge Ibaka are all 23 or younger, the Thunder enter as the favorites in their first finals appearance since moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008.

With signs backing the Thunder hanging from buildings throughout the city, Oklahoma City has watched Durant grow up from the player who arrived here as the rookie of the year. He received some guidance along the way from James, who reached out to Durant when he was in high school and then invited him to his home in Akron, Ohio, to work out last summer.

“For me, I understood what the situation he was getting himself into being drafted as high he was, and the things that came with being drafted to a team that needed a marquee player or superstar,” James said. “You know, from Day One I always lent my hand out to guide him if he needed it through anything, and that’s on and off the floor, because to that point I seen everything, and I’m still learning.”

“Our relationship is really good. Our relationship is going to continue to grow and I’m happy to be in this position where I can compete against him.”

Only one can be considered the best player in the game, and it’s probably the guy who walks out of this series as a champion.

“I think it’s going to bring the best out of both of them, and it’s going to be the best for the game,” Wade said, “and it’s going to be a great show.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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MIAMI (WFAN/AP) — The Miami Heat have been here before, two wins from an NBA title.

The difference now? LeBron James isn’t letting his head get in the way of his talent.

James had 29 points and 14 rebounds, and the Heat took a 2-1 series lead with a 91-85 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night.

Miami also won Game 3 of the finals last year, but that was its last victory as the Dallas Mavericks stormed to the title. It was a painful failure for James, who looks determined to prevent a similar collapse.

“He had a game where he struggled and he kind of let that get into his mind a little bit and he was thinking too much. Now he’s playing, he’s on attack and being very aggressive,” Dwyane Wade said. “He’s playing very aggressive and that’s the difference obviously from last year to this year, and the difference in our team.”

SCHMEELK: Breaking down critical Finals matchups

Wade had 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Heat, who “carry that pain with us” from last year, according to forward Chris Bosh.

“We think about it every day and that really helps us to succeed in this series,” Bosh said.

James’ poor performance was part of the problem then, but he seems on top of his game this time. His 3-pointer sent the Heat to the fourth quarter with the lead, and he scored five straight Miami points when the Heat were building just enough cushion to hold off another late flurry by the Thunder.

“Just trying to make plays,” James said. “I told you guys, last year I didn’t make enough game-changing plays, and that’s what I kind of pride myself on. I didn’t do that last year in the finals. I’m just trying to make game-changing plays, and whatever it takes for our team to win, just trying to step up in key moments and be there for my teammates.”

Game 4 is Tuesday night.

Kevin Durant had 25 points for the Thunder, but picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter and had to go to the bench when they seemed to have control of the game.

“I had a nice little rhythm going on the offensive end,” said Durant. “And for it to just stop like that by me going out of the game because of fouls is kind of tough.”

The Heat survived their own fourth-quarter sloppiness — nine turnovers — by getting enough big plays from their Big Three.

James scored 30 and 32 points in the first two games, his two best finals performances. He fell just shy of another 30-point effort but reached 20 points for the 20th time this postseason, two shy of Wade’s franchise record set in 2006.

Gone is the player who seemed so tentative down the stretch last year in his second finals failure. He’s constantly on the attack now, all while defending Durant in key situations.

“He was great. He’s been great for us all playoffs,” Heat forward Udonis Haslem said. “I don’t know if he looks up at the clock or score sheet, but he knows when we need him to make big plays and come through for us, and he comes through.”

Bosh had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, who can win a second title by winning the next two games at home. That’s what they did in 2006, one of just two home teams to sweep the middle three games in the 2-3-2 format.

They seemed out of it when Oklahoma City opened a 10-point lead midway through the third. But Durant had picked up his fourth foul with 5:41 left on Wade’s baseline drive, though there appeared to be little or no contact. Thunder coach Scott Brooks decided to sit Russell Westbrook with him, and the Heat charged into the lead by the end of the period.

Westbrook looked angry going to the bench, but denied any frustration afterward.

“Nah, man. I mean, coach’s decision,” Westbrook said. “Got to live with it.”

The Thunder grabbed their last lead at 77-76 on James Harden’s basket with 7:32 left. James answered with two free throws about 20 seconds later, and the teams would trade turnovers and stops over the next couple of tense minutes.

Wade then converted a three-point play, and another minute went by before James powered to the basket, Durant trying to get in position to draw a charge but watching helplessly as he picked up his fifth foul. James made the free throw for an 84-77 advantage with 3:47 to play.

After another basket by James, the Thunder had one last burst — haven’t they always in this series? — ripping off six straight points to get within one before Bosh made a pair of free throws with 1:19 to play. Durant missed badly on a wild shot attempt, and the Thunder missed another chance when Westbrook was off from behind the arc. James hit a free throw for a four-point lead with 16 seconds to go and Wade added two to close it out.

“Last year I don’t know if we was experienced enough as a unit to deal with what came at us,” Wade said. “I just feel like we understand the situations more and we can deal with it better.”

The Thunder were just 4 of 18 on 3-pointers and hit only 15 of 24 free throws, unusually awful numbers for one of the league’s best offensive teams. Harden, the Sixth Man of the Year, shot 2 of 10 for his nine points. Westbrook finished with 19 points.

After a split of the first two games, the series made its way from Oklahoma City, where fans in blue shirts filled every seat, to Miami, where white shirts hung on empty chairs just minutes before the tip. The late arrivals in Oklahoma City had been the Thunder players, who fell into big early deficits and acknowledged some first-time finals jitters in Game 1. Brooks said he heard the cries to change his starting lineup but said it never crossed his mind.

The Thunder quickly fell behind 10-4 in this one after spotting the Heat a 13-point lead in Game 1 and getting clubbed into an 18-2 hole in the opening minutes of Game 2. They didn’t let things get any worse this time, playing the Heat even from there and trailing 26-20 after one. James, Wade and Bosh combined for Miami’s first 18 points.

James and Wade had some dazzling drives in the second and Shane Battier got free for a pair of 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes, but the Thunder stayed with them the entire way, briefly holding a three-point lead. Westbrook’s 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left cut Miami’s lead to 47-46.

Oklahoma City started to take control with a 14-2 run early in the third. Durant had the first four points, and Westbrook fooled the Heat with a fake behind the back pass before sneaking in for a layup. Then Durant leaped over James for a follow dunk before nailing a jumper for a 60-51 lead with 6:55 left in the period.

But it was barely a minute later when he drew his fourth foul. The Thunder pushed the lead to 10 on Derek Fisher’s four-point play, but the Heat got right back in it when Battier and then Jones made all six free throws after being fouled behind the arc.

Brooks also pulled Westbrook with 5 minutes left and left him out the remainder of the period, leaving the Thunder without their two best players as they tried to hang onto the lead.

They couldn’t.

The Heat scored the final seven of the period, Wade making a turnaround jumper and two free throws before setting up James for a 3-pointer that made it 69-67 headed to the final quarter.

NOTES: Battier had made at least four 3-pointers in three straight games. The last player to make four in four consecutive postseason games was Orlando’s Dennis Scott in 1995. … Brooks, joking Sunday morning about all the calls to change his lineup: “It’s hard to take all the advice,” he said. “I’m only allowed three bench assistant coaches.”

Will the Thunder bounce back and take Game 4? Be heard in the comments below…

(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Carmelo Anthony believes this may have been his finest NBA season.

“Yeah, I would say that. I would say that by far,” he said. “Just as far as the team success, how I’ve been playing, how much fun it’s been for myself, for everybody just as a whole, I would say it’s one of my better seasons.”

With more than 50 wins for the New York Knicks and more than 27 points per game for himself, the numbers back him up. The Knicks won a division title, and Anthony will add the scoring title after the regular season ends Wednesday.

The Knicks announced on Wednesday that Anthony, who is averaging 28.7 points per game, is not expected to play against the Hawks on Wednesday night.

And Thunder small forward Kevin Durant, who is averaging 28.1 points per game, announced via Instagram that he will not play against the Bucks on Wednesday night, thus giving the scoring title to Anthony.

“SITTING OUT TONIGHT’S GAME, if you disappointed I didn’t try to go for the scoring title, oh well!!” Durant wrote.

Then the real work will begin.

The Knicks will be expected to win a playoff series, maybe even two. They traded away nearly every important player from a team on the rise to get Anthony from Denver two years ago, and they have one postseason victory to show for it, not what the Knicks or Anthony had in mind.

On Saturday, the Boston Celtics will come to New York, where they finished off a sweep of Anthony and the Knicks in 2011, back when critics who felt the Knicks gave up too much to acquire the All-Star forward needed only point at the players who remained around him to make their case as the season ended with a whimper.

Now Anthony is ready to make some noise.

