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After it ended, J.R. Smith said he looked at his Knicks jersey and thought about how he doesn’t want to leave New York.

“I want to retire a Knick,” said Smith, who can opt out of his contract this offseason, in the aftermath of the Knicks’ season-ending 106-99 Game 6 defeat. “I don’t want to go anywhere else.”

As it was last postseason against Miami, when Smith ended his campaign with a miserable playoff series that cast doubt about his future with the Knicks, Smith did the same last night. Smith began the night 1-for-7 from the field and finished a brutal 4-for-15 en route to 15 points.

Smith had an atrocious Pacers series. When the Knicks were down 3-1, he said, “I take the blame for this whole series.” Smith finished the series shooting a woeful 26-for-90 (29 percent). Counting his last two games against the Celtics, he ended his playoffs in a 34-for-117 (29 percent) shooting slump.

“They tried to rely on me, and I didn’t step up,” Smith said. “Regardless of what that says about me or my game, that won’t happen again.”

via Mark Hale of the New York Post

In the Knicks’ 106-99 season-ending Game 6 loss to the Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse last night, Felton, who struggled in Game 3 in Indianapolis, delivered another miserable performance. The point guard missed all seven of his shots from the field, scoring two points.

Though Felton dished out a game-high-tying six assists, his floater — a huge weapon for him — was off the mark. He missed on multiple drives and only got two free-throw tries — both in the first quarter.

“[The floater] wasn’t falling,” Felton said. “My jump shot was going in and out at the rim. It’s frustrating, especially when it’s a big game like this.”

Felton’s Game 6 flop was almost an identical to his Game 3 disaster, in which he shot 1-for-8 and scored six points.

via Mark Hale of the New York Post

Lance Stephenson, who played miserably in Game 5 in New York, stepped to the forefront and became that cocky player who was a New York City high school legend.

It was because of that attitude that the Pacers are headed back to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2004.

Stephenson started out strong and came on late to help the Pacers beat the Knicks 106-99 Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Stephenson finished with a career-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds in 34 minutes.

“He was difference maker tonight,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “We gave up 25 points to Lance and that’s no knock to him. That somewhat came out of nowhere. He was aggressive how he played. We had no answer for him.”

The Pacers advance to play the Miami Heat in the conference finals. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday in Miami at 8:30 p.m.

via Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star

Carmelo Anthony was finally having his bust-out game, carrying 35 points into the fourth quarter. Melo went bust in the final period, though, and the Knicks season went right along with him.

The Pacers are headed to South Beach with a 106-99 Game 6 victory in Game 6 last night at euphoric Bankers Life Fieldhouse, and the Knicks are headed home well short of their goals.

In their first Eastern Conference semifinal appearance in 13 years, the Knicks underwhelmed as their 40-year championship drought extends another year. They failed to meet lofty expectations in losing the best-of-seven series 4-2 and failing to get to Miami. Pacers fans chanted “Beat the Heat’’ at the final buzzer.

Anthony finished with 39 points, but missed his first five shots of the fourth and committed three giant turnovers. Anthony’s fourth quarters in the three games in Indianapolis were awful, with just two field goals total.

Anthony still called it “a hell of a year.’’

“We took steps forward as an organization,’’ he said. “We’ll take that. We’ll be back better and stronger, that’s for sure.’’

via Marc Berman of the New York Post

After being benched for the second half for the second straight playoff game, Amar’e Stoudemire is confused with his role with the Knicks going forward.

His injury-wracked season never included a single start and ended with coach Mike Woodson not trusting the $100 million man after the first two quarters.

When asked if next season he should come back as a starter alongside Carmelo Anthony, Stoudemire made his loudest statement.

“We didn’t give it a chance,’’ Stoudemire said after the Knicks’ season ended in heartbreak in a 106-99 loss to the Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. “We need to understand exactly what my style of play is and what I bring to the table. It’s something I have to sit down with Coach Woody and express to him.’’

via Marc Berman of the New York Post

Once his purchase of the Kings is finalized, Vivek Ranadive should take a pick and a shovel, perhaps borrow a battering ram and a bulldozer, and obliterate the section of Sleep Train Arena that houses the team’s basketball operations.

While this is regarded as a weak draft class, there is no shortage of talent on the front-office or coaching markets.

Veteran coaches Jerry Sloan, Nate McMillan, Jeff and Stan Van Gundy are available, as are highly regarded assistants Mike Malone and Brian Shaw. Established front-office types eager to join or take over a staff include Larry Bird, Don Nelson and Chris Mullin. And while Warriors special assistant Jerry West undoubtedly would push Golden State’s Travis Schlenk, another famous former coach is itching to become involved in personnel.

“In terms of the basketball process, it’s not overnight,” Ranadive told Bee writers in a Friday teleconference. “We had a playbook with the Warriors. I can promise you we’re going to have very, very, very smart people. We like to be innovative, think outside the box. But we don’t have any preconceived notions about who can do what. We have very open minds.”

via Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee

Rookie forward Draymond Green walked out of Golden State’s practice facility Friday holding a yellow “We Are Warriors” shirt, taking home the small souvenir to savor the team’s captivating playoff run.

