The Grizzlies guard was fined $5,000 by the NBA on Friday for violating the league’s anti-flopping policy. Though he was clearly fouled by Ginobili on a fast break late in the fourth quarter of Memphis’ overtime loss to the Spurs, Allen spent nearly a minute writhing in pain near the baseline.

The NBA viewed this as a clear overreaction — particularly Allen’s grabbing of his head, which replay showed did not hit the court — causing him to be the first casualty of the policy aimed to discourage embellishment that was stiffened prior to the playoffs.

Was Allen’s penalty justified? Check out the video below and decide for yourself.

One thing you don’t expect — or that Suns guard Kendall Marshall doesn’t expect, anyway — is to see a dude feeding a Clydesdale in front of a strip mall.

Marshall didn’t seem to know what was going on, but we can venture a guess. This was clearly the horse from that Budweiser commercial, and this poor gentlemen was the handler who had to corral the horse after its inner-city jaunt to its former master. Mystery solved.

Check out Marshall’s confusion in the animation below.

Even though the threat of relocation is gone, Kings fans are no longer taking their team’s presence for granted. They came out in droves on Thursday for a rare pep rally, titled “Long Live the Sacramento Kings,” decked out in purple and black.

Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson and majority owner Vivek Randive received the loudest cheers, but the rally-goers really should have been cheering themselves. Their efforts, which eclipsed smaller fan-led efforts in other cities to prevent their teams from relocating, painted the NBA into a corner. The league’s relocation committee unanimously voted against allowing the Kings to relocate, and the board of governors followed suit last week. NBA commissioner David Stern then helped facilitate a deal with Randive’s group to keep the team in Sacramento, nixing a deal that had been in place to sell the team to a Seattle-based group.

Check out the merriment at the Kings’ rally>>

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen are on Forbes’ “World’s Most Powerful Couples” list for 2013, and they’re in good company. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are just a few of the other big names to make the ranking.

Forbes points out the power couples not only for their pizzazz but also for another feature of power — their money. With Bundchen bringing in $45 million in the past year and Brady collecting a bevy of endorsements as well as his contract with the Patriots, these two aren’t just a pretty pair.

See who else joins Brady and Bundchen among the power couples of the world.

Click here to see Forbes’ most powerful couples for 2013 >>

Dwyane Wade has a deal with Gatorade, and apparently that deal includes massive amounts of Gatorade. How massive? Well, so massive that he has a refrigerator stocked with all flavors of the drink — hundreds of bottles’ worth — in his house.

Wade is also, by his account, giving away a lot of that Gatorade to his children, which would be a pretty effective way to endorse his endorsement.

Check it out in the photo below.

Photo via Instagram/@dwyanewade

The Nets opened a boutique fan shop on the boardwalk in Coney Island on Thursday, putting their Jay-Z-inspired logo in the shadow of the Wonder Wheel and The Cyclone just in time for beach season. Fans can even play games to win prizes, inspired by Coney Island’s amusement park atmosphere.

“Coney Island is synonymous with summers in Brooklyn and we’re excited to be part of such an iconic neighborhood,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, in a statement. “Opening Nets Shop by adidas at Coney Island is the perfect way to expand our brand and marry sports with lifestyle.

“We also know that the Coney Island community is working hard to recover from Hurrican Sandy. We want to provide another economic engine that can further spark commerce by encouraging people to visit this wonderful area.”

The new shop will have all the staples of a fan shop with jerseys, hats and T-Shirts, plus summer-oriented items like Nets-themed sunglasses, beach towels, flip-flops and swimsuits.

Check out the shop in the photos below.

With Toronto’s new CEO, Tim Leiweke, acting aggressively to change the culture of the franchise, the Raptors have hotly pursued Ujiri as part of their makeover. In a meeting that could happen within the next 24 hours, the Raptors are expected to make Ujiri a multi-year offer than would triple his salary, reports Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski.

Ujiri began his NBA career as an unpaid scout for coach Doc Rivers in Orlando. If hired by the Raptors, this would be the second time the team has hired him away from the Nuggets. Bryan Colangelo, then Toronto’s G.M. and current team president, hired Ujiri as director of international scouting after four seasons as an international scout for Denver. He also served as assistant G.M. under Colangelo in Toronto.

