| | So it all comes down to the final week of the season. In the East, don't be surprised if a lot of things change between now and the end of the regular season next Wednesday. The top East seed? Up for grabs. The bottom East seed? Up for grabs. Home court between the No. 4 and 5 seeds in each conference. Well, you get the picture.
Anyway, here's a little quick Monday Around The Rim. As always, if you wanna vent your feelings on Around The Rim or anything NBA, just click here and e-mail us.
In Heroes and Goats, Alonzo Mourning had the best numbers for the Heat, but if Timmy doesn't hit the hail mary, then Allan Houston is a hero, Jamal Mashburn (a brutal 1-for-14) is a goat and the Heat might be looking at the No. 3 seed. Now they're looking at the top seed. ... Larry Hughes couldn't coexist with Allen Iverson in Philly. Wonder why? He's the same type of player, and if those two combine for 60 shots, nobody else ever takes a shot. ... Bo Outlaw and Ben Wallace could really torture Rik Smits and Dale Davis in the playoffs. Something to think about. ... Nick Anderson got tossed. Did anyone notice? Here's some more. Enjoy.
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Heroes ...
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 Tim Hardaway
Heat
Amazing what one shot can do for a team
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 Penny Hardaway
Suns
Amazing what losing Jason Kidd can do for a team
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 Larry Hughes
Warriors
Amazing what yet another lottery pick can do for a team
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... and Goats
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 Howard Eisley
Jazz
Hit 2-of-9 FG, and Francis ran all over him
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 Allen Iverson
Sixers
Other than threes, shot 4-of-17, and it's hard for a team to overcome it
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 Reggie Miller
Pacers
See Iverson, but he missed fewer shots
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Just some rumblings
No, this wasn't Philadelphia. The line for Lakers playoff tickets grew so crowded and rowdy on Saturday outside the Staples Center that the L.A. Police Department requested that the sale be postponed for another week. This much demand to see a 30-point win over the Sonics? One person was arrested for investigation of battery against an officer. Some people had been waiting overnight for priority numbers that would just give them a chance at tickets!
Hakeem Olajuwon's season is over. Olajuwon went on the injured list March 23 with respiratory
problems that physicians had hoped would clear within two
weeks. Though they said Olajuwon has improved, Muntz and
Lowe affirmed he would not be cleared to play in any of the
Rockets' remaining five games.
"He's definitely doing better, but I don't foresee him coming
back," Muntz said. "He won't be able to play again this season."
Olajuwon, 37, played in just 44 games this season, spending
stints on the injured list with a hernia and then with his current
condition, a reactive airway disease that restricts the flow of air
through his bronchial passages during heavy exercise. He
averaged 10.3 points and 6.2 rebounds, both career lows.
"To not play for three weeks and then try to come back to play,
there is no way he could be in game condition in time," Lowe
said. "Right now, we're pointing toward next year."
George Karl fueled the fire as the Bucks and Magic prepare to meet twice in the final week for the No. 8 playoff spot in the East.
Last week, Karl accused the league and the television
networks of favoritism toward the Magic, whom he refers to as
"the darlings of the NBA."
This time, Karl took aim at Orlando general manager John
Gabriel for the offseason targeting of high-profile free agents
such as Tim Duncan and Grant Hill at the eventual expense of
the no-name players who have the surprising Magic on the
verge of the playoffs.
"The thing, I think, that no one talks about is (Magic coach)
Doc (Rivers) and the players have done a great job," Karl said.
"But there's a chance only four or five of those players will be
back on that team.
"We talk about players not having loyalty. John Gabriel and the
organization is not going to have any loyalty to a team that's
giving Orlando a hell of a run. I think that's kind of (expletive),
to be honest with you."
"I'm not saying what they're doing is right or wrong," Karl said.
"We complain about the players not being loyal. Here's an
organization that is not being very loyal. I think the good stuff of
the game should be rewarded, and the one thing I like about
Orlando is they play the game the right way.
"They play with a lot of intensity and a lot of defensive
commitment. They play hard, and their personality seems to be
very unselfish. And what John Gabriel is saying, 'Hey, work
your (expletive) off and we'll get rid of you.' "
Don't look for referee Steve Javie and Dan Issel to be at the same party anytime soon. In fact, rumblings we hear are that Issel may not want to coach next season. Anyway,
Issel was ejected for the sixth time this season -- half
of them by Javie -- in the waning moments of
Sunday's 117-103 loss to the Warriors.
It was the second time in less than three weeks.
Javie ejected Issel on March 23 in Denver during a
Nuggets loss to Washington.
Nuggets forward Chris Gatling had just made a layup
and was insisting he had been fouled. Javie, in the
view of some on the Nuggets bench, was taunting
Gatling, making suggestions which cannot be
recounted here, and, according to one witness,
sticking out his tongue at him.
"I thought there was some taunting going on and I'll
make my report to the league office," said Issel, who
declined further comment on his history with Javie.
