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NBA roundup: Pacers president Larry Bird calls his team soft (The SportsXchange)

The worst playoff loss in Indiana Pacers franchise history had team president Larry Bird calling out his players, according to an Indianapolis Star report.

 

Heat's LeBron James leads NBA all-defensive team (The Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James was the leading vote-getter for the league's all-defensive squad Wednesday, while Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler didn't even crack the first team.

 

Tyson Chandler Left Off NBA All-defensive First Team, Exposing a Flaw in the System (Yahoo! Contributor Network)

Depending on who you ask, Tyson Chandler was either the best defensive player in the NBA this season, or he was the second best at his position.

 

Heat's James leads all-defensive team (The SportsXchange)

NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James is the leading vote-getter for the league's all-defensive team.

 

Chris Paul goes off the top of the backboard for one last Clipper highlight before losing to Spurs (VIDEO) (Ball Don't Lie)

Chris Paul had a fairly nightmarish three-game stretch to open the Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs. He scored just 9.3 points per game on a paltry 30.8 percent shooting, earned just seven trips to the line (and, stunningly, made just two of his tries), and gave up a turnover for every 1.63 assists he dished, a cough-up rate more than 60 percent worse than the stellar 4.38-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio he managed during the regular season. Having a tough time with the Spurs isn't necessarily remarkable in and of itself; most players have had problems with the Spurs this year, which is they're 58-16 since the ball went up on Christmas Day. But Chris Paul isn't most players, a fact of which he reminded us late in the fourth quarter Sunday, when he entered the lane, encountered three San Antonio defenders, absorbed the contact and flipped up some nonsense ... that took a couple of gentle bounces on the very top of the backboard (which is still in play) before bouncing back down through the hoop. It's a shot the most practiced H-O-R-S-E wizard wouldn't bet a nickel on, and it's something Chris Paul made to tie an elimination playoff game with 2 1/2 minutes left, before hitting the and-one freebie to give the Clips the lead. Of course, it was an elimination game that the Clippers went on to lose . After scoring L.A.'s final seven points, Paul couldn't bring the Clips across the finish line by himself against a Spurs side that seems Marianas deep. The 102-99 loss sends San Antonio on to the Western Conference finals and Paul and his mates home after two rounds. Luckily for us, though, Game 4 also sent NBA fans off with a couple of other things.

 

Clippers' future depends on Blake Griffin's growth (Yahoo! Sports)

The Spurs' 24-point comeback against the Clippers gives Blake Griffin another much-needed lesson.

 

Spurs-Clippers Preview (The Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES (AP) Down 2-0 against the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Clippers face the tough task of needing two victories at home to keep pace with the NBA's hottest team. Making things worse are injuries to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin that have robbed the superstars of their effectiveness.

 

Clippers try to dig out of 2-0 hole against Spurs (The Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES (AP) Down 2-0 against the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Clippers face the tough task of needing two victories at home to keep pace with the NBA's hottest team. Making things worse are injuries to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin that have robbed the superstars of their effectiveness.

 

Lakers' Gasol wins award as NBA's top citizen (The Associated Press)

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) Pau Gasol probably would have been a doctor if he hadn't grown up to be 7 feet tall and awfully good at basketball.

 

Pau Gasol wins the 2011-2012 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (Ball Don't Lie)

In most seasons, the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award is a minor NBA honor given out by Professional Basketball Writers Association in a pretty low-key ceremony. That changed last season, when Ron Artest (the artist currently known as Metta World Peace) earned the award for his charitable activities in supporting mental health awareness. It was an impressive and noteworthy turnaround for a man who once seemed like a force of destruction. Then, of course, he elbowed James Harden of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the head and saw his reputation take a terrible hit. Perhaps sensing the danger of becoming the butt of jokes, the PBWA went with a safer pick this season. In doing so, they didn't leave the Lakers locker room, choosing big man and concerned citizen of the world Pau Gasol. From Mark Medina for the Los Angeles Times (via SLAM ):