Just 42 years old, Ujiri has quickly risen to the top of his profession. He turned a dicey situation with Carmelo Anthony into a trade with New York that positioned the Nuggets to become one of the league’s most entertaining teams. He played a role in drafting Kenneth Faried and the 2009 draft-day trade for Ty Lawson, as well as trading power forward Nene to Washington for JaVale McGee.

His rebuilding effort will get off to a rough start in Toronto, however. The Raptors do not have a pick in this year’s NBA draft.

Check out some of Ujiri’s best moves as Nuggets G.M.>>

Bosh finished Game 1 with 17 points and two rebounds, but to hear Indiana coach Frank Vogel tell it, Bosh was the key Heat player on the final play. Vogel was so worried about Bosh possibly being left open that he removed Hibbert, the team’s best shot-blocker, from the game. Tyler Hansbrough was assigned to defend the eight-time All-Star, with Sam Young ending up covering Bosh on a switch.

As everyone knows, James took advantage of Hibbert’s absence by driving to the hoop and scoring a layup as time expired. But a new camera angle shows Bosh reacting in his typical, socially awkward fashion. As James hits the layup, Bosh can be seen in the background raising his arms in celebration, but it feels like just another Bosh photobomb. Only Bosh could make celebrating a game-winning shot look so campy.

See James’ layup in the video below, and check out Bosh’s reaction at the 15-second mark.

Stephens reportedly helped his cause in a workout with the Brooklyn Nets, though. He recorded a 46-inch maximum vertical leap, according to ESPN’s Chad Ford, the highest ever recorded for a prospect.

Here at Brooklyn Nets workout. My favorite @DdotJAY30 is here. Measured with a 46" max vert here. Highest EVER measured by NBA

—
Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) May 22, 2013

Stephens was one of college’s basketball’s must-see dunkers this past season, and not only in games. He showed off his ups by kissing the rim in practice. That skill is completely useless in the NBA, but it’s still really cool.

Check out Stephens kissing the rim in the video below.

Thumbnail via Facebook/D.J. Stephens

Doc Rivers

President of basketball operations Danny Ainge has turned down a request from the Brooklyn Nets to speak to Rivers about their head coaching job, Jackie MacMullan of ESPN reports. The Nets are without a coach after firing interim coach P.J. Carlesimo.

Rivers is entering the third year of a five-year contract he signed with Boston, with $21 million remaining on the deal. Ainge confirmed earlier this month that Rivers would return despite speculation that the Celtics’ underwhelming performance in the postseason and the possible departure of both or either Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett would make Rivers reconsider.

“Doc has told me he’s coming back,” Ainge told MacMullan on Thursday. “I talk to him almost every day about our team and what we are going to do moving forward.”

Some have also speculated that Rivers could be drawn back to broadcasting.

Click here to see other questions the Celtics need to answer >>

Pacers center Roy Hibbert prefers the latter definition. In the first quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Battier drove to the hoop, where Hibbert was waiting for him. Knowing he could not score over the 7-foot-2 rim protector, Battier raised his right knee as he went up for the layup. Battier’s knee landed in Hibbert’s unprotected gut/groin area, sending the big man toppling to the floor in pain.

Battier was called for an offensive foul, but that did not keep Hibbert from offering his thoughts on the play on Twitter.

U can knee or kick me every time u drive 2the rim. Ill be there 2protect the rim. That wasn't inadvertent. Battier knew what he was doing

—
Roy Hibbert (@Hoya2aPacer) May 23, 2013

The Heat and Pacers have a history with this sort of thing. (Who don’t the Heat have a history with?) The Heat survived a physical series with the Pacers in last year’s conference semifinals, with Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman getting suspended for dirty fouls. From the Heat’s perspective, pretty much everything Tyler Hansbrough does qualifies as non-basketball contact and grates on them, which is probably the whole point of Hansbrough’s antics.

Check out the collision Hibbert is talking about in the photo below.

James did look superb on the play, moving past Paul George and going through the nonexistent (or, as most people noted, Roy Hibbert-free) Pacers defense to lay the ball in.

But the degree of difficulty was not so huge — and King James himself is pointing that out now.

“I mean, I made a layup,” James said during the in-depth postmortem of Game 1. “It’s not like I made something halfcourt. I made a layup.

“I’ve been doing that since I was 8 years old.”

In defense of everyone gushing over James, some people still have trouble with layups, no matter their age, just as some teams (or coaches) still have trouble with decision-making, no matter how many times they’ve tried to defend the best player in the world with 2.2 seconds remaining on the clock.