When Issel told Javie he couldn't do what he was
doing to Gatling, it began a conversation that grew
increasingly unfriendly until Javie gave him a
technical -- his second of the game -- and tossed
him.
Nick Van Exel, standing nearby, also already had one
technical.
"I said, 'That's terrible' for throwing Dan out, and he
gave me a technical, too," Van Exel recounted.
One bystander said Javie told Van Exel, "Why don't
you join him?"
"Print what you see is going on out there," Van Exel
told reporters. "Anytime a player says something, it
gets the player fined, but nobody wants to address
the officials."
Veteran George McCloud acknowledged, however,
that the very sight of Javie on the court now signals
trouble to the Nuggets as a group.
"It's been that way every game," he said. "Every
game that he's reffed, it's been something. So you
can call it what you want. I don't think it's fair, but
there's really nothing we can do about it. I think it
should be looked at amongst the people who are in
charge of officiating (to) see why in a lot of instances
we're getting the short end of the stick in games that
he officiates.
"I don't really like to say anything about the
officiating because I think players decide the
outcome of a game, but when players get tossed out
of games, coaches get tossed out of games,
consecutive games that he officiates, you've got to
think, why?"
Way to go Celtics. Rick Pitino's numerous tirades have not spurned Boston's finest to the playoffs, but to a 10-game losing streak.
"It's a good group of guys and we're better than what the record indicates,"
Antoine Walker said. "You don't want to tank the season, you don't want it to go to
waste, because then you force management to shake it up, and if I was
management I would shake it up, too, if that was the case. But we've got to
continue to work. Two weeks ago, we were a half-game out of the playoffs
and, unfortunately, things went south on us.
"The cure for that is to get back and to play good basketball and finish out as
good as possible. Ten has got to be the magic number that this has got to stop
at. We've got to come back and get a win Monday night."
The shot
If the Heat go on to win the Atlantic by the margin of Tim Hardaway's game-winning shot on Sunday, we'll all remember the game. Hey, we may remember it for a while anyway. Here are some of the better things said after the game.
"That shot was up there a long time," Heat forward P.J. Brown
said. "It was like 'Hoosiers.' You hear the music -- I can't hum
it, but it's like a harp and a violin. It was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen."
"I shot-putted it up," Hardaway said. "I can't describe the
emotion when it went in. It was a beautiful experience. If it's a lucky shot, so be it. It went in. Game
over. I'll take the lucky shot."
"I was all over him," Chris Childs said. "I thought I had him
stopped. He just stood back, threw it up and it went in. Great
players make great plays."
"A miracle," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said.
"A prayer," Patrick Ewing said. "To lose on a prayer is very hard to swallow."
"Crazy," Allan Houston said. "When it first goes in, it's disbelief. Everyone stood still for a second. He made a tough shot and there's nothing you can do about it."
Looking back
45 Years Ago Monday...
April 10, 1955
Syracuse defeated Fort Wayne 92-91 in Game 7 of the 1955 NBA Finals, marking the only time in the history of the championship series that the home team won every game.
Five Years Ago Tuesday...
April 11, 1995
Dallas (15) and Houston (13) combined to set an NBA record for the most three-point field goals made in a game with 28, during the Mavericks' 156-147 double-overtime road victory, breaking the previous record of 23 set during the 1993-94 season by Miami and the Los Angeles Clippers. The Mavericks and Rockets also set NBA records for most three-point field goal attempts (64) in a game and combined for the most points scored in overtime (46). Rookie Jason Kidd hit a team-record eight three-pointers to lead Dallas, while Kenny Smith paced Houston with five.
Five Years Ago Wednesday...
April 12, 1995
Golden State set an NBA record by knocking down 17 three-pointers in 30 attempts, breaking the mark of 16 previously held by Sacramento, during a 123-109 road triumph at Minnesota. Chris Mullin led the Warriors' barrage from behind the arc by hitting 6-of-9 three-point attempts.
Five Years Ago Thursday...
April 13, 1995
John Starks attempted his 565th three-pointer of the season, an NBA record, in a 110-100 Knicks victory at home against Milwaukee. Starks finished the season with 611 attempts.
25 Years Ago Thursday...
April 13, 1975
Larry McNeill of the KC-Omaha Kings shot 12-for-12 from the field, setting an NBA Playoff record for most field goals without a miss, in a 102-95 triumph over Chicago in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
Quote of the Night
"We were basically on the verge of being embarrassed. We made a game of it but it's tough on everyone to get down
by 20. We have to be disappointed in ourselves."
-- Nuggets swingman George McCloud, whose team pretty much was embarrassed anyway.
Quote of the Night, Part II
"The way Utah plays, it's hard to keep your composure. I'm sure I'm not the only one in the league who
thinks they play dirty."
-- Steve Francis.
Quote of the Night, Part III
"It's the time of year when the playoff teams step it up
because they're getting ready for the real season. Us being such a young team, we don't really understand that,
so teams have kind of knocked us back on our heels."
-- Vancouver's Dennis Scott.
Eric Karabell is ESPN.com's NBA editor.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Playoff Push, April 10
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