NBA Insider with Ken Berger

I can hear myself think for the first time all night. The music has stopped blaring, the ESPN announcers have stopped screaming, and the Mets fans have stopped cheering "Daaaa-ryylll! Daaaa-ryylll!" in honor of Darryl Strawberry's son, D.J., who was selected by Phoenix with the next-to-last pick.

If you're new to the blog tonight for our live update experiment, I hope you stick around and check back for news and updates. The start of free agency is less than 48 hours away.

Any thoughts, questions, or insights are welcome. I'll answer them after I get some sleep.

G'nite.

Anyone still awake out there? You should be. If this were an NBA Finals game, we'd only be halfway through the third quarter.

The rumored deal involving Charlotte trading the No. 8 pick just happened. The Bobcats send Brandan Wright to Golden State for Jason Richardson and Jermareo Davidson, the 36th pick. So maybe Michael Jordan knows what he's doing.

In case you're wondering when we write all the stuff you see in the paper, I just sent in the two stories that will appear in most editions minutes ago. My head hurts.

As you probably know by now, Dan Dickau is the other throw-in for the Knicks in the Zach Randolph trade. The Knicks get Randolph, Dickau, and Fred Jones for Channing Frye and Steve Francis. I like the trade.

There's other stuff swirling around here, such as speculation about whether Milwaukee will trade Yi Jianlian, who doesn't want to play there. I'm more focused on whether Minnesota will trade Kevin Garnett, although the best chance for that to happen would've been a deal involving draft picks.

Will Jermaine O'Neal stay in Indiana? The Nets have offered Richard Jefferson, Nenad Krstic, and Jason Collins.

How will the Lakers patch things up with Kobe. Won't be easy, from what I'm hearing.

Do the Knicks have enough left to swing a sign-and-trade for Rashard Lewis? Word is Seattle is going to try to keep him now, but Orlando is going to make a push.

I'll sort it out and get back to you in a bit. Tylenol anyone?

Short entry this time, or Jeff Weinberg will have me reassigned to the fishing beat for missing deadline:

They just announced the Knicks' trade for Zach Randolph, and it was met with thunderous applause in the Theater at MSG. Stephen A. Smith then shouted quite loudly about it for a few moments, but I couldn't tell if he liked the trade or not.

OK, things have gotten interesting. Since we last spoke, Yi Jianlian and his agent, Dan Fegan, just about crawled under the table about 25 feet from where I am sitting when it was announced that the Milwaukee Bucks picked him No. 6. Yi made it clear he wanted to go to a bigger market with an Asian fan base. Yo, sorry, Yi.

Then it was Corey Brewer to Minnesota, Brandan Wright to Charlotte ... oh, who cares. The Knicks are close to making a trade, so let's not bury the lead.

The talks being wrapped up as we speak have Zach Randolph going from Portland to the Knicks for Channing Frye and Steve Francis. The Knicks also get guard Fred Jones as a throw-in to make the money work.

My first thought on this is that it's a good deal that makes the Knicks better, gets them off the hook for Stevie Franchise's $33.6 million over the next two years, and gives Francis a chance to revive his career out west. In Randolph, the Knicks get a player with some off-court issues -- but one who is an excellent low-post scorer to complement Eddy Curry.

That's it for now. Need time to get ready to cover the Knicks and Blazers in the 2008 NBA Finals.

After Oden and Durant, Al Horford went to the Hawks and Mike Conley Jr. to the Grizzlies. The Celtics made the fifth pick, Jeff Green, but the reports are that he's headed to Seattle for Ray Allen. The Sonics also get Cold Spring Harbor's Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West.

So after Boston was mentioned in every Kevin Garnett trade scenario imaginable, they wind up with Ray Allen instead.

Your thoughts?

Oden and Durant go 1-2. What a shocker. Mel Kiper Jr. just called in to say he hates both picks.

