This is not last night’s best O’Neal…

Jermaine O’Neal tied a career playoff high with 37 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Pacers beat the Nets 107-95 to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series. Vince Carter was 8-21 from the field for 25 points…he’s now 4-20 from three in the playoffs…Anthony Johnson was fantastic at PG for the Pacers going for a playoff career-high 25 points, five rebounds and eight assists…oh, and after Johnson called out the Vince Carter for being "soft" between Games 2 and 3, Carter responded as expected turtling in the 2nd half as he went 0 for 10…

The other O’Neal, as in Shaquille O'Neal, had 8 points, 7 turnovers, 5 fouls and 4 rebounds in 24 minutes during the Heat's blowout 109-90 loss to the Bulls…O'Neal had one of his worst playoff performances highlighted by the fact that he had as many field goals after three quarters as Bulls C Luke Schenscher…."I guess we were just out of it today," O'Neal said. He had one basket through the first three quarters and scored six meaningless points in the fourth, narrowly missing his career playoff low. O'Neal had seven points against Houston on April 19, 2004. After averaging 24.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in the first two games, O'Neal picked up his third foul just over three minutes into the second quarter and spent the rest of the half on the bench. The Bulls had very balanced scoring with 19 for Nocioni, 24 for Heinrich, 24 for Gordon and 21 for Deng…

Knicks rookie PG Nate Robinson has a very entertaining blog here….http://www.gr8life.msnbc.com/

As it happens every year, the list of early entrants grows well beyond the NBA’s 2 round draft capacity…here’s where it is so far:

2006 NBA Draft Early Entrants
Arron Afflalo SG UCLA So.*
LaMarcus Aldridge C Texas So.
Morris Almond SG Rice Jr.*
Will Blaylock PG Iowa State Jr.*
Josh Boone F UConn Jr.*
Ronnie Brewer SG Arkansas Jr.*
Shannon Brown G Michigan State Jr.*
Guillermo Diaz G Miami Jr.*
Mike Efevberha SG Cal State Northridge Jr.*
Carl Elliott G George Washington Jr.*
Jordan Farmar PG UCLA So.*
Nick Fazekas F Nevada Jr.*
Thomas Gardner SG Missouri Jr.*
Rudy Gay SF UConn So.
Daniel Gibson PG Texas So.*
Aaron Gray C Pittsburgh Jr.*
Brandon Heath PG San Diego State Jr.*
Alexander Johnson F Florida State Jr.*
Trey Johnson G Jackson State Jr.*
Kyle Lowry G Villanova So.*
Paul Millsap F Louisiana Tech Jr.
Adam Morrison F Gonzaga Jr.
Patrick O'Bryant C Bradley So.*
Danilo Pinnock G George Washington Jr.*
Leon Powe F California So.*
Richard Roby SG Colorado So.*
Rajon Rondo PG Kentucky So.
Mustafa Shakur PG Arizona Jr.*
Marcus Slaughter F San Diego State Jr.
Curtis Stinson PG/SG Iowa State Jr.*
Tyrus Thomas F LSU Fr.
P.J. Tucker F Texas Jr.*
Ian Vouyoukas C St. Louis Jr.*
Marcus Williams G UConn Jr.

*Player is testing the waters, but retains college eligibility by not hiring an agent.

1) Mike Kahn of FOXSports.com reports that the Heat simply can’t defend:

Heat need to start playing some defense

It's hard to fathom that the Miami Heat are a Pat Riley-coached team. In case you believed for a moment you were hallucinating, you weren't. Indeed, Riley had to resort to a zone defense because the perimeter defense of his players was so pathetic during their humiliating 109-90 loss to the Chicago Bulls Thursday night at the United Center. Well, guess what Riles? It was bad in the other two games too, but the Bulls didn't have the confidence or wherewithal to win in Miami yet. Suffice to say they're a few steps closer. Buoyed by the foul trouble and ineffective play of Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, the Bulls took control of the game early, fended off a few Heat runs in the first half, then blew them out in the third quarter. Chicago made 13-of-18 shots in the quarter, with guards Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon essentially running free from baseline to baseline. And athletic forward Luol Deng had his way in the frontcourt all night as well. Hinrich had 15 of his 22 points in that third quarter, while Gordon led the scoring with 24 and Deng added 21 and eight rebounds. Meanwhile Andres Nocioni battled inside with 19 points and nine rebounds in what turned out to be a dominant performance by the Bulls, who lost the first two games by a grand total of 12 points. But O'Neal averaged 24.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in the first two games. Incredibly enough, he was an invisible 7-1, 325-pound superstar on Thursday, while his sidekick Dwyane Wade still produced 26 points and four assists. But if they're not going to get productivity from the Big Guy, then somebody else has to come up big, or they have to shut down the Bulls. That hasn't happened yet and those close to the Heat have been bemoaning their lack of perimeter defense all season. It also answers the question why there was a fair number of analysts who picked the Bulls to win the series. The problem is the Bulls didn't know they were capable of beating the Heat. They had a shot to win both games in Miami, just didn't execute well enough early in the games so they didn't have to battle huge deficits. They took the lead early and kept the tempo up. The Heat got another good game out of point guard Jason Williams, with 17 points and four assists. Then again, nobody will ever accuse him of playing defense. And when Riley went to Gary Payton, it was painfully obvious this is soon to be 38-year-old GP, not the Hall of Fame-bound, nine-time first team All-Defensive stalwart of seasons past. The lack of defense allowed the Bulls to increase their average scoring to 107.8 in the series, while the Heat now are averaging 105.3. This is the kind of pace the Bulls want and if the Heat don't pick up their defensive intensity in Game 4, the perspective of this series could change in a hurry. Heck, if the Bulls had made more free throws, missing 14 of 46, the scoring differential would have been even more pronounced and reflective of the blowout. But it's only one game. You can only imagine what Riley had to say to his team after this game and what practice will be like for the Heat before the two teams meet again on Sunday in Chicago. It's just hard to ever consider a Pat Riley team defenseless. One more game like this, however, and we'll concede.

The stud: Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal seemingly took control of the series with the New Jersey Nets with 37 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks. O'Neal was 12-of-15 from the field and 13-of-14 from the free throw line in a dominating performance at both ends of the floor.

The dud: The other O'Neal, first name Shaquille suffered only his second single-digit scoring playoff game out of 174 games. The Heat All-Star center was saddled with five fouls, had just eight points, six rebounds, seven turnovers and he was 0-for-6 from the free throw line. He scored seven points in a 98-84 win over the Houston Rockets on April 19, 2004 when he played for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The quote: "When you get your ass kicked like we did, it's time to move on to Game 4," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "We're getting our ass kicked, then we started looking at officials ... that's something we don't want to do."

