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NBA Finals Capsules: Series is Boston bound tied at 1 game apiece
BOSTON (AP) — Chin resting in his hand, mouth barely moving as he spoke, Kobe Bryant had the look of someone who would have rather been anywhere but Staples Center.
The next few nights might make him long to be back home.
The NBA's best rivalry is returning to its East Coast headquarters, site of perhaps the most miserable moment of Bryant's career last time he and the Los Angeles Lakers were here for the finals.
And the Boston Celtics and their green-clad fans can't wait to welcome him back.
"I feel good going back to the jungle," Celtics forward Kevin Garnett said Sunday.
Those familiar "Beat L.A! Beat L.A!" chants that have echoed through the Garden during so many springtimes will be booming again, and the Celtics can lock up an 18th NBA title if they can do just that three times.
Game 2 is Tuesday night, followed by games Thursday and Sunday in Boston.
The Celtics evened the series at a game apiece with their 103-94 victory in Game 2, with guards Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen taking turns punishing the Lakers, and Bryant often powerless to stop them because of foul trouble.
A fuming Bryant had little to say afterward, offering terse responses as he looked back on that game and ahead to the next one.
"It's the most important game. Game 1 was the most important, Game 2 was the most important, now it's Game 3," Bryant said. "It's just the next game, simple as that."
The finals are deadlocked after two games for the first time since 2004, when the Detroit Pistons split a pair in Los Angeles before coming home and winning three straight to take the series. That was Bryant's first loss in the championship round.
His other one came two years ago, on a night the Lakers will never forget.
The Celtics pummeled them 131-92 in a Game 6 rout that was decided after mere minutes. While Garnett, Allen and Pierce celebrated their long-awaited first NBA title, the humiliated Lakers sat trapped in their team bus as Boston fans taunted them from the street.
"Obviously there's feelings involved and there's memories that are in there, which should help us, should help us to push through and to battle even harder," Lakers forward Pau Gasol said of that night.
Both teams were off Monday following the cross-country flight from Los Angeles. The 2-3-2 format in the NBA finals was instituted in the mid-1980s, when Lakers-Celtics matchups were as common in June as graduation parties, to limit the amount of coast to coast trips. But a return to California won't be needed if either team can win three straight.
"We took home court, so we've got a chance to play three games (at home)," Celtics forward Paul Pierce said Sunday. "But I told you all yesterday that doesn't guarantee we're going to win the games because we're at home. We've got to go out there and play the game. They're going to be coming into our house and we can't assume anything. We can't take it for granted."
The Celtics turned things around following their 102-89 loss in their opener by toughening up their defense, limiting the Lakers to 41 percent shooting. Rondo tracked down the long rebounds of many missed shots to ignite Boston's fast break, and Allen capitalized on the open looks that created by making an NBA finals-record eight 3-pointers while scoring 32 points.
The Lakers were frustrated by the foul trouble for Bryant and top reserve Lamar Odom, who has been ineffective in both games. Bryant was more annoyed with his team's defense against Boston's guards, wasting strong efforts from Gasol and center Andrew Bynum.
"It has nothing to do with scoring. Nothing. It's all defensively," Bryant said. "We gave them too many easy baskets and blew too many defensive assignments. That's it."
Now they'll have to play better on the road than they have in some previous series, having lost twice at both Oklahoma City and Phoenix earlier in the postseason.
Just like in those series, they're searching for ways to slow down a dynamic point guard. Rondo had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in his fifth career triple-double, repeatedly beating the Lakers to loose balls and then beating them down the court.
"In a sequence like this, there's no doubt it's a blow to us to lose the home court, but we anticipated this might happen, and we're just going to have to go pick it up," coach Phil Jackson said.
Los Angeles dropped all three road games during the 2008 finals, but the Celtics aren't as dominant on the parquet now as they were back then. The Lakers haven't lost in Boston since that night that ended their season two years ago, posting a pair of regular-season victories.
"Game 3 is the biggest game of the series so far. These two games are behind us," Rondo said. "You know, they're not in a bad situation at all. They're a good road team, and we're a good home team. It's going to be a good game."
Notebook: Celtics hold onto ball, steal home court in Finals
BOSTON (AP) — The Celtics were able to hold on in Game 2 because they held onto the ball.
Boston committed 12 turnovers in the first half and just two in the second in Sunday night's 103-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. The win evened the best-of-seven series at 1-1, heading into Tuesday night's Game 3 in Boston.
