Pro Basketball

MIAMI - It truly is a case in which you can throw out the previous games between the teams. The Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs will meet in the NBA Finals, but don't expect the series to resemble their two games during the regular season. In fact, Thursday's series opener is the first time both teams will play one another at full strength. "It's crazy that it worked out this way, that we are both in the Finals," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. What's even crazier is how their regular-season series played out. The teams were supposed to meet in a star-studded, nationally televised game in late November.

MIAMI - This started way before Monday's tipoff. LeBron James wanted to make sure his Miami Heat teammates were locked in long before they took the court for pregame warmups. So he spoke to each one after the team's morning shoot-around. No details of the discussion were disclosed but one thing was certain. They listened. After being cast as a one-man team most of the series, the Heat put together a collective effort in defeating the Indiana Pacers, 99-76, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Although Memphis Coach Lionel Hollins told a radio station he was stunned the Grizzlies granted him permission to speak with other teams, his representatives called the Clippers on Monday to let them know he was interested in their head-coaching job, according to two NBA executives who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Hollins and his agent, Warren LeGarie, are waiting for the Clippers' front office to hear back from owner Donald Sterling, one of the executives said.

My daughter, Kelzer , is a mother now with three children, and it's been more than a decade since she spent much time shooting a basketball. But I flew Kelzer in from Arizona to teach Dwight Howard how to shoot free throws because she still has to be better than he is. Who isn't? We all met at UCLA, Howard was as friendly as always and relaxed after fishing trips to Lake Tahoe and Aspen. He posted Twitter pictures of the fish that had jumped in his boat or the ones he claimed he had caught.

INDIANAPOLIS - And now it's a one-game series. The Miami Heat will have to play once more in its bid to punch its ticket to a third consecutive appearance in the NBA Finals. Facing elimination, the Indiana Pacers defeated the Heat, 91-77, Saturday in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. The series shifts back to Miami for a deciding Game 7 Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena. For the Heat, it marks the second consecutive year of going the distance in the conference finals.

INDIANAPOLIS - With their season hanging in the balance, the Pacers say they understand changes have to be made if they're to win two straight and advance to the NBA Finals. They can't let LeBron James put together another performance like the one he had Thursday, when the league most valuable player scored 16 of his game-high 30 points in the third quarter. They can't allow physical play to get under their skin, and without fail, they say they can't play as passively as they think they did Thursday.

When: 5 PDT. Where: AT&T Center. On the air: TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes. Records: Sparks 1-0, Silver Stars 0-1. Record vs. Silver Stars in 2012: 1-3. Update: The Sparks won their opener, beating the Seattle Storm, 102-69, for their largest margin of victory in franchise history. Six Sparks scored in double figures, including Kristi Toliver (17) and Nneka Ogwumike (15). The Silver Stars lost their season opener to Indiana, 79-64. Even though the Silver Stars dominated the Sparks during the regular season last year, the Sparks swept them in the playoffs to advance to the Western Conference finals.

Gary Sacks, the Clippers' vice president of basketball operations, said Friday that Chris Paul shouldn't be blamed for the dismissal of Coach Vinny Del Negro, saying it was an "organizational decision. " Sacks also said that Paul won't play a major role in deciding who the Clippers' next coach will be. There have been reports that Paul was angry because the Clippers' organization was letting him take all the heat for Del Negro's departure. "It was my conclusion that a change needed to be made" and that the Clippers needed a new coach, Sacks told The Times in a phone interview.

MIAMI -- This was not the script, couldn't have been the script. Not with Dwyane Wade failing to score his second basket until midway through the fourth quarter, not with LeBron James converting his first free throw late in the fourth. But with James taking control of the script in the third quarter, the latest chapter of the Heat's Big Three experience is down to this: Miami now is one victory from its third consecutive appearance in the NBA Finals. Moving to a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals with Thursday's 90-79 victory over the Indiana Pacers at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Heat can close out the series Saturday at Indianapolis.

MIAMI - It was only five days ago that Miami Heat center Chris Bosh said he was done discussing anything related to the player he matched up against in the Eastern Conference finals. No more would Bosh answer any more questions about Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert. But with the series tied 2-2 entering Thursday's Game 5, Bosh has been left with no choice. All the talk centers on how Hibbert has dominated the Heat, especially on offense. He is averaging 22.7 points and 12 rebounds and hardly resembling the player known more for defense.