This and that: The Indiana Pacers and Jermaine O'Neal made it very clear that they have no inclination whatsoever to bow out of these playoffs easily. With O'Neal dominated the game at both ends of the floor, the Pacers battered the New Jersey Nets 107-95 to take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 Saturday in Indianapolis. All five Pacers starters were in double figures, as point guard Anthony Johnson continued to hurt his old teammates with a career playoff-high 25 points and eight assists. The Nets jumped out to a quick lead behind Richard Jefferson, and even led by six at halftime. But O'Neal led a 27-15 bustout in the third quarter and they never looked back. Vince Carter shared scoring honors with Jefferson for the Nets with 25 points. The Denver Nuggets withstood the suspension of forward Kenyon Martin with a resilient 94-87 victory Thursday night vs. the Los Angeles Clippers to slice the Clippers lead to 2-1 in the series, with Game 4 back in Denver's Pepsi Center on Saturday. Carmelo Anthony led five double-figure scorers with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Marcus Camby had 12 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks, with Earl Boykins coming off the bench with 13 points and five assists. Nonetheless, the Clippers virtually gave the game away with 25 turnovers that produced 25 points for the Nuggets. It represented the most turnovers they have had this season — regular or post. The Clippers got 23 points in 21 minutes from Corey Maggette, otherwise, they would have been blown out much earlier. The Nuggets had a series-high 21 assists, led by Andre Miller's seven. There still isn't any word regarding how long the Nuggets will suspend Kenyon Martin for conduct detrimental to the team, with coach George Karl, it isn't exactly the kind of distraction a team down 0-2 in the playoffs needs. Martin verbally abused Karl during halftime of Game 2 after playing just seven minutes in the first half and refused to play in the second half. The buzz has already started about his trade value because he's only two years into a maximum deal. But Portland's Zach Randolph is an interesting prospect. Adding to the issue is Nuggets president Kiki Vandeweghe finishing up his contract. ... Heat center Alonzo Mourning made his playoff debut Thursday night after sitting out since March 22 when he tore his right calf muscle in a nine-point loss to the Detroit Pistons. Mourning played eight minutes and finished with two points, two rebounds and two turnovers Thursday night. During the regular season, the 6-10 Mourning averaged 7.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.66 blocks. Medication was limited for the 36-year-old former All-Star because of a December 2003 kidney transplant. So the healing process required an inordinate amount of time. ... Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Kevin Garnett was announced as the winner of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship as voted by the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Garnett earned the award largely on the well-publicized $1.2 million he donated for construction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's destruction. His foundation also built new computer labs for two high schools in the Twin Cities. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant will change his uniform number from the No. 8 he has worn for 10 seasons to No. 24 for the 2006-07 season. He wore No. 33 his senior year in high school, but had worn No. 24 prior to then. He could not get No. 33 with the Lakers, of course, because it is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's number.

The statbook: Shaquille O'Neal was 11-of-15 in the first two games and 6-of-7 in Game 2. In Game 3, he missed his all six of his free throws in Game 3. ... In the Nets win, Vince Carter was 12-of-20 from the field. In the two losses he was 20-of-54. He was 0-for-10 with four points in the second half after catching a Jeff Foster elbow in the nose. Nenad Krstic averaged 21 points in the first two games for the Nets, but had just nine on Thursday. ... Jason Williams has been the pleasant surprise as the Heat playmaker, averaging 18.8 points and 3.8 assists in the three games. The Bulls bench has outscored the Heat bench 80-61 in the third games. ... Pacers forward Peja Stojakovic was questionable for the game with a sore knee, but he still started, played nearly 25 minutes and contributed 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. … The Nets bench has produced 40 points in the three games compared to the 75 points from the Pacers reserves. ... Ben Gordon is averaging 24 points to lead the Bulls, Kurt Hinrich is averaging 23.3 and 8.8 assists, with Andres Nocioni 22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds. ... The Nuggets had two lane violations negating their own free throws in Game 3 against the Clippers. Only two other players besides Jermaine O'Neal have shot 80 percent from the field and scored at least 35 points: Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. ... For some reason the officials got their whistles stuck in their mouths in Denver on Thursday night. ... The Nuggets were the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA during the regular season and .325. They only wish the were shooting that well during this series. They were 0-for-11 Thursday and add to 6-of-34 for the series ... .176. Clippers center Chris Kaman averaged 12.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the first two games, but was scoreless until the final two minutes and finished with just 4 rebounds due to a sprained ankle and problems with the altitude Thursday. Cuttino Mobley was in and out of the lineup for the Clippers with a hip flexor problem.

