EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Privately, this is what advance scouts who have watched Sam Mitchell for three seasons were curious to see. They saw him with Bryan Colangelo's resurrected roster, and a depleted Atlantic Division, and thought it would be most intriguing to see what happened with the Toronto Raptors coach in the playoffs, when he had to make adjustments and counters under the scrutiny of a seven-game series.

As postseason failures go, Mitchell's has been spectacular so far. What had been merely a troubling Eastern Conference series turned traumatic on Sunday night, a 102-81 Game 5 loss to the New Jersey Nets that was a 30-point game until Jason Kidd and Vince Carter left the Meadowlands court for good. The Nets have taken away everything – Chris Bosh in the post, T.J. Ford on the drive and, maybe most of all, the will of the Atlantic champions.

They go back to Toronto for Game 5 on Tuesday with so much riding for this franchise, a season that was such a renaissance for the

CHICAGO – After the Miami Heat had marched into the losing locker room, a silent, sobering march through the corridors of the United Center, Pat Riley would be waiting with that familiar, fabled declaration that originated in the glory days of the Showtime Lakers. The emperor of Miami had little left to lean on but that old, worn playoff premise that a series doesn't start until the home team loses.

Riles was reaching. These Heat haven't looked like champions since that parade down Biscayne Boulevard in late June. Now, they're trying to reclaim something that sure looks like it's going, going, gone. As much as they're trying to tell everyone that they can beat these Chicago Bulls down two games to nothing, it sure sounds like they're mostly trying to sell themselves.

"We've been here before, know what I'm saying?" Alonzo Mourning insisted later Tuesday night after a humiliating 107-89 Game 2 loss to the Bulls. "We've been here before, and I've got the utmost confidence in this team to

DEERFIELD, Ill. – After practice Monday, England's Luol Deng and the Swiss rookie living across the street now, Thabo Sefolosha, were playing the game that the neighbors of these Chicago Bulls sometimes catch them in suburbia: kicking a ball and pretending they're European soccer stars.

This is the reason that Sefolosha wears the tattoo on his left shoulder that says, "The game chose me," a truth born out of his Switzerland roots where basketball stars are as scarce as war heroes. The man next door gave him a basketball at 11 years old, and with those long arms and that agility, he couldn't resist the lure of the sport.

"I figured," Sefolosha said Monday, "it was the better bet."

Eventually, he turned into the kind of selfless, sure European player who makes life harder for young American prospects. Out of Europe's non-traditional basketball outposts, he is part of a growing generation of Euros who shunned soccer for basketball. Switzerland didn't have a basketball star before him, but

Watch: Bulls-Heat highlights

CHICAGO – The Miami Heat kept coming for these Chicago Bulls, for a title that the champs were desperately trying to hold onto, and perhaps the time had passed for Luol Deng to be that deferring, developing star. The big noise tumbled down into the United Center in Game 1, and before everyone's eyes, Deng had demonstrated the disposition to dominate.

Something's clicked, someone's blossomed, and there were Deng's 33 points rising over everyone in the Bulls' 96-91 victory over the Heat on Saturday. He had a terrific season for Chicago, a breakthrough to be sure, but no one could be completely convinced of his climb closer to greatness until he had made his move in these playoffs.

This season, it won't be enough to just challenge Miami in the opening round. It won't be enough to hang with Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade in these Eastern Conference playoffs. They're still going to get bigger and better performances out of Shaq and Wade, but Deng is the reason

Perhaps his brief, failed regime was doomed before it even started, when Eric Musselman was popped for a DUI before the start of the regular season. The Sacramento Kings coach had to drag himself into a press conference, deliver a humiliating public apology and ultimately suffer the indignity of a two-game league suspension.

Musselman was the choice of team owners Gavin and Joe Maloof to replace the coach they wanted out, Rick Adelman. They wanted a fresh, young voice and a disciplinarian, and they disposed of Adelman after the greatest era in franchise history, a run of eight straight playoff seasons. Against the wishes of general manager Geoff Petrie, they made the move, and now, after a 33-49 season and a locker room and franchise rife with dissension, the firing of Musselman on Friday confirmed it as a failed move.

Just before the All-Star break, the Maloofs were already second-guessing their decision to hire Musselman.

"We're a little disappointed with what's going on," Joe Maloof

DALLAS – As soon as official Joey Crawford had inexplicably tossed Tim Duncan on Sunday, the conspiracy machinery that forever shadows the NBA started churning with its theories to justify that delirious decision. Here was the Suns' No. 2 seed in the Western Conference still within the San Antonio Spurs' reach and, the thinking would go, the league didn't want those bland, boring Spurs messing with a Suns-Mavericks conference final.

So Duncan goes down for laughing, the Spurs lose to the Mavericks and a Game 7 in the conference semifinal between San Antonio and Phoenix belonged to the Suns. Sheer foolery, yes, and commissioner David Stern delivering Crawford to the gallows was the strongest of messages that the old official's self-important act was most an unsanctioned move.

For a nation dying to see that Suns-Mavericks conference final, here's an unpleasant truth: The NBA champion comes out of the Western Conference this season, and the road goes through the heart of Texas – Dallas

After careful consideration, including informal consultation with several league executives, coaches and scouts, here is the awards ballot that I returned to the league office.

Most Valuable Player: Dirk Nowitzki. He has been the dominant player on the dominant team in the league. In every way, Nowitzki has been the force of nature elevating the Dallas Mavericks to one of the extraordinary regular seasons in NBA history.

If you want to take Dirk and Steve Nash side by side, the two-time defending MVP makes a compelling case that this was his best season ever – career

HOUSTON – They barely were standing in the end, staggering to the finish line of a long night, a longer season. Yao Ming reached out for Tracy McGrady, and McGrady back to Yao, and they hugged Monday, holding up each other in the middle of the floor. All the big noise descended in a surround sound of a celebration in the Toyota Center.

As it turned out, these Houston Rockets stars weren't just holding up each other but the franchise, too.

The Rockets wouldn't need a victory Wednesday in Salt Lake City to secure home-court advantage against Utah in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs because they had gone the distance in this dizzying, defiant 120-117 victory over Phoenix.

McGrady had 39 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in one of the most complete offensive nights in Houston history. Yao had 34 points and nine boards, refusing to let the Suns run him out of relevance as they often do.

Together, McGrady and Yao had secured an improbable 52nd victory in this patchwork