Bernucca: Melo Needs to Take a Pass on Hero Ball

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale, on whether the Oklahoma City Thunder misses injured All-Star guard Russell Westbrook:

“They miss him everywhere. How would you not? He’s one of the top players in the league. They probably miss him in the locker room, miss him in shootaround, miss him on the bus, miss him on the plane, miss him on offense, miss him on defense. Did I miss anything?”

LINE OF THE WEEK: Joakim Noah, Chicago at Brooklyn, May 4: 41 minutes, 12-of-17 FGs, 0-0 FTs, seven offensive rebounds, 14 total rebounds, two assists, one steal, six blocks, one turnover, 24 points in a 99-93 win. Playing with plantar fasciaitis that had him grimacing every time he ran the floor, Noah was the best player on the court and lifted the beat-up Bulls to a Game 7 road win.

LINE OF THE WEAK: Joe Johnson, Brooklyn vs. Chicago, May 4: 38 minutes, 2-14 FGs, 1-9 3-pointers, 1-1 FTs, three rebounds, two assists, zero blocks, three steals, three turnovers, six points in a 99-93 loss. Johnson had the same injury as Noah but plays a position with less contact. He was particularly awful in the fourth quarter, shooting 0-of-5 with a turnover and sealing his team’s fate with a late airball. In four career Game 7’s, Johnson is 21-of-64 from the field.

TRILLION WATCH: The week’s best disappearing act belonged to Pacers swingman Gerald Green, who posted a 3 trillion Wednesday vs. Atlanta. However, he came up just short of the 4 trillion by Boston’s Courtney Lee on April 23 that still leads the postseason toteboard.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Golden State at San Antonio, May 6. The Warriors were the surprise team of the first round, eliminating the Denver Nuggets despite an injury to All-Star forward David Lee. But if they win this game – or any of the possible four in San Antonio – that would really be a surprise. Golden State has not won in the Alamo City in 29 tries since Feb. 14, 1997, four months before the Spurs drafted Tim Duncan and one month before Stephen Curry’s 10th birthday.

TWO MINUTES: Twelve referees are selected for the NBA Finals, and Tony Brothers, James Capers, Dan Crawford, Marc Davis, Ron Garretson, Ed Malloy and Ken Mauer are virtual locks. The NBA has whom it considers its best referees work the most playoff games, and those seven officials worked six each in the first round. Of the seven, only Davis and Garretson did not work last year’s Finals. The other five Finals slots will be filled by a group that includes Mike Callahan, Joe Crawford, Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy, Monty McCutchen, Rodney Mott, Bennett Salvatore, Bill Spooner, Derrick Stafford and Tom Washington. Callahan, Joe Crawford, Foster, Kennedy, McCutchen, Stafford and Washington worked last year’s Finals. … Two long personal streaks that officially will continue when next season begins actually ended in the postseason. The first was Russell Westbrook’s 394 consecutive games played. The second was Kyle Korver’s 74 straight games with a 3-pointer, which “ended” when he went 0-of-7 from the arc as the Hawks were eliminated in game 6 of the first round. … Rockets guard James Harden was able to laugh off his playoff record-tying 10 turnovers in Game 4 because Houston beat Oklahoma City. “I did have a double-double,” joked Harden, who scored 15 points. He joined LeBron James (twice), Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Penny Hardaway and Kevin Johnson as the only players with double-digit turnovers in a postseason game. … If you’re looking for why the Clippers succumbed to the Grizzlies in the first round, consider these numbers from Game 5, which they lost at home to fall behind in the series: Chris Paul played 42 minutes and shot 11-of-24 from the field and 11-of-11 from the line with 35 points, four assists, three steals and one turnover. His four fellow starters played a combined 82 minutes and shot 8-of-21 from the field and 0-of-2 from the line with 18 points, seven assists, zero steals and six turnovers. … One of the reasons Indiana has been able to push around Atlanta and New York thus far is shooting guard Lance Stephenson, who is averaging an astounding 11.7 rebounds in his last three games. … One day after being accused of targeting Stephen Curry with cheap shots, Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried was named the winner of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award.

Trivia Answer: Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant. … Happy 34th Birthday, Ratko Varda, who scored five points in his only NBA game. … When Royce White calls another player shaky, this column just writes itself.

Chris Bernucca is the deputy editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.