2) Marc Berman of the New York Post with a report that Isaih shops at K-Mart:

KNICKS EYE K-MART

April 28, 2006 -- The Knicks will again bid for Kenyon Martin now that he assuredly will be traded by the Nuggets this summer, but Larry Brown has also asked Isiah Thomas to target another potential injury risk: Miami's free-agent center Alonzo Mourning. Brown is desperate for Thomas to obtain an inside banger, a rugged rebounder and shot-blocker. Brown does not appear to believe that Eddy Curry or Channing Frye will become stout defenders. Martin is as available as ever - though the Knicks are one of few potential suitors, as they were at February's trading deadline - because of Martin's long-term contract ($54 million over four remaining years) and knee problems. He missed 26 games because of tendinitis in his surgically repaired knee. He's now at war with coach George Karl, who suspended the power forward for two playoff games. Mourning, whom Brown loves, plays it year by year. Despite his kidney illness, Mourning had a ferocious defensive season, averaging 7.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.66 blocks. Playing against the Knicks in November, he notched nine rejections. He returned from a partially torn calf muscle, playing in Game 3 of the Heat's series against the Bulls last night in Chicago. As a potential draw, some of Mourning's kidney doctors are based in New York. Mourning made just $1.7 million this season and the Knicks could easily outbid the thrifty Heat by using all or part of their $5 million mid-level exception. Owner James Dolan's generosity gives the Knicks the advantage of extending long-term deals to risky players. The Nuggets will likely look to dump Martin for an expiring contract; the Knicks have two of those, in Maurice Taylor and Jalen Rose. Last February the Nuggets were interested in Penny Hardaway's expiring deal but also wanted Frye in a larger package.

3) Ian Thomsen reports that Martin is all but gone from Denver:

Addition by subtraction - Nuggets already preparing for life without Martin

Do the Denver Nuggets have the Clippers right where they want them? It may prove to be a ridiculous question. Earlier this week while the Nuggets were suspending their most expensive player in Kenyon Martin, the Clippers were holding serve at home while dominating the first two games of their opening-round series. But Thursday night in Denver, the Nuggets climbed back into contention with an ugly 94-87 win. The Clippers clearly are the more talented team, yet they have zero history of success in the playoffs. Having staked them to a 2-0 lead, the Nuggets will seek to establish their aggressive defense and explosive running game in Game 4 while trying to make the Clippers worry about choking on their series advantage. Remember when Lou Holtz used to suspend his best players before bowl games? The departure of Martin might galvanize his teammates, who are now 30-9 without him the last two years. They surely weren't surprised by his recent outburst, or by George Karl's response. That's because the issues between Karl and Martin go back months, cresting with one particular locker room incident following the Nuggets' 90-89 win against Cleveland Jan. 18, a game in which Carmelo Anthony was outrebounded 11-1 by LeBron James. "We were lucky sons of bitches," Karl told his players afterwards. "Everyone that's in this room right now is not playing to the level we need to rebound the ball." That remark was aimed mainly at Anthony. Then, in reference to the absence of center Marcus Camby, Karl added: "Maybe when the skinny guy gets back we'll rebound the ball better." Martin felt slighted by Karl's sarcasm because he had contributed 17 rebounds to go with his 16 points. The next day at practice Karl tried to explain his intentions, but Martin -- in full view of the team -- loudly told Karl to stay away, then turned his back and walked away from the coach. Karl followed after him, but Martin would not talk. When I asked Karl about this later in the season, he used the incident to express sympathy for Martin, who has been limited all season while trying to recover from offseason microfracture knee surgery. The comments that Karl shared last month provide fresh perspective on their relationship today. "I don't know what he feels about me," Karl said. "Kenyon and I talk: We communicate, sometimes angrily, and sometimes he's not happy with my thoughts. But I know he cares, I know he's passionate, and I know he's hurt. And I think I've done a pretty good job of understanding that because of those three things he's not going to be an even-keeled guy every day. "Early in my career I wasn't an even-keeled coach every day, so I think we're similar in a lot of ways. I don't think he's going to be 100 percent till next year. I never thought he would be 100 percent this year, just the way the year went and the pain he's feeling and how he's playing and the inconsistency of good and bad performances. He's a proud player, and he gets angry when he can't play to his level of what he's proud to be. Even though I'm frustrated because he can't get there, I've got to manage that. And sometimes I've got to manage away from him, and that probably gets him more frustrated and more angry." Karl was "managing away" from Martin when he limited him to six minutes in the first half of Game 2 in Los Angeles, which led to Martin's halftime tirade in the locker room and his suspension from the team. While Anthony and Karl have made peace after their relationship got off to a rough start last year, the same cannot be said of Karl and Martin. Karl's sarcasm doesn't play well with Martin, an emotional guy and a strong presence in an otherwise quiet locker room. "I told him this: That he's a very powerful person," Karl said of Martin in March. "Unfortunately, he chooses the negative power as much as he chooses the positive power. It's your choice as a leader. You can be negative, and you can take whatever I say and take the opposite side. You can choose whatever rationalization you want. And I think sometimes Kenyon puts a weight on this team because he's choosing the negative. But in the same sense, when he's positive, he's a very powerful guy too." The Nuggets believe that Martin will return to full health by next season, as doctors had warned that he would struggle with his rehab this year. While this suspension may hinder their ability to trade him this summer, the Nuggets should be able to fetch decent value by seeking a shooting guard in return. Teams usually like the idea of trading small for big, and the Nuggets are desperate for a scoring guard to complement Anthony. In the meantime, they'll try to rally around Martin's absence without tarnishing him or his trade value. "I've walked over to Kenyon when I know he hates my guts and I know I'm pissed at him," Karl said in March. "But I still walk over to him." It's fair to say that the coach has taken his last steps in that direction. Wherever the Nuggets go, they'll get there without Martin.