But thanks, LeBron, for pointing out again how ridiculous the play was — if not for James’ skill, then for the Pacers’ lack of it.

Phil Jackson

In an interview with Time, Jackson touched on a new angle to the debate that was a little surprising.

With Jackson possibly angling to get back into the NBA in a personnel position, he was asked which player from history he would take first if he was starting a team. The answer was not Jordan, the superstar who helped Jackson win six titles, but another guy with an ample collection of championship jewelry.

“In my estimation, the guy that has to be there would be Bill Russell,” Jackson told Time, according to SI.com. “He has won 11 championships as a player. That’s really the idea of what excellence is, when you win championships.”

So there you have it. Jackson would take Russell first, counting on that pick working out a lot more like Hakeem Olajuwon did for the Rockets and less like Sam Bowie did for the Trail Blazers. We’re guessing Jackson’s hypothetical team would be in “win now” mode, since the 79-year-old Russell probably doesn’t have the patience for a long, drawn-out rebuilding process.

Check out Jackson’s conversation in the video below.

While that might make sense, the return of the distinctive colors is far from certain. At the news conference to officially announce the name change, Michael Jordan said he had not decided what colors would accompany the rebranding. The official website featured a teal and purple palette, encouraging folks who still fit into their Starter jackets.

If the team goes back to the teal and purple of the Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson days, it would have a ready-made fan base in Charlotte and beyond. The team attracted a wide following after its inception in 1988 due to its unique color scheme, and young fans who were not even alive when the Hornets moved to New Orleans now attest to be bigger fans of the Charlotte Hornets than the Charlotte Bobcats. The former fashion designer who dreamed up the original uniforms even wants in on the creative process for the new Hornets, if they will let him.

What should the Hornets’ new colors be? Vote in the poll below.

Smith battled a knee injury for most of the playoffs, the New York Post reports, starting with the first-round series against the Celtics. The knee reportedly began to bother him around Game 3, when he elbowed Jason Terry in the head in the fourth quarter and was subsequently suspended for the next game. Smith shot 34-for-117 the rest of the playoffs.

That is convenient timing, but this is more than just an excuse. Smith will have fluid drained from his knee in the next two weeks, according to the Post, in a procedure he opted against having before the Knicks were eliminated.

“We’ll have to evaluate and see what we’ll do the next time. I would say we’ll probably have him in next time.”

Frank Vogel said a lot of things in response to reporters’ questions on Wednesday night, but all his explaining and rationalizing did little to answer the only question that mattered: Why?

Why was Roy Hibbert, the Pacers’ 7-foot-2 defensive backbone and emotional leader, on the bench for two pivotal defensive possessions in overtime of the first game of the Eastern Conference finals? What possessed Vogel, one of the brightest young coaches in the NBA, to sit his team’s rim protector and open the lane for LeBron James to drive freely to the hoop not once, but twice?

Why?

“We expected it to be LeBron. We expected [Chris] Bosh to be a spacing option. If Roy were in the game, [Bosh] probably would have been the first or second option. If it didn’t come to LeBron … LeBron could one-bounce, draw Roy to the rim and have Bosh spot it up.”

Vogel seemed to believe that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra would have been able to exploit Hibbert’s presence with one of Miami’s many small lineups on the decisive play. In case you have not been caught up on what the situation was, the Heat trailed by one point as a result of three free throws by Paul George and were inbounding the ball with 2.2 seconds left.

The final play was anticlimactic, with James breezing by George, who had rushed out to protect against a jump shot. With Hibbert on the bench, Indiana had no one to contest James’ game-winning layup as time expired. In an instant, the Pacers’ best chance at stealing a game in this series may have escaped them.

But the drive-and-kick — or one-dribble-and-kick — scenario Vogel worried about was never really a threat. We know this not because of any wise coaching acumen, but because we’ve been around long enough to know how the space-time continuum works.

Let’s say the ball gets inbounded to James, defended by George. Assuming every Pacer more or less did his job — a safe assumption for the league’s top defensive team — stopping Bosh or any other Heat player from easily getting free for a catch-and-shoot would be relatively easy to defend simply by switching screens. If the Pacers closed off that option, James would have a little more than a second to drive or shoot. Then Hibbert could safely crash into the paint, knowing James has no time to send the ball back out to an open Bosh (or anyone else) for a jump shot.

“It’s the dilemma they present. Obviously, with the way it worked out, you know it would have been better to have Roy in the game. But you don’t know. If that happens, maybe Bosh is making the jump shot, and we’re all talking about that.”