Some of the Celtics' biggest turnovers on Sunday came in the last two minutes of the second quarter, when the Lakers cut a 54-41 deficit to six points. Kobe Bryant stole the ball with 3 seconds left and hit a 3-pointer — then stole the inbounds pass but missed a 3 that would have made it a three-point game.
"The last couple were brutal," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "We had a chance to be up nine or 12 to end the half. But we weathered that storm, and I thought in the second half we played with great composure."
In the end, it was the Lakers who turned the ball over.
Andrew Bynum was called for an offensive foul with 4:39 left and the Lakers leading 90-89. Ron Artest threw the ball away to let the Celtics open a 93-90 lead, then Rondo blocked Derek Fisher's 3-point attempt from behind with under 3 minutes left.
"Yes, we had some turnovers," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "That kind of set them off and set the game off and turned it around in that sequence. We had a little lead right at the end, and we didn't do our job. They did."
It was an eight-point game when Bryant cut it to 98-93 on a long 3-pointer with 53 seconds to play, but the next time down Rondo poked the ball away from the Lakers star.
The Lakers finished with 15 turnovers.
"We turned the ball over a couple times down the stretch when the game was on the line," forward Pau Gasol said. "That was tough, deflating. And we just couldn't convert offensively at the end. They took advantage and took their time and converted and executed their plays. So that's kind of how it got away from us."
BLOCK PARTY: Lakers center Andrew Bynum blocked seven shots in Game 2, two shy of the finals record set by Orlando's Dwight Howard in Game 4 last year against the Lakers. The Lakers franchise playoff record for blocks is also nine, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1977.
Bynum had been nursing a sore right knee. He had fluid drained on Monday, then had 10 points and six rebounds in a little more than 28 minutes of Los Angeles' 102-89 Game 1 victory.
In Game 2, he scored 21 points with six boards and added some key blocked shots.
"He recovered really well off of some swelling that he had on that knee," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Trainers were able to get that down and back in order and he was able to play, I think, great. (He's in) as good a physical shape as he could possibly be in at this time of the year, and we were pleased with that. I was just pleased that he could play 35 minutes plus. That was a big part of that effort that he gave us tonight."
HOME COOKING: The home team had won the first two games in each of the last five years. Since the finals went to the 2-3-2 format in 1985, the teams have split the first two games 11 times — the last in 2004.
The Lakers had won 12 straight playoff games at home, dating to Game 2 of last year's conference finals against Denver. Los Angeles tied for the second-best home record in the NBA in the regular season, with one win fewer than Cleveland.
The Celtics were only 24-17 at home this year — tied for worst among playoff qualifiers — with a 26-15 road mark that was tied for second in the NBA. It's the first time the Celtics have had a better record on the road than at home since 1974, and just the second time since 1955.
The Celtics haven't played at home since May 28, and forward Paul Pierce thinks the fans will be excited for their return.
"It's going to be a championship atmosphere, the Garden's going to be loud," he said. "They've been waiting for us a week and a half now so it's going to be a pretty raucous crowd."
THE STARS AT NIGHT: Boston can't match Los Angeles for movie star power, but the Celtics expect a few celebrities in the crowd when they host their first game of the NBA finals on Tuesday night.
"Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo is expected to be courtside, as are comedian Dane Cook and actor Donnie Wahlberg.
Dave Cowens is also planning to watch his former team take on the Lakers, a day after welcoming the NBA's Larry O'Brien championship trophy when it arrived aboard a special Southwest Airlines jet dubbed "Slam Dunk One."
Rhythm and blues singer Monica is scheduled to sing the national anthem before Game 3.
FAST BREAKS: Rondo's triple-double was the first for a point guard in the finals since New Jersey's Jason Kidd had 23 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds against the Lakers in 2002.
-- Jimmy Golen
Game 2 earns best preliminary rating since 2004
NEW YORK (AP) — The Celtics' series-tying win earned the highest preliminary rating for Game 2 of an NBA finals since 2004.
Boston's 103-94 victory Sunday night on ABC drew a 10.9 overnight rating. That's up 10 percent from the 9.9 for last year's Magic-Lakers Game 2.
Ratings measure the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program. Overnight ratings represent the country's largest markets.
Elsewhere
Mich. St AD: Cavs haven't offered Izzo a contract
Tom Izzo has another suitor.
Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis told The Associated Press on Monday the Cleveland Cavaliers are interested in replacing fired coach Mike Brown with Izzo
"There is not a contract offer on the table," Hollis said in a telephone interview. "Last week, there was talk that Chicago and New Jersey were interested. If I was anywhere but at Michigan State, I would be interested in Tom, too, because he's the best coach in college basketball."
The News-Herald of Willoughby, Ohio, reported Sunday the Cavaliers have made an offer to Izzo, citing an unidentified league source.
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported Monday that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert discussed the framework of a deal, worth about $6 million a season for up to five years, with perks such as using one of his private jets.
"As far as I know, nothing has changed," Hollis said.
Izzo has chosen not to confirm or deny the reports.
"I've taken the no-comment-on-all-of-it policy, which is a little bit unlike Tom Izzo," he said Monday night in an interview with WILS radio in Lansing, Mich. "But I've been very consistent with that. And maybe to close it up, I would just say there are so many things out there that are so far-fetched right now.
"I'm the Michigan State coach and that's what I'm going to do right now. Who knows what the future brings? But it sure isn't at all like it's maybe being speculated."
Izzo didn't respond to messages from the AP by phone and text.
Gilbert reiterated in an e-mail to the AP the team's policy is to not comment on "any rumor about potential new hires, trades, free agent signing, etc." Complicating his coaching search is the uncertainty surrounding LeBron James, the jewel of the marketplace when free agency opens July 1. James said in an interview last week Cleveland has "an edge" in re-signing him.
Izzo has been regularly mentioned as a candidate for NBA and other college jobs since Michigan State won a national championship in 2000, when he turned down the Atlanta Hawks. They wound up hiring Lon Kruger, who joined a long list of college coaches who failed in the league.
"I'm not worried," Hollis insisted. "But Tom has to make the decision that is best for his immediate family."
As a relentless recruiter and respected tactician, Izzo has turned a good program into a great one at Michigan State.
He led the Spartans to the Final Four six time in 12 seasons. The late John Wooden at UCLA and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski are the only other coaches who have accomplished that feat.
Izzo makes more than $3 million a season and is under contract through 2016. Kentucky gave John Calipari an eight-year contract topping $31 million last year, the largest known deal for a college basketball coach.
If the Cavs want Izzo, they could offer him a chance to make twice as much as he does in East Lansing, where he has deep roots. Izzo was born in native of Iron Mountain, Mich., and has been Michigan State's coach since the 1995-96 season, when he was promoted to replace retiring mentor Jud Heathcote.
Izzo is believed to be on the short list of candidates preferred by Gilbert, a Michigan State graduate, who didn't ask Hollis for permission to talk to Izzo.
"That's not normal protocol when you're talking about pro teams going after college coaches," Hollis said. "Dan is a great Spartan and I have a lot of respect for him with what he's done in the NBA and with his business."
Gilbert is the founder of Michigan-based Quicken Loans Inc. His team is in the midst of a summer overhaul. In addition to James' free agency and the coaching search, general manager Danny Ferry resigned last week.
During a conference call after Ferry's split, Gilbert didn't say if the Cavs had interviewed any coaching candidates. The team has inquired about former New Orleans coach Byron Scott and Milwaukee assistant Kelvin Sampson.
Shaquille O'Neal, who played for the Cavs last season, posted on Twitter: "I think brian shaw should get interviewed for that cleveland cavaliers job, he's really good."
Assistant GM Chris Grant has taken over for Ferry, who guided the Cavs through their most successful run. The Cavs made it past the first round in each of Ferry's five seasons, but didn't advance to the finals the past two years despite successful regular seasons. Gilbert and Grant have a news conference scheduled for Tuesday at the team's training facility.
On Friday, Gilbert said he was "moving very quickly" in his search to replace Brown, who won 143 games the past two seasons. Gilbert said it would be ideal to have a coach in place by July 1, but wasn't sure that would happen.
Gilbert has long been impressed with Izzo. At a late-season game in Cleveland, months before his team's playoff flop, Gilbert said Izzo was "one of the nicest guys I've met" and praised his defensive philosophy.
Hollis said he talked to Izzo on Monday and several times over the weekend, insisting that wasn't unusual because they have been friends for more than two decades. Izzo was the best man at Hollis' wedding and the two were roommates when starting careers at Michigan State.
