Giannis Antetokounmpo was determined to win the NBA Cup. He came close in 2023, losing in the semifinals. A year later, Giannis and Milwaukee Bucks had some unfinished business in Las Vegas. They took care of business with an impressive all-around performance.

Behind a suffocating defense and a triple-double from tournament MVP Antetokounmpo, the Bucks throttled the Oklahoma City Thunder, 97-81, to claim the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup title. Giannis was a major factor on both ends of the court as he finished the game with 26 points, pulled down 19 rebounds, dished out 10 assists and had three monster blocks.

Antetokounmpo anchored a Bucks defense that stymied the high-scoring Thunder, holding them to 33.7% shooting from the field and 5-for-32 from the 3-point line. OKC star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was held nine points below his season average (21) and made just 8-for-24 shots from the field.

“We’re getting better,” Antetokounmpo told ESPN’s Malika Andrews postgame. “We know we’re leaving Vegas as a better team. I’m so proud of this group. Man, I’m so proud of this group.”

It was refreshing to see a superstar like Giannis put maximum effort during the whole NBA Cup tournament. He could have easily taken his foot off the gas pedal and saved his body for the stretch run in the spring. But you can tell he wanted to win the Cup.

When it was over, Giannis couldn’t hide his excitement after lifting the NBA Cup trophy and the tournament MVP trophy, adding to his growing collection of trophies. He was dancing and hamming it up with his teammates and coaches during the postgame celebration on the court at T-Mobile Arena.

But Giannis knows there’s more work to be done. He’s far from done hoisting trophies.

“Job is not done,” he said. “We have a lot of basketball in front of us. We have a lot of things we need to improve. We are going to continue to improve. We’re going to stay locked in because the job is not done.”

Winning the NBA Cup was extra special for this Bucks squad following a dreadful 2-8 start, and many basketball experts were wondering if the partnership between Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard was ever going to work. But head coach Doc Rivers believed his team will eventually figure it out, especially defensively.

“We struggled coming out of the gates,” Rivers said. “No one here doubted what we can be and who we can be and we just hung in there. We stuck together and this is the byproduct of a team sticking together.”

It’s easy for a team to stick together and not fall apart when the leader of the team is also the most humble and harder worker. The Bucks are Giannis’ team. He sets the tone and leads by example.

“When he’s out there playing so hard, you can’t do anything but follow his lead,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said about the two-time NBA MVP. “He’s the best player in the world. You gotta follow him. He’s such an incredible leader.”

Doc Rivers, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin couldn’t get past the conference semifinals. (GETTY IMAGES)

It’s difficult to quantify the debacle that just occurred in the 2015 Western Conference semifinals when the team that fell apart has very little history to begin with.

The Clippers were one win away (or one quarter away) from reaching their first conference finals only to watch it all go up in a cloud of smoke about as thick as the L.A. smog. The Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead and were eliminated from the postseason in spectacular fashion with a Game 7 loss in Houston. It marked only the ninth time in NBA playoff history a team tossed away a 3-1 series lead.

”It’s disappointing,” Clippers forward Blake Griffin said. ”We were close, but close doesn’t really count. Almost doesn’t count. We were up 3-1 and didn’t put them away. We can’t look at anybody but ourselves.”

Griffin did all he could to avoid the collapse. He averaged nearly a triple-double during the series, and he posted 27 points and 11 rebounds in 44 minutes in Game 7. His fellow superstar, Chris Paul, also left it all on the court. CP3 had 26 points and 10 assists despite playing with a bad hamstring.

Paul summed up his frustration by quoting Will Ferrell’s character, Ricky Bobby, from “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”

“Ricky Bobby, like [he] said, if you’re not first you’re last,” Paul told reporters. “Being close ain’t good enough.”

It’s another offseason in which Paul will have to figure what went wrong. Last season, he took much of the blame for the Clips’ playoff loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Paul failed to reach the conference finals yet again. Throughout the playoffs, ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy kept referring to CP3 as The Great Chris Paul. We’ll have to put “great” in quotes because “great” players are usually able to push their teams past the second round. “Great” players don’t blow 3-1 leads in the playoffs. And “great” players don’t let their teams blow a 19-point second-half lead in close-out games.

That’s exactly what happened in Game 6.