Each player sat next to his mom when the announcements were made. I see Ohio State coach Thad Matta talking on a cell phone, and he's smiling as though he were just picked first in the draft. I wonder if he just got a call that Oden is actually 37 and ineligible for the draft, in which case he could go back to school.

For those who care, that's what I just had for dinner. I decided to forego the media spread and head upstairs with the real people and have a high cholesterol, overpriced feast.

Now David Stern is talking about how great the NBA is. The suspense is about to end ... well, it'll end after the first two picks. Hope you had a better dinner than I did.

Here we are in the brave new world of blogging during a sporting event while the sporting event happens. I'll do my best to keep you up to date in between picks and bathroom breaks.

First, rumors. Speculation is growing in the Theater at MSG that the Knicks are trying to do something big. Now Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports -- an excellent, well-sourced reporter who used to toil at the Bergen Record -- has the Knicks and Trail Blazers discussing a trade that would send Zach Randolph and Martell Webster to New York for Steve Francis and Channing Frye. No independent confirmation yet on this end. Just wanted you to know it's out there.

Also according to Woj, the Nets have offered Richard Jefferson, Nenad Krstic, and Jason Collins to the Pacers for Jermaine O'Neal. For that to work, I think the Pacers would have to pull off another deal to get into the first round because they don't have a first-round pick.

Oh, and someone just told me that ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who has a pipeline to Kobe Bryant, just said on radio or TV or some other form of communication that Jerry Buss lied when he said he and Kobe had a constructive talk recently. The Kobe camp apparently says there is no communication between the two, and not surprisingly, he's still fuming at the Lakers.

That's all for now. Stay tuned and send me your thoughts, comments, criticisms, rumors, etc. I'll address as much as I can.

It’s that time of year again … time to make the mockery of the drafting process by allowing everyone with a keyboard to come up with a mock draft.

Since this figures to be the most chaotic NBA draft in recent memory, with numerous trades involving superstar veterans and premium picks under serious discussion, I’m going to spare you the trouble of reading my projections after the top 10. Several general managers have indicated that they don’t even know what their competitors will do from the fifth pick on down. In some cases, it’s so unpredictable that the execs don’t even know what they’ll do once we get into the teens.

A caveat: The Hawks (No. 3), Celtics (No. 5), and Bobcats (No. 8) are all deep into discussions to trade their lottery picks, and I expect at least one of those deals to be done by draft time Thursday night. But as things stand right now, here is how I expect the top 10 picks to go down:

1) Portland Trail Blazers: Greg Oden, C, Ohio State, 7-0, 257. Not exactly a no-brainer over Kevin Durant, but close.

2) Seattle SuperSonics: Kevin Durant, F, Texas, 6-10, 215. Once Oden is gone, this pick is a no-brainer.

3) Atlanta Hawks: Yi Jianlian, F, China, 7-0, 246. The Hawks draft the wrong guy year after year, so this pick should make Yi nervous.

4) Memphis Grizzlies: Al Horford, F, Florida, PF, 6-10, 246. First of three Gators going in the top 10.

5) Boston Celtics: Jeff Green, F, Georgetown, 6-10, 228. If Danny Ainge doesn’t trade the pick, Green will give the Celtics a versatile frontcourt player with great intangibles.

6) Milwaukee Bucks: Mike Conley, G, Ohio State, 6-1, 175. Though not a star, Conley is a complete guard who will complement another former Buckeye, Michael Redd.

7) Minnesota Timberwolves: Joakim Noah, F, Florida, 7-0, 223. A little unpolished, but the Poly Prep (Brooklyn) product would be a steal here.

8) Charlotte Bobcats: Corey Brewer, G, Florida, 6-8, 185. And Michael Jordan takes … a shooting guard! I still think he’s more likely to trade the pick.

9) Chicago Bulls (via Knicks): Spencer Hawes, C, Washington, 7-1, 244. With one of the many picks the Bulls got for Eddy Curry, they get a replacement for Eddy Curry.