"I know Dan and Tom talk and that Dan has reached out to talk to Tom in the past," Hollis said. "The only other thing I can tell you at this point is there is a strong interest from the Cleveland Cavaliers in Tom Izzo."
-- Larry Lage
Brown sidesteps questions on future with Bobcats
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Larry Brown is putting potential draft picks through workouts. The general manager is chatting with Brown regularly to discuss shaping the roster for next season.
Everyone is acting as if Brown will be back for a third season with the Charlotte Bobcats. The Hall of Fame coach just won't say it definitively and end all the speculation.
Three days after declining to speak to reporters, Brown chose his words carefully after Monday's pre-draft workout.
Has he decided on whether he's returning?
"I'm here coaching," Brown replied. "Obviously, I'm under contract and doing my job."
So it's settled that he's coming back?
"I'm here. If I wasn't here, it'd be another thing," answered Brown.
Brown then backed away from the circle of reporters and ended the interview. It was another bizarre twist in a two-month stretch of uncertainty surrounding the Michael Jordan-owned Bobcats and the well-traveled Brown, in his 13th pro or college head coaching job.
Brown, who turns 70 in September, said after the Bobcats were swept by Orlando in the first round of the playoffs that he missed being away from his wife and teenage children in suburban Philadelphia and hadn't decided whether he'd be back despite having two years left on his contract.
He insisted, though, that he wouldn't coach for anybody other than Jordan. While that hasn't stopped rampant speculation of Brown bolting for another job, Bobcats GM Rod Higgins is working under the assumption that Brown will be on Charlotte's bench this fall — even if Brown hasn't made his plans clear to management.
"If you watched the watched the workouts today and you watched the guy that was running the workouts, it was the coach that we've had the last two years," Higgins said. "The situation is kind of status quo."
"Larry has been here and I've talked to Larry over the last three weeks practically every day in terms of how we improve our roster, what-if scenarios if we get into the draft, how we venture going forward and improving our roster," Higgins said. "Those are the kind of conversations we've been having."
The Bobcats are in a difficult spot with several key decisions that must be made in the next month — with Brown expected to have significant input.
Higgins called point guard Raymond Felton's impending free agency a "delicate subject." Felton, the No. 5 pick in the 2005 draft, improved this season before struggling in the playoffs. Felton turned down a long-term deal last summer, and Charlotte is close to the luxury tax, a figure Jordan has said the Bobcats won't go over.
"We've always maintained an interest in Raymond and we've always expressed how much we like Raymond," Higgins said. "But it's a different landscape than it was probably in July."
Higgins was more definitive with impending restricted free agent Tyrus Thomas, saying they're leaning toward making him a one-year qualifying offer of more than $6 million.
"Tyrus, when we traded for him, he's a guy that we envisioned going long-term with," Higgins said.
Higgins has also had "fruitful conversations" with teams looking to unload second-round picks, which is why Charlotte is working our prospects despite not having a pick in the June 24 draft.
It's also why Brown has been working despite failing to fully commit to next season.
"You can't really get caught up in that part," Higgins said of Brown's indecision. "I think you have to continue to communicate with each other. And there hasn't been anything that has been different. ... I can't afford to read a whole lot into it."
-- Mike Cranston
After college trouble, Caracter ready for NBA
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Derrick Caracter went from high school phenom to the target of fat jokes. Louisville coach Rick Pitino went from comparing him to Charles Barkley to calling him "a major thorn in my side" before kicking him off the team.
Now after three high schools, two colleges, multiple suspensions, wild weight fluctuations and questionable behavior and maturity, Caracter thinks he can still accomplish what once seemed inevitable: Play in the NBA.
"I was just fortunate enough to get all my problems out of the way," Caracter said Monday after working out for the Charlotte Bobcats. "I feel like I've grown from that, definitely. There are less problems that will occur on this stage, on this level."
NBA teams aren't so sure. After deciding to leave UTEP after his junior season, the 6-foot-9 power forward is widely projected to fall into the second round of the June 24 draft, meaning he'd have no guaranteed contract or roster spot.
It's a position few would have expected after Caracter graced a magazine cover while growing up in New Jersey, was declared the best high school prospect in the country by several recruiting services entering his senior year and was the MVP of a prep all-star game.
Things changed when Caracter arrived at Louisville carrying too many pounds and an even heavier ego.