The Clippers basically had one foot in the Western Conference finals when the Rockets slammed the door on their foot with a historic comeback despite not having their best player, James Harden, on the court. During a key stretch in the fourth quarter, the Clippers looked gassed and couldn’t make a shot, and that included their two superstars. Paul went 1-for-5 while Griffin was 0-for-4 from the field. The role players couldn’t bail them out either, as J.J. Redick, Matt Barnes, DeAndre Jordan and Jamal Crawford all folded under pressure. When the final buzzer sounded, the Rockets had outscored the Clippers 40-15 in a 12-minute horror flick that will go down as the defining moment of the Chris Paul and Blake Griffin era.

“We just stopped playing,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of Game 6. “You could see it. We got the lead and kind of got comfortable and started making plays that you shouldn’t make. Then we it got to eight (point lead) and we couldn’t make a shot.”

It would be unfair to say the Clippers choked against the Rockets, but that’s the CliffsNotes version of this story. When it was time to apply the knockout punch, the Clippers couldn’t pull the trigger. And Paul and Griffin where in the middle of it. Those are the two faces of the franchise. They’re the ones in the State Farm and Kia Motors commercials. When the Clippers needed their two stars to deliver an award-winning performance they both forgot their lines.

So what’s next for the Clippers? They’ll have to deal with a few in-house chores, most notably the contract of Jordan. The 6-11 center who blossomed into a defensive player of the year candidate this season is an unrestricted free agent. He has hinted he’d like to return to his home state of Texas.

It could be a long hot summer in L.A.

Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are two big reasons why the Clippers will be a force in the Western Conference. (GETTY IMAGES)

Donald Sterling will no longer be an embarrassment to the NBA now that he has been replaced by new Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.

Sterling embarrassed himself, the Clippers and the NBA when a recording was leaked by his personal assistant V. Stiviano on April 25, sending shockwaves through the basketball community. In the recording, he got caught red-handed in a racist rant. New commissioner Adam Silver acted quickly and banned Sterling from the league for life and fined him $2.5 million. The fine was the maximum allowed under the CBA. Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, stepped in and offered $2 billion to buy the team, shocking people regarding the amount of money for a largely unsuccessful franchise during the course of their history.

The Clippers won a franchise-best 57 games last season, eclipsing the 56 wins they set in 2012-13. But the Clippers lost in the second round of the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, so there will be a little added pressure this season for head coach Doc Rivers and point guard Chris Paul.

Rivers is entering his second season as the head man and they need to be able to get past the first round. However, his arrival seemed to light a fire under big man DeAndre Jordan, who finally had a career year (10.4 points per game, 13.6 rebounds per game, 2.5 blocks per game and 67.6% on field goals) and achieved some of the vast potential he had been teasing the Clippers with for years.

Paul, 28, was consistent as ever last season (19.1 ppg, 10.7 assists per game, and 2.5 steals per game), but he is entering his fourth season with the Clippers and needs to help the team achieve more when it matters. The West is of course stacked from top to bottom, but if he wants to be considered the best PG in the game, he has to help them win more. Being the best at his position is tied to success in the playoffs.

The team didn’t have a lot of money to spend on free agents in the offseason, but they landed a solid signing when they picked up Spencer Hawes, 26, for four years and $23 million ($5.8 million per season). He made $6.5 million last season and took a minor paycut. He is going to give L.A. one of the best backup big men in the league.

He will backup power forward Blake Griffin and Jordan at center. Last season, L.A. was forced to use Byron Mullens, Ryan Hollins, and Glen Davis at center when Jordan was out of the game. Hawes gives Doc a super-sub at PF/C like Jamaal Crawford gives them at PG/SG. Hawes averaged a career-high 13.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 3 apg for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers. He also made an amazing 41.6% of his 3-pointers. Hawes is a great passer in addition to being a good outside shooter (36.1% on 3-pointers), he has registered nine assists three times in his career. He’s going to give L.A. a nice offensive option when he plays center with Griffin and he can slide over to PF and play the stretch four when Griffin needs a rest.

Crawford is the other super-sub the Clippers have and he’s a huge part of an improved bench with the Hawes signing. Crawford had a great year (18.6 ppg and 3.2 apg) and gives them a great 1-2 punch at shooting guard with J.J. Redick (15.2 ppg, 45.5% and 39.5% on 3’s). Redick was very solid in his first season with the Clippers, even though he played in just 35 games due to a back injury. Having Crawford means they don’t lose too much when Redick is out, but if he’s healthy the Clippers will have one of the best benches in the NBA.