10) Sacramento Kings: Brandan Wright, F, North Carolina, 6-9, 200. A finesse player whose stock has been falling due to unimpressive workouts, but he’s too talented to pass on here.

It’s time for Kobe Bryant to come out and state publicly where he stands now that the Lakers are doing everything in their power to appease him by attempting to acquire Kevin Garnett.

Kobe had a lot to say a few weeks ago, to just about every media outlet known to mankind. Where is he now?

Where are the sound bytes? The proclamations? The contradictions? The Kobe-isms?

It’s been almost a month since Bryant sent shockwaves through the NBA by stating unequivocally that he wants the Lakers to surround him with All-Star talent or trade him.

You know the rest: Some comments he made about feeling better after speaking with coach Phil Jackson were misinterpreted by all but about two or three NBA media. Kobe didn’t back down that day, and he still hasn’t.

When trade talks that would send Garnett to the Lakers became public Monday, the first thing I thought was: What is Kobe going to think? Would this be enough to get him to state publicly that he wants to stay in L.A.?

So far no word from Kobe. It should be coming soon, as he will be making a public appearance this week at a basketball camp he is holding in Santa Monica, Calif. Promises to be a media frenzy that’ll make Paris Hilton jealous.

But while Kobe hasn’t spoken on the airwaves or anywhere else for attribution, he evidently has sent a smoke signal out through ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher, one of the only media types in the country in whom Kobe confides. My antennae went up Monday night when I heard Bucher on TV saying that to the best of his understanding, the Garnett situation in fact HAS NOT changed Kobe’s mind. He still wants out of L.A., Bucher said.

Hardly anyone has picked up on this, but the words should be taken as straight from Kobe’s mouth as far as I’m concerned. But that’s not good enough. If Kobe has an opinion one way or another about the Garnett deal, he needs to come out and say it. The Lakers and all the people he led on his magical mystery tour a few weeks ago need to know what he thinks now.

A few more thoughts on the Garnett trade talks:

1) Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, and Kwame Brown are not enough for Garnett straight up. Minnesota should be looking for more.
2) That’s where a multi-team deal would come into play. The Celtics make the most sense, since they have the No. 5 pick. But various reports had Boston pulling out of a potential four-team swap also involving the Pacers because the Celtics weren’t pleased with what they’d get out of it. If they’re sending the No. 5 pick and Al Jefferson to the T-Wolves, the Celtics should get more than Jermaine O’Neal in return.
3) If a third or even fourth team is going to be needed to send Garnett to the Lakers, Jerry Buss and Glen Taylor will find that team. The involvement of the owners proves how serious both team are about appeasing their disgruntled superstars.

In the words of the late, great Kurt Vonnegut, the excrement hit the air conditioning today when an already intriguing NBA offseason got infinitely more intriguing.

The L.A. Times reported on its Web site that the Timberwolves and Lakers are discussing a blockbuster trade that would make Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant teammates in Los Angeles, sending shockwaves throughout the league.

Such a deal would be stunning enough if it only affected one superstar, Garnett. But if the Lakers and T-Wolves can pull this off, it would satisfy two of the league’s biggest stars and unite them on a team that would have to consider itself a power worthy of challenging the Spurs, Suns, and Mavericks for Western Conference – and thus, NBA – supremacy.

According to the Times, the discussions were brokered by Lakers owner Jerry Buss and T-Wolves owner Glen Taylor, who spoke for 20 minutes by phone on Friday. Initially, a four-team deal was discussed with the Pacers sending Jermaine O’Neal to Boston and the Celtics presumably sending their No. 5 pick in Thursday’s draft to Minnesota.

Now, two things need to be determined. First, would the Lakers acquiring Garnett be enough for Bryant to back down from his request to be traded? And second, would Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, and Kwame Brown be enough for persuade Minnesota G.M. Kevin McHale to part with Garnett?

What McHale really wants for Garnett is a high draft pick, and the Celtics hold that card with the fifth pick.

