MIAMI – They brought out a big yellow rope and a small army of security guards to ring the court. There was a NBA title to be won. Perhaps. The San Antonio Spurs held a three-point lead with just 19.4 seconds remaining. Thousands of Miami Heat fans already fled into the night.

It was right there for the Spurs, who'd come here to eliminate the Heat, and that's when Gregg Popovich made a substitution.

In went Boris Diaw, 6-foot-8 and somewhat athletic. Out came Tim Duncan, 6-11 and 37 years old, but perhaps the greatest power forward of them all and certainly the greatest Spur. He owned 30 points and 16 rebounds at that moment. He was shown the bench anyway.

The Spurs like to switch off picks in those moments, like to be fluid and versatile, and Gregg Popovich is not a man prone to variation or sentimentality. So for the final two Miami possessions of the fourth quarter, Duncan was out.

Tim Duncan and the Spurs looked drained after their Game 6 OT loss to the Heat. (USA Today Sports)Seconds later, a LeBron James shot bounced off the rim and high in the air. There were gasps from the

Read More »from Gregg Popovich's substitutions open to second-guessing after Spurs' Game 6 NBA Finals loss

SAN ANTONIO – With 5:43 remaining in this epic NBA Finals beat-down, Gregg Popovich decided to pull off his two pit bulls. The San Antonio Spurs' eventual 113-77 rout of the Miami Heat for a 2-1 series lead was, by that point, a mere formality. Might as well let them bask in the cheers as they sat and watched their work come to fruition.

So out came one unstoppable star, Danny Green, who was cut from the league three times and once scored a measly 40 points in an entire season. On Tuesday, Green's 27 points easily outpaced LeBron James' 15.

"No, never thought in a million years that would happen," Green said with a smile.

Danny Green made 7 of 9 3-pointers in the Spurs' Game 3 victory over the Heat. (AP)Then there was the other star, Gary Neal, who not only was never drafted coming out of college, but never even got a training camp invite. He figured the NBA was mostly a pipe dream until, after a stint in Europe, he received a long-shot offer to play on the Spurs' summer-league team in Las Vegas. He decided to combine a job tryout with his honeymoon.

"I had to kind

Read More »from Spurs' Danny Green, Gary Neal took long road to NBA Finals' center stage

The strange part of the circus that surrounds Tim Tebow's every move – including reports Monday that he's going to sign with the New England Patriots – is that he does so little to keep it alive.

He doesn't court the media. He doesn't say outlandish things. He doesn't complain about coaching decisions or teammates. He doesn't publicly beg for another chance. Even the quarterback's outward displays of faith (Tebowing, for instance) are nothing that dozens of other NFL players don't do each week after scoring a touchdown.

Tebow is a good soldier, a young player who never said he was as good as his fans claim or publicly ripped into his critics. He, even during his star turn with the Denver Broncos in 2011, always claimed he was just looking to get better.

The circus never cared. His supporters never stopped pushing, his detractors never stopped blasting and the media never stopped feeding that ratings-gold beast.

And it nearly crushed his career.

So now it's New England. Now it's Bill

Read More »from Tim Tebow's reported signing with Patriots puts QB in perfect position

MIAMI – The great affront to the Miami Heat players not named LeBron James over the last few days was not that they failed to step up and support their star in the NBA Finals opener. That much was obvious. No, it was the idea that they, lowly role players, might not be capable of rising up on the grand stage.

They may miss shots. They don't lack the courage to keep taking them though.

"Big-game guts," coach Erik Spoelstra called it.

No one has big-game guts more than Mario Chalmers, the shooting guard who once hit one of the most clutch shots in NCAA tournament history. He may never have been one of Miami's "Big Three" – which has turned into a "Big One" of late – but don't bother telling him.

"He's got guts," Spoelstra said. "Come on. He had that all the way in college. He's got incredible confidence in his game, even when sometimes, I wouldn't call it irrational …" 

[Related: Late run powers Heat blowout of Spurs in Game 2]

Mario Chalmers led the Heat with 19 points in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. (Getty Images) He'd call it something close though.