4) Jay Bilas of ESPN.com with an interesting article on his Mount Rushmore of NCAA coaches pre 1980:

Hard to quibble with these four choices

To reduce hundreds of coaches in the history of college basketball to just four faces to be chiseled into the side of a mountain seems like pure folly. When Mount Rushmore was conceived in 1923 to be carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota as a monument to American history, there had been just 29 presidents. Since the game was invented by James Naismith in 1891 as an indoor "athletic distraction," there have been eight head coaches for the Jayhawks alone, including Phog Allen, Larry Brown, Roy Williams, and two Jayhawks players -- Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp -- who later went on to distinguished coaching careers worthy of inclusion on that mountain in South Dakota. Ironically, Naismith is the only head coach in Kansas history to sport a losing overall record. When you factor in that there are several other institutions that have comparable reputations and are similarly rich in hardwood tradition, such as Indiana, St. John's, Kentucky, UCLA, North Carolina and Duke, you see the difficulty in reducing the number to just four. If we were to undertake this exercise in 1923, it would be a much simpler task, and the field would be much smaller and more manageable. It seems a no-brainer to put Naismith on the mountain, for he invented the very game that we honor by this monument. However, Naismith does not make my pre-ESPN era lineup of four. While I do not claim to know as much about baseball as I believe I know about basketball, I would not put Abner Doubleday on a baseball Mount Rushmore, and the same principle applies for college basketball. Naismith supporters can take some solace in the fact that I also left off the likes of Allen, Lou Carnesecca of St. John's, Clarence "Bighouse" Gaines of Winston-Salem State, Everett Case of North Carolina State, Fred Taylor of Ohio State, Harry Litwack of Temple, Vic Bubas of Duke, Frank McGuire of North Carolina and South Carolina, Nat Holman of CCNY, Clair Bee of Rider and LIU, Piggy Lambert of Purdue, Jack Hartman of Kansas State, Ralph Miller of Iowa and Oregon State, Al McGuire of Marquette, Ray Meyer of DePaul, Phil Woolpert of San Francisco, Bob Boyd of USC, Don Haskins of UTEP, Jud Heathcote of Michigan State, and Marv Harshman of Washington. To get it down to four, I went not just with the four coaches with the most wins or national championships, I decided to go with the four that I consider to be the most influential and best coaches. While I recognize that reasonable basketball minds can differ, and the four of another basketball observer can be just as good as mine, I don't believe that anyone's list could be any better than this one.