Hands down, this will be the most interesting storyline in the run-up to the draft Thursday, but several other deals have a chance to be consummated.

Will the Suns send Shawn Marion to Boston even though he doesn’t want to play there? Will the Hawks make another bonehead pick with the No. 3 selection, or will they trade it? What will the 76ers do with their three first-round picks? If the Pacers can’t revive their involvement in the Garnett-to-L.A. scenario, will they find another suitor for O’Neal?

Where are the Knicks in all of this? On the sideline. The desire is there, but now that the heavy hitters have jumped into the ring, it appears that Isiah Thomas doesn’t have the assets to make a serious play for any of the top-tier talents who could be changing teams. Unless you consider Seattle’s Rashard Lewis a top-tier talent. Thomas does.

Big Chief Triangle sent out a puff of smoke Monday from his bunker, where he is recovering from hip replacement surgery.

“He’s made a decision that he feels justified to hold — one that I’ve questioned — that he has reasons to leave the Lakers,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson wrote in an email to the Los Angeles Times. Obviously, he was referring to Kobe Bryant.

“However, it’s my unshakeable feeling that Kobe will be a Laker next October … when training camp opens.”

That is quite a prediction. I have another one: If Kobe is, in fact, traded, then the Zen Master will not return for the third and final season of his three-year, $30 million contract to coach what the Lakers get back for Bryant.

Even as things stand now, with Kobe on the team, Jackson is on record as having doubts about whether it makes sense for him to coach the team next year. In an April interview, Jackson said: “Personally, as an owner, does [Jerry Buss] really want to spend the kind of money he’s spending on me to have a .500 team?”

Anyway, the Kobe stuff should calm down for a day or two, at least until Kobe returns from Spain or the video showing him viciously berating the Lakers is released.

I know some people think my theory about the Knicks having a shot at Kobe is farfetched. I’m telling you, it’s not as farfetched as you think.
Consider this: The Lakers will have a choice of going three different directions if they become convinced there is no way out of this other than to trade Kobe.

1) Try to get a somewhat comparable superstar who can get people excited enough to pass through the turnstiles at Staples Center. The only name in that realm among the teams Kobe wants to play for is Shawn Marion, and the Lakers are not trading Kobe to a Western Conference team.

2) Get a large enough collection of young players and draft picks so the team would remain a borderline playoff team – as they’ve been the past two years with Bryant. The Lakers could play the, “See, we have the same record we had with Kobe” card, and sell the fans on players who like each other, pass to each other, and aren’t selfish.

3) Gut the thing and start over by bringing on as much expiring money as possible.

No. 1 isn’t happening, at least not with a team out West. As far as Eastern superstars, Paul Pierce isn’t going to cut it, either. Gilbert Arenas? Maybe, but the Wizards would need a third team to facilitate.

Of the teams with a realistic shot of getting Bryant to waive his no-trade, only the Knicks have the ability to satisfy either of the other two options. That’s the benefit of having a $130 million payroll.

If the Lakers want to pursue the second avenue, the Knicks have the bodies available with the salaries to match.

If the Lakers want to blow it up, take their lumps for two years, and reload through free agency in 2009, the Knicks could help them do that, too. The Lakers, in fact, would have their choice of obscene contracts that expire after the 2008-09 season. Want a $22 million deal expiring in 2009? Here’s Stephon Marbury. Rather go the $17 million route? Steve Francis, come on down!

Every other team the Knicks would be competing against could only satisfy one of the three options at the Lakers’ disposal. Just something else to think about.

Well, gotta go for now. I’m going to lunch with the fellas, after which I plan to let them videotape me cussing out my bosses with a cell phone camera. Bidding for the clip will start at $1.99.

Cleveland – People I meet always ask me, “Who do you root for?” Rather than correct their grammar, I say, “Nobody. I root for good stories and fast games.”

The sports writer life is a misunderstood existence. I wouldn’t trade it for anything – in fact, I’m not quite sure what else I would be capable of doing to earn a living wage – but few people really know what it’s about.