“It’s a big playoff series,” he said. “I did envision us being at the top, one or two in the Eastern Conference. I did envision us winning our division eventually, but right now this playoff series is very important for myself, it’s very important for us as a team, as a city, as an organization. I mean, we’re looking forward to this series.”

Long regarded as one of the league’s most dynamic scorers, Anthony has finally become something more, on the court and in the locker room.

“His shotmaking is off the charts, but he’s making the right plays, too,” Indiana coach Frank Vogel said. “And he’s playing winning basketball, and that’s a big reason why they’re doing what they’re doing.”

Donnie Walsh always believed Anthony could.

Walsh was the Knicks president in 2011, having gotten them out from under years of bad financial decisions and assembled a playoff contender. Anthony was to become a free agent that summer and told the Nuggets he wanted to leave, and the Knicks would’ve had room to sign him. But with the Nets trying hard to get him via trade, the Knicks didn’t want to risk waiting.

The package it took to get him was more than Walsh would’ve liked — Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton and Timofey Mozgov were four of their top six players — but a necessary one for an elite player in his prime.

“That was the only reason that we would give up the amount, the kind of players that we did,” said Walsh, who has since returned to Indiana as the Pacers’ president. “This guy is a guy you’re not going to get, or you can’t count on getting, so if you had the chance to get him, you had to get him.”

But it appeared they got the Anthony who was into scoring but not necessarily winning. Especially when Amare Stoudemire was hurt, it was clear Anthony didn’t trust the teammates around him, and if the choices were to take a contested shot or give it to someone who might miss an open one, Anthony was putting it up. Former coach Mike D’Antoni asked Anthony to alter his game last season when the Knicks were surging behind Jeremy Lin, and Anthony either couldn’t or wouldn’t.

“If you can score the way he does and you don’t have guys on the team that you’re sure can make the shot, then you’re probably going to shoot it,” Walsh said.

That wasn’t good enough for Mike Woodson.

He made demands of Anthony that D’Antoni hadn’t when he took over as Knicks coach in March 2012. Anthony would be held accountable for everything from his decision-making to the condition of his body, and both have remained solid.

“He met the challenge, I thought, and it’s been that way all season this year,” Woodson said. “I mean, Melo’s played big and I mean we’re going to continue to need him to play big in terms of where we’re trying to get to.”

New York won 15 of 16 late in the season to take its first Atlantic Division title since 1994. With Anthony playing out of his normal position as a power forward, the Knicks have surrounded him with more shooters and built the league’s most dangerous 3-point offense while also assembling a top-10 defense.

“His overall game is so much better than it was a year ago in terms of playing both ends, and rebounding and giving up the ball when he’s double-teamed and still scoring,” Woodson said.

“I just think his game has just grown in every area and his teammates have benefited from it and he’s benefiting from it, too, because it goes both ways I think.”

Anthony had a franchise-record six straight 35-point games. He’s taking and making better shots, hitting nearly 56 percent while averaging 38.6 points and 10.6 rebounds in a seven-game stretch before scoring 25 in only three quarters against the Pacers on Sunday.

The No. 2 seed in the East, the Knicks beat Miami three times and are perhaps the best hope of giving the Heat a challenge in the playoffs. Anthony has won the conference’s last two player of the week awards and seems likely to end LeBron James’ season-long run as East player of the month, but only a title will get Anthony into his Olympic teammate’s class.

“I’ve said that I feel Melo’s going to win a championship someday,” Denver coach George Karl said earlier this season. “He’s going to figure out that scoreboard numbers and stat sheets aren’t important. It’s the team scoreboard and intangibles of the game that make winners champions.”

Maybe Anthony is finally on the way there.

Serious props to Melo for his outstanding accomplishment, but will he be able to lead his team to the NBA Finals? Sound off with your thoughts and comments below…

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Christian S. Kohl is a sports contributor for CBS Local Digital Media.

By Brian Cullen

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Hey gang, quick public service announcement: TATTOOS ARE PERMANENT. And as a reminder, you can sort of erase tattoos, but it involves voluntarily getting shot with a laser – something many of us spend most of our waking hours avoiding. It’s bad news bears.

Now, I get that everyone “knows” this, but I’m starting to have serious, serious doubts as to whether or not anyone understands it. Especially professional athletes. Case in point, these five boneheads, all of whom have made some really, really egregious tattoo gaffes in the past. Here are our top 5 favorite tattoo faux pas:

Kevin Durant (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

5. Although He’s Still Young, Kevin Durant is a Very Mautre Player

What’s that? There’s a typo in my headline? False. That’s the word that Kevin Durant’s tattoo artist actually used on his back. Check it out here (it’s at the very bottom, all the way left). Woof. But at the very least, after realizing the error (one can only imagine the amount of tweets etc he received in response), he got the whole thing patched up pretty quickly. Here’s the “after” picture. Say what you will about his tattoo artist. His grammar skills might need some work, but his artistic abilities are second to none.

4. Elvis Andrus is Out with a Tattoo Injury

During Spring Training last year, Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus had to take some time off due to muscle soreness. That muscle soreness? All thanks to his spiffy new tattoo. Now, the excuse sounds flimsy as it is (understand, I’m not questioning the pain of a tattoo. I’m just saying that MY boss wouldn’t buy it). But the least he could have done is hire a better artist. Yeesh.

3. Rex Ryan Does Something Very Sweet, and Something Very Stupid

Rexy has to be #3 on this list. He can’t be last, and he can’t be first, because his tattoo is equal parts kinda cool, and unbelievably stupid. Although we don’t have photographic evidence of it, a well established rumor (which has mayyyyyybe been verified by Ryan himself?) holds that Ryan has a tattoo of his wife wearing a Mark Sanchez jersey on his shoulder.

The cool part? Rex has said “I’ve been married 25 years, and in my eyes my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world.” Aw. That’s sweet. Yay, monogamy! The system works! The lousy part? Why in God’s name would you think that Mark Sanchez would be a permanent fixture? That tattoo is offering eternal commitment to two parties, one of whom is WHOLLY undeserving.

Larry Sanders (Photo Credit: Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

2. Larry Sanders (No, the Basketball Player) Forgets a Basic Rule

Hang on – just take a look at this yourself and see if you can spot the gaffe. We’ll wait.

Ok, show of hands, who got it? Let’s see and… three, four… ah! All of you. All of you noticed the whole “i before e except after c” thing. Quick reminder folks: if you’re getting ink, bring a dictionary and double check your spelling. This Bucks forward didn’t.

1. Chris Andersen Defies Words

What the hell am I supposed to say about this? He has “Freebird” tattooed across his neck and his tattoo artist estimates that he’s covered 75% of his body. I can’t even make jokes. I’m impressed.

Special Mention: Mike Tyson probably deserves a nod. But I don’t wanna make fun of Mike Tyson. He’s clearly moved into his “adorable and sad” mode. He tends to pigeons, for Christ’s sake! So anyway. All I’ll say is he has a notable tattoo that many people recognize. There. Snark tabled.

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Brian Cullen writes vaguely sad comedy articles for Tailgate Fan and Man Cave Daily. Follow him on Twitter @bucketcullen.

By Ryan Mayer

In the past three weeks we’ve seen Steph Curry go for 51, Kevin Durant have his 43rd career 40 point game and Klay Thompson pour in 37 in one quarter. These kinds of performances are what we like to call “Stop and Watch games.” As in stop what you’re doing right now and get to a television immediately. This list is always changing but as of right now here are the guys who make us drop everything and run to the nearest TV. (Hint: two guys were mentioned already)

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK- FEBRUARY 6: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans goes up for a dunk against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the game on February 6, 2015 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

5) Anthony Davis PF New Orleans Pelicans: Though he’s out with an injury right now, “The Brow” has made another quantum leap in his development this season. With Davis, it’s not just about what he can do to light up the scoreboard (though he does have 11 30+ point games this season), but his ability to swat shots 7 rows into the stands consistently lands him on this list.

DENVER, CO - FEBRUARY 9: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder shoots against the Denver Nuggets on February 9, 2015 at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.(Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

4) Russell Westbrook PG Oklahoma City Thunder: Russell is a freak athlete who tries to dunk on the entire world everytime he drives the lane. That combined with sky high confidence makes him one of the NBA’s best show stoppers when he gets going.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - FEBRUARY 8: Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder looks on during the game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Chesapeake Energy Arena on February 8, 2015 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Thunder defeated the Clippers 131-108.(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

3) Kevin Durant SF Oklahoma City Thunder: Back-to-back Thunder teammates? Yep. Durant showed last night why he’s a stop and watch guy. When he’s feeling it, there is not one person in the league that can stop him from filling it up.

2) LeBron James SF Cleveland Cavaliers: Let’s just let this clip do the talking shall we?

