Houston Rockets assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff will interview for the Detroit Pistons' head coaching job on Wednesday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Bickerstaff, 34, has risen rapidly in the eyes of NBA executives as a head coaching candidate.

Bickerstaff will be the fourth known candidate to interview for the Detroit opening. Ex-Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan, San Antonio Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer, and Phoenix Suns interim coach Lindsey Hunter have met with Pistons GM Joe Dumars so far.

As the son of longtime NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff, J.B. Bickerstaff has long been immersed in the profession. Before joining the Rockets in 2011, he spent four years as an assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves (2007-'11) and three years under his father with the Charlotte Bobcats (2004-'07).

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SAN ANTONIO – Everyone else on these Golden State Warriors had marched grudgingly into the huddle now, but Stephen Curry's eyes stayed with the shooter. As Manu Ginobili left the floor with 1.2 seconds left in double overtime, he leaped into the arms of Tim Duncan on the San Antonio Spurs' sideline.

All this noise tumbled down onto the AT&T Center floor, all these years washed away, and there Curry stood marveling over the magnificence of Manu's magical moment. All this noise tumbled down out of the rafters, out of those four championship banners, and Curry had begun to consider the consequences of leaving him too much time on the clock, leaving him one more shot to transform this hysteria into a stunned silence.

Stephen Curry had gone for 44 points, had gone within a whisper of Kobe Bryant's playoff record of 45 on the Spurs. Curry had gone wild on the Spurs, but he wouldn't get the final shot, nor the final word on Monday night.

"Yeah, I'll be thinking about the one I didn't get to

The Milwaukee Bucks are planning interviews with Nate McMillan and Kelvin Sampson this week for the franchise's head-coaching job, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Nate McMillan (USA TODAY Sports)McMillan and Sampson, a Houston Rockets assistant, are two of Milwaukee general manager John Hammond's top candidates for the job, league sources said.

McMillan spent parts of 12 seasons as the coach of the Seattle Sonics and Portland Trail Blazers. Before getting fired midway through the 2010-11 season in Portland, McMillan had led the Blazers to three straight playoff appearances.

McMillan recently interviewed with the Detroit Pistons for their coaching opening.

Before joining Kevin McHale's coaching staff in Houston in 2011, Sampson had been on Scott Skiles' coaching staff in Milwaukee for two years. He was a head coach at the college level with Washington St., Oklahoma and Indiana. Hammond is fond of Sampson and has since targeted him as a potential head-coaching candidate in Milwaukee.

Sampson is under consideration for

NEW YORK – All around Derrick Rose, there are these unforgettable images of the way the Chicago Bulls willed themselves into the path of the Miami Heat. All around Rose, there's blood, puke and voices screaming in pain. All around him, these are the reasons for him to tell the truth now.

All around Rose, there's Joakim Noah dragging one good leg across seven games and Nate Robinson heaving into a bucket. All around Rose, there's Kirk Hinrich in a walking boot and Luol Deng fighting to get out of a hospital room and onto the team charter flight.

All around Rose, his teammates are the most inspiring, spectacular substance in the sport now. These Bulls beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-93 in Game 7 on Saturday night, and they reached to the ends of the roster, reached beyond reason. Derrick Rose says his injury status is "still up in the air." (USA Today Sports)

For the good of his franchise and fans, for everyone's focus to be where it should belong now – Bulls-Heat, Game 1 on Monday – Rose needs to drop the illusion that his return in these playoffs remains a

NEW YORK – After spending the night in a Chicago-area hospital for complications arising from a spinal tap, Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng returned home on Saturday afternoon, a league source told Yahoo! Sports.

Deng couldn't travel with the Bulls for the franchise's Game 7 against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center after getting admitted to the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Luol Deng (AP)

Deng suffered leakage of spinal fluid and several discomforting side effects after getting a spinal tap in his lower back, to test for viral meningitis, before Game 6 on Thursday. Deng had also been suffering from the flu.

He missed Game 6 of the series, along with Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich. Chicago has played without its star point guard, Derrick Rose, the entire season.

Deng had averaged 16.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and three assists in the regular season. He's also an elite defender for the Bulls.

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BOSTON – Kevin Garnett changed Doc Rivers' life, changed forever the way people will remember him as a basketball coach. Rivers is a champion now, a paragon of his profession and there's never been a day on the job he hasn't understood that Garnett made it possible. This is the reason the tears welled within his eyes beneath that 17th championship banner in the Garden on Friday night, the reason that he squeezed Garnett on the sideline in the final seconds.

Kevin Garnett shakes hands with head coach Doc Rivers in the final seconds against the Knicks. (USA TODAY)Deep down, Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett understood this was goodbye.

Deep down, they know it is over.

"I love you," Rivers told Garnett.

"I love you," Garnett told Rivers.

Garnett had gone out the way that he had come into these Boston Celtics: Full of bravado, brilliance and pride. Always, pride. They had made the wildest of comebacks in this best-of-seven series with the New York Knicks, punctuated with the most stunning fourth quarter run in franchise playoff history, 20 consecutive points and the earth moving beneath them in

San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer has emerged as a candidate for the Detroit Pistons' head coaching job, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Pistons president Joe Dumars traveled to San Antonio on Wednesday and spent several hours meeting with Budenholzer, the top assistant to Gregg Popovich.

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Detroit owner Tom Gores has since retained Phil Jackson to work as a consultant on the Pistons' search process and it's unclear how that, if it all, will impact the franchise's current pool of candidates.

The Pistons had a formal interview with Nate McMillan in Michigan earlier this week. Mike Budenholzer (USA Today Sports)

Detroit is expected to try and meet with Houston Rockets assistant Kelvin Sampson in the near future too, sources said. Dumars met with Sampson two years ago about the vacancy.

Budenholzer had involvement with the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors in recent years, and league sources say he's grown more inclined to listen to

The Philadelphia 76ers have received permission to interview Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Malone and Utah Jazz assistant Jeff Hornacek for the franchise's head-coaching vacancy, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Warriors assistant Mike Malone is drawing interest from the Sixers. (USA Today Sports)The Sixers are considering several candidates to replace Doug Collins, and are expected to start the interview process next week, sources said.

Malone is considered a serious candidate for the Sixers job. The Sixers have been doing a great deal of research on Malone and getting excellent feedback, sources said.

Malone has been a top assistant under Mark Jackson (Golden State), Monty Williams (New Orleans) and Mike Brown (Cleveland). Over the past two years with the Warriors, he's been the NBA's top-paid assistant coach.

The Warriors are engaged in a Western Conference playoff series with Denver, leading 3-2. It's possible Sixers officials could meet with Malone on a day off during the Warriors' playoff run, but that hasn't yet been determined.

Hornacek played two seasons