The Clippers lost their backup PG Darren Collison when he signed with the Sacramento Kings. They didn’t have to look far to find a replacement as they snatched Jordan Farmar away from the team across the hall, the rival Lakers. Farmar may not always be the picture of good health himself, but for 15-18 minutes per game and maybe 18-20 starts a season he’s a solid pickup. Farmar is coming off his second-best season of his career (10.1 ppg and 4.9 apg in 22 mpg). However, he played in just 41 games due to a variety of injuries.

Griffin blossomed last season into a full fledged superstar as he averaged a career-high 24.1 ppg (up from 18 ppg the previous season), 9.5 rpg and a career-high 3.9 apg. Griffin’s improvement as a passer means teams can’t just double-team. His defense still needs some work but no player is perfect.

Matt Barnes returns as the starting small forward and provides defense and some timely shooting. Barnes, 34, will have most of the minutes since Jared Dudley was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks (for veteran swingman Carlos Delfino basically). Barnes averaged 10 ppg and 4.6 rpg last season, but his 3-point shooting in clutch situations was good, despite a mediocre 34.3%. Delfino will see some backup minutes there once he’s healthy, he missed all of last season with a foot injury. He averaged 10 ppg and made 37% of his 3-pointers in the 2012-13 season with the Houston Rockets. Reggie Bullock may have a better shot at seeing minutes at SF than SG since the team is loaded at that position.

Outlook

The regular season is just a warmup to the postseason, and that is where the Clippers will be judged. Rivers, CP, Griffin are all going to be graded based on their ability to get beyond the second round. This is a team that should easily win 53-55 games and claim one of the top seeds, unless injuries hit and they need to show they are a true contender for the NBA title. The Spurs have to get old sometime, right?

Darren Jacks is a contributing writer for OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @djroxalot.

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racially insensitive remarks spark a firestorm of criticism. (GETTY IMAGES)

Adam Silver’s first major decision as NBA commissioner was swift, forceful and warranted.

Silver announced Tuesday that the league is banning Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the NBA for racially charged remarks he made during an argument with his alleged mistress. Sterling is also fined $2.5 million, the maximum allowed by the league, and Silver urges the NBA Board of Governors to force Sterling to sell the team.

The decision was justified because of the gravity of the situation.

Sterling has a long history of being insensitive toward minorities. Twice in the last 15 years he was sued for discriminating against blacks, Latinos and Asians. Those who have come to know Sterling — arguably one of the worst owners in sports — are well aware of his reputation. His views are straight out of the mind of a plantation owner. He’s Cliven Bundy without the Cowboy hat and ranch.

When TMZ obtained the audio recording between Sterling and his female friend, V. Stiviano — who is half his age — the rest of the world got to know the real Donald Sterling. When TMZ gets a hold of something it spreads like a forest fire.

Here’s part of their conversation published by TMZ and Deadspin:

V. Stiviano: I don’t understand, I don’t see your views. I wasn’t raised the way you were raised.

Donald Sterling: Well then, if you don’t feel—don’t come to my games. Don’t bring black people, and don’t come.

V: Do you know that you have a whole team that’s black, that plays for you?

DS: You just, do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have—Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?

DS: It’s the world! You go to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs.

V: So do you have to treat them like that too?

DS: The white Jews, there’s white Jews and black Jews, do you understand?

V: And are the black Jews less than the white Jews?

DS: A hundred percent, fifty, a hundred percent.

V: And is that right?

DS: It isn’t a question—we don’t evaluate what’s right and wrong, we live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.

V: But shouldn’t we take a stand for what’s wrong? And be the change and the difference?

DS: I don’t want to change the culture, because I can’t. It’s too big and too [unknown].

V: But you can change yourself.

DS: I don’t want to change. If my girl can’t do what I want, I don’t want the girl. I’ll find a girl that will do what I want! Believe me. I thought you were that girl—because I tried to do what you want. But you’re not that girl.

The comments were downright disturbing, but not stunning. In today’s world, if you think racism doesn’t exit then you must be hiding under a rock. No matter how far we’ve come as a society and no matter how many times we’ve moved forward, there is still a large portion of society who are racists and bigots. Sterling is not the first nor the last billionaire who thinks the playing field should not be level.

Other NBA owners didn’t exactly condemn Sterling’s remarks until a couple of days later. They have their own skeletons in the closet. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he doesn’t want to associate himself with an owner who have racist views, but punishing owners for making ignorant statements is a “slippery slope.”

Sterling must not like prosperity because it took three decades for his franchise to finally enjoy a winner on the basketball court. The Clippers were the laughingstock of the NBA until Chris Paul joined forces with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to form Lob City in 2011.

With Doc Rivers at the helm, the Clippers are legitimate championship contenders this season. But after Sterling’s skeletons spilled out into the open, the Clippers name is sullied again.

The players silently protested at the start of Game 3 of their playoff series with Golden State by removing their warm-up sweaters and dropping them at center court. They flipped their T-shirts inside-out so the Clipper logo doesn’t show on their chest or back.

Paul says the team is unified more than ever and moving forward because they don’t want one man to ruin the season. But you can see the stress on Paul’s face. He looks fatigued from all the off-the-court drama he has to deal not just as a player but as president of the NBA Players Association.

Rivers also looked stressed. As much as he wanted to focus on the series with the Warriors, the Sterling debacle is inescapable.

The Clippers head home to L.A. for Game 5. But being at home probably won’t keep them safe from the dark cloud that hangs over the entire organization.

“We’re going home now,” said Rivers. “Usually that would mean we’re going to our safe haven. And I don’t even know if thats true.”

Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul could have been teammates in 2011. (GETTY IMAGES)

Los Angeles will always be Laker Town for the simple fact that there have been 11 championship parades held in Tinseltown and more than a dozen banners and retired Lakers jerseys hang above Staples Center. However, the argument could be made that this offseason has been dominated by the other team in L.A.: the Clippers.

With the re-signing of All-Star Chris Paul and the acquisition of former Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, NBA Futures odds are leaning heavily toward the young and hard-charging Clippers to have a better season in 2013-14 than the old and beaten-down Lakers.

Perception is oftentimes reality and right now the Clippers appear be standing on stable ground while the Lakers’ foundation is falling apart.

The Clippers landed one of only four current NBA coaches with a championship ring in Rivers, while the Lakers are stuck with the embattled Mike D’Antoni. The Clippers kept their superstar point guard in the fold, while the Lakers lost superstar center Dwight Howard to the Houston Rockets without compensation. The Clippers play an exciting brand of basketball that resonate with fans, while the Lakers can’t seem to find an identity. The Clippers acquired snipers J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley, former UCLA point guard Darren Collison, and re-signed forward Matt Barnes as a steady veteran off the bench. The best the Lakers could do in free agency was bring in often-injured center Chris Kaman and two journeymen guards in Jordan Farmar and Nick Young.

The Dwight Howard debacle was a devastating black eye to the Lakers. They tried like crazy to keep Howard, even erecting billboards across the Southland, and he still left town. It’s sad to see a once proud franchise like the Lakers basically get down on their knees and beg Dwight to stay. Lakers patriarch Dr. Jerry Buss must be rolling in his grave.

Howard just didn’t feel comfortable playing for the Lakers. You could see it in his eyes and his body language. He was miserable playing for D’Antoni and playing second fiddle to Kobe Bryant.

With the return of Paul, the Clippers could potential field a championship-caliber starting five that includes All-Star forward Blake Griffin, Dudley, Redick, center DeAndre Jordan, and supersub Jamal Crawford comes off the bench. Rivers is a significant upgrade over Vinny Del Negro, and Paul can’t wait to work with his new coach.

“I’m excited about the ups and downs, the highs, the lows of the season to ultimately to get to where we want to be at,” Paul told the Los Angeles Times.

Seeing Paul in Clippers colors must be killing the Lakers. Two years ago, the Lakers thought they had CP3 in the fold only to watch NBA Commissioner David Stern inexplicably put a kibosh on a reportedly deal that would have paired Paul with Bryant.

To say that the Lakers are in a state of flux is a vast understatement. Kobe is still recovering from a devastating Achilles tear, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol battled all sorts of injuries last season and Metta World Peace (formerly known as Ron Artest) is reportedly on his way out via the amnesty clause. The team could potentially field an opening day starting lineup of Nash, Jodie Meeks, Young, Gasol, and Kaman. It’s not exactly box-office material for longtime season-ticket holders who continue to pay top dollar to attend games at Staples Center.

L.A. remains a popular destination for free agents, but it seems as though the pendulum has swung in the Clippers’ favor. Signing with the Clippers used to be a death sentence, an end to a basketball career. Nowadays, the Clippers look like gorgeous gal at the cool bar everyone is staring at while the Lakers have become a divorced diva sitting alone at the table waiting for a dry martini.