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PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 9: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors gets direction from Head Coach Steve Kerr against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center on February 9, 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

1) Steph Curry PG Golden State Warriors: The reason Curry is number one is because all it takes is a text message with his last name to make me scramble to find the nearest viewing device to see what he’s doing. The King of the Heat Check routinely makes even his head coach Steve Kerr, one of the best shooters in league history, shake his head.

 Want to see more from Ryan? Email him or find him on twitter @r_mayer

The Top 5 Sports Callers of the week is a weekly installment from CBS Local Sports that will bring you the wildest callers from across the nation.

Number 5: In this week’s episode, we start with Cody from Lewisville, Texas who called in to Shan and RJ on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas to tell the guys that he’s done with Shawn Tolleson as the Texas Rangers closer.

Number 4: Checking in at four Nicole from Hampton, GA who hopped on with Dukes and Bell on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta to tell the guys why she believes Kevin Durant should join the Hawks in free agency. 

Number 3: The number three caller this week was is Luther from Philadelphia, PA who hopped on with the Mike and Ike show on SportsRadio 94 WIP in Philly because he was upset by Ike’s take that the Sixers should trade center Jahlil Okafor

Number 2: The two spot goes to Jay from Arlington who called in to the Texas Rangers Post-Game Show on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas to tell the guys that he’s glad Jose Bautista got punched. Why? Because he’s a bully.

Number 1: Finally, the top spot goes to Cory from Philly who also joined Josh Innes Show on Sportsradio 94 WIP in Philly challenging Josh on his thoughts on Eagles QB Sam Bradford and RB Darren Sproles.

By Jason Keidel

After agreeing to a two-year deal with the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant has opened himself up to unprecedented scrutiny. He’s sliced open an artery of dialogue and debate among sports fans.

One side sees this as gripping, soap-operatic TV, high-end theater, a team of balletic basketball players teaming up with one of their own. Durant may not have been a Warrior all these years, but he seems to play with the tempo and tenor. He is the third Splash Brother.

But for those of us who remember the Bad Boy Pistons, Jordan’s Bulls or any team that slowly chiseled their way to the top, toppling their tormentors rather than joining them, this isn’t a cozy moment in sports history. Imagine the Lakers recruiting Larry Bird, or the Celtics clamoring for Kareem, Magic or Worthy.

Maybe the NBA doesn’t have baseball’s historical prerogative as our pastime, or the NFL’s singular dominance over six months of Sundays. But no sport trades on rivalries more than the NBA… Wilt vs. Russell, Bird vs. Magic, Celtics vs. Lakers, Celtics vs. 76ers, Pistons vs. Bulls.

Hard as it is to picture, the Knicks were actually relevant at certain moments in history. During Michael Jordan’s singular career, he often had to elbow his way through Manhattan to get to the NBA Finals, and the forest of meaty limbs of Pat Riley’s Knicks. And while it’s been two decades since the Knicks were at the epicenter of the sport, there were a few years of glorious bloodsport between Gotham and the Windy City.

It had all the hallmarks of a rivalry… Pat Riley and Phil Jackson; Jordan and Ewing; John Starks’ iconic dunk; Scottie Pippen constantly battered by the car wash of Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason. Though His Airness broke the Big Apple more than once, no New Yorker waxed romantically about Jordan in orange and blue. The goal was to conquer No. 23, not recruit him.

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Durant is implicitly saying he’s not good enough to beat the Warriors, a solemn concession from someone we assumed was bubbling with confidence. It’s also a myopic view considering he was up 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals, with three chances to close the coffin on a 73-win season.

Let’s not forget the Oklahoma City Thunder, Durant’s only team during his opulent, nine-year career (with one year spent in Seattle), was even better this year. Durant and Westbrook would have been in their respective primes, playing for a bank-bending contract, and the beneficiaries of the trade that brought Victor Oladipo to OKC.

Durant issued a platitude-laden statement abut being a better player and person. Then his relationship with Russell Westbrook was parsed into 1000 parts, as if they were the hardwood iteration of the Hatfields and McCoys.

Maybe the answer is so simple we refuse to concede it. Maybe Durant has an alpha name but not an alpha game. Maybe he doesn’t want to be Bird, Magic, MJ or LBJ — the monolith of a team, town and sport. Rather he wants to fit into a great team with a selfless ethic. Sounds cozy. But then Durant better not expect to hear his name among the immortals. Ever.

Stephen A. Smith, the NBA’s ultimate insider and preeminent provocateur, called it the weakest move ever by an NBA superstar. It’s all subjective, of course, but Smith remembers a more competitive time in pro basketball, when players weren’t part of a larger, social media group hug.

There’s also the fact that Durant questioned LeBron James when he made his “Decision” — an apocalyptic PR move that, burnished by history, doesn’t look as bad now. LeBron didn’t leave a team that could easily have won the NBA title, nor did he flee to the team that thwarted his championship crusade. So the comparisons between the two moves are myopic, at best.

And beyond Durant’s age, wage or new location is the resounding sadness that comes with breaking up something special. There’s a reason the NBA has the Bird exemption, and allows teams to pay homegrown players more than other teams. We are drawn to the homegrown, homespun narrative, the pastoral tableau of the local kid done good, the idea that Oklahoma City, so far from the lights of Los Angeles and the noise of New York, can rise to the top of major sport and global enterprise.

Kevin Durant had a chance to not only plant his flag and leave an epic legacy, but also alter the stereotypes of places like Oklahoma City, so often dismissed as flyover country. Blowhards from Manhattan — where yours truly was born and raised — really take to that iconic cover from The New Yorker magazine. There’s NYC, the Statue of Liberty and then wasteland.

Durant has every right to play for whatever team will sign him at whatever price he can get. But he will now be seen as soft, unwilling to battle his foes with his guys and conquer his failures where it all began. Michael got it done in Chicago, Magic in L.A., Bird in Boston. Even LeBron, who had his vocational spring break in South Beach, came home and made it right.

Perhaps Durant will feel the same way about OKC, and bring a forlorn franchise its ring. Don’t count on it. Kevin Durant is not really from Oklahoma. And he just made that abundantly clear. Adopted sons clearly aren’t native sons.

Jason writes a weekly column for CBS Local Sports. He is a native New Yorker, sans the elitist sensibilities, and believes there’s a world west of the Hudson River. A Yankees devotee and Steelers groupie, he has been scouring the forest of fertile NYC sports sections since the 1970s. He has written over 500 columns for WFAN/CBS NY, and also worked as a freelance writer for Sports Illustrated and Newsday subsidiary amNew York. He made his bones as a boxing writer, occasionally covering fights in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, but mostly inside Madison Square Garden. Follow him on Twitter @JasonKeidel.

By Rahul Lal

The NBA All-Star Game starting lineups were announced Thursday evening and instantly drew reactions from fans across the country. Some were positive, but the majority gravitated toward Russell Westbrook being snubbed despite averaging a triple-double 44 games into the season. Other interesting non-starters, such as Joel Embiid and Zaza Pachulia, would’ve been voted in but for a change in traditional fan voting. Neither Embiid nor Pachulia were named starters.

So who did get voted in and why? Here are the starting lineups for the Eastern and Western Conferences:

Eastern Conference All-Stars:

Kyrie Irving – Cleveland Cavaliers (G)
Fan Rank: 1
Player Rank: 1
Media Rank: 3

Kyrie Irving has delivered on all of the expectations that followed from his spectacular postseason last year. Irving is putting up nearly 24 points per game, with impressive shooting percentages given the number of shots he fires every night, and over five assists. The voting ranks tell the story of a great season for Irving, and he deserves to be voted in.

DeMar DeRozan – Toronto Raptors (G)
Fan Rank: 3
Player Rank: 3
Media Rank: 2

The battle between DeRozan and Isaiah Thomas is one to look at, as each had the same weighted total between voting ranks. There’s an argument for both players. DeRozan has turned the Raptors into the second best team in the Eastern Conference ahead of Thomas’ Celtics and has put up incredible stats along the way. Improving more than any player year by year, DeRozan is hitting his prime right now, putting up 28 points, five boards and a wildly impressive 47.5% shooting from the field while averaging over 21 shots per game. What makes DeRozan so special is that he knows his limitations as a player and plays within his capabilities, something so many players at his level struggle with.

LeBron James – Cleveland Cavaliers (F/C)
Fan Rank: 1
Player Rank: 1
Media Rank: 1

There’s no question LeBron James deserves to make his 13th NBA All-Star appearance. It’s simple, wherever LeBron plays basketball, he will turn his team into a championship contender. At 32 years old, he has become a more than capable shooter from distance, averaging a career-high 37.5% from three. His 7.8 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game and consistent defensive presence only support the case that his top-seeded Cavaliers should be feared in the playoffs. LeBron deserves to be the top ranked in each voting category.