If you know any sports writers, you probably hear them complain. A lot. But trust me, there is no better way to make a living. We all know it. Maybe we complain out of guilt that we’re having so much fun while other people have to do important jobs.

So back to good stories and fast games. Neither of my rooting interests appears to be attainable in this NBA Finals between the dynastic Spurs and overmatched Cavs. The first two games were unentertaining blowouts. The third one was an unwatchable bore. The fourth one can be anything it wants, as long as the Spurs wind up with more points than the Cavs so this series and the ever-shrinking viewing public can be put out of their misery.

Then, the people with the big brains at the NBA and the TV networks can begin work on a much more important task than determining who wins this drama-less series. That is, fixing the product that hardly anybody wants to watch.

I wrote about a possible solution in the previous post, and I’ll be expanding on it in a column in Thursday’s paper. (You know, the thing with the pictures and headlines and ink.) Something has to be done to save basketball fans and future generations from boredom.

The glory days of Jordan and Magic and Bird are over, and they’re not coming back. To the NBA’s credit, it realizes this. It also understands that in the global, Internet-driven marketplace, Nielsen ratings are not the panacea they once were for measuring the public’s interest in a particular sporting event.

The NBA is hardly the only sport whose TV ratings are plummeting in this new age of widening entertainment options. But it has to find a way to capitalize on the good things it has to offer. As was illustrated in the early rounds of the playoffs – Golden State vs. Dallas, San Antonio vs. Phoenix – people will watch and buzz will be generated when talented, evenly matched teams engage in a competitive, dramatic playoff series.

Unless the powers that be figure out how to get the best teams to the Finals – regardless of what conference they are from – the most talented, evenly matched teams will continue to avoid playing each other on the biggest stage.

The popular solution of having elite teams in the biggest markets – New York, Boston, L.A., Chicago – is archaic and won’t solve the real problem. If the Spurs were playing, say, the Suns or Mavericks in the Finals, I doubt the TV audience would be as large as it was when Michael Jordan won his last championship in 1998. There is no Jordan, never will be, and the marketplace has changed. The NBA can’t control that.

But what it can control is getting the two best teams playing for a championship. Then, the rooting public would be cheering for more games and more drama instead of wishing it was over already.

It can’t be good for the health of a sport when the fans are rooting for the same things sports writers root for. If you can’t give us a good story, just get it over with fast.

Cleveland – John Hollinger of ESPN.com has come up with the best solution I’ve heard for fixing the NBA playoffs and addressing the Western Conference dominance that has given us another uninteresting mismatch in the Finals.

David Stern is quick to point out that the Eastern Conference has won two of the last three championships. True, but the West has won six of the last eight, and the Spurs appear poised to make it seven of nine. San Antonio’s first two victories in this series were barely competitive.

Here’s how the Hollinger Plan would work: The playoff seedings would remain the same, with the teams ranked 1-8 in each conference. Then, No. 1 in the West would play No. 8 in the East, No. 2 in the East would play No. 7 in the West, etc. This wouldn’t necessarily rule out an East vs. West matchup in the Finals, but if the teams from the East weren’t good enough, they’d be weeded out by the superior West teams in the early rounds.

For example, cross-matching the playoffs would give us intriguing first-round matchups such as Utah vs. Chicago and Cleveland vs. the Lakers. If the Cavs and Spurs faced each other, it would’ve been in the second round – not the Finals.

If it had been done this way this year, the Spurs or Mavericks might have faced the Pistons in the Finals – but Detroit would’ve needed to get past Golden State in the first round and Phoenix or Utah after that. If form held, we’d be watching the Mavericks or Spurs against the Suns in the Finals, which would be a heck of a lot more entertaining than what we’re watching.

