THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: Attorney Richard Orsinger, who represented Spurs star Tony Parker in his divorce from TV star Eva Longoria, has apparently changed sides and is representing Amy Duncan is her divorce from Spurs star Tim Duncan.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert, on why he finished 10th in Defensive Player of the Year voting:
“Because y’all motherf——s don’t watch us play throughout the year, to tell you the truth. That’s fine. I’m going to be real with you. And I don’t care if I get fined. You know what? We play, we’re not on TV all the time. Reporters are the ones that are voting.”
LINE OF THE WEEK: Tony Parker, San Antonio at Memphis, May 27: 40 minutes, 15-21 FGs, 1-1 3-pointers, 6-6 FTs, four rebounds, six assists, four turnovers, 37 points in a 93-86 win. Despite being defended by Mike Conley, Parker was unstoppable, making 14 of his first 18 shots. He picked an ideal time for his season high as the Spurs completed the first conference finals sweep by any team in 10 years.
LINE OF THE WEAK: George Hill and Lance Stephenson, Indiana at Miami, May 30: combined 65 minutes, 2-11 FGs, 0-3 3-pointers, 1-1 FTs, three rebounds, six assists, four steals, one block, six turnovers, 10 fouls, five points in a 90-79 loss. In a swing game, Indiana’s starting backcourt played like backwash. And that doesn’t include backup D.J. Augustin’s sterling 18 minutes that featured two 3-point misses, a turnover, a foul and nothing else.
TRILLION WATCH: The only trillion of the week belonged to Pacers guard Orlando Johnson, who had an empty minute at the end of Game 6 on Saturday. Honorable mention to Heat forward Shane Battier, who in the same game had a foul to wreck a 4 trillion.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Indiana at Miami, June 3. The great unknown of a Game 7, the two best words in sports. Here is what is known: No member of the Pacers ever has played in a Game 7 win. A dozen members of the Heat have.
TWO MINUTES: Come July, the two best available free agents could be holding the city of Los Angeles and the entire NBA hostage. Lakers center Dwight Howard already has said he is making the rounds and has serious suitors in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Golden State. And Clippers guard Chris Paul – whose re-signing also was once thought to be a formality – now may have reason to make a similar trek as well. Reports this week said Paul doesn’t like that he is being blamed for the ouster of Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro, a notion owner Donald Sterling didn’t help dispel when he told the Los Angeles Times, “This is a players’ league, and, unfortunately, if you want to win, you have to make the players happy,” and “If you have special players, and special players think that they know the best opportunity to win, you have to support them.” While the Mavs are highly interested in Howard, they had tremendous issues at point guard, where journeyman Mike James finished the season as the starter. And the Hawks have an elaborate but plausible route to enough cap room to sign both Howard and Paul. … Before LeBron James fouled out of Game 4 at Indiana, he had five total fouls in Miami’s previous five road playoff games. … If the Pacers somehow win Game 7 against the Heat, you have to like the chances of the Spurs, who in addition to having had 10 days off will be able to employ a similar defensive scheme to the one that swarmed the big tandem of the Grizzlies, particularly Zach Randolph, who shot 16-of-53 in the conference finals and had just three assists, all in Game 2. Of course, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said his team didn’t do anything different. “We didn’t come up with some new defense to guard them,” he said. “But we were aggressive, we did a lot of denying, a lot of pressure on the passer who was trying to deliver the ball, whether it was high-low or from the wing, and we fronted and three-quartered and showed a lot of looks on the post. We didn’t just stay behind, we made it difficult for him to catch. At times he caught it and he hurt us, but for the most part I thought the post defense, the foot movement and the commitment was fantastic.” The Spurs also threw more of these different looks at Randolph, who does most of his work in the lower defensive box and is not nearly as versatile or dangerous as Gasol, a better range shooter and passer who makes defenses pay more efficiently. If the Spurs get the Pacers, expect to see the same types of looks thrown at Roy Hibbert, although perhaps not as much fronting simply because of his 7-2 frame. It should be noted that Popovich and the Spurs also fronted Shaquille O’Neal with some success in the 2004 conference semifinals against the Lakers, a series they ultimately lost. … Heat center Chris Andersen was suspended for Game 6, which kept alive his spectacular shooting streak. The “Birdman” has made his last 18 shots and is shooting a staggering 86 percent (37-of-43) from the field in the postseason. Only four players in these playoffs have taken that many free throws and shot that well. … A recent Sports Illustrated article followed the Grizzlies and made mention of forward Quincy Pondexter going through a recent nasty breakup. Pondexter seems to have rebounded nicely via Twitter, where he somewhat innocently asked who won the Miss Tennessee pageant this year and appears to have ended up with a date with the winner, Chandler Lawson. And Sheridan says the best use of Twitter is as a news feed.
Trivia Answer: Sebastian Telfair with 548 games. … Happy 70th Birthday, Billy Cunningham, the pride of Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York.
Chris Bernucca is the deputy editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.