Giannis Antetokounmpo (Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks (F/C)
Fan Rank: 2
Player Rank: 2
Media Rank: 2

Before the season, Antetokounmpo would’ve likely been the player left off most All-Star starting lineups. But he has become one of the league’s most dangerous players and is now a flat-out superstar. At 6’11, he is versatile enough to play the point guard position, as he has done all season. He is averaging nearly 24 points, 8.7 boards, 5.6 assists and nearly two blocks and two steals per game. Antetokounmpo is revolutionizing the game with his size and skill and is somehow only 22. A former mid-first round pick, he may be one of the most coveted players in the league and seems to get better with each game.

Jimmy Butler – Chicago Bulls (F/C)
Fan Rank: 5
Player Rank: 3
Media Rank: 3

The Chicago Bulls have fallen upon tough times with the Rajon Rondo experiment going haywire and Dwyane Wade posting career lows in shooting percentages and assists. Butler’s production on the season has made life a little easier for Wade and Bulls fans. Butler has posted career highs in points (24.8), rebounds (6.8), assists (4.8) and is close to his career high in steals at just under two. His improved shooting makes him a consistent perimeter threat. Butler is undoubtedly the franchise cornerstone for a team with plenty of decisions to make in the near future.

Steph Curry (Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Western Conference All-Stars:

Steph Curry – Golden State Warriors (G)
Fan Rank: 1
Player Rank: 3
Media Rank: 3

It shouldn’t shock people that Curry was named an All-Star starter while Russell Westbrook, who ranked first in both player and media ranks, wasn’t. Still, Curry’s 24.6 points, 6.1 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game are nothing to scoff at. The winner of the last two MVP trophies has helped lead the Warriors to a 36-6 record while also shooting a remarkably efficient 46.5% from the field, 39.7% from three and 92.6% from the charity stripe.

James Harden – Houston Rockets (G)
Fan Rank: 2
Player Rank: 2
Media Rank: 2

James Harden would likely be the leader in early MVP voting, as he’s only a hair behind Russell Westbrook in individual stats. Harden is currently averaging 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 11.6 assists per game while putting up some ridiculous video game-like stat lines in Mike D’Antoni’s fast-paced Houston offense. There’s no doubt that Harden is the best shooting guard in the Western Conference.

Kawhi Leonard (Photo Credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Kawhi Leonard – San Antonio Spurs (F/C)
Fan Rank: 3
Player Rank: 2
Media Rank: 2

Leonard has quietly led the Spurs to a 33-9 record, only three games behind the Warriors, on the strength of his 24.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Leonard does a lot of his damage on the defensive side of the ball too, averaging nearly two steals and a block each game. He has improved each year as a shooter and is currently shooting a mind-blowing 48.8% from the field, including a remarkable 41.5% from three-point range, on nearly 17 attempts per game.

Kevin Durant – Golden State Warriors (F/C)
Fan Rank: 1
Player Rank: 1
Media Rank: 1

With all due respect to Steph Curry, Durant has taken over this Golden State team and made it his own. The former MVP has churned out the most efficient season of his incredible career, averaging over 26 points a game. His 54.4% shooting from the field and eight-plus rebounds per game are both career highs. Durant has kept the Warriors alive when their offense has looked stagnant or just simply out of gas.

Anthony Davis – New Orleans Pelicans (F/C)
Fan Rank: 4
Player Rank: 3
Media Rank: 3

Anthony Davis will be the hometown favorite for the New Orleans All-Star Game, but he wasn’t voted onto the team because he plays for the Pelicans. Davis hasn’t been plagued by injuries this season, unlike in previous seasons, and his numbers are up as a result. He has put up 28.8 points per game along with 12 boards and 2.4 blocks per game, the latter of which puts him near the top of the league. He has his team, which started with the NBA’s worst record, within reach of the final seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

The NBA All-Star Weekend will take place February 17-19. The festivities will open Friday with the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and Rising Stars Challenge. The next day will feature fan favorites like the NBA Skills Contest, Three Point Contest and Dunk Contest. The All-Star Game itself will headline the last day of All-Star festivities.

Rahul Lal is an LA native stuck in a lifelong, love-hate relationship with the Lakers, Dodgers and Raiders. You can follow him on Twitter here.

By Jason Keidel

During the interminable, snow-coated NBA season, it’s hard to keep the media and masses awake for 82 games. People don’t really pay attention until the fourth quarter of games and the fourth quarter of the season — the playoffs.

But this season has been rife with soap operatic entertainment. Will LeBron James, on the wrong side of 30, endure the incessant pounding and endless minutes on his epic frame? Will Carmelo Anthony finish his wholly unfulfilled season (and career) in New York, or be traded to a contender before Feb 23?

Then there’s the kaleidoscopic friendship that has morphed into the feud du jour: the tete-a-tete between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. And there’s no middle ground.

You’re either with Westbrook, the gifted guard who fills the box score like Oscar Robertson, who has become the emblem of loyalty and fidelity, who didn’t leave OKC burning like his former brethren. (Westbrook is like the last solider defending the fort, despite the impossible odds of winning.)

Or you’re in Camp Durant, all about upward mobility, about taking the better gig with the bigger group. The all-world forward joined a team that won 73 games last season, leaving former players and pundits calling an aesthetic, technical foul.

Of course, it’s more than one thing with Durant. There are almost too many layers to his treasonous move to Golden State. Not only did he leave Westbrook and OKC in the lurch, he joined the team OKC should have beaten in last year’s conference title series.

While Thunder fans would have had a lingering dissatisfaction no matter where Durant went, they could have metabolized any destination except Oakland. The whole thing jarred our old-school sensibilities. You’re allowed to switch teams for more money, for warm weather, even for a few more wins. But you don’t cross the symbolic line and join your archenemies. It’s no different from Bird joining the Lakers, from Jordan joining the Pistons or Magic joining the Celtics. Just this week Johnson told ESPN that there’s no way on earth he would have welcomed Larry Bird to Los Angeles. Likewise, Jordan has expressed a similar allergy toward snuggling with the enemy.

To his critics, Durant didn’t embrace the natural progression of building your roster, and yourself, until you huff your way up to that final rung. Even if Durant and the obscenely good Warriors win the title this year, it could not possibly fill him with the same glowing satisfaction that would have come with doing it in Oklahoma City. Instead of leading a team to a title, it feels like Durant hopped on the Teflon bandwagon, already on its way to the top, to poach a ring, rather than earn it.

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On some level you have to feel some sympathy for Westbrook, who has become the leading scorer, passer and rebounder for the Thunder. He does everything but perform surgery and sell peanuts.

And there’s more to this feud than two uber-competitive guys playing ball. It’s as if they shared a room with a slow gas leak, and Durant jumping ship was the spark that blew up the room. They had a grudging respect and faux friendship of forced smiles and chest bumps. But there’s clearly a simmering resentment that started long before Durant bolted for California.

If Oklahomans didn’t already have a sporting complex, they surely do now. Despite the fact that they stuff their NBA arena and show frothing support every night, they still aren’t regarded highly enough to land an MLB or NFL team. Before the Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City, you could argue that the only city sports fans knew was Norman, where Barry Switzer lorded over the only game in town. And even Switzer left his Sooners empire to scratch a professional itch. (Not to mention the Thunder once had three of the five best players on the planet — Westbrook, Durant and James Harden — all of whom are MVP candidates this year.)

On the court, their play has assumed predictable arcs. Durant, always known for his humble, low-key regularity, has fit into the Warriors like a thread through his jersey. Their selfless play matches his humble demeanor and hungry game. While most of the Warriors have a ring from two years ago, adding a guy like Durant makes for perfect hardwood alchemy. If any of the veteran players loaf into the land of apathy, Durant will remind them of his ringless fingers.

Westbrook has morphed into a triple-double machine, with almost every game nudging his name up the record books. Westbrook critics see this as the more perfect microcosm — a me-first diva who finally has the stage all to himself, his name the only one beaming from the team marquee.

On the court, the Warriors (47-9) have lapped the field, as predicted. Meanwhile, the Thunder (32-25) are hanging in, scrappy and frantic, like their eclectic and electric guard. It wouldn’t be that way had Durant stayed in OKC. But then this season wouldn’t be so much fun.

Jason writes a weekly column for CBS Local Sports. He is a native New Yorker, sans the elitist sensibilities, and believes there’s a world west of the Hudson River. A Yankees devotee and Steelers groupie, he has been scouring the forest of fertile NYC sports sections since the 1970s. He has written over 500 columns for WFAN/CBS NY, and also worked as a freelance writer for Sports Illustrated and Newsday subsidiary amNew York. He made his bones as a boxing writer, occasionally covering fights in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, but mostly inside Madison Square Garden. Follow him on Twitter @JasonKeidel.

