NBA Playoff Capsules: Garnett, Nelson fueled by lost time in East finals

ORLANDO, Fla. — They were superstars in suits.

Boston’s Kevin Garnett and Orlando’s Jameer Nelson, sidelined with injuries in last year’s second-round playoff series, were diminished to spectators on the bench. The feisty competitors could only make their presence known through words.

"We were talking so much trash to each other, it felt like we were in the game," Nelson said. "Probably the whole entire game, I’d say 65 percent of it actually, we spent looking down at each other’s bench talking trash to each other."

Anything to feel a part of the playoffs.

The injuries to each last season, in their own ways, became the symbol of why their teams fell short. Now healthy and playing their best basketball of the season, both get a shot at redemption when the Celtics and Magic meet in the Eastern Conference finals beginning Sunday.

"I’m quite sure he’s feeling the same way I’m feeling," Nelson said. "I have a chip on my shoulder, and I’m going to go out there and try to seize this moment because there’s nothing promised to you."

Last year proved that.

They were hit hard with injuries last February after making the All-Star team. The injury to Garnett’s right knee led to surgery to remove bone spurs in the summer; Nelson tore the labrum in his right shoulder and had what was then-called season-ending surgery.

Garnett, the centerpiece of Boston’s 2008 championship, was out for the playoffs, crushing the Celtics’ dreams of a repeat. They lost to the Magic in seven games.

The Big Ticket was slowed again by the knee and other injuries this season. But Garnett has regained his rhythm in the past few months, and he averaged 18.8 points per game in Boston’s series win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"Over the course of the season, I’ve been fortunate to be healthy, and I can honestly say each month I’ve gotten stronger," Garnett said. "I don’t know, the playoffs come around, it’s time to pick it up another notch and that’s all I’ve been trying to do. Nothing more than that, less than that."

Perhaps the only difference between the two is that the Magic advanced enough to allow Nelson to attempt a comeback.

Nelson’s surprise return in the NBA finals didn’t have the kind of ending he had hoped for. He was rusty and reluctant to attack on the league’s biggest stage, and Orlando lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.

Nelson was criticized for disrupting the team’s chemistry and has sheltered the blame since.

"I wasn’t myself in the finals," Nelson said. "I’m not making any excuses. I should have helped my team out better."

Consider this season’s playoff series their chance.

The Magic went 3-1 against the Celtics this season, but that means little if the teams are only now both healthy. The once sidelined starters completely change matchups and rotations, creating an untested playoff dynamic.

Nelson is averaging a team-best 20.5 points per game in the postseason, helping the Magic to two series sweeps and 14 straight wins. He provides an elusive point guard who can create his own shot, something they lacked last season.

The same goes for the guys in green.

Garnett’s resurgence has ignited Boston’s bruising style, smothering opponents defensively. His offensive game has picked up, too, and — if he can stay healthy — has proved he can still be a game-changing player.

The Celtics believe Garnett just needed time to shake off the rust.

"The key was just keeping him healthy throughout the season. He had his ups and downs, and I think right now you are starting to see a healthy Kevin the way he is elevating," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "There’s no way we can win a championship without him."

Even last year from the sideline the Magic remember Garnett.

Dressed in a suit and tie, still intense as ever, Garnett was constantly shouting at Orlando players. He did anything he could to feel like he was out there.

"He was always on the bench talking," Magic forward Rashard Lewis said. "It was almost like he was on the court playing."

Only he wasn’t. Neither was. This time, though, they’ll leave the suits in the locker room for Game 1 in Orlando. The chatter, well, that will just move inside the lines.

"I’m a competitor," Nelson said. "I want to be out there, not just cheering."

Now they’ll get to do both.

Kobe has nothing to say about LeBron’s demise

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Nike can put those puppets back on the shelf for another summer. Basketball historians anticipating the real-life answers to a delicious theoretical debate must keep waiting.

LeBron is gone, from the playoffs and maybe from Cleveland. James’ long-anticipated NBA finals clash with Kobe Bryant is off again, and it’s now distinctly possible it will never happen.

Yet if Bryant was even slightly disappointed to learn that James won’t be showing up for a possible career-defining showdown, the Los Angeles Lakers star isn’t letting on.

Bryant had almost nothing to say Friday about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ playoff elimination, which ruined the best chance yet for a finals meeting with James.

"I don’t know," Bryant said when asked what he thought of Boston’s Game 6 victory, before an awkward silence with the phalanx of television cameras and digital recorders pointed at him in a back corner of the Lakers’ training complex.

Surely Bryant realizes the anticipation was extra-high this spring, after the superstars’ teams finished atop their respective conferences with two of the NBA’s top three records. Nike certainly spent many months hoping for the showcase of two top clients, building that unusual advertising campaign around their puppet replicas.

But while James begins his offseason, Bryant is still standing — albeit on a gimpy ankle — after persevering through an injury-riddled year. The veteran star won’t slow down for the Western Conference finals just because King James isn’t waiting on the other side.

The series against the Phoenix Suns begins Monday night in Los Angeles.

"We have a huge challenge on our hands with the things that they run and how they play," Bryant said. "You have to control the pace and control the turnovers."

Bryant didn’t practice again for the Lakers, giving him four straight days off the court following their second-round sweep of the Utah Jazz. Bryant needs every possible minute to rest his troublesome ankle, his arthritic finger and a few other maladies that have turned this season into a grind.

Bryant is expected back in practice Saturday along with center Andrew Bynum, who also had four days off to lower the swelling in his injured knee.

Bryant’s teammates were a bit less guarded with their opinions on the seismic shift in the Eastern Conference following the Cavs’ ouster, with Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol both expressing surprise at the result. The East final now matches the Lakers’ last two opponents in the NBA finals.

"It’s a little surprising, but obviously Boston has raised their level from the regular season," Gasol said. "We know they’re a good team that’s capable of doing that, and Cleveland is out."

Gasol also had a more practical interest: Cleveland would have had homecourt advantage in an NBA finals meeting after finishing with the league’s best regular-season record. Orlando also won two more games than the Lakers in the regular season.

"It’s good, because if you have to want to play someone in the finals, you want to have the homecourt advantage," Gasol said. "I guess it’s good that one of the teams is out, but we still have to focus on getting there first."

For that, they’ll need Bryant’s best efforts against the high-scoring Suns and their improved defense. Bryant has scored at least 30 points in five straight playoff games, making more than 52 percent of his shots against Utah.

Although he rarely acknowledges it in words, Bryant has always seemed to bristle at the suggestion that his basketball pre-eminence is linked to anybody else.

His partnership with Shaquille O’Neal produced three straight championships and four NBA finals trips in its final five years, yet concluded with Shaq’s abrupt departure amid widespread belief Bryant wanted to be the Lakers’ lone superstar.

Bryant’s teammates believe those titles, along with the ring he won last summer with a near-replica of his current team, will be the biggest difference between Bryant and James until LeBron puts a few pieces of jewelry on his ringless hand.

"Kobe doesn’t have to compare himself to anybody," said Lakers guard Derek Fisher, also a four-time champion. "Everybody on our team knows what he means to this team and this game of basketball. That kind of speculation isn’t anything real."

-- Greg Beacham

Suns look to duplicate NHL's Canadiens' success

PHOENIX — Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry has two words for the multitudes who aren't giving his Suns any chance in the Western Conference finals against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers:

Lakers’ Jackson says Suns’ Nash carries ball

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Lakers coach Phil Jackson thinks the Phoenix Suns’ star point guard sometimes plays a bit too much like a running back.

With a mischievous grin, Jackson said Friday that it’s tough for Los Angeles to prepare to face Steve Nash during defensive practice because of the two-time MVP’s style with the basketball.

"Yeah, because you can’t carry the ball like he does in practice," Jackson said. "You can’t pick that ball up and run with it."

Jackson turned his palm over while he spoke, making the officials’ gesture for palming of the basketball.

Nash’s ball-handling and playmaking are driving the Suns’ remarkable postseason success, and Jackson apparently couldn’t resist the chance to get in a crack at the Canadian star while perhaps planting a seed in any listening officials’ minds. Nash is averaging 17.8 points and 9 assists per game in the playoffs while leading Phoenix past Portland and San Antonio.

The Western Conference finals begin Monday in Los Angeles.

Although Jackson professes ample respect for the 36-year-old Nash’s skills, the 10-time NBA champion coach’s comment suggests he believes the point guard gets generous treatment from officials in the elastic rules about traveling and palming calls.