Moments after the Celtics defeated the Heat 100-98 in double overtime at TD Gardens Arena, Paul Pierce spoke with ESPN’s Doris Burke and that’s when Burke delivered the bad news to the Celtics’ team captain. Pierce’s facial reaction pretty much summed up how the Celtics felt about losing their All-Star point guard for the rest of the 2013 season.

“Oh my God!,” Pierce tells Burke. “We just gotta rally around each other. I feel for [Rondo]. He was having such a great season, making the All-Star team. It’s disappointing news, but guys gotta be ready to step up.”

Watch the interview:

“Obviously the Rondo news is pretty tough. I knew it before the game, no one else knew it,” Rivers said. “I told them after the game. Pretty emotional in the locker room.”

Rondo was averaging career highs of 13.7 points and 5.6 rebounds along with 11.1 assists this season.

A very somber Kevin Garnett added, “It’s tough on everybody. [Rondo] has become the heart and soul of this team, coming into his own. We just try to be supportive for him.”

Austin Rivers is introduced at a press conference as the newest member of the New Orleans Hornets. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Learning on the job is part of the culture in the NBA. Austin Rivers knows this very well because his father, Glen “Doc”  Rivers, went through the same thing 30 years ago. But even though 19-year-old Austin has been groomed and prepped for life in the Association, it’s still a painful process — literally.

In his second game at the NBA Summer Pro League in Las Vegas, Austin Rivers took a beating against the Milwaukee Bucks. He hit the deck numerous times, slammed his left elbow on the floor, and took a shot to the knee that forced him to the bench for a few minutes. It’s the kind of physical game most first-year NBA players dread, a realization that this is a man’s game and the training wheels are off.

“Now is his time to grow. We’re putting the ball in his hands, putting the ball in the summer in his hands to see what he’s got,” Hornets assistant James Borrego told The Associated Press. Borrego, the Hornets’ head coach for their summer league team in Las Vegas, has Rivers playing point guard almost exclusively; a preview of what the Hornets are planning to do with the 10th overall selection in the 2012 NBA draft, who played mostly shooting guard at Duke and Winter Park High School (Fla.).

“Hopefully Austin’s that guy that can take that point guard position and run with it,” Borrego said. “There’s some things he’s got to learn as you go, but I think we’re all confident he can get there.”

So far Rivers is struggling as he adjusts to his new role as an NBA point guard. He went 1-for-6 and scored just six points against the Bucks on Monday. In two games, he’s now 4-for-19 from the field. He was outplayed by fellow rookie Damian Lillard in his summer league debut on July 15, as Lillard scored 25 points and looked more comfortable.

But in fairness to Rivers, Lillard was playing his natural point guard position while Rivers is still finding his way as a playmaker. Rivers did show some flashes of brilliance, splitting double teams with some nifty dribbling and getting to the free throw line by relentlessly attacking the basket.

“He’s a natural scorer. As a point guard, he can make it work though,” Borrego said. “He’s got to get better and he will. He’s putting in the time. He’s teachable. He’s coachable. He understands the game, which you want in a point guard. His instinct is to score but we’re trying to slow him down, learn our offense, learn our pace, learn our rhythm and I think those are things he’s going to get.”

The Hornets don’t want to slow Rivers down too much, seeing how Oklahoma City succeeded in turning Russell Westbrook from shooting guard to point guard. According to Hornets general manager Dell Demps, the team has matched the Phoenix Suns’ contract offer to guard Eric Gordon, so the Hornets envision a Rivers-Gordon backcourt in New Orleans to go with No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis in the frontcourt.

“We don’t want to put too much pressure on [Austin]. That’s what summer league is for. We’re here just evaluating,” Demps said. “It’s real early in the process. He only played one year in college. We’re going to take this slowly.”

In five years together in Boston, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen reached the Eastern Conference finals three times and won one NBA title. (GETTY IMAGES)

With 28 seconds left in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Miami Heat had a double-digit lead and the Boston Celtics were running on fumes. Celtics coach Doc Rivers knew it was time to wave the white flag and pull his starters off the court.

‘We had nothing left,” Rivers said. ”That’s how it felt, as a coach . . . But overall, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a group like this.”