By Jason Keidel

If the Golden State Warriors win the NBA title without serious help from Kevin Durant, it could be the most hollow championship in the NBA archives. He would get a ring, but it would almost be cosmetic, the cherry on top of a sundae he didn’t make.

Perhaps it’s unusual, if unprecedented, to say this about a pro athlete. But this could be the first time in the history of American team sports that winning a world championship could harm his legacy.

It would certainly be odd for someone so highly regarded, heralded, celebrated and salaried.

You could say the Warriors wouldn’t be in this position if not for Durant. Except they won 73 regular-season games without him last year. You could say they wouldn’t be dominating their first-round series without him. Except they did it last year. And they’re doing it this year, so far, sans his help.

Sure, the loser of the holy hardwood trinity — Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook — is clearly Westbrook. Not only is his team easily the worst of the three, he’s about to get spanked in five or six games by Harden’s Rockets.

But at least Westbrook and Harden are the main reason their teams are in the playoffs. Does anyone think the Warriors would have won 52 games without Durant? Does anyone see Durant’s arrival as anything other than superfluous or overkill?

The NBA Playoffs have only begun, but the Warriors have coasted to a 3-0 lead over the Portland Trail Blazers, two of the wins coming with Durant on the bench. Golden State also swept Portland 4-0 during the regular season, winning by an average of 26.5 points at home and 12.5 at Portland. So in this case, Durant’s presence is almost cosmetic.

As of March 29, Golden State was 11-4 sans Durant. They were 15-5 overall while Durant sat with a bum knee. They’re 2-0 without him so far in the postseason. Frankly, the media and masses know the Warriors can coast to the conference finals with Durant swapping his sweats for suits. In fact, you could argue the club misses head coach Steve Kerr as much (if not more) than Durant. Sadly, Kerr has been felled by some malady that seems to prevent him from walking, much less coaching.

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None of this is meant to demean, disparage or disrespect Kevin Durant. Whether he plays for the Thunder, Warriors or Globetrotters, he’s one of the three best players on Earth.

But there’s something to be said about chemistry. We scoff at all the bromides belched about unity and teamwork and selflessness. But it matters. And it really matters in basketball, where synchronicity is essential. With five players, five moving parts, one player’s misstep means exponentially more on the court than on the field. If the third baseman is poorly placed, it won’t matter unless the ball is hit to him. If the wideout misses his block it doesn’t matter if the ball is run to the other side.

So what does it say if the Warriors win without Durant? What if Steph Curry lifts the Larry O’Brien Trophy while Durant gently claps in an Armani suit? No one wants Durant to miss another minute of game time. But he’s been atypically brittle in 2017. And the Warriors hardly noticed.

It’s not like KD mailed it in, rode Curry’s coattails or handled himself with the slightest sense of entitlement. Durant, by all accounts, is a great guy. If you saw his sobbing acceptance speech the night he won NBA MVP, you see there’s not an inauthentic tendon inside his sprawling frame.

And Durant’s numbers reflect his All-Star arsenal. He averaged fewer points (25.1) than he had in eight years. But his .537 shooting percentage was the best of his career, as was his average inside the three-point line — a dazzling 60.8 percent. He also averaged the most rebounds (8.3) and steals (1.6) of his career and the third-most assists (4.9). Durant also averaged the fewest turnovers of his NBA career (2.2).

But is he worth the $26.5 million salary? Surely. But to the Warriors? Did they need to spend $54 million for two years knowing they were a lock for 60 wins and a trip to the NBA Finals?

Maybe it’s not what the Warriors gained as much as what the Thunder lost. You’ll recall that Oklahoma City was up 3-1 in last year’s Western Conference Finals. If not for an epic collapse, the Thunder would have at least played for the NBA title. Now, Russell Westbrook is left with the carnage, stuffing the stat sheet, losing playoff games and barking at reporters. The Warriors played this, like everything else, beautifully.

On some level, we all understand why Durant left, but his choice was curious. How could he have added to his legacy in Oakland? If the Warriors lose, it’s a referendum on Durant’s inability to play big under bright lights. It would italicize his killer instinct, or lack thereof. If the Warriors win, they did so by dint of their singular focus. Revenge. Payback. Erase that fourth-quarter LeBron block with another highlight on eternal loop.

We know why the Warriors signed Kevin Durant. Addition. Subtraction. And an assured trip to the NBA Finals. But the chip on Durant’s shoulder was removed the moment he signed with Golden State. Perhaps he can borrow one from Draymond Green.

Jason writes a weekly column for CBS Local Sports. He is a native New Yorker, sans the elitist sensibilities, and believes there’s a world west of the Hudson River. A Yankees devotee and Steelers groupie, he has been scouring the forest of fertile NYC sports sections since the 1970s. He has written over 500 columns for WFAN/CBS NY, and also worked as a freelance writer for Sports Illustrated and Newsday subsidiary amNew York. He made his bones as a boxing writer, occasionally covering fights in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, but mostly inside Madison Square Garden. Follow him on Twitter @JasonKeidel.

By Rahul Lal

It’s hard to create successful trilogies. Back to the Future tried it, Star Wars did it and Toy Story actually found a way to not lose anything along the way. The NBA is about to do their version, with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors dueling it out for a third straight year. They split the first two, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see either team take home the Larry O’Brien trophy this year. Both teams have been virtually unbeatable in the 2017 NBA Playoffs.

The Warriors seem to be everyone’s favorites to win this series and will open with fairly slim betting odds as well. They’ve been a perfect 12-0 on their way to the Finals and haven’t even been challenged by any of their Western Conference opponents. The Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and a depleted San Antonio Spurs had no answers. The biggest knock on these Warriors is that they haven’t been tested. It’s tough to hold that against them, because these Warriors could probably make any team look terrible — except for one, that is.

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

The Cavaliers took down the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics. While the Warriors coasted through virtually unscathed, the Cavs had some close calls against the Pacers and dropped a game to the Boston Celtics. Because both teams have been so dominant, we tend to over-analyze those games in which Cleveland could’ve lost or actually did. Against Indiana, they were a shot or two away near the buzzer from having a legitimate series on their hands. The dropped game against Boston looked like a new game plan from the Celtics and a failure to adjust — nothing more, nothing less.

We can analyze style of play, rotations and statistics as much as we want, but the first thing to look at in this Finals matchup is the players involved. Draymond Green and Kevin Love should present a fun defense-offense matchup while Klay Thompson will look to take on each one of Cleveland’s perimeter defenders. Steph Curry is the best point guard in this matchup, but it’s impossible to think Kyrie believes that. He’s on a mission to give Steph all that he can handle with those Uncle Drew buckets.

And then there’s LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant, a matchup of the two best players in the NBA. The two have met five times in the playoffs, with LeBron taking four of those games. Obviously, Kevin Durant didn’t have the team he does now, but the numbers are definitely still intriguing. LeBron averaged nearly a triple-double while limiting Durant to only two assists per game. Durant was spectacular in other ways, but the win-loss ratio should concern the Warriors.

Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant (Photo Credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The Warriors will push out their extraordinary offense, which is averaging over 115 points per 100 possessions per game this postseason. Those numbers are absolutely staggering. The Cavaliers, however, are putting up over 120 points per 100 possessions per game, which is even better. The key to the Cavs’ efficiency is the three-ball. Between LeBron, Love, Irving, Kyle Korver, JR Smith and Channing Frye, the team is operating at a ridiculous clip from range.

While all of these are incredible strengths for the Cavaliers, the Warriors will still be able to stop them. Ultimately, the Cavs have been able to play through all of their rotations without any serious pressure. Shortening up the rotations, given Golden State’s star power, can present plenty of problems for the Cavs. It will undoubtedly create a situation similar to the Finals two years ago, when LeBron was worthy of the Finals MVP, even with a loss.

This series could very easily go to seven games, though the Warriors will look to take advantage of the home-court advantage when they have it. Later in the series, they will be freshers and better able to play their juggernaut style of basketball, still messing with Cleveland’s rotations and fatiguing their players who aren’t named LeBron.

Prediction: Warriors in 7.

Rahul Lal is an LA native stuck in a lifelong, love-hate relationship with the Lakers, Dodgers and Raiders. You can follow him on Twitter here.

By Jason Keidel

Perhaps you’ve heard the historical parallels, rare as they are.

We see comets more often than two pro sports teams meeting in the finals in three consecutive seasons. In baseball, the Yankees and (NY) Giants played each other from 1921 through ’23, back when you needed five wins to bag the Fall Classic. In football, two currently forlorn franchises — the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns — played for the NFL championship between 1952 and 1954. And in the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens squared off three straight years, 1954-1956, for the right to raise the Stanley Cup.

And now we have the hardwood version.

Perhaps you’ve heard the odds in this year’s NBA Finals. According to Vegas, the Warriors are -260, which means you must bet $260 to win $100. Some basketball power indexes give the Warriors at least a 90 percent chance to defeat the Cavaliers, and seize the rubber match of their gripping championship trilogy.

Those are some staggering odds, considering that Cleveland has the world’s best player, in LeBron James. Considering they are defending world champions. Considering they beat the Warriors in the same position 12 months ago. Golden State has the home-court advantage, but they had it in 2016, as well.

Cleveland’s head coach, Tyronn Lue, says they won’t use their underdog status as a motivational tonic for his team. Being in the NBA Finals brings more than enough heft.

This series means a lot to LeBron’s legacy, and to the Warriors’ yearlong crusade for this shot at redemption. But it may mean the most to the Warriors’ best player, who hasn’t played a single minute of the 12 NBA Finals games over the last two years.

Kevin Durant.

Few free agent moves in history have spawned more rancor or reverence than Durant fleeing Oklahoma City for Oakland.

Even though the Warriors didn’t win the NBA Finals last year, it still felt like piling on, if not overkill, adding a Rolls Royce to a fleet of Bentleys. How does one really improve upon a 73-win team? Add an NBA MVP to a team that already has a two-time MVP.

It spoke to so many dynamics, but chief among them was the notion that Golden State doesn’t plan to play fair. Rather than take their licking, lick their wounds and beg for a rematch, they pulled the padding out of their gloves by adding a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, in his prime.

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Then there’s Durant, who was already on a team that had the Warriors on the ropes, up 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals, only to blow it. It wasn’t a matter of wounds or woeful play from the Warriors, either. The Thunder were running them out of the gym. So when Durant decided to join Golden State, there was a binary inference from fans. One was that he didn’t have the heart to stick it out long enough to stick it to the Warriors. The other is he doesn’t have the heart to win the traditional way… as a team, without pricey imports brought in to build a super team.

Oklahoma City was so agonizingly close to vanquishing the Warriors, it felt like Durant left the movie theater five minutes before finding out who the killer is. Maybe Russell Westbrook is that impossible to play with. Maybe Durant is simply writing the new NBA narrative of upward mobility, and it’s just taking us time to rewire our old-world sensibilities.

No matter, Durant better get it done over the next two weeks. This isn’t just another fortnight under the bright lights. This is legacy stuff, about whose grill goes up on the symbolic Mount Rushmore and who withers into a footnote.

Despite the fact that this is LeBron James’s seventh consecutive NBA Finals — a staggering achievement on its own — he’s still the stepchild in the GOAT debate, woefully behind that other No. 23. Why? Michael Jordan never lost an NBA Finals. He never even played seven games. Fair or not, LeBron is almost equally defined by the series he lost as the ones he won.

So if the best player on earth, with three rings on his sprawling hands, is subject to this kind of cynicism, imagine Durant’s critics if the Warriors lose this one. While they aren’t exactly the same club they were when the breezed to an all-time best 73-9 record, they added Kevin Durant, who negates any loss of size or depth. The Warriors are so good they spent this year largely on autopilot and won 67 games. Then they went 12-0 in these playoffs leading up to this clash of the titans.

Durant lost his shot at the King’s crown years ago, when his loaded Thunder roster got spanked by LeBron’s Miami Heat. While the world celebrated the holy hardwood trinity of LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the Thunder had three of the world’s five best players — Durant, Westbrook and James Harden. Westbrook and Harden just jousted for this year’s league MVP.

Those memories will be largely annexed if Golden State wins and Durant dominates. If Golden State loses, Durant will be forced to bury his head in the PR sand for months. Even if they win and Durant is the third-best player on the team, he will be viewed as someone who took a shortcut, who piggybacked an already stacked roster and rode the shoulders of the real champions, in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

That’s not fair, Durant apologists would say. It’s a team game. Well, ask Thunder fans how fair his exodus to Oakland was. Then ask both in two weeks.

Jason writes a weekly column for CBS Local Sports. He is a native New Yorker, sans the elitist sensibilities, and believes there’s a world west of the Hudson River. A Yankees devotee and Steelers groupie, he has been scouring the forest of fertile NYC sports sections since the 1970s. He has written over 500 columns for WFAN/CBS NY, and also worked as a freelance writer for Sports Illustrated and Newsday subsidiary amNew York. He made his bones as a boxing writer, occasionally covering fights in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, but mostly inside Madison Square Garden. Follow him on Twitter @JasonKeidel.

By Jason Keidel

The media vultures are hovering, talons out — courtside, ringside, at postgame pressers — ready to pounce on the hardwood carrion.

The vultures are circling — pens in one hand, shovel in the other, ready to scoop the dirt over Cleveland’s coffin.

The script has become soporific, if that’s possible, in the NBA Finals. Two up, two down. The Warriors are two games from not only vanquishing their tormentors, but also capping an epic, unprecedented run of 16 wins in 16 games. No team in NBA history has plowed through the modern playoffs unbeaten.

Like a cat pawing a cornered mouse, the Golden State Warriors seem to be keeping Cleveland in the game. By boredom or by dint of their dominance, they allow the Cavs to keep it close for a couple of quarters. But they always have their fists on the faucet. And when they twist the knob, it’s over, as it was last night in a game that felt close or competitive for about three quarters.

Then splash. Splash. And more splash. The leather ball burning the nylon nets at a dazzling pace.

An eight-point game with nine minutes left in the third quarter turned into a laugher. To italicize the point that the Warriors turn it on at their whim, consider that they’ve outscored Cleveland by 68-44 in the third quarter so far this series.

But as I said here on Friday, a 20-point and 10-point win hit the books with equal force, if not the same optics. The Warriors simply held serve, even if they did it with four aces, like Pete Sampras in his prime.

As NFL legend Don Shula said, however, the only stat that matters is beaming on that scoreboard. So while we can parse the particulars, and marvel at Golden State’s splendor, it’s two home wins by the favored team.

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The Captain Obvious observation is that the Cavs must step up if they are to make the NBA Finals more competitive, which means LeBron James can’t lead the squad in every salient statistic and defend the opponent’s best player and wash their uniforms and book the hotel rooms.

Which also means Tristan Thompson has to average more than four points and four rebounds.

It means someone has to remind J.R. Smith that he’s not only in the NBA Finals, but that he’s a starter. Between both starting squads, Smith has easily been the worst player on the floor. In two games, he’s scored three total points (zero last night), grabbed two total rebounds (both last night), and has more personal fouls (5) than assists and steals combined (0).

It means Kyrie Irving has to remember he wielded the Game 7 dagger that gutted the Warriors just 12 months ago. He has to shoot better than 18-for-45 (40 percent) from the floor over two games. As the point guard, he can’t let LeBron dish out more than double his assists (22 to 9). LeBron can be the lead singer, but he can’t play the guitar, keyboard and drums too.

If there is one telling, troubling stat for the Cavs, it’s that players LeBron has defended thus far are shooting 63 percent (17-27) from the floor and averaging 21.5 PPG so far. Last year, the number was 32 percent and 8 PPG. That speaks to two words, and one name — Kevin Durant.

Durant spent the offseason battered by the PR car wash, his reputation, courage and manhood questioned for bolting OKC for the friendly climes of California, for not finishing what he started and for reinforcing his reputation as a hardwood mercenary. But he’s attacked the NBA Finals with a fervor few have seen from him in the playoffs. Golden State didn’t need more incentive to make good on their yearlong pledge to right last year’s brutal wrong, blowing that 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. Still they added one of the three best players in the world to their roster, who also happens to be looking for his first ring, and also has unfinished business with King James, dating back to the 2012 Finals.

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The Warriors are not only playing better so far, they’re playing with more fire and hunger and confidence. After the historic comeback last year, you’d think the one area Cleveland had covered was mojo, the comfort that comes with knowing you not only can beat the man before you, but also that you did so the last time you squared off.

It was as if the Cavs were running on sand, huffing down a beach, while the Warriors wore fresh kicks, sprinting by them on a fresh hardwood floor. As if the Warriors were moonwalking or sleepwalking then spun around, sprinted and flew past Cleveland to the finish line.

Whatever the track & field metaphor, the Cavaliers need to either wake up or step up. They were in the same spot last year, down 2-0 with the eulogies half-written halfway through the series, only to take an eraser to the score, the narrative and to history. This is the rare moment when both fanbases can take some comfort in their current position.