With all due respect, Frank, sorry, but no. Unless James has figured out how to freeze time, which we shouldn’t put past him, he would be forced to generate a shot for himself against George and Hibbert, two of the Pacers’ best defensive players. That is the only option time would permit. Vogel obviously thought this thing through. His rationale concerning Bosh certainly would have made total sense if there had been more time on the clock. Had he thought it through a little further, though, maybe he would have realized what the Heat can and cannot do in 2.2 seconds and rethought his strategy.

(To make matters worse, Tyler Hansbrough replaced Hibbert and covered Bosh. Not only is Hansbrough a worse defender than Hibbert, he is a foul magnet. So even if Bosh wasn’t left open, there is a good chance he would have been going to the line for two game-winning free throws even if the play developed as Vogel imagined. Oh, and the Pacers switched anyway, which left Sam Young on Bosh about 10 feet from the hoop. How that is a better matchup, we’ll never know.)

All that thinking really was not necessary, however. Vogel is smart. But in some instances, smart coaches can be too smart. Hibbert, George and David West are the top three reasons the Pacers are here, in the conference finals, and on the game’s most crucial possessions, they need to be on the court. It does not take a spreadsheet and a scouting video to know that a coach has to trust his main players when the game is on the line.

Maybe, if Hibbert had been in the game, Spoelstra would have drawn up something quick-hitting and virtually unstoppable. Maybe it would have been something the Pacers had never seen before. But in that case, wouldn’t Vogel want one of his smartest players and his most imposing shot-blocker on the court to help his scrappy squad react appropriately? Don’t Hibbert’s instincts trump his lack of agility in that situation?

“We’ll have to evaluate and see what we’ll do the next time. I would say we’ll probably have him in next time.”

Vogel can evaluate, ponder and agonize all he wants, but this is really not very complicated. Somehow, he talked himself into thinking having Hibbert in or out of the game was a tough decision, when it really should have been one of the easiest calls he had to make all night.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

Sadly, we will never know what those plays might have looked like had Hibbert been on the court. Oh, wait. Yes we do.

Thanks to a split-screen photo that has gone viral, fans get a look at exactly what Hibbert might have done. The photo shows James attempting his lefty layup unabated, side-by-side with Carmelo Anthony‘s dunk attempt in the Eastern Conference semifinals getting stuffed by the Pacers’ 7-foot-2 rim protector.

Check it out below.

Photo via Twitter/@SportsCenter

Mike Krzyzewski

Krzyzewski will try to lead the Americans to a third straight gold medal, a person with knowledge of the decision said Wednesday. Originally expected to step down, Krzyzewski will hold a news conference Thursday at Duke to confirm his return, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

The Hall of Fame coach has led the Americans since 2005, winning gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and the 2010 world basketball championship. His return was first reported by Sports Illustrated.

“I think it’s great,” two-time gold medalist LeBron James said Wednesday night before the Miami Heat faced Indiana. “What he means to USA Basketball is beyond just what we do on the court. It’s what we stand for as Americans and being proud of the red, white and blue every time we step off the bus or practice or talk to the media or whatever the case may be. I think it’s great.”

Krzyzewski repeatedly said he planned to end his international coaching career following the Americans’ victory last summer in London. Yet USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo preferred to hold off any discussion until after Coach K finished his season with the Blue Devils, and he got the answer he wanted.

The 66-year-old Krzyzewski will lead the Americans next summer at the renamed World Cup of Basketball in Spain, where a victory would qualify them for the 2016 Summer Games in Brazil. They are 62-1 over the last seven years.

Krzyzewski’s return could help land commitments from some of the top NBA stars who have enjoyed playing in the program he and Colangelo revamped in 2005. James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony are among the All-Stars who have won multiple gold medals under Krzyzewski.

“I’ve got the utmost respect and trust in Coach K,” James said. “And whatever he decision was going to be, I think we all would support that.”

James has said he would like to be there in 2016 as well.

“It would be great,” James said. “First, I’ve got to make sure I stay healthy. If I’m fortunate enough to be healthy, I would love to represent my country again, but that’s a long time from now. So we’ll see.”

The U.S. team had been led by an NBA coach from the time NBA players were first used in the 1992 Olympics through the 2004 Games, when the Americans lost three times and finished third.