Here’s how Hollinger explains it:

As you can see, Phoenix versus San Antonio – “the real Finals” – wouldn’t be possible until the final round, rather than in Round 2. And in the second round, we’d get the current doozy between Cleveland and San Antonio, which is entirely appropriate.
Also, if Cleveland did make it to the league’s final four, it at least would have had to beat a team with a winning record, which was not true this year. Don’t you think the league would have preferred that to what actually happened?

Instead of a neutered East, each side of the bracket has some real teams in it. Utah versus Chicago as a first-round series would have been outstanding, as would the LeBron versus Kobe matchup when the Cavs played the Lakers. And the Nuggets, instead of getting ambushed by a first-round pairing against eventual champion San Antonio (just pretend it’s next week already), would have had a much more friendly pairing against injury-wracked Toronto (a matchup that instead benefited a 41-win New Jersey team).

There are problems of course, starting with travel. The 2-3-2 format would have to be used in all rounds, to prevent ridiculous travel scenarios. Also, the league and TV networks would frown upon a system that could give us an all-West Coast Finals. But don’t you think fans on the East Coast would be more inclined to watch a thrilling San Antonio-Phoenix series than San Antonio-Cleveland?

Don’t hold your breath for this to happen. Even if you could convince Stern that the current Western Conference superiority isn’t a one-time thing, but a trend that’s a decade in the making, a decade of evidence wouldn’t be enough for the NBA to make such a drastic change. But I would argue that cross-matching in the playoffs would have the unintended side effect of prompting the East teams to get it together and be more competitive. As it is now, there’s little incentive for the East to catch up to the West because everyone knows that each of the conference’s eight playoff teams will have a shot at making it to the Finals, no matter how bad they are. Take away the incentive, and you can be sure competitive balance would return.

The idea of conferences and even divisions in sports has become somewhat antiquated and not particularly useful anyway. There are 30 teams in the NBA. The best of the best, no matter which conference they play in, should be the last teams standing.

San Antonio – Greetings from San Antonio, where a mean sinus infection has gotten the best of me for the first few days of the Finals. But I’m back, and I have a few things besides mucous rattling around my head. So here goes:

When your head is pounding mercilessly and you can’t breathe, it’s difficult to partake of all the decadent parties and feasts the NBA has lined up for the media. So instead of challenging the world record for barbecue, margarita, and beer consumption, I’ve been stuck in my hotel room a lot. And by virtue of that, I have watched some of the classic NBA Finals games on NBA TV.

Needless to say, Michael Jordan stars in most of these. It’s good to watch footage of MJ in his prime – not the watered down version that last won a title in ’98 or the geriatric Jordan who needlessly came out of retirement. Why? Because such an experience provides real, irrefutable proof that these LeBron James-Jordan comparisons are pure garbage.

LBJ is a fine talent, and will probably win a championship someday. But please – please – stop comparing him to MJ. It’s ridiculous. It’s insulting to the greatest player who ever lived. It betrays the ignorance of anyone who does so. It’s wrong.

Really, if LBJ were that good, people would be watching the NBA Finals on TV. Many are not, but that’s beside the point. LeBron’s game bears no – I repeat, no – resemblance to that of His Airness.

He does not break defenders down one-on-one off the dribble, but uses angles, positioning and strength to gain his advantage. He’s a supreme passer, but so was Michael in his prime. LBJ is a finisher; MJ was a starter and a finisher. LBJ rarely creates his own shot without the help of screens or pick-and-rolls. MJ did things with the basketball that no other human being who ever lived could do. That includes everyone currently alive today, and probably will include all of those yet to be born.

If we must follow through with this exercise of anointing the “Next Jordan,” then I will say this: The only player in the NBA whose game bears a reasonable resemblance to Jordan’s is Kobe Bryant. No one else even deserves to be in the discussion.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, a news item or two: Gilbert Arenas has told The Washington Post that he plans to opt out of his contract after next season. Gil says he doesn’t necessarily want to leave Washington, he just wants to maximize his earnings. Just another reason to love the guy. He’s honest. When it’s about the money, he says so.