Maybe all signs point to Golden State. But all roads still lead to Cleveland.

Jason writes a weekly column for CBS Local Sports. He is a native New Yorker, sans the elitist sensibilities, and believes there’s a world west of the Hudson River. A Yankees devotee and Steelers groupie, he has been scouring the forest of fertile NYC sports sections since the 1970s. He has written over 500 columns for WFAN/CBS NY, and also worked as a freelance writer for Sports Illustrated and Newsday subsidiary amNew York. He made his bones as a boxing writer, occasionally covering fights in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, but mostly inside Madison Square Garden. Follow him on Twitter @JasonKeidel.

By Jason Keidel

Fans have long lamented the length of the NBA season. It starts sometime around Halloween and, aside from a few showcase games on Christmas and MLK Day, we don’t watch the league with any fervor until after the Super Bowl.

So imagine how the Golden State Warriors feel. Any other team with a record of 58-23 would be dancing in the locker room. But with one more loss, the Warriors will have as many losses this year as they had the last two seasons combined (24). Other than LeBron James, who’s been to seven straight NBA Finals, no one gets the frivolity of winter basketball like this fresh new dynasty from Oakland.

But after playing step-for-step with the Rockets (64-16), the Warriors have plunged 6.5 games behind Houston to the second seed in the Western Conference. Not a big deal when you’re as battle-hardened as the Warriors. Unless you read more into it than simply their wins and losses. They’ve split their last 10 games, and are 7-9 over their last 16 contests.

Steph Curry, the two-time NBA MVP and unofficial heartbeat of the franchise, has played in just 51 of 81 games, and is currently fighting a knee injury that has him shooting typically well before games, just not during games. His splash brother, Klay Thompson, can pick up some of the slack, as he did last night against the Phoenix Suns, but they are the Phoenix Suns (20-61), part of the tanking movement that has plagued the NBA for a few years now.

Kevin Durant (Photo Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The other stars in the constellation of All-Stars dotting the roster have been a bit more durable. Thompson (72), Draymond Green (69), and Kevin Durant (67) have played a robust portion of the 82-game slate, which ends this week. But beyond injuries, there seems to be a simmering discontent among the Warriors, especially within the most important player not named Curry.

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Indeed, the MVP of last year’s NBA Finals — Kevin Durant — has been oddly assertive, if not downright angry, for much of this season. Durant has shed the low-key regularity that came to define him in Oklahoma City and is way more vocal and aggressive these days, getting tossed from games with troubling frequency. Durant has gone from modest to maniacal, at least when it comes to the rate of technical fouls whistled his way.

After getting tossed from a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Durant blamed his growing irritation on his insatiable desire to win the NBA title. But Durant was able to do that last year without these verbal outbursts on the hardwood. He’s now been ejected from five games this season, while he was only removed from one game over the first 10 years of his career. The two technical fouls that got him bounced from the Bucks game were his 13th and 14th for the season, leaving him just two short of an automatic, one-game suspension.

Then we had the ugly loss last week, a woeful effort during a 126-106 drubbing at Indiana, a game head coach Steve Kerr called embarrassing, saying the club played like it didn’t care. (It was the second time this season Kerr made such an assertion.) Again making his opinion atypically loud, Durant publicly disagreed with Kerr.

These could all be the trivial machinations of a team that is just snoozing through the regular season, with its alarm set for the first night of the playoffs. If team sports have taught us anything, it’s that the only thing harder than winning a world championship is doing it again. Maybe the Warriors crave the infighting or adversity to keep them on edge, to remain the kind of hardwood carnivores that win consecutive NBA Finals.

But for the first time since this enchanted run started, the biggest threat to Golden State isn’t in Ohio, and isn’t wearing No. 23. Once Cleveland dealt Kyrie Irving, predictably straining to win just 49 games this season, King James isn’t the talk or chalk of the NBA. The Warriors have to worry about those pesky Rockets, who have already beat the Warriors twice out of three games. According to Vegasinsider.com, the Dubs are 6-5 favorites to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The Rockets are a whisker behind, at 8-5.

By the time they reach the Western Conference Finals — presumably in Houston — the Warriors will be physically fit. Between the ears, they’d better flip the switch, or they may switch places with the Rockets in the new-world pecking order.

Jason writes a weekly column for CBS Local Sports. He is a native New Yorker, sans the elitist sensibilities, and believes there’s a world west of the Hudson River. A Yankees devotee and Steelers groupie, he has been scouring the forest of fertile NYC sports sections since the 1970s. He has written over 500 columns for WFAN/CBS NY, and also worked as a freelance writer for Sports Illustrated and Newsday subsidiary amNew York. He made his bones as a boxing writer, occasionally covering fights in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, but mostly inside Madison Square Garden. Follow him on Twitter @JasonKeidel.

By Matt Citak

It took until the eighth contest of this year’s conference finals, but finally we were rewarded with a nail-biter.

The Houston Rockets entered Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals with their backs to the wall. Already down 2-1, losing a second straight game at Oracle Arena would have left the league’s regular-season champions in a deficit too large to overcome.

As good as Houston is, they knew that the chances of coming back from a 3-1 hole were quite slim. The Golden State Warriors have one of the most talented all-around rosters the NBA has ever seen, and it would have taken a monumental collapse for them to lose a 3-1 series lead. (Before you mention the 2015 NBA Finals, remember Kevin Durant was not on the team yet.)

So when the Warriors outscored the Rockets 34-17 in the third quarter of Tuesday night’s contest, building a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, you could sense the blood pressure rising in Houston.

Steph Curry picked up 17 of his 28 points in the third quarter alone to help Golden State build its second-half lead. Considering it was Curry’s 18-point third quarter that helped ignite Houston’s downfall on Sunday, the former MVP’s performance Tuesday night looked like it would lead to a similar finish.

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James Harden and Steph Curry (L-R) (Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

But, unlike in Game 3, which saw the Rockets get outscored by 20 points in the final frame, Houston was prepared to leave everything on the court to even the series at two.

Chris Paul, who after the game admitted he’s been dealing with foot soreness since the end of Game 2, played a major role in Houston’s comeback. The All-Star point guard, appearing in his first conference finals, scored or assisted on 10 of the Rockets’ first 15 points in the fourth quarter, helping his team erase the 10-point deficit and take a one-point lead halfway through the fourth.

Houston desperately needed Paul to play up to his full potential, even with the foot injury, given how poorly James Harden performed in the second half.

Harden wowed in the first two quarters, dropping 24 points while looking just about unstoppable on the offensive end of the court. However that changed at halftime, and in the final 24 minutes, the likely league MVP went ice cold.

The 6-foot-5 guard couldn’t buy a shot in the second half, as he went 3-for-9 from the field and 0-for-5 from the three-point line. In the fourth quarter alone, Harden’s only points came on a layup while he missed all three of his attempts from deep.

Despite the Rockets finishing the regular season with the league’s second-best offense (trailing only the Warriors), it was the team’s defense that truly led to their significant Game 4 victory.

Houston limited Golden State and its historically potent offense to a mere 12 fourth-quarter points. The Warriors, with a lineup containing of two former MVPs in Curry and Durant, not to mention Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, shot a horrid 3-for-18 in the final frame. For those keeping track, that’s an abysmal 16.7 percent shooting.

The Rockets found a way to shut down Durant and Curry in the fourth, holding the pair to a combined 2-for-13 in the final 12 minutes, including 0-for-5 from long range. This was no easy feat considering the duo finished tied for sixth in the NBA in points per game this year at 26.4 each.

Houston showed a level of toughness on Tuesday that we have not really seen from Mike D’Antoni’s squad this year. The team finished the regular season with the NBA’s highest point differential, not to mention a league-leading 65 wins, and thus were not used to such physically and emotionally draining games.

But facing a do-or-die situation in what could be the most hostile environment in the NBA, against one of the most dominant teams in league history, the Rockets battled and found a way to even the series at two.

After the final buzzer, it became clear that if Houston ends up winning two of the next three games and reaching the Finals, the fourth quarter of Game 4 will likely have been the turning point of the series.

So for all of those that counted the Rockets out before the Western Conference Finals even began — it looks like we’ve got ourselves a series now.

Matt Citak is a contributor for CBS Local Sports and a proud Vanderbilt alum. Follow him on Twitter.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James knows there’s one thing that is certain, no matter who wins this year’s NBA title.

There will be no White House visit for the champions.

President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his Tuesday ceremony celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl victory after many players declined to show up.

The White House accused the players of abandoning their fans, and Trump quickly scheduled a “Celebration of America” with military bands as he stoked fresh controversy over players who protest racial injustice by taking a knee during the national anthem.

Trump’s action was the talk of the NBA Finals off-day on Tuesday.