Even though the season ended so painfully, the Warriors will carry more positive memories from the 2012-13 campaign than they ever imagined back in training camp. No banner will be raised and no rings will be awarded, but there was a sense of accomplishment all around.

“The expectations for us this year, we exceeded all of them plus way more,” Green said.

The Warriors overcame injury setbacks all season to earn a rare playoff berth, pulled off a first-round upset against Denver and pushed the four-time champion San Antonio Spurs to six games in the Western Conference semifinals. The franchise won more postseason games than it had in 36 years and might be on the brink of something even more special.

If Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut can find a way to stay healthy, the Warriors believe they can be a major championship contender in the coming years.

“I think so,” Curry said. “We’re young. We have a great core. And for us to get to the level we got to this year, two wins away from the Spurs to get to the Western Conference finals, you feel like you have the confidence to do it, the right pieces to do it. It takes a lot of things going for anybody to win a championship, but I feel like we have the pieces to do it.”

via NBA.com

The Miami Heat had to do it without Chris Bosh last year. They really might need him this time.

The Heat found out Saturday night they will have face Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals, which start Wednesday at American Airlines Arena. The Pacers advanced with a 106-99 win over the New York Knicks to win their East semifinal 4-2.

The Heat ousted Indiana 4-2 last year in a contentious East semifinal. They mostly had to do it without Bosh, who was lost for the series after suffering an abdominal strain late in the first half of Game 1.

But Bosh, who ended up missing nine overall playoff games last spring, has been healthy this postseason. And the Heat certainly will need the center against the big Pacers.

“I was really looking forward to that series and I didn’t get to play,’’ Bosh said of last year. “Hopefully, this time around I hope I can stay healthy and just put my imprint on this series like I wanted to last year.’’

via Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida

Some quick thoughts on the New York Knicks’ loss to the Indiana Pacers, who are going to give the Miami Heat some problems but will lose the Eastern Conference finals if they shoot free throws and have as many unforced turnovers as they did against the Knicks.

First of all, Carmelo Anthony will not live this one down for a long time. He was 0-for-5 in the fourth quarter with two turnovers before making his first shot of the final period. As I discussed with Adam The Bull in the podcast below on CBS Sports Radio, that’s not the kind of thing that happens to LeBron James. (It used to, but it doesn’t anymore).

via Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com

Kendrick Perkins sat down for his season-ending interview with reporters Thursday and was told, to his surprise, that he was sweating.

“Well I just left out of Sam’s office so I might be sweating,” Perkins said of his exit interview with Thunder general manager Sam Presti.

“That was a joke,” Perkins immediately added.

The Thunder’s polarizing center has nothing to worry about.

Two days later, Presti essentially put an end to the rampant speculation that Perkins would possibly be waived under the NBA’s amnesty clause.

“We just haven’t considered using the provision,” Presti said. “I wouldn’t necessarily directly attribute that to any player on our team. Every team looks at the amnesty provision different based on their different circumstances. But it’s not something that we’ve really explored.”

via Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman

A year ago, Lance Stephenson was comic relief and the Indiana Pacers’ resident knucklehead. Twelve months later, he is as serious as a flagrant foul and the single biggest reason the Pacers eliminated the New York Knicks in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Now, it’s Stephenson doing the flattening. Not quite all growed up but making a mad dash in that direction, the 6-foot-5 kid from Brooklyn – from the same Lincoln High that produced the likes of Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair – did New York’s NBA team wrong. He grabbed the game at both ends – grabbed it by the throat, one might say – and scored nine points in the first quarter to ignite Indiana in a game it couldn’t squander, then nine more (in not quite seven minutes) in the fourth when it mattered most.

His 25 were a career playoff high but then, just about everything Stephenson does this postseason is a career high, given how unused he was previously. Twice in the first half, Stephenson snagged rebounds and raced downcourt, going end to end through New York’s defense for buckets.

In the fourth, he picked off a pass by Carmelo Anthony and finished with a three-point play that broke a 92-92 tie. Next time down, he drew Tyson Chandler‘s sixth personal foul and hit two free throws. After an Anthony jumper made it 99-94, Stephenson backed his way first through J.R. Smith, then through Anthony for another layup. It wasn’t over, except that it was.

“Unbelievable,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s got no playoff experience whatsoever, but he’s got some of the best basketball instincts I’ve ever been around. There’s an old phrase – he’s a gamer.

via Steve Aschburner of NBA.com

Before the Indiana Pacers’ Lance Stephenson had time to study an endless scroll of congratulatory texts on Saturday night, there promised to be a most meaningful message awaiting him. Out of sight this season, Larry Bird has never been out of touch.

As Pacers president three years ago, Bird drafted a dysfunctional 19 year old and surrounded him with the perfect balance of tough love, structure and tenderness. As everyone else derided Stephenson as a lost cause, Bird privately called him the most gifted player in the franchise.
“I owe Larry Bird so much,” Stephenson told Yahoo! Sports late Saturday.

Bird left the franchise for his Florida home at the end of last season, but the kid has stayed strongly in Bird’s mind and heart. Stephenson was standing in an emptying locker room at Bankers Life Field House, on the way to the Eastern Conference finals with the game of his life complete: 25 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports