It's just like my dude Marie Joseph Eugène Sue wrote in "Mathilde" — "La vengeance se mange très-bien froide." (Some people might know "Revenge is a dish best served cold" from "The Godfather," but I feel pretty confident that the Thursday morning crowd at BDL has its "1841 French novels" game on lock.) Twenty-five days isn't necessarily that deep a freeze, but the elbow that James Harden put in the middle of the face of Metta World Peace during the Oklahoma City Thunder's Game 2 win on Wednesday probably still felt pretty arctic to the Los Angeles Lakers forward.

[Johnny Ludden: Lakers' Kobe Bryant fails in crunch time against the Thunder]

Coming with the shot clock winding down during a late first-quarter scramble situation and resulting from a Harden behind-the-back dribble to evade a World Peace steal attempt, the left 'bow — captured above by our friends at the Yahoo! Sports Minute — seemed unintentional and was clearly nowhere near as violent as the World Peace shot that floored, concussed and sidelined Harden four Sundays ago. Still, you don't imagine Harden minded creating the contact too much; somewhere beneath all that beard, there may even have been a trace of a smile.

[Create-a-Caption: Y! fans weigh in on Harden's elbow]

Of course, because no act of physicality visited upon the former Ron Artest can expect to simply slide past, MWP came back in the second quarter with an answer befitting wrestling legend Stan "The Lariat" Hansen:

Boris Diaw helps Evan Turner have a good time. (AP)

Much has been made of the way the Philadelphia 76ers stood toe-to-toe with the Boston Celtics in the first two games of their Eastern Conference semifinal series, storming out to a sizable lead in Game 1 before faltering late and dropping a one-point affair, then withstanding an early Celtics barrage on Monday night before locking down late to secure a Game 2 win. One of the key elements in Philly's strong close to the second game was Evan Turner. While the sophomore needed 11 shots to score 10 points on Monday and turned the ball over five times, he made several big plays at critical moments to help Doug Collins' team snare a split at the TD Garden and home-court advantage heading back to the Wells Fargo Center for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

It was a hard game to win — and in some respects, as Turner told Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com, it's the kind of game the Celtics have taught the former No. 2 overall pick, who struggled mightily in the early going as a rook and in his first two career games against Boston, how to win.

When Turner played against the Boston Celtics last season as a 22-year-old rookie on the Philadelphia 76ers, he was already familiar with his opponents from what he had seen of them on TV.

Then the veterans introduced him to their game in the NBA. They tested the young guard during his first year in the NBA, a challenge he appreciates now.

"Watching them on TV and playing against them is two different things," Turner told CSNNE.com. "First few times we played against them, they kicked our butts. One of the best things is getting your butts kicked and paying your dues. I can't say it enough — paying your dues and earning the right to play well and earning the right to play well versus them, that's the most important thing."

[Marc J. Spears: Kobe Bryant won't blame fatigue on Lakers' blowout loss to Thunder]

This may seem like a far-too-positive stance on getting one's butt kicked, but it's precisely the kind of response that coaches and team executives want to see from a young player — acceptance of the struggles you've faced, willingness to learn from them and purposeful action toward changing the outcome next time.

Vinny Del Negro stares intently. (Getty Images)

After a tough start to the Western Conference semifinals, what's Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny del Negro — perhaps the world's last honest man — thinking as he works this one out?

Best caption wins a dog with a quizzical look on his face, most certainly the finest companion there is. Good luck.

In our last adventure: Pretty weird dress code for Oklahoma City Thunder games, Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The San Antonio Spurs have been a wrecking crew for the past month. (Getty Images)

One night after the Oklahoma City Thunder convinced a lot of people that they were the team to beat in the Western Conference by walloping the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs offered their retort: A measured, professional destruction of the Los Angeles Clippers.

In the 108-92 Game 1 win, the Spurs made perhaps the best point guard in the world look ordinary. They choked off Chris Paul's patented pick-and-roll game, eliminating his outlet options and forcing him to take contested shots, harassing him into a 3-for-13 showing, five turnovers and his lowest point total since Feb. 4. Without its primary weapon, Vinny Del Negro's team became a half-dimensional one-on-one team, and the results — 92 points, a 7-of-17 shooting performance by Blake Griffin, barely any offensive spark to speak of (save for the excellent bench play of Eric Bledsoe) — spoke for themselves.

On the other end, San Antonio calmly got just about whatever it wanted, wherever it wanted. Of the Spurs' 80 field-goal attempts in Game 1, 65 came either in the paint or from 3-point range, according to NBA.com's shot location statistics, and they made 32 of them (52.3 percent), including a shattering 13-of-25 mark from beyond the arc. That pushes their postseason success rate on long balls to 43.4 percent; the next most accurate team from distance, the Thunder, has hit 38.6 percent. To do all that on a night where point guard Tony Parker — who carved up the Utah Jazz in the opening round (21 points on 50 percent shooting and 6.5 assists in 32.8 minutes per game in the sweep) — missed 8 of 9 shots, scored just seven points and turned it over nine times in 38 minutes? That's pretty impressive.

Also impressive: The win was San Antonio's 15th straight. (As BDL editor emeritus/TBJ co-host J.E. Skeets noted Tuesday night, it's also the Spurs' 28th in their last 30 games and 43rd in their last 50.) They haven't lost since a 14-point defeat at the hands of the Lakers on April 11 — that was 35 days ago.

But it's not only that they've been winning; it's the way they've been winning. Just how good has Gregg Popovich's team been during its rampaging run? Let's take a look inside the numbers.

I count a total of four references to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Lost Boys' "Blue and Orange," the "ultimate OKC Thunder Anthem" that — while not really new, as it appeared in highlight clips during OKC's playoff run last year — is making the rounds in advance of the team's Game 2 tilt with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night:

1. The first rapper, a gent named Michael Garner, calls himself "Thunder true" at 0:45;

2. The second, whose name appears to be K-Yeags, says that "round here, we Thunder up" at 1:51;

3. The anchor leg of this rap relay, Grazie, confirms the Thundering up at 2:49;

4. Grazie then brings it on home with the song's first actual reference to a player on the team, Kevin Durant, at 2:55: "Damn right, we never miss / KD, no bricks."

You'd think a track intended as a power jam meant to connect with Thunder fans and spur pride in a squad that looked murderous Monday night might actually have some connection to the team beyond the shirts worn by the dudes rapping, but apparently, you'd be wrong. Oh, well. The shirts are nice!

After Chris Bosh's Game 1 abdominal strain changed the landscape of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Indiana Pacers took advantage of their opportunity in Game 2, scratching out a 78-75 win over the Heat on Tuesday night. It wasn't pretty — the two teams combined to miss 97 field goals in 48 minutes of basketball, including 10 in the final 2:15 of the fourth quarter, as well as 17 free throws, including six in the last 80 seconds — but a win's a win, and given the choice between playing lovely but dropping to 0-2 or getting grimy and being level, Indy'll take the latter.

[Eric Adelson: Miami Heat fail to fill void left by the injured Chris Bosh]

Miami point guard Mario Chalmers had a look at a 3-pointer from the wing that would have knotted the score at 78 with scant seconds remaining, but he missed (though he may have been fouled) and the final buzzer sounded, at which point several Pacers momentarily got slightly happy. That kind of thing can happen when your team just stole a physical one on the road, securing a split at AmericanAirlines Arena that sends you back to Indiana with home-court advantage and much sunnier prospects than most outside of Bankers Life Fieldhouse imagined a week ago.

The reserved revelry was short-lived, though — David West, Indiana's taciturn power forward, quickly kiboshed it, shepherding his teammates off the floor and back to the Indiana locker room.

"You know, we can't get too excited because we won one game," said West — who led Indiana with 16 points (14 of which came in the second half) and 10 rebounds — during his postgame press conference, which you can watch in full after the jump. "That's not our goal in this series. We can't overreact because we were able to get one game down here. We've got to win professionally and understand that we haven't reached the goal that we set out to reach."

Blake Griffin drives on Tim Duncan. (Getty Images)

For every postseason matchup, Ball Don't Lie's resident dummy will offer a topically appropriate entry from the best-selling series of "Deep Thoughts" books written by legendary humorist Jack Handey, plus some of his own original thoughts on the playoff series. The combination will cost you literally nothing; we suggest you use the savings to purchase one of Mr. Handey's life-changing books.

No. 1 San Antonio Spurs vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers

Good lookin' fellers at this Thunder game, boy. (Getty Images)

A gentleman always breaks out his finest threads for special occasions like Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals; these Oklahoma City Thunder fans have given us all something to which we can aspire. Whether they inspired the postgame sartorial choices of lead guard Russell Westbrook remains an open question, as does what these three splendid Sooners were thinking and talking about as they watched their squad beat up on the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.

Since the question's open, it's up to you to answer it. Best caption wins a gentleman's entrance to a fancy soiree. Good luck.

In our last adventure: Chris Paul is beside Blake Griffin, and Blake Griffin's beside himself.