Pitino wouldn't even let him step on the court until he went from 319 pounds to 275. At the same time, Caracter was suspended for three games for taking a loan from a family friend.
Caracter got his weight down, but was suspended for breaking numerous team rules. Pitino called him "lethargic" and "immature" and even sent him home during one of his suspensions as a freshman.
"Just not listening all the time. Being hardheaded," Caracter said. "Coming from a single mother and not really having a man in my life at all until college. It was more of like another man talking to me, most of the time I was like, 'My mom doesn't even talk to me that way.'"
Pitino dismissed him from the team after he became academically ineligible following his sophomore season.
"I never was a disrespectful kid, talking back or anything like that," Caracter said. "But it would be negative body language."
Caracter transferred to UTEP, and after sitting out a season, averaged a career-best 14.1 points and ranked 16th in the nation in field goal percentage (.567) last season. While he showed good touch around the basket, he also put on more weight.
"Coach (Pitino) would always make sure there was a healthy meal. But when I went to UTEP, being with their budget, you can't go with everybody's needs," Caracter said. "So they would order everything for the team and mostly it was pizza and wings."
Despite having another year of eligibility, Caracter decided to declare for the draft after the Miners lost to Butler in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"I felt mentally ready," Caracter said.
Since leaving school, Caracter has been training with Dan Barto at IMG Academies and is down to 280 pounds.
"I'm not eating meat or chicken," Caracter said. "Right now at IMG they provide our meals. It's swordfish, salmon, a lot of different fish. A lot of different vegetables and not eating after 8 (p.m.), that's the main thing."
But Caracter still looked a little puffy at Monday's workout, and said he'd like to lose another 10 pounds.
"I'm the worst at that because I always think weight is a real problem for guys," Bobcats coach Larry Brown said. "I'd like them to be thin and athletic. But he looks better now than he did before and I'm sure he'll continue to get better. He reminds me a little of (Glen) 'Big Baby' (Davis), and 'Big Baby' hasn't been able to lose weight."
There's another comparison to an effective NBA player. No matter his troubles, Caracter's talent shows.
"A lot of kids there's red flags. But this is a whole new thing," Brown said. "I think based on how he reacted toward us, that's how he'll be judged. He has a pro body. He has skill. It's up to him."
It will just require the discipline and character that Caracter hasn't always shown.
"Even though people have counted me out, saying I'm washed up and done, my faith is still strong," Caracter said. "I still know and feel what I'm capable of doing. I have a lot to prove and I'm ready to show it."
-- Mike Cranston
Monty Williams excited to become Hornets coach
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Monty Williams has been hired to coach the New Orleans Hornets and will be introduced at a press conference on Tuesday.
The 38-year-old Williams, who played at Notre Dame and then for several NBA teams spanning nine seasons, has been an assistant under Portland coach Nate McMillan since 2005.
The Trail Blazers were a playoff team this season after winning 50 games.
"The Hornets have a first-class organization and team; this is the perfect opportunity for me," Williams said in a statement released late Monday. "I am very excited to get started in New Orleans."
This will be the first head coaching position for Williams, one of eight candidates interviewed by the Hornets. Another top candidate was Boston Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau, who has agreed to become the next coach of the Chicago Bulls.
Hornets general manager Jeff Bower said they wanted to make sure they interviewed all of the top candidates to "get the best available coach on the market."
"We feel like we succeeded with that objective and now that we have Monty on board, we can concentrate on helping him thrive by continuing to do whatever it takes to make this team better," he said.
Hornets point guard Chris Paul said he was thrilled with the hiring.
"He is one of the great young coaches in this league," Paul said. "I am really excited to be along in his first head coaching journey. He is a perfect fit for our team."
The Hornets went 37-45 this season, missing the playoffs for the first time in three years.
Dwyane Wade's wife fails to regain custody
CHICAGO (AP) — A Cook County judge has denied a request by the estranged wife of Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade that the couple's two sons be returned to her.
A judge last week awarded Wade "physical possession" of the boys after determining Siohvaughn Wade interfered with the player's visitation with his children.
In issuing the order the order Wednesday, Associate Judge Fe Fernandez wrote the court was troubled by Siohvaughn Wade's continuing pattern of obeying court orders when they go her way and disobeying them when they do not.
Fernandez on Monday denied woman's request that the couple's two boys be returned to her immediately.
Wade and his one-time high school sweetheart have been engaged in a long and bitter divorce.