Other players and coaches have suggested a similar belief over the years, though Nash is hardly the only NBA player who draws such complaints from opponents: Kobe Bryant also has been known to stretch one of basketball’s simplest rules to its limits.

And Nash isn’t even the first player in this postseason to draw the attention of Jackson, whose track record of playing such games through the media goes back 20 years to his early seasons with the Chicago Bulls.

Last month before the playoffs even began, Jackson was fined $35,000 by the NBA for saying Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant was getting generous treatment from officials.

"As far as the calls that he gets on the floor, I think a lot of the referees are treating him like a superstar," Jackson said then. "He gets to the line easy and often."

Jackson also was fined two weeks before that incident when he criticized referee Bennett Salvatore after a game against San Antonio. The Lakers also had a beef with Salvatore in last season’s playoffs, when Jackson criticized Denver’s Dahntay Jones for playing "unsportsmanlike basketball" during a rant about inconsistent officiating — right after a game refereed by Salvatore.

-- Greg Beacham

Other NBA News

Mike Woodson out as coach of the Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks made significant improvement under Mike Woodson. They just wondered how much farther he could take them.

Woodson was let go as coach of the Hawks on Friday, just four days after the team was swept in the second round of the playoffs by the Orlando Magic.

General manager Rick Sund, after consulting with the ownership group, decided not to offer Woodson a new contract. So ended a six-year coaching tenure in which the Hawks won just 13 games in his first season, then improved their record every year since — including three straight playoff appearances.

Atlanta won 53 games this season, the most since 1996-97, and captured the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. But that wasn’t enough to save Woodson’s job, especially when the Hawks were routed by the Magic in the most lopsided four-game sweep in NBA history.

Sund held a morning meeting with Woodson to inform him of the decision.

"In this case, Woody has been here six years and had basically been the only voice that many of these players had heard," the GM said. "The shelf life for coaches and management in the NBA is short, particularly for coaches, maybe two or three years. In Woody’s case, he has gone six. The compelling thought for me was maybe it’s right for a change."

Sund believes a new coach might be able to take the Hawks to even higher levels, even though he acknowledged it was a risk to dump a coach coming off a playoff appearance.

"Sometimes in professional sports, change is good — not only for the individual, but for the organization," he said. "Hey, it was a tough decision any way you go. If it doesn’t turn out, it’s the wrong decision. If it turns out, maybe it was the right decision, I don’t know."

Woodson declined to comment on his ouster when reached by The Associated Press.

"I’m just going to take some time and go away and clear my head," he said. "I just want to get away."

The firing of Woodson was the first move in a busy offseason for the Hawks. In addition to hiring a new coach, the team must deal with the possible loss of its best player, Joe Johnson, who will become a free agent this summer.

A four-time All-Star, Johnson didn’t sound enthusiastic about returning to Atlanta after a dismal series against the Magic and a run-in with the fans over a 30-point home loss in Game 3.

If Johnson returns, the next coach of the Hawks will inherit plenty of talent. Two players (Johnson and Al Horford) were selected for the All-Star Game, Josh Smith is one of the league’s best defensive players and Jamal Crawford won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award.

Woodson felt he deserved a chance to return after the Hawks became just the seventh team in NBA history to win more games than the previous season for five straight years.

But it was clear that some players had tuned him out, especially in the playoffs. Atlanta struggled to beat a short-handed Milwaukee team in the opening round, rallying from a 3-2 deficit to win in seven games. Then came a total rout in the conference semifinals.

Orlando won the opening game by 43 points, then handed the Hawks the franchise’s worst home playoff loss in Game 3, a 105-75 blowout. The Magic won the four games by a total of 101 points — and average margin of 25.3.

Center Zaza Pachulia said Woodson deserved credit for the team’s progress but eventually became a victim of the increased expectations.

"We grew up as a team and as players. He helped a lot of players get better," Pachulia told the AP. "But when you get better, you want even more. I think we’re in the stage now where it’s not about progress. It’s about winning a championship."

If the Hawks seek an experienced coach, Avery Johnson and Byron Scott could be on their list of candidates. If they decide to go with an assistant, former Hawks player Tyrone Corbin might be considered; he works on the staff of highly respected Utah coach Jerry Sloan. Another possibility is TNT broadcaster and former coach Doug Collins.