So here the NBA Finals

Read More »from LeBron James' supporting cast defiant in Heat's Game 2 Finals rout of Spurs

MIAMI – The Miami Heat own a tricked out golf cart/mini four wheeler. It's got a traditional body, but oversized, heavy tread tires and a custom paint job – "White Hot." It's a sweet ride. They use it to transport important people around the back hallways of American Airlines Arena.

Early Friday morning, long after the San Antonio Spurs had pulled a fourth-quarter surprise with trademark efficiency, poise and teamwork, long after they'd taken Game 1 of the NBA Finals, 92-88, LeBron James was the important person in need of a ride off to the players' entrance on the other side of the arena.

He climbed on the back of the cart with a Nike executive, but the thing was positioned all wrong in a hallway jammed with stadium workers punching their time cards and heading home. There was no easy route forward to turn around, forcing the driver to put it in reverse to back his way through the crowd.

It wasn't a grand exit for the King, the ensuing beeping noise providing a comic soundtrack.

Read More »from LeBron James' triple-double can't get him out of reverse against methodical Spurs in Finals opener

Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee's entire existence is centered on money (raising and spending) and attention (drawing it in from adoring crowds and dishing it out on wealthy alums). There is little else.

There's no denying he's brilliant at it. The guy is a walkin', talkin', back-slappin', joke-tellin', bow-tie-wearin', Orville Redenbacher-lookin' (his description), down-to-earth academic who can and will charm you, Mr. and Mrs. Potential Donor, right out of your checkbook. Seriously, he's easy to like.

Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee is once again garnering attention for some questionable comments. (Getty Images)It's why seemingly half the schools in America have hired him, including Ohio State, twice. And it's why he'll almost assuredly keep his job despite his latest wild comments – that ranged from "joking" about "damn Catholics", illiterate Southerners, the sub-standard "integrity" of universities in Kentucky and even the hard-wired greed of Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.

The comments weren't what you'd normally consider the material of a university president, but when did that ever

Read More »from E. Gordon Gee's comments aren't the most offensive thing about him and his kind

This 2012 file photo shows a cardboard cutout of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium. (AP)

The lawyer for the family of the late Joe Paterno announced Wednesday that he plans on suing the NCAA, its president Mark Emmert and its executive committee chairman, Ed Ray.

The decision is no surprise – it's been anticipated long before it was announced on Wednesday's edition of "Costas Tonight."

The suit's goal is "to redress the NCAA's 100-percent adoption of the Freeh report and the imposition of a binding-consent decree," Wick Sollers, the Paterno family attorney, said on the NBC Sports Network show.

In layman's terms, the Paternos aren't pleased that Penn State hired former FBI head Louis Freeh to investigate the school's involvement in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. They also aren't pleased that the school fully accepted Freeh's evidence and conclusion, which painted some administrators and Paterno in a negative light.

And they are especially not pleased that the NCAA took Penn State's admission as the basis for levying significant sanctions on the school,

Read More »from Paterno family vs. NCAA lawsuit illustrates that Happy Valley divide is still very real

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel prepared a tape for his team to watch on Monday's off-day of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat. It featured nothing but defensive play after defensive play from the first half of a Game 3 defeat.

Miami humiliated the Pacers during those 24 minutes, not just in posting 70 points, but in offering such meager resistance, so little banging, such weak play. This is Indiana. It wasn't constructed to play a finesse game and it isn't beating the Heat without mucking it up.

So there, in a near-silent room on Monday, the casual play that kept flashing across the screen just added to the misery. It's one thing to trail the Heat in a series. It's another to watch yourself trail without throwing a punch. 

"It was humiliating," Paul George said.

"Embarrassing," Tyler Hansbrough said. 

"We were sick," David West said.

Roy Hibbert works against Chris Andersen during Game 4. (Reuters)Vogel barely said a word. It wasn't necessary. The pictures did the talking. The players' pride did the listening.

Read More »from Pacers show resolve, frustrate LeBron James and Heat in physical Game 4