There was a lot of emotion on the Celtics’ sideline as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo headed for the bench. Garnett and Rivers shared a poignant moment as the two men hugged it out while time ticked away on what could be the final time Boston’s Big Three — plus Rondo — will ever wear Celtic green.

In the five-year era of the “Big Four” — or the Fantastic Four, whichever you prefer — the Celtics posted a 69% winning percentage during the regular season, won five Atlantic Division titles, made three trips to the Eastern Conference finals, reached the the NBA Finals twice, and raised one championship banner.

That one NBA title will be the signature moment for the Fantastic Four, but the group also left a lot of titles on the table because of injuries, trades, and one freak elbow injury to Rondo in the 2011 playoffs.

“I wish we had a healthy run. This team won a title, got to another one lost in Game 7 [against the Lakers in 2010] where they had a shot to win. Got to the Eastern Conference final one game away on the road banged up,” Rivers said. “Because of really Kevin’s injury I don’t know if we could have gotten any more out of the group. I would have loved to have seen this team in this whole stretch where Kevin was injury free.”

The injury Rivers was referring to was the knee injury Garnett sustained during the 2008-09 season, which knocked him out of the playoffs and it took KG a full season to completely recover from it.

It is not a certainty that general manager Danny Ainge will break up Boston’s Fantastic Four but, because of age and expiring contracts, it will be very difficult to keep the nucleus of the Celtics with Garnett and Allen becoming unrestricted free agents this summer.

The group knew all season long, especially during the playoffs, Who knows what next season could bring.

Boston battled injuries all season, all the way to the end. Allen said he’ll need surgery soon to repair bone chips in his right ankle. Pierce has been playing through a sprained knee ligament.

It all hurt. Nothing hurt more than the final buzzer Saturday night.

”It’s probably the worst feeling that we feel, in our lives, in our careers,” Allen said. ”There’s nothing you can do about it. There’s one team that wins that last game. We want to be that team every year. We’ve been through a lot. We’ve won a lot of games. At the end of every season, it always feels like it’s it.

”This one hit me hard,” Allen continued. ”We wanted it so bad.”

Allen fought through a painful ankle injury for much of the playoffs while Pierce played through a banged up knee. Garnett, 36, had a resurgence in the playoffs and looks like he’s got a couple of good years left. Rondo and Pierce remain under contract so they’ll be back. There is a strong possibly that Garnett will return to Boston, but Allen seems to be headed into free agency.

The loss of Allen won’t hurt as much because the Celtics have Avery Bradley and Mikael Pietrus to plug in his spot. Losing Garnett, however, would be devastating.

“Well, [Kevin’s] been everything for my career,” Pierce told ESPN Boston. “Just his locker room presence, his desire, his determination, his leadership. I’ve said it before, when Kevin first got here, he really changed the culture of everything we did around here — from the practice habits to on the court, just the discipline. He made everybody accountable, from the ball boys to the chefs to the guy who flew the plane. Everybody was accountable.”

Pierce continued: “It was tremendous to just have him around. The culture he brought — it would be great for me to end my career with Kevin. I have a couple years left, and who knows what his future’s going to bring. Hopefully management can do something to bring him back, maybe add some pieces to this team, that we need, to get over the top. If not, it’s been a tremendous run.”

LeBron James dropped 45 points on the Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

LeBron James made sure there wasn’t going to be another fourth-quarter meltdown on his part. He flexed his muscles and put the Miami Heat on his broad shoulders in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals and put on a performance for the ages.

James took apart the vaunted Boston Celtics defense for 45 points Thursday night, making a mind-boggling 19-for-26 from the field. You couldn’t come up with those type of numbers at a party bingo. He had the entire repertoire working: short jumpers, long jumpers, fadeaways, dribble drives, follow-up dunks, off-balance bank shots, and one-hand floaters in the paint. He also grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out five assists.

The last time — actually, the only time — those numbers appeared in the box score of a NBA playoff game was in 1964 when Wilt Chamberlain posted 50-15-6. Any time you bring up Wilt into the discussion you know you did something really special, and LeBron was absolutely special at TD Garden Arena Thursday night.

”He was absolutely fearless, and it was contagious,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”The way he approached the last 48 hours, and not only LeBron, but everybody else. Nobody likes getting dirt thrown on your face before you’re even dead. He showed great resolve.”