Woodson has been mentioned as a potential candidate in Philadelphia should Larry Brown take control of the 76ers’ front office. The 69-year-old Brown hasn’t decided whether to return for a third season as coach of the Charlotte Bobcats.

Woodson worked as an assistant for Brown in Detroit before landing his first head coaching job with the Hawks. He came to Atlanta preaching hard-nosed defense, but some complained that he lacked imagination on the offensive end, even as the team kept adding talented players and improving every season.

Smith, Horford and Marvin Williams were first-round picks. Johnson was acquired in a sign-and-trade deal with Phoenix. Crawford and Mike Bibby were picked up in trades that didn’t cost much.

There’s still room to grow under the next coach. The Hawks had the lowest payroll of any playoff team, and were the only squad that reached the final eight without paying the luxury tax.

"Our goal is to be an elite team," co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. said. "We’ve got a great nucleus right now. And we’ve got respect, which is key."

-- Paul Newberry

Cavs, LeBron’s futures uncertain after loss

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Cavaliers’ season of seasons, the one supposed to end Cleveland’s tortured 46-year title drought, ended without a parade or King James’ coronation as a champion.

It’s over. The pain endures, though. And it may only worsen.

Superstar LeBron James hasn’t bolted as a free agent for New York or Chicago or Los Angeles or New Jersey or (fill in your favorite NBA city here) — at least not yet. And Cavs coach Mike Brown hasn’t been fired — at least not yet. General manager Danny Ferry still has his job, too.

That three-ring circus hasn’t opened. One day after their title run was snuffed by a more focused Boston team on the Celtics’ famed parquet floor, and with two-time MVP James’ impending free agency looming on the horizon like an inescapable hurricane, the Cavaliers began piecing together what went wrong. It hurt.

"It’s one of those things that you can’t believe it after it’s happened," shellshocked owner Dan Gilbert said.

Reality hit hard on Friday as the organization and Cavaliers fans faced Day One of the Summer of LeBron, which wasn’t supposed to arrive until mid-June. But it’s here and it’s going to be stormy.

Showing the wear and tear of a late night after the Cavs lost Game 6, Gilbert said his emotions were too raw, the wounds too new to begin reshaping a franchise now dealing with an uncertain future tied directly to whether it can re-sign James, whose recruitment by other cities began with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg saying he may give him a "big sales pitch."

Gilbert wasn’t amused.

"I would think Mayor Bloomberg has better things to do than that," said Gilbert, who contends the Cavs remain the best fit for James. "Besides that, we have to ignore the noise. People in New York read that stuff more than people in Cleveland do. We are focused on building the best franchise, the best environment, the best place for a long-term situation for LeBron or any free agent that wants to come here.

"We will do everything in our power to attract great talent and keep great talent."

Gilbert refuted a report on SI.com that he had already fired Brown, who despite having the game’s best player and a roster upgraded this season with the additions of All-Stars Shaquille O’Neal and Antawn Jamison, failed to take his team as far as it went last season.

Gilbert said the team’s ownership group would embark on an organizational review — from top to bottom.

"We are going to take a long, deep, hard look at every key position in this entire franchise," he said. "It’s not going to be a long period of time. Within a week to 10 days we’ll have most of our information and decision-making done. But we’re not going to react here emotionally the next morning after unexpectedly losing the series and make rash decisions."

Brown has one year remaining on a contract extension he signed after taking the Cavaliers to their first NBA finals in 2007. He’s 314-167 in five seasons with Cleveland, but his gaudy record may not be enough to save him from an almost certain dismissal.

He was badly outcoached by Boston’s Doc Rivers, who had his team better prepared and got more from his players. The Cavs, who had the league’s best regular-season record two years in a row, were continually beaten to loose balls and rebounds, something Brown couldn’t help but perhaps a sign he had already lost his team.

"I don’t think the team quit," Gilbert said.

Ferry, who is in the final year of his contract, sidestepped a question about Brown’s playoff performance.

"I respect Mike Brown and I’ve always enjoyed working with him," Ferry said. "All of us are disappointed with how we played at the end. We will spend the next period of time talking about it and figuring it out."

Like Gilbert, Ferry seemed dazed by the events of the past week. Once leading the series 2-1, the Cavs lost three straight, the last home game by 32 points. Cleveland looked nothing like the team that won more than 60 games for the second straight season.

"It’s a frustrating thing when you’re not playing at the level you think you can," Ferry said. "At the end of the day we weren’t able to put it together."