“It’s typical of him,” James said. “I’m not surprised…I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants to invite anybody. It won’t be Golden State or Cleveland going.”

“Listen we have a lot of freedom in our country. Males or females have the right to do what they want to do,” he continued. “If they (the Eagles players) decided they didn’t want to go, they have the right.”

After last year’s NBA title victory, Trump withdrew an invitation to the Warriors after star Steph Curry said he was considering not going. At the time, James took to social media to support Curry.

“I think as long as he is in office, the communication and things like that are going to continue to happen,” James said. “There is a lot of things we believe in as Americans that we don’t feel that he is for. There is a lot of people who believe that he’s not for the people or doing things that are right by the people so it’s not surprising hearing the news today with the Eagles.”

When asked about the WNBA Minnesota Lynx not even being offered an invitation for a White House visit after they won their title, James said it didn’t surprise him.

“I think it’s laughable at this point,” he said. “You always hear the saying — ‘You laugh to stop you from crying'”

When asked about the Eagles, Curry said any team that wins a championship will be faced with the decision of whether or not they will travel to the White House.

“Any team that wins the championship is going to be in a decision-making situation where you have to do what is in the best interest of your team,” he said.

“It’s not surprising,” Curry added. “It’s unfortunate, but we all have our right to do what we want to do and Eagles fell in line with that.”

Like LeBron, Curry does not expect Trump to invite this year’s champs to the White House.

“I agree with ‘bron,” Curry said. “I’m pretty sure the way we handled things last year we’d stay consistent with that (choosing not to go if invited)”

Kevin Durant agreed with both Curry and James.

“When someone says they don’t want to come to the White House, he disinvites them so the photo op doesn’t look bad,” he said. “We get it at this point, but it’s good that guys are sticking to what they believe in…I’m sure whoever wins this series will not be going.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr has been an outspoken critic of Trump. He also wasn’t surprised.

“The President has made it pretty clear, he’s going to try and divide us in this country for political gain,” Kerr said. “It’s just the way it. We all look for to the day we can go back to just having a celebration of athletic achievement and celebrate Americans for their achievements and good deeds.”

“The irony is the Eagles have been nothing but fantastic citizens in their own communities. They have done so much good.”

By Norm Elrod

So much of the NBA free agency talk seems to focus on LeBron James, and for good reason. When the best player in the league is available — who can elevate any team to conference contender — every front office at least runs the numbers.

But this NBA free agency season offers plenty of talent beyond LeBron, from difference makers to glue guys to bench depth. Here are the top 10 free agents, from the King on down.

LeBron James (Photo Credit: Jason Miller/Getty Images)

LeBron James

Every NBA team wants LeBron. Every NBA team could use LeBron. But only one NBA team will get LeBron. Welcome to the 2018 edition of the LeBron James sweepstakes. Hopefully it won’t be a PR disaster this time around. So much has been said about LeBron, the best player of his generation and possibly the best player ever, once his career wraps up. So let’s focus on recent history. Turning 33, in his 15th season, he showed little sign of slowing down, in a league that’s speeding up. He averaged over 27 points on about 37 minutes per game in the regular season and 34 and 42 in the postseason. And he carried an undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals, his eighth Finals appearance in a row. He’s LeBron.

Kevin Durant

Durant probably isn’t leaving Golden State, as much as the rest of the league would like to see some cracks in the Warriors’ foundation. But he is most definitely an elite talent who could decide to exercise his player option, shop his services and shift the balance of power in the NBA. Stranger things have happened in free agency. It was reported just today that LeBron reached out to KD about playing for the Lakers. Still, re-upping with Golden State for some combination of more money and more time is probably how this will play out. Durant, for his part is a nine-time NBA All-star, a two-time NBA Finals champion and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. He’s an elite scorer and playmaker and among the best players of his generation.

Paul George (Photo Credit: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Paul George

The Russell Westbrook-Paul George pairing could have been so much more, perhaps with a third superstar not named Carmelo. Alas, the Oklahoma City Thunder bowed out of the NBA Playoffs early, losing their first-round series 4-2 to the Utah Jazz. George had a strong season for the Thunder, putting up 22 points per game and shooting 40% from three on a team where he wasn’t the featured scorer. But can the Thunder really do much better than a four seed in the West and a quick departure? The 6’8″ swingman could, in theory, choose to stay in OKC. Or he could try a market where he would get paid handsomely, perhaps to play next to LeBron, if the King lands with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Chris Paul

Did Chris Paul just miss his best chance at an NBA title? Well, it depends on how much mileage he has left in those legs. The James Harden-Chris Paul tandem looked basically unstoppable last season, as the Rockets piled up 65 wins to easily grab the top seed in the playoffs. And they sure seemed to have the Warriors figured out in the Western Conference Finals, right up until Paul’s untimely hamstring injury. The 33-year-old point guard, with a history of injuries, is still the best passer in the NBA. As an unrestricted free agent, he probably isn’t going to find a better situation than he has in Houston. And both sides know it. So let’s see how negotiations play out.

Clint Capela (Photo Credit: Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images)

Clint Capela

Paul isn’t he only free agent with a good thing going in Houston. Clint Capela, the Rockets’ 6’10” center, is a restricted free agent, meaning the Rockets can match any offer he receives. Coming off a career year that saw him average 14 points and 11 rebounds per game, while shooting 65% from the field, he’s going to attract some interest. Is Capela worth a max contract? He certainly benefitted from playing alongside Harden and Paul. And would (or could) the Rockets match an offer that big? That remains to be seen too. But Capela is the sort of running, shot-blocking big man that is coveted in today’s NBA.

DeMarcus Cousins

DeMarcus Cousins is coming off a torn left Achilles, which ended his season and could make him less of a player than he was. Boogie, pre-injury, was a force with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Sacramento Kings before that. In 48 games last season, the 6’11” 270-pound center averaged 25 points, 13 rebounds and 5+ assists per game, leading all NBA centers in points and assists and coming in third in rebounds. His numbers put him in historically elite company. Despite positive reports on his recovery, teams will want to know that his Achilles has fully healed, which could keep the unrestricted free agent from getting a longterm max deal. He’ll have suitors beyond the Pelicans; the Mavericks and Wizards have both been mentioned. But what are teams willing to commit, and what will they expect?

DeAndre Jordan (Photo Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

DeAndre Jordan

DeAndre Jordan is certainly on the Mavericks radar as well, not to mention the Milwaukee Bucks’. But what the Clippers’ 6’11” center does in free agency depends on his predicted value in the market. Can he make more than the $24 million the Clippers will pay to protect the rim and catch lobs? That is the question. Jordan is the last remaining member of this former playoff contender trying to stave off a full-on rebuild. And his 12 points and a whopping 15 rebounds per game last season helped keep them mildly competitive last season. With the acquisition of Marcin Gortat, the Clippers seem prepared for Jordan to leave, or to trade him if he stays. It’s up to Jordan to take the first step.

Aaron Gordon

Aaron Gordon is the Orlando Magic’s best player, and whatever moves they make in free agency hinge on what happens with him. The 6’9″ power forward, drafted fourth in 2014, has improved with every year in the league. Once an athletic marvel who could jump out of the building but lacked a real scoring touch, Gordon is now a legitimate offensive threat. Last season he averaged over 17 points per game on 43% shooting (and 34% shooting from three), not to mention eight rebounds. Given that his game is trending upwards, the 22-year-old rising star will attract some interest, perhaps from the Suns or Hawks. But just how much attention? And will the Magic be willing to match any offers directed toward the restricted free agent? They’ve already extended a qualifying offer, so the process is underway.

Julius Randle (Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Julius Randle

Julius Randle is finally becoming the player the Los Angeles Lakers drafted him to be. As a power forward and small-ball center who can get up and down the court, he averaged 16 points, on 56% shooting, and eight rebounds, while playing every game of the 2017-18 season. But if LeBron and friends come to town, he’ll be showing off those skills somewhere like Indiana or Dallas. The Lakers have extended the restricted free agent a qualifying offer; he was, after all, a key part of their young core last season and remains a solid backup plan. LeBron will reportedly announce his free agency decision by July 4.

Marcus Smart

Marcus Smart would like to stay in Boston, and the Celtics would like to keep him. But there are limits, of the salary cap variety. Smart had a key role in the team’s unlikely playoff run last season, playing stellar defense and doing the little things that don’t always show up on the stat sheet. The fans love him, and his teammates respond to him. And while the restricted free agent is a career 36% shooter, he would have a place on a Celtics team that doesn’t need him to score. They almost won the Eastern Conference Finals, and they did it without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, two elite scorers. Smart seems to think his talents are worth somewhere in the $12 to $14 million range. Do the Celtics agree?