It’s too bad for the Knicks, who are still projected to be $25-$30 million over the cap after next season. Even if Isiah Thomas stays the course and doesn’t add more salary, the Knicks still won’t be under the cap until after the 2008-09 season, when Kobe has his opt-out.

Do the Knicks really want to wait that long to make a major move? I don’t think so. That’s why I must point out that I continue to hear that Kobe’s situation in L.A. is no closer to being resolved to his satisfaction. I believe Kobe still wants out – the truth is, he has an official trade request on the table – and the Knicks and Bulls are the teams he is most likely to be dealt to in a sign-and-trade this summer.

The next few weeks will be crucial to deciding whether Bryant stays in L.A. or not. If the answer is no, the Knicks should be and will be ready to make their run at him now rather than wait two more years.

Cleveland – When the Pistons walked into Quicken Loans Arena for shootaround at about 10:45 this morning, they were walking into a predicament they’ve seen – and conquered – many times before.

During their current run of Eastern Conference dominance, which began in 2003, the Pistons are 5-1 when trailing 3-2 in a series and facing elimination in Game 6. Four of those wins have come on the road.

This would explain the confidence – as close to a guarantee as you’ll hear – that Chauncey Billups expressed in the visiting locker room a couple of hours ago.

Billups didn’t go so far as to guarantee that the Pistons would win tonight to force Game 7 back in Auburn Hills. He said something more specific, and even more definitive, about the superstar who torched them with 25 straight points and 29 of Cleveland’s final 30 in the Cavs’ 109-107 double-overtime victory in Game 5 Thursday night.

Memo to LeBron James from the Pistons: You might get your 40 points or so again tonight, but you better be prepared to do it while standing 20 feet or more from the basket – not driving ferociously to the rim for a stunning assortment of dunks and layups, as you did in Game 5

“That’s never happened to us,” Billups said, a Detroit Tigers cap sitting slightly askew on his bald head. “No, that won’t happen again. I won’t say the kid can’t get 40, you know what I’m saying? But he won’t get the 40 like that again. No, no, trust me. Not like that. If he can get 40 with fadeaways and all that, then tip your hat. He won’t get that kind of 40 again.”

It was a bold and stern message to LeBron, and in case Billups wasn’t clear enough, he was basically saying what Isiah Thomas said to Carmelo Anthony back in December: Don’t go to the basket right now … wouldn’t be a good idea.

Cavs coach Mike Brown didn’t need Billups to inform him of this. He already knew.

“They’re going to hit LeBron every time he touches the ball,” Brown said. “Maybe not at the start of the game, but come that fourth quarter for sure, as soon as he touches it, they’re going to run two guys at him. And they’re going to take it out of his hands and make somebody else beat ‘em.”

A while later, I relayed Billups’ boast to the Cavs’ Eric Snow, who didn’t even blink.

“If I was in their position, I would be saying the same thing,” Snow said. “So it doesn’t surprise me. I don’t think they’re disgusted with a guy getting hot or making threes or hitting jump shots. I think what probably disgusts them the most is a guy getting layups and dunks. We would feel the same way, so it doesn’t shock me or surprise me that they feel that way.”

It might shock or surprise the Cavs, however, that Billups and the Pistons aren’t panicking in the least heading into Game 6. In fact, Billups’ spin this morning was that even with all of LeBron’s heroics, Cleveland still needed two overtimes to win Game 5.

“The game I saw the other day was like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Billups said. “And still they needed two overtimes to beat us. The way we’ve played in a few of these games, we should have gotten beat by 17, 18, 19. But they haven’t been able to really pull away like that on us. I think that’s got something to do with us, but it’s probably got something to do with them, too. We’re still in this series and like I said, if we were getting beat by 17, 16, it’s really an uphill battle. But we’re right there.”

Tonight, it sounds like they will be right there in droves whenever LeBron touches the ball. The guys with the mops and towels better be ready to wipe up a lot of sweat from the floor under the basket.