For Ferry, the Cavs’ troubles started much earlier, dating to James complaining about a right elbow problem before an April 8 game against Chicago. James refused to use his elbow as an excuse during the playoffs, but Ferry revealed for the first time it was serious enough that the team would have rested him in the regular season.

"We probably would have shut him down for a couple weeks, I can tell you that," said Ferry, who hasn’t been told James needs surgery. "But we were in the playoffs and it was that time of year where it is was something he could play with, and we were told that he wouldn’t hurt himself further. He was ready to go."

James may be ready to go for good.

In the aftermath of Thursday’s loss, James said he and his "team" would follow their game plan into free agency, which opens on July 1. He is expected to visit other cities, whose overtures at the 25-year-old will only raise the blood pressure and anxiety level of Cleveland’s paranoid fans.

"It’s all about winning for me, and I think the Cavs are committed to doing that," he said. "But at the same time I’ve given myself options to this point."

The Cavaliers’ postseason collapse may have done irreparable damage to their chances of re-signing James, Akron’s proud son who wanted to strip Cleveland of its "Loserville" image for good. He may not get another chance, and he may not want one.

Although James can get a longer contract with Cleveland, after seven seasons, he may be itching for a new start.

Gilbert said he hasn’t imagined James as anything but a Cavalier.

"I haven’t really thought of that," he said.

Perhaps it’s time to start.

-- Tom Withers

Bloomberg says NBA’s LeBron James would love NYC

NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg says that if LeBron James calls to ask what it’s like to live in New York City, he will give the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar a "big sales pitch."

"Rumors are that both the Knicks and the Nets would like to get him. I would never take sides on that, but I think it would be great for New York if he would come here," Bloomberg said on his weekly Friday show on WOR Radio.

The two-time MVP will be the most-coveted prize when the NBA’s free agency period starts July 1.

One Twitter posting said, "Can we change the Bronx to LeBronx? Pretty please, at least until July 1." The mayor’s office happily retweeted it, adding: "Good one!"

James and the Cavaliers fell short again in their effort to bring a title to Cleveland, getting eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoffs Thursday by the Boston Celtics, and fueling speculation that James’ days with the Cavs are over.

"If asked, if he calls me and says ‘What’s it like to live in New York, I’ll give him a big sales pitch for New York," Bloomberg said on his show.

"I love living in New York, my kids love living in New York, I think LeBron James would love living in New York and it is the world’s greatest stage," the mayor added.

Meanwhile, a music video posted on Break.com features Clevelanders and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in a sing-along to the tune of "We Are the World." The song’s lyrics include, "Please stay, LeBron. We really need you. No bigger market’s gonna love you half as much as we do."

It also took a shot at New York City, with lyrics "New York’s overcrowded. Those people are unbearable. And don’t forget, the Knicks and Nets are terrible."

James grew up in Akron, Ohio, less than an hour’s drive south of Cleveland.

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic elaborated to The Associated Press on his comments in Friday’s New York Daily News, where he was quoted as saying, "Who the hell would want to live in New York?"

Plusquellic said he was joking and responded in jest to a reporter’s line of questioning about why James would want to stay in Cleveland.

He said he was sticking up for Akron and the rest of Ohio, which he called a great place to raise a family.

"It’s not a cold place where everybody is just a number," Plusquellic said, adding that "New York is not so warm and fuzzy."

Plusquellic said he attended the opening Friday of a new restaurant at the city’s minor league ballpark, where the locals appreciated his comments.

"No one here is going to find fault with what I said," he said. "I know a few folks in New York were probably upset. The mayor (Bloomberg) hasn’t called or anything."

Cavaliers GM says LeBron’s elbow needed rest

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry says the elbow injury that bothered LeBron James during the NBA playoffs was bad enough that the team would have rested him during the regular season.

Ferry revealed for the first time that the league’s MVP complained about his elbow before an April 8 game in Chicago. He was a late scratch from the starting lineup that night and sat out Cleveland’s final four regular-season games.

James was diagnosed with a sprained elbow and bone bruise. He said earlier this week that the elbow was "an issue" he would take care of in the offseason.

Ferry has not been told by anyone that James needs surgery. He said James was informed he couldn’t damage the elbow further by playing with the injury.

-- Tom Withers

Game 6 gives network its second-best hoops rating

NEW YORK — The Boston Celtics’ series-clinching victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals is the second-most watched basketball game ever aired on ESPN.

The broadcast Thursday night drew a 6.6 rating on the cable network and averaged 6,552,000 households and 8,983,000 viewers. Only Game 4 of last year’s Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets did better on ESPN, earning a 6.9 rating.

The Celtics-Cavaliers game is the third most-viewed program on the network in 2010. It captured 29.4 rating in Cleveland, giving ESPN its highest-rated NBA playoff game in that market since it began keeping records in 2003.

The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use.

76ers interview Turner

PHILADELPHIA — Houston Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner has met with the Philadelphia 76ers to discuss the team’s vacant coaching job.

Sixers team president Ed Stefanski interviewed Turner on Friday in Philadelphia.

The Sixers also interviewed Phoenix Suns assistant coach Dan Majerle and Portland Trail Blazers assistant Monty Williams this week. The 76ers also have talked to Avery Johnson and Doug Collins.

They fired Eddie Jordan last month after the team went 27-55 in his lone season.

Elsewhere

Opening statements begin in Wade restaurant case

MIAMI — The attorney for plaintiffs seeking $25 million in damages from Dwyane Wade told a jury Friday that the Heat star "wanted a better deal and couldn't get it," citing that as the biggest reason why a planned restaurant venture fell apart shortly after getting started.

In an opening statement, attorney Richard Bales told the jury of two men and four women, along with one female alternate, that his clients Mark Rodberg and Lauren Hollander simply made a brilliant business deal, and when Wade wanted far more money than first agreed to, he simply walked away from the partnership.

"The evidence is going to show that Mr. Wade clearly, point-blank, abandoned his teammates," Bales said, turning and pointing at Rodberg and Hollander. "And these were his teammates. They were business teammates."

Wade's attorney, Michael Kreitzer, countered in his opening statement that the scorned partners made deals amongst each other without Wade's knowledge, tried to reduce his stake in the enterprise and damaged the player's brand by abusing his name and likeness.

"They just didn't care, because they were all about money," Kreitzer said. "They were just doing what they thought made the most sense for them to line their pockets."

Bales and Kreitzer each spoke for about an hour, before Hollander was called as the trial's first witness. The trial is scheduled to last through late May, with Wade expected to be called sometime next week.

Wade, just as he did through two days of jury selection, sat quietly at a table to the left of Judge Peter Adrien, almost never showing any emotion during Friday's proceedings.

A number of witnesses are expected next week, including former Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown Jr., who once ran Kentucky Fried Chicken and previously owned the NBA's Boston Celtics and the ABA's Kentucky Colonels.

The lawsuit involves the defunct deal over what was to be a chain of D. Wade's Place sports-themed restaurants. Rodberg and Hollander claim Wade breached a contract by demanding higher compensation than first agreed to, then abandoning the deal in 2008.

Under terms of the original agreement, Wade would receive $1 million after five years of business, plus a 10 percent stake in the company. His longtime friend and business associate Marcus Andrews would receive a 2 percent stake, but the plaintiffs contend that shortly after the deal was first signed, Wade and Andrews wanted a total of 30 percent, plus a higher annual salary for Andrews.

"With nothing in exchange," Bales said.

It was during those negotiations, Bales said, that Andrews told the business partners they could have "a happy Dwyane or an unhappy Dwyane."

"Well, the evidence is going to show we got the unhappy Dwyane," Bales said. "That's why we're here. That's why we're here."

Kreitzer offered a different view, of course, telling jurors that Wade wanted to see the deal work, but ultimately needed to protect his name and marketability when he saw changes made that he did not like.

"He has worked and worked and worked," Kreitzer said. "That's what these people wanted from him, is to leverage the name that he has built up over time.

"That name has value. That name has value. It has value to him as a person because that's his reputation. It's very hard to build up your reputation, but we all know, it's very easy to lose it. We've all heard that growing up and it applies to Mr. Wade, too."

Wade is involved in a number of other legal matters this offseason, notably a divorce and custody fight in Chicago, and has said that the courtroom dealings are his priority — not his upcoming status as a free agent who will be courted by several NBA clubs starting July 1.

He has repeatedly said he would like to remain with the Heat, provided that the team is able to upgrade its roster and reach a championship-contending level again.

-- Tim Reynolds