James’ on-court brilliance allowed the Heat to stave off elimination and send the series to a Game 7 in Miami, a winner-take-all grudge match with a spot in the NBA Finals at stake. For the Heat to knock out the Celtics James will need another “fearless” performance.

”I hope now you guys can stop talking about LeBron and he doesn’t play in big games,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. ”He was pretty good tonight. So we can put that to bed and go play Game 7.”

All summer long James was the butt of all jokes for his fourth-quarter failures in the 2011 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. He spent the entire offseason absorbing low blows from writers, bloggers, TV analysts, and his peers. Even though James shrugs off all the criticism publicly, you know he was chomping at the bit to prove everyone wrong. Even though Game 6 in the East finals is not the NBA Finals and the Heat still has some work to do Saturday night against a very game Boston bunch, it was a huge step toward the rehabilitation of his shattered image.

”He played amazing. He was locked in from the beginning of the game like I’ve never seen him before,” said James’ teammate and good friend Dwyane Wade, who had 17 points in Miami’s 98-79 win in Game 6.

“The shots that he was making was just unbelievable,” Wade continued. “He really put on an MVP performance. Not just scoring the ball, rebounding the ball, defensively, he did it all. It was great to see him come out and lead this team the way he did.

“We just gave him the ball and got out of the way.”

LeBron was trending worldwide on Twitter and Facebook and everyone, including NFL Hall-of-Famer Deion Sanders, had something to say about the three-time NBA MVP. Sanders tweeted: “If anybody doubted who is the NBA MVP is LeBron is showing us why. Start appreciating the skill set and stop hating.”

James called the game a “gut check” for the Heat after squandering home-court advantage with the loss in Game 5. James took it upon himself to pull the Heat together and send a powerful message to the Celtics.

“I just try to lead my team the best way I could. Whatever I needed to do on the floor I just to be there for them tonight,” James told ESPN’s Doris Burke. “I just do what I’ve been taught, which is play at a high level and have fun with it and at the end of the day I won’t regret anything. If I played hard and gave it my all I won’t regret anything.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Boston Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen may be injured, but his confidence hasn't wavered. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

There’s a commercial running on ESPN and NBA TV during the playoffs showing Ray Allen launching countless jumpers. He takes shot, after shot, after shot but the elbow stays the same. The message: unbroken habits lead to broken records.

That motto is the very reason why Allen is considered the best 3-point shooter in NBA history. His form is immaculate and his confidence never wavered. And now you can add resilient and tough-minded to his resume.

After a pitiful performance in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals in which he scored just six points and was 1-for-4 from behind the arc and missed four of his seven free throw attempts, the Ray Allen of old has resurfaced and the Celtics have erased an 0-2 deficit in this series and are now two games away from reaching the NBA Finals.

“With him it’s just balance. When you have a bad foot, ankle or anything your balance is off and you could see that in Ray. The ball is going left a lot. He’s one of the greatest shooters of all time. Ray is gonna try to figure it out, we’re gonna try to figure it out,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said of his shooting guard, who is nursing a sore right ankle. It’s an injury that forced him to miss 17 of 22 games in one stretch this season.

Prior to Game 2 of the conference finals, Allen made just 13 of his 43 field goals and 6-for-28 from 3-point range. Both are far below his standards. He’s a career 45% shooter from 3-point range and nearly 90% from the free throw line.

“It’s real simple — health,” said former Orlando Magic sharp-shooter Dennis Scott, who now works as an analyst for NBA TV. “We know Ray is not 100 percent. You look at his career you know he’ll knock down wide open shots, contested shots. But you don’t see the spring, you don’t see the bounce, you don’t see that rhythm we’re used to seeing Ray Allen has.”

Brent Barry says Allen’s injury is not only affecting his shot but it is impacting parts of his game. “He went 3-for-7 from the free throw line [against Miami in Game 1]. He hasn’t missed four three throws in a game since 2006. He’s gotta get it going, otherwise Doc is gonna have to go elsewhere and do other things.

“But Ray is going to fight through it. He’ll be there early and often, hopefully he gets going.”

Allen has gotten it going again, scoring 13 points (including a huge 3-pointer) in Game 2, 10 in Game 3 and 16 in Game 4. The Celtics were able to win two of the last three games in the series because Allen’s shot has significantly improved and it has opened up the floor for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo. Allen was 4-for-11 from behind the arc in 46 minutes Sunday in Boston, a game the Celtics badly needed to win to put a little heat on Miami and guarantee at least a Game 6 in Boston.