They managed only another bronze in their first tournament under Krzyzewski, the 2006 world championship, but haven’t lost a game since while restoring the U.S. as the top team in the world.

As George raced to the 3-point line to close out on LeBron James, who was receiving an inbounds pass with two seconds on the clock, there was an overwhelming sense that viewers had seen this situation before. George and the Pacers led the Heat by one point in overtime of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Twenty years of watching isolation-heavy basketball in end-of-clock situations has conditioned defenders like George to expect his man to attempt a statuesque, contested fade-away jump shot at the buzzer. So as James gathered the pass, George homed in on James’ right hip, hoping to crowd James’ shooting hand for the inevitable 20-footer.

What James did next illustrated why he is not merely the best player in the world, but is remaking the way the game is played. Rather than settling for a tough jumper, James spun past George, took two easy strides and flipped in the game-winning layup as time expired. It looked effortless, as do most of the things James does on a court, but even more so because fans have become so used to seeing stars do it the hard way.

Think about it: Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant. Dirk Nowitzki. Paul Pierce. NBA stars have made such a habit of holding the ball, watching the clock tick down and unleashing a low-percentage shot at the last moment that an inordinate number of NBA head coaches do not even bother to draw up plays for end-game situations anymore. Stashing two players in the corners and another player on each block usually suffices, while the so-called star operates at the top of the key.

James has been guilty of that approach in his career, to be sure, but that is not really his nature. He plays for the good shot. Sometimes that means passing the ball, which attracts criticism from folks who want to see nothing but hero-ball in the clutch. But those folks are losing the argument. The clearest evidence of that was the guy vying for attention with James on Wednesday.

If George had been born 10 years earlier, he might have been a completely different player. His model could have been Scottie Pippen, but think of how many true two-way wing players there were then. It’s harder than it seems like it should be, right? There are a lot of Glen Rice and Bryon Russell types, guys who were forced to focus on the one premier part of their games, and select few Mitch Richmonds. Maybe George would have transcended that thinking anyway. Or maybe he would have been tossed in a heap with other longish ‘tweeners who come into the league doing many things passably well, but few things great, and headed off to play in Europe after muddling around for five or six seasons.

(By the way, George was born in 1990. Good grief.)

James has changed the conversation. Now a 6-foot-8 stringbean out of Fresno State with no clear position is not a challenge for a coach, but an opportunity. George has gotten better in each of his three years in the NBA, and the bulk of the credit for any such improvement always goes to the player. But Frank Vogel and the Pacers were chasing a different paradigm. They were not content to label Danny Granger the scorer and George the stopper, because James forced people to thing bigger.

Now, thanks to James’ influence, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, widely regarded as the league’s two best scorers, are constantly on a quest to expand their games beyond piling up buckets — well, Durant is, anyway. The change is not limited to perimeter forwards, either. Players at every position are being evaluated in regard to their defense and all-around potential.

Victor Oladipo might be a top-five pick off nothing more than his defensive prowess and the hope that he might be able to develop a consistent outside shot. Marc Gasol, a former second-round pick, barely averaged 14 points per game this year, and he has come to be considered the best center in the game. Once upon a time, Gasol and George might have been relegated to role players. Thanks to James, knowledgeable fans now recognize brilliance comes in more than high scoring totals.

For most of the second half on Wednesday, George was a pretty good copy of James. He hit an unbelievable, last-gasp 3-pointer to send the game to overtime, and his three free throws set the stage for James’ final play. But while George was infinity plus infinity, James was infinity times infinity. A poor man’s LeBron is not such a bad thing, except when the real deal happens to be on the court.

The final play was so fitting that way. Trained by a lifetime of watching the NBA to expect one type of shot, George fell victim to the type of play that has assisted in his own rise. Despise James if you wish, but largely because of him, smart basketball is back in vogue. Next time, George might actually see it coming.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

The Thunder star recently finished his back tattoo and sent out a picture of the masterpiece on Statigram, along with the caption “All done…James 1:2-4…look it up.”

The artwork features a giant portrait of what appears to be Jesus next to a bible verse. Above that is an angel flying while carrying what looks like a basketball. Flanking the angel are two hands — one holding up a “three” and the other holding up a “five” to represent his No. 35.

The Washington Post’s Sarah Kogod pointed out what she believed to be a misspelling. Durant, however, clarified with a follow-up picture zoomed in on the problem area while saying, “I got mature spelled the right way lol.”

Check out the massive tattoo in the photo below.

Photo via Statigram