John Wooden, UCLA The inclusion of Wooden is a no-brainer. He won 10 national championships in 12 years at UCLA, and won with very different teams. Critics -- and there are few -- will say that Wooden won with Alcindor and Walton, and won in an age when you only played four NCAA Tournament games and stayed in your own region. Well, providing my most thoughtful and intellectual response to that position, I say that is a bunch of bull. Wooden won two titles (in 1964 and '65) before Alcindor ever showed up on campus, and won with Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich instead of the behemoth centers he had in Alcindor and Walton. He also won between the two fine centers with Steve Patterson, Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe, and played a different style and game. Similarly, when Walton took his act to the NBA, Wooden continued on winning with David Meyers, Richard Washington and Marques Johnson up front, and stopped winning only because he retired. On the region front, if West Coast basketball was so much weaker than East Coast basketball, how come none of the East Coast powerhouses could clip the Bruins in the Final Four? Oh, and I believe that UCLA could have handled a 16th seed and the No. 8 vs. No. 9 winner in any given year. Wooden was an innovator with his use of full-court pressure, and he is one of the sage voices in the game's history and one of its finest gentlemen. Wooden is also the first man to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player and a coach, with both honors coming on the collegiate level. His is the first face on my Mount Rushmore.

Henry Iba, Oklahoma State Henry Iba was the first man to win back-to-back NCAA championships in 1945 and 1946, and is a legend among legends in coaching. Referred to as "Mr. Iba," he was a true innovator in man-to-man defensive principles and was the only man to coach three Olympic teams and two gold-medal-winning teams in Olympic play. While many will remember Iba simply as having coached the 1972 Olympic team that was cheated out of its gold medal in a loss to the Soviet Union in Munich, Iba was one of the true greats of the game. He won 767 games before retiring. Bob Knight once said of Iba, "Of all the shadows cast in the game, his was the longest." Henry Iba is the second face on my Mount Rushmore.

Adolph Rupp, Kentucky Rupp played and studied the game under Allen at the University of Kansas, where the inventor of the game once coached, and went on to win four national championships at Kentucky -- second only to Wooden's 10. During his time as the man in the brown suit, Rupp went 879-190, winning more than 82 percent of his games. In addition to the four national titles, Rupp won an NIT championship when the NIT was just as prestigious as the NCAA title is today, and he won 27 SEC championships. When he retired, Rupp was the all-time winningest coach in basketball history, a mark that was later passed by fellow Jayhawks player Dean Smith. Rupp was the co-coach of the 1948 Olympic team, which featured the five best players from his Kentucky team. Some might argue that because of the perceptions of Rupp's reputation stemming from the 1966 NCAA championship game loss to Texas Western and the policies of the SEC and Kentucky in the segregated South during his coaching career that Rupp should be kept off of this monument. While I am sensitive to that position, I disagree with it. Rupp's accomplishments and ability level demands that he be included here. Adolph Rupp is the third face on my Mount Rushmore.

Pete Newell, California Newell is every bit the giant in the game that Wooden, Iba and Rupp are, despite the fact that he did not coach as long. Newell is perhaps the finest teacher in the game's history, and is one of the finest basketball minds ever. He coached at the University of San Francisco, winning the NIT championship in 1949, and at Michigan State, before making his biggest splash as the coach at California, where he led the Golden Bears to back-to-back NCAA championship game appearances. Newell won the NCAA title in 1959 and fell to Jerry Lucas' Ohio State Buckeyes in 1960. In 1960, Newell coached the United States to the Olympic gold medal, which was believed to be the greatest amateur team in history, with Jerry West, Oscar Robertson and Walt Bellamy. After leaving college coaching, Newell served as general manager for the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, and still is one of the most respected clinicians, authors and consultants in the game. Newell still conducts his annual Big Man Camp, which has set the standard for footwork and fundamentals. I have had the pleasure of knowing Newell since I was in high school in Los Angeles, and the game has not known a finer coach or gentleman. Pete Newell is the fourth and final